allovereurope

Our family will be going to Ireland for one week--6 adults, flying into Dublin (I had suugested flying into Shannon, but nobody listens to me). Anyhow, since one of the adults has mobility issues (can't handle stairs), we thought that it would be best to rent a cottage for the week (rather than skip around and take our chances on B&B's for 6 people) and explore from that base.

The problem I'm running into--what is the best town for a base? It looked like Doolin would do the trick, except now I read that it is a very tiny town, without much to interest us for long, and the ferries to the Aran Islands will be closed. I've read that getting a place right in the middle of Ireland would make everything equally far away, while giving us better access to castles, but we won't be able to visit many castles, I don't think, due to the aforementioned mobility issues.

So I suppose something on the west coast (Galway, maybe) and ideally with access to the Aran Islands and the Cliffs of Moher would be up our alley. We don't want to have to drive 4 hours each way every day, although arriving in Dublin we're prepared for at least one long drive. Gven the above info, does anyone have any suggestions? Any advice would be much appreciated.

MaryZ

The Cliffs of Moher can be visited on your way from one place to another, so I wouldn't let them determine your location. I'm not sure when you're going, but if you want to be close to an Aran Island ferry, then you might look at Spiddal, just west of Galway City. There are lots of cottages in the area and the ferry is just a few miles away at Rossaveel. Galway City provides lots to do for city lovers, but you also have the beautiful Connemara region for the rural lovers to explore.

Another option would be the area around Ballyvaughan, north of Doolin. Ballyvaughan's a nice small town, not too far from the ferry, and close to the Cliffs. It's also right on the edge of the Burren which is an interesting and surprising part of Ireland.

Budman

Here's a link to a cottage near Doolin that we were thinking of renting -- one of our friends gave it to us, but we are just 2 and doing the B&B thingy. Maybe this can help.

http://www.harbourviewthatchedcottages.com/

SiobhanP

I think MaryZ's suggestion for spiddal could be nice for you. its close to Galway city, you can get a ferry or plane to Inish Mor from Spiddal. Spiddal slao has a few pubs and restaurants. You could drive up to Clifton and Kylemore Abbey as well.

Ann41

I like Roundstone (Connemara) quite a bit. We considered renting a cottage there ourselves this summer, but decided to head to Scotland instead. I found a few within walking distance of the village. I just did random searches and came up with a lot of stuff.

Clifton

I think I'd like the area just outside of Galway too, for a longer stay. You have Galway itself close by for lots of dining, beautiful coastal or inland drives, going all those places people have mentioned, plus Long Corrib, Cong, even Westport, etc.

waffle18

Since you will only be in Ireland for a week and it seems you all are set on being on the West coast, I strongly suggest that you fly into and out of Shannon and not Dublin. You should insist on it to your group! There's no reason to land in Dublin if you head straight to the West and stay there a week unless you just want to work on your driving skills as you travel across the country. (It is a lovely drive tho and one I've done a few times but we always stay much longer than one week.)

Having said that, you could just as easily stay on the east coast for a week instead. Stay near or in Kilkenny for your base and do day trips from there. Lots of castles and scenery and such there, too, including Dublin.

If you end up West, Galway or just outside of it (Spiddal is a favorite o'mine, too!) is a perfect place to stay and do day trips from. Your shortest drive would be from Dublin Airport to Galway/Spiddal on the main roads; doable in 3 to 4 hours with little city traffic (both ends) and decent weather.

Put "Wheelchair" into the Search space then hit Ireland in Subject. You will come up with several good discussions on this forum about web sites & places for those with mobility issues.

Have a grand time!

Wendy

waffle18hotmail.com

allovereurope

Wow--thanks everyone for the suggestions. The flights were booked to Dublin a long time ago so I can't change anything. I'm looking up info on Kilkenny, Spiddal and Conemara now.

If anyone has any more suggestions, I'd still love to hear them!

Thanks again

waffle18

Figure that you will pay between 30-35Euro per person per night at a B&B; that includes breakfast, of course. Even a cottage rental of 1000E a week will save you some money. (Most prices I found were between 400-700E.) Remember that most cottage weekly rentals are from Saturday to Saturday though arrangements can to be made if you need to stay more or on other days.

Since you are looking for places that sleep 6 and in the height of tourist season, if renting a cottage is the way you want to go, you should arrange for something sooner rather than later.

Here's a web site that has loads of self catering places listed as well as all other kinds of accommodations.

http://www.ireland.travel.ie

On there I did some searching and found the following (few) places in Kilkenny that looked nice. There were tons of others, some have no web sites just contact info.

http://www.brandonviewbandb.com/self_catering.htm

http://www.killure.ie/

http://www.wallsloughvillage.com/index.htm

http://www.blanchville.ie/self_catering.html


Obviously, you can do the same for Co. Clare and Galway or even Dublin and Wicklow if you want.

Then there's this site:
http://www.irelandselfcateringguide.com


Once you pick an area, come back and post about it, perhaps someone here can point to a place they've stayed at before.

Good luck and have a fantastic trip!

Wendy

[email protected]

waffle18

And may I just add that this place in Clare looks amazing!

http://www.burrenholidays.com/lisheen/index.html

~w

waffle18

Sorry, just one more...

http://www.rentacottage.ie/index.html

cottages all over the West.

~w

eyps

We stayed at Wallslough Village the week after Christmas this past year. And although I was ill, and very unhappy, the setting is great. Their thatched roof cottages can get a bit drafty and they have two renovated pre-fammine buildings with "traditional slate roofs" that are larger and they are convenient for trips into Kilkenny, and they're on the R700, which is a small highway that has a Craft route that you can take. Since we were there in the winter, everything was closed, but we did put allot of miles on our car.


If you?re going to Galway, I?d like to recommend Grattan House, in Salt Hill, http://www.stayingalway.com/index.html, you can check with Seán to see if his beachfront apartments are available for rent.

Enjoy your trip!