sue

What are the best traditional style/music pubs for my itinerary...also favorite sites you have visited that are &quot;not to be missed&quot;. would like suggestions for 1st trip to Ireland...love music, historical sites, and pubs.<BR>day 1-Doolin<BR>day2/3-Galway area<BR>day4-Drogheda/Boyne Valley<BR>day5/6-Dublin <BR>day7/8-Enniscorthy <BR>day9-Kilkenny <BR>day10/11-Kinsale <BR>day12/13 Kenmare/Killarney<BR>day14/15/16-Dingle <BR>day17-Bunratty

Mavis

Hello, can recommend two pubs in Kinsale. One is the White House - great food and nice atmosphere. The other is The Mad Monk - lots of fun in the evening with low windows w. seats on the street so you can pay attention to the band and the street festival going on outside most nights. I'm not that crazy about either the Doolin area or Galway - I know lots of people rave about it on this site, but we were just there and found too many tourists and pubs trying too hard to be 'authentic'. When you say Galway area do you mean Galway city? If not, go west and found some interesting Gallic-speaking areas. Also north is Cong, home of The Quiet Man. The town can be a bit tacky but the countryside is beautiful. We loved Co. Mayo, even further north, particularly area around Dungarvan. Wherever you go in Ireland though, you'll enjoy yourself.

bill

The term traditional is a little hard to define. There are lots of pubs that will have &quot;traditional&quot; music, but what that actually is can vary. Doolin used to be a big center for trad music and still is in a way but they say the quality has dropped quite a bit. Once again, that depends on what you call traditional. The old idea of a session is just a bunch of folks showing up to play, thus there were always some rough edges. I had dinner with a major music agent in Dublin a few years back (i'm a musician and somehow convinced him to join me for drinks and food) and he said that a large number of the finer trad musicians were going to the US because the money was so much better. My suggestion is to ask in each town and be specific what you are looking for. <BR><BR>Here are a few suggestions though:<BR><BR>Gus O'Connors is well known in Doolin and the music happens more than once throughout the day. It tends to be pretty good. There is another pub and I can't think of the name off the top of my head.<BR><BR>I had a hard time finding a place to sit in a pub to listen to music on a Friday night in Galway. Ended up going back out to Oranmore where we were staying and listening to the worst band in recent memory. A guy with an electric piano and drum machine and what appeared to be his father on electric guitar. The bulk of it was C- or worse country western. The drum machine was my favorite part because it was apparently a new gadget and the owner was still stuggling with the vagaries of it's set-up. We gave up our front row seats after the first set much to the delight of the young locals lassies behind us. They are starved for entertainment in Oranmore.<BR><BR>Don't know about music, but we had dinner at &quot;The Poets Rest&quot; in Slane (near Drogheda) which is the home of the Hill of Slane. Good food and I thought the pub was great. We were the only non-locals there. A trip up the hill was memorable even though I'm not Catholic.<BR>

bill

You should have no problem finding trad in Dublin, but I was there on a weekend and found the crowds to overwhelming. There are better experts than me on this. <BR><BR>I'll skip to Kenmare and let others give better advice on the other towns. The only name that I remember off the top of my head that has regular music is &quot;The Square Pint&quot; though others have music too. The schedule changes with them. There is a restaurant in town that caters a little more to tourists called Casey's, but they are on the edge of town, on the road to Sneem. They advertise heavily that they have nightly music and they also have a story teller on some nights. The musicians we heard were a group of locals that owned instruments and it started earlier in the evening. The leader ocassionally forced his children to sing and dance which probably has scarred them for life. All of this said, it may not sound like it, but it was a fun evening. They were folk musicians in the truest sense ... folks playing music.<BR><BR>There are once again better experts on Dingle. Bunratty is an interesting place. It is Irish tourist &quot;Mecca&quot; and thus mainly caters to such. Durty Nellie's is known tourist world wide, but I found it to be pretty crowded and once again, on weekends, it is impossible. There is a pub on the grounds of the folk village which is accessible at night without entry to the park. I don't know much about it, but the violinist at Bunratty Castle was saying that it was the place to go. Then again, he may get paid to do so.<BR><BR>On that note, the castle banquet at Bunratty is the original definition of tourist entertainment and I thought it would be tacky. I was wrong. The musicians were great despite the pandering to the tourist public with &quot;Londonderry Air&quot;, &quot;When Irish Eyes are Smiling&quot; and an incredibly sappy &quot;God Bless America&quot; (the world still recovering from 9-11). By the way, the Danny Boy rendition was beautiful. The food, on the other hand, was nothing to write home about. But it was still good fun and the castle was quite nice. I didn't really love the folk park though. It was OK, but crowded. Once again, I hit it on a weekend when everyone was either just arriving or just leaving.<BR><BR>OK, I'll stop. Have fun!!!<BR><BR>Bill<BR>

David D.

Sue,<BR><BR>There was a time when Doolin was an Irish trad music ace-in-the-hole, serving up such terrific talents as fiddler Martin Hayes (now living in the Pacific Northwest) and piper Davy Spillane, to name but just a pair. But, alas, popularity (including an article in the New York Times) has gotten the best of the Doolin trad scene, at least concerning &quot;high season&quot; travel. The pubs - two more to note are McGann's and McDermott's - are often heaving with hoiday-makers, causing many trad music fans for a quiet pint in another village, perhaps Ballyvaughn. Moreover, the music is often sub-par, by no means worthy of coping with the crowds.<BR><BR>Still, Doolin is worth a stop, if only for its first-rate crafts gallery, along with some terrific dining possibilities. You won't go wrong at either The Lazy Lobster or Bruach Na haille.<BR><BR>Finally, you might consider Doolin as a base for exploring the Burren or as a launching-off point for a trip to one of the Aran Islands.<BR><BR>P.S. In all candor, not all of my recent trips to Doolin's pubs have been less than memorable. I was at O' Connor's a couple years back, was able to secure a seat (very tough to do unless you arrive early), and had a swell time listening to the sounds of The Ceili Bandits. Their recording Hangin' at the Crossroads is a good deal of trad fun.<BR><BR>Best of luck.

sinead

MAVIS,<BR>WE SPEAK GAELIC! NOT GALLIC (THAT'S FRANCE!)