Private tour, with Chauffeur
 

We are going to Ireland on September, and
we are looking for a pivate tour with car or van and a guide.
for 5 nights and 6 days., we are four persons, and all adults. ANY advises or
recommendations?
Thanks in advance

Yes, I do have a recommendation: call Procar, or send them an email: [email protected]. They have a wonderful service covering anything from individual charuffeurs to coach drivers of small coaches or large. Their guides are knowledgeable and I am sure you will enjoy their service: we certainly did.

We are using Discover Ireland Tours this June for our 10 person family trip.

They have been very helpful. We were able to select our itinerary and where we wanted to stay. They could plan your trip; we wanted to do it.

We feel that the prices are fair...my friend is taking a large company bus tour for 2 less days (they are staying in all large hotels-nice but not as conveniently located)for roughly the same price...but we get to go where we want, can visit and stay in smaller towns, aren't tied to 50 other people...just 10...and have flexibility.

We will have a driver/guide and be traveling in a van.

They provided several references, including one from near my hometown and I even spoke to one guy over the phone. I have emailed them a couple of times.

I will post feedback here when we return.

Thank you for your recommendations.

I wrote to discoverirelandtours.com
and they quoted me 1,255 euros per person for 6 days and 5 nights, and
I think it is too much for the lenght
of time we are going. I wrote back
telling them it was out of our budget
and I am waiting for a reply. I think
that 900 euros is about fair that is $1137.00 dollars per person and we are 4 persons.
I will post the answer, and will write
to procar also.
Thanks

I'm not sure what places in Ireland you will be visiting but there are numerous Operators who would be happy to arrange a Chauffered trip: One whom I know from having discussed a Golfing trip to Carne Golf Links, Belmullet, County Mayo is James Barrett in Bangor Erris, County Mayo. He has several Buses & Vans. We're not related but you can tell him Ned referred you to him. Bangor Erris is a small town so you might drop him a line w/the info above as his address.

The 1,200 Euro or so P/P is also about what CIE Tours charges but I think that also includes lodging w/breakfasts.

o'connor auto tours ltd
ask for Dermot Fogarty, he was awesome and genuine

[email protected]

Thank you for all of your suggestions,
and orientation.
I will look into it.
I have several options, and I am asking
for quotations. Some of the tours are
only the guide and the car, and they
do not include Hotels., and some of
them are with Hotels included, so I have
to compare, and see which is the best deal.
Thanks again.

In the late 90's I booked a chauffered tour including lodging at castles and manors around the island through Destinations Ireland and Great Britain, and cannot say enough good things about them. http://www.destinations-ireland.com/ They have an office in NY and everything was arranged prior to our departure. They even managed to get us a night at Ballymaloe House, not any easy thing to do. I do not recall the price, and it surely has increased since then, but do recall that it was actually not much more than had we done all the planning ourselves, especially when one figures in cost of car rental, mandatory insurance (your credit card coverage does not apply in Ireland), fuel and the general aggravation of driving and navigating oneself. And becasue it was "our" chauffer rather than a tour we were free to do and go where we pleased on a given day within the confines of our lodging reservations. In terms of price, do keep in mind that Ireland is no longer the tourist bargain it once was, and in fact is getting to be among the more expensive places to visit. Still worth it, IMHO.