My wife and I are planning our trip to Ireland in the Spring with friends. I need a car that will hold the luggage of 4 people comfortably. We will be driving all over the Republic of Ireland but not in Dublin. I am looking for a recommendation on the size and type of car to rent. We have always rented the tiniest car possible when we have visited Spain and Italy because of the narrow streets in the cities and hill towns. What would you recommend to comfortably fit the luggage of 4 people but still be able to negotiate the roads of Ireland? Are there any other considerations that I should bear in mind.

Also, I am looking for another good book to recommend B&Bs and inns across Ireland. I already have Karen Brown's and Rick Steve's books on Ireland. We want to stay at quaint B&Bs and inns but don't want to break the bank with high priced rooms.

Thanks in advance for your recommendations.

We (four adults) went to Ireland last April. Like you, we wanted a small car but one large enough to hold us all relatively comfortably. We rented a Standard sized car from Hertz which I believe the website said would be a "Mazda 6 or similar". It seated us just fine and one of the adults is 6'3" tall. We had enough room in the trunk for our luggage, but we only brought one carry-on each. If you have more baggage than that, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to put it all in the trunk.
I checked several guidebooks for B&B recommendations (including Rick Steves') but I found the most helpful tool to be the Hotel Recommendations on www.tripadvisor.com One of the tabs for the city hotels is "B&Bs/Inns" and I would check those for the city where I was planning to stay. I got a lot of good information and then I would contact the owner by email and phone to check rates and make a reservation. We stayed in 3 differnt B&B's on our trip that I found through Trip Advisor and they were all good.

I would say at LEAST a Standard size car, depending on how much luggage each of you takes. We usually get one size below for three large-sized adults, with a carryon and checked piece each, and do fine.

As far as guidebooks, I liked Michele Erdvig's book, at www.irelandyes.com - she's gone to Ireland over 40 times, and personally checks out each B&B and hotel she recommends. She has some recs on her site, more in her book. I also use tripadvisor for many of my choices.

Longhorn55 and Greendragon,
Many thanks for your recommendations. One the size car and the B&B info. I agree with you on needing to carry carry-on sized luggage. I'll definitely pass that along to the others. I'll also check out the book and websites. Thanks again, Jim

As recently as three or four years ago, the Irish Travel Board offered a B&B guide that was free if you called ahead for it. I found it very useful. I just took a fairly brief look at their website and couldn't find any mention of it. But you might want to call 1-800-Shamrock to see if it's still available.

Alastair Sawday's website has some beautiful B&Bs in Ireland.

The above-referenced website:

http://www.sawdays.co.uk/accommodati...ryColl=Ireland

As to car rental, be sure that you are comparing apples to apples -- beware of "low-ball" quotes that fail to detail all of the "EXTRA" fees which can DOUBLE your actual cost of rental.

When searching out quotes on-line, 'click' on the "Terms and Conditions" for details such as: Road Tax - often 1.5-2 Euro per day; Premium Location Pick Up -- between 25-40 Euro; Fuel Requirements -- such as pick-it-up-FULL-but-return-it-empty-with NO-credit-for-unused; licensing fees; additional driver fees; cost of insurance -- and the EXTREMELY arcane terms involved; and any fees invoked should you opt to WAIVE the insurance.

There are probably HUNDREDS of threads about the vagarities of Irish Car Hire here on Fodors, should you care to do a search. Choosing a rental car is the single, MOST difficult part of you trip planning. It is the BANE of Irish Tourism -- What I call, "Kissing The Frog" -- as in, 'If you kiss a frog, first thing in the morning, nothing WORSE can happen for the rest of the day.'

Ireland is worth it, though. I'm returning in July, for my 12th trip, over the last 11 years. I've used Dan Dooley 2 of the last 3 years, largely due to their, "We CHARGE you what we QUOTE you" approach. If you check out Pat Preston's http://www.irelandexpert.com/linkspage.htm#Car Rental you can receive a discount by mentioning her name. Dooley has an office in New Jersey. Last year, by pre-paying for the rental, I even avoided the infamous, "Foreign Transaction Fees" as I was charge in US Dollars, by a US company!

That said, I've used Thrifty, in the past (and their 'Sister Company' Atlas Car Hire) without significant complaint, as well, so ultimately it comes down to a choice of who has the best, TOTAL price ...

Bob