My wife and I will be in Ireland the middle of June. Do we need reservations before leaving or can we pick up suitable B&B's on the way? Thanks.

Hello -

When I visited in March several years ago, I had no problems calling that day to secure a B&B. However in August 3 years ago, I found it was better to have called a few days in advance. So in June, I would have a place to stay at my first destination. After that, I would call while in Ireland a few days in advance.

May I also suggest contacting the Irish Tourist Board, or checking out their website at http://www.ireland.travel.ie/home/. A couple of years ago, I was able to order their approved B&B directory sent to me before I left. I found it to be extremely helpful as it's organized by towns & counties. (And I would only stay at approved B&Bs. Had the misfortune of staying at a non-tourist board approved locale and the difference was noticable.)

Have fun.
Julie

It all depends on where you are going to , and how picky you are with where you stay.

Rules of thumb
- prebook your 1st and last night
- prebook any nights in Dublin
- prebook any weekend (fri/sat) nights in Galway , Killarney, Kinsale, Kilkenny

If you are particular to a certain B&B or class of lodging, you may want to book ahead. If you don't really care , as long as there is a bed/bath and its clean , you should be able to find places as you go.

Another consideration is : How much time do you want to spend looking for lodging in each town. I personally book all my b&b's ahead so that I don't have to spend 1 or 2 precious hours looking for a decent place to stay.

If you contact Town and country , and Be Our Guest they will send you those books, but depending on when you are leaving , you may not get them in time.
( The further out in June you get, the busier it will be there)

PS : If you have any future posts, you should put IRELAND in the post title, as this board is used for all of Europe, and there are a lot of France / Italy posts out there now. By putting the country/town name in the post you will most likely get more responses from the general Europe board.

It depends on where, in West Ireland, and Galway, and Mayo county and the Connemara we had no problems in late May, but as we went farther Southeast, it got harder and harder.

Julie