Will be visiting Ireland for two weeks in July and would like to spend 4 or 5 days in Paris.. We can fly from US to Paris, and fly back home from Shannon, but need ideas on best/cheapest way to get from Paris to Shannon or Dublin.

Check www.whichbudget.com for cheap flights

Shannon isn't a significant Irish airport. Do you really need to go to Limerick?

There are no regular flights from there to Paris: Ryanair pretends it flies to Paris, but it actually flies to Beauvais, which is practically in Brussels or London.

There are real flights from Cork (Aer Lingus), Belfast City (Air France) and Belfast International (Easyjet), as well as Dublin. The only way of working out which is the best value is to look at prices on the day and route that suits you.

If you decide to fly out of Beauvais you can look at the airport website for info on how to get there by taking the shuttle bus from Porte-Maillot in Paris.

http://www.aeroportbeauvais.com/bus.php?lang=eng

I'm surprised Shannon isn't considered a major Irish airport as I remember the one time I flew from the US to Ireland, the plane first landed in Shannon, also, then we had to do another flight to Dublin. SO for some airlines I think it is, for some reason I don't know. Actually, I think it was the Irish airline, Aer Lingus, that I flew.

YOU can fly Aer Lingus to Dublin from CDG, that's probably the cheapest from Paris itself. No one flies direct to Shannon from Paris.

Thanks to all for your responses. I will take Aer Lingus from Paris to Cork or Shannon.

"I will take Aer Lingus from Paris to Cork or Shannon."

NO-ONE flies from Paris to Shannon, and only Ryanair flies to Shannon from Beauvais.

You've now been told that twice. Why waste your time and ours if you can't be arsed reading the answers?

"I'm surprised Shannon isn't considered a major Irish airport"

Ireland's a small country, and hardly anyone lives on its west coast. Self-evidently, the Irish over the centuries have moved to places as close as possible to Britain - so its major airports are in Dublin, Belfast and Cork.

Shannon airport is, like Gander and Anchorage, a relic of a different era. It used to be where planes from inhabited Europe refuelled before tackling the Atlantic. That need has more or less disappeared - though a small niche has been reinvented refuelling all-Business Class flights from London City Airport, where, westbound, you go through US immigration in Ireland and land at La Guardia. The winds mean that's not necessary eastbound.

Because Limerick is the arse end of nowhere, Ireland's endlessly stroppy unions constantly oppose Aer Lingus pulling out of Shannon altogether, and keep on undermining the airline's viability by forcing it to land transatlantic flights there - achieving nothing except a few jobs preserved and a whopping extra cost for the airline.

Airlines not subject to government control don't have to put up with this claptrap - and the West of Ireland is dotted with airports a lot handier for where tourists want to go to.

Interesting history, flanner.

Did Prestwick have a similar history/purpose?

Reply to Flanneruk :
Sorry, I missed-typed and wrote Shannon instead of Dublin. No need to get snippy about it.
Now, let me take issue with your statement " Ireland's a small country, and hardly anyone lives on its west coast."

My entire family lives in or near the west coast and I fly into Shannon from Newark every year on a full plane and have decided not to drive there anymore due to the traffic. Where on earth did you get the idea that hardly anyone lives on it's west coast. You need to get your facts straight.

Apparently losing part of one's empire is still tough to take. It was easier taking Ireland's crops during the "famine".
Cork airport nicely services the southwestern towns of Kinsale, Killarney and Dingle.

I'd take Aer Lingus DUB to CDG rt.

Those who remember Shannon as a refuelling point will probably also remember Bangor, Maine.