Ireland-week tour bus, train-Killarney-Ring of Kerry-Dingle-Aran-Cliff Mohr
 

we went to ireland for a week.
landed monday morning early. checked into a dublin hotel-the burlington (they advertised as being in the center of the city, but they were about 20 minute walk away-wish we had known). hotel was good but no wifi in rooms-only in lobby and the outlets in the room kept blowing a fuse when we plugged in a 220 volt electric item inside. Was kind of disappointed that they told us there was no 110 volt outlet in the room--when we got there we discovered there was one- ( we had bought a 220 volt appliance in the us for nothing.) also there was no water in the vending machine in the hotel and the bar charged a crazy price for a small bottle- so we asked concierge about a grocery store and he told us about the one around the corner. anyway, we dumped our stuff, and took a 3 pm train to Killarney. got there about 630 and checked into our hotel-the fairview-they advertise as 4 stars, i'd give them 1. guy who owns the place is really unfriendly. wifi didnt work the first night. it was freezing-maybe 45 degrees farenheit at night and they said they dont put on the heater in the summer months. (it was the end of may and 45 degrees- Never heard of such craziness.) the next day we took a dingle tour with deros. was nice but really foggy, rainy, and overcast so we couldn't see much. that night came back to hotel in killarney. next day we went on the ring of kerry/killarney national park tour also with deros. The lakes of killarney national park were the prettiest part of the tour. both tours with deros-started around 10 and ended around 5. all in all- we weren't impressed with the tour company- they could have done both tours in one day instead of lenghening it out and stopping for shopping and souvenirs and more shopping and more stops in places that i would have preferred not to. if we could have done it ourselves by public bus transportation- i would have tried that. but it was so hard to find info and plan it that we figured it would be easier with a tour company. that night we took the 545 pm train back to dublin. got in about 930. went back to dublin hotel. next morning was thursday- we took a paddy wagon tour to aran islands- started at around 645 in the morning and came back about 930. it was nice, but really expensive. once we got to the island. the paddywagon tour driver dropped us off by this other tour driver-he has a van and is a resident of the island. he was able to give us a good history and tour with pretty views. he was quite a character, really funny. we would have preferred to leave the island earlier-- and get back earlier than 10 pm. next 2 days we stayed in our hotel and relaxed-explored around our hotel. sunday- we took an early tour- around 8 in the morning with paddywagon to cliffs of moher--this was absolutely the best part of ireland. so pretty. till this day, i wasn't so impressed, cuz everyone had been telling me how pretty ireland was and i just didnt see it. but cliffs of moher was definitely pretty. I dont know if i would recommend anyone see the other places--they're all nice but different than i expected. we came back to dublin around 8-9 in the evening. next day we flew back.
one incredible thing about ireland this time of year-is that sunset isnt till around 945- 10 pm so it's really light out when it's really late.

I'm sure the Fodor readers appreciate the time you took to prepare this trip report, but I couldn't get beyond the first couple of sentences. It's really hard to read a long posting that doesn't have capitalization or paragraphs.

i'll try to repost. thanks for letting me know.

We went to ireland for a week.
We landed monday morning- early. Checked into a dublin hotel-the burlington (they advertised as being in the center of the city, but they were about 20 minute walk away-wish we had known). Hotel was good but no wifi in rooms-only in lobby and the outlets in the room kept blowing a fuse when we plugged in a 220 volt electric item inside. Was kind of disappointed that when we called them before we left on our trip, they told us there was no 110 volt outlet in the room--when we got there we discovered there was one- ( we had bought a 220 volt appliance in the us for nothing.) Also there was no water in the vending machine in the hotel and the bar charged a crazy price for a small bottle- so we asked concierge about a grocery store and he told us about the one around the corner.

Anyway, we dumped our stuff, and took a 3 pm train to Killarney. Got there about 630 and checked into our hotel-the fairview-they advertise as 4 stars, i'd give them 1. Guy who owns the place is really unfriendly. Wifi didnt work the first night. Also, it was freezing-maybe 45 degrees farenheit at night and they said they dont put on the heater in the summer months. (it was the end of may and 45 degrees- Never heard of such craziness.)

The next day we took a dingle tour with deros. It was nice but really foggy, rainy, and overcast so we couldn't see much. That night came back to hotel in killarney. Next day we went on the ring of kerry/killarney national park tour also with deros. The lakes of killarney national park were the prettiest part of the tour. Both tours with deros-started around 10 and ended around 5. All in all- we weren't impressed with the tour company- they could have done both tours in one day instead of lenghening it out and stopping for shopping and souvenirs and more shopping and more stops in places that i would have preferred not to. If we could have done it ourselves by public bus transportation- i would have tried that. But it was so hard to find info and plan it that we figured it would be easier with a tour company.

That night we took the 545 pm train back to dublin. Got in about 930. Went back to dublin hotel. Next morning was thursday- we took a paddy wagon tour to aran islands- started at around 645 in the morning and came back about 930. It was nice, but really expensive. Once we got to the island, the paddywagon tour driver dropped us off by this other tour driver-he has a van and is a resident of the island. He was able to give us a good history and tour with pretty views. He was quite a character, really funny. We left the island around 5 pm, but we would have preferred to leave the island earlier-- and get back to Dublin earlier than 10 pm.

Next 2 days we stayed in our hotel and relaxed-explored around our hotel. Sunday- we took an early tour- around 8 in the morning with paddywagon to cliffs of moher--this was absolutely the best part of ireland. So pretty. Till this day, i wasn't so impressed, cuz everyone had been telling me how pretty ireland was and i just didnt see it. But cliffs of moher was definitely pretty. I dont know if i would recommend anyone see the other places--they're all nice but different than i expected. We came back to dublin around 8-9 in the evening. Next day we flew back.

One incredible thing about ireland this time of year-is that sunset isnt till around 945- 10 pm so it's really light out when it's really late.

Woh, funny how people can have such a different impression. We are just back from the most amazing two weeks in Ireland. I keep telling everyone that is the most amazingly pretty place, better than the brochures can show. Dingle, Ring of Kerry, were so pretty and we too encountered overcast skies.

What a shame.

ttt