Jody

My fiance and I are hoping to go to Ireland in October for our honeymoon. I was hoping people could recommend nice B&Bs or guesthouses in these areas to stay in which are not too expensive. In the range of 19-25 punts pp would be good. I have read about quite a few good ones but I am curious what other people think. I like older homes with character rather than modern. I also like friendly and talkative hosts. Thanks.

alison

Hi there... try www.townandcountry.ie for B&Bs they have a catalogue of places all around Ireland. happy travelling. Have a pint of g. for me..

steve

I used the Town & Country B&B book on my recent trip and found it to be excellent. It was only 3.00 punts at the airport tourist office. Maybe the info is on their website. <BR> <BR>ireland.travel.ie also has good descriptions of b&B's. There are a zillion of them in your price range

Eric Taylor

We stayed in the Mt Herbert Guesthouse in Dublin. It is a fun place made up of two or three old 19th century houses. It is near the rapid transit into downtown. <BR> <BR>A self-contained modern but inexpensive place in Galway in the summer is the University residences. <BR> <BR>

Kathleen

I stayed at The Lighthouse in Kinsale--fabulous place, and Carmen the owner is wonderful. Might be a little more expensive than your budget, but I found most places in Kinsale are more expensive.

Cathy

Jody, <BR>Try the following sites www.hidden-ireland. <BR>www.irelands-blu-book.ie <BR>www.ireland.travel.ie <BR>A few individual places I would recemmend - Tinakilly House in Wicklow, LoughCrew House in MEath, Temple House in Sligo, Adar Manor, Ashford and Dromland Castles, Kinnity Castle. They are all listed in one of the above sites. Finally one beautiful place to stay is Highfield House in Woodenbridge in Wicklow - lovely scenery and excellent scenery, Congrats on your fort coming wedding and have a good holiday in Ireland.

Seamus

The Fuschia House in Killarney was a very nice B&B. Another place I would very highly recommend is Echo Lodge, which also houses a great restaurant called the Mustard Seed. It is, as i recall, close to Cork than Killarney, but was just great. Don't make the mistake we did and not have dinner at the Mustard Seed. <BR>Since this is your honeymoon, see if you can get a rom at Ballymaloe House. It is a 14th centruy Georgian Manor and also home to an internationally renown cooking school. They grow their own herbs and produce, and the meals are legendary. May be a bit pricey, but one night would create a wonderful honeymnoon memory.

Seamus

Oops - forgot about Galway! Glenlo Abbey is a rather upscale B&B, more of a hotel, really, that would be a great place. It is an old abbey on a lakeshore that has been lovingly converted for guests. Not the cheapest place to stay, but worth it.

Jody

Thanks for all the good advice everyone. I have looked at all those guides on the web. I think I now have too many options and great recommendations. I have to choose one. I hope that people will continue to recommend places in these areas as they think of them. I could use the help deciding.

Sharon

I just returned from a first trip to Ireland & would like to recommend that instead of Killarney you may look into staying in Kenmore. Kenmore is smaller with a great center filled with neat shops & restaurants, there are also a number of interesting sights locally - a druid circle for one; we ate in a wonderful place called Packey's..the chef is know for using locally grown herbs in her cooking - we were lucky to just get in without reservations on a Thrusday night, shortly after we were seated they began turning walk-in customers away! When we were staying with cousins (professionals in their early 30's) in Cork they had heard of Packey's & indicated that Kenmore was gaining a reputation for its restaurants (not as well know as Kinsdale, but growing in popularity); there was also another resturant there called the Lime Tree which is also pretty well known. We just stayed in a local B&B; we used the Green Irish Tourist Board B&B book & found that B&Bs with their logo (green shamrock) were clean, comfortable & the hosts always friendly & willing to recommend local sites & restaurants. Sometimes we called ahead a day, but we found we had no problem even when we didn't since we weren't always sure where we would stop for the night. I would think that in October, like late April/early May, you wouldn't have a problem if you didn't make all your reservations in advance..except for the larger,well known castle/manor hotels..as someone else indicated, there are tons of B&Bs everywhere, many are Irish Tourist Board recommended & almost always are in the range of 19-25. <BR> <BR>You should have a wonderful time..the scenery was beautiful, the food fantastic & the people kind & friendly. And the recent prosperity of Ireland is very noticeable; our Irish cousins are very proud of the emerging professional, educated Irish; although they admit improving the national road system is one of the next big challenges!

Kam

Hi, I've just booked a room at Ballymaloe for this year. Lowest rate was IR 140 for a double B&B. A bit out of your budget, but as stated above, if you could manage it, it would give you great honeymoon memories. It's in a little town called Shanagarry near Cork City and once you've stayed there, you'll return over and over, as we do, despite increasing rates. Congratulations.