Self drive Ireland
Jan 19th, 2001, 03:05 PM
#2
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Jim: Get in touch with the Irish Tourist Board(They have a toll free # in NY) and they will send you a great book on B&B's all over Ireland. I was in Ireland for the first time this past Sept.and even though we did self-catering we stayed in a B&B the first and last night of our trip. We also rented a car. Be sure to specify if you want an automatic and also power steering.
Jan 20th, 2001, 02:23 AM
#3
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Jim,
www.ireland.travel.ie is the web site for the Tourist Board, get them to send you their free brochures. Also check out town and country and the hidden ireland ireland web sites (see other posts for details) www.townandcountry.ie
www.irishfarmholidays.com
www.hidden-ireland.com,
www.jurys.com
www.family-homes.ie
www.castlesireland.com/
www.gsh.ie - chain of hotels
www.irelands-blue-book.ie (expensive but top quality places)
www.irishcountryhousesandcastles.com
Hope this helps,
Cathy
www.ireland.travel.ie is the web site for the Tourist Board, get them to send you their free brochures. Also check out town and country and the hidden ireland ireland web sites (see other posts for details) www.townandcountry.ie
www.irishfarmholidays.com
www.hidden-ireland.com,
www.jurys.com
www.family-homes.ie
www.castlesireland.com/
www.gsh.ie - chain of hotels
www.irelands-blue-book.ie (expensive but top quality places)
www.irishcountryhousesandcastles.com
Hope this helps,
Cathy
Jan 20th, 2001, 06:28 AM
#4
Guest
Posts: n/a
I fond driving on the 'wrong' side of the road to be very little problem. I would recommend getting an automatic so that you can concentrate on driving and not have to think about shifting.
Signage in Ireland is very poor. All road signs have both English and Gaillic names. You soon learn to see only the English words fairly quickly on the larger signs, but I found it distracting on the smaller signs that are hard to read.
On smaller roads (that's almost all of the roads) signs are ofter just at intersections. I often made a confusing turn and then wondered if I went the right way. If yoiu can have one person act as navigator, it will go smoother.
I went in March and had no problem with finding B&B's as I went along. I used the guidebook by Town and Country. They have several symbols to tell all the amenities of the B&B. Study them if any mean anything important toyou. FOr example, my travelling companion always wanted a tea maker in his room. ALmost allhad them, but one didn't, so thereafter, that became one of the criteria we used.
If you are flying into Dublin, I can recommend you spend the first night in Slane (near the Newgrange passage graves). We stayed at the Boyne View B&B.
If you leave from Dublin, I recommend staying at the Holly Tree House in Swords, right outside the airport. You can easily drive into Dublin frome there - only one, well-marked turn to make.
Signage in Ireland is very poor. All road signs have both English and Gaillic names. You soon learn to see only the English words fairly quickly on the larger signs, but I found it distracting on the smaller signs that are hard to read.
On smaller roads (that's almost all of the roads) signs are ofter just at intersections. I often made a confusing turn and then wondered if I went the right way. If yoiu can have one person act as navigator, it will go smoother.
I went in March and had no problem with finding B&B's as I went along. I used the guidebook by Town and Country. They have several symbols to tell all the amenities of the B&B. Study them if any mean anything important toyou. FOr example, my travelling companion always wanted a tea maker in his room. ALmost allhad them, but one didn't, so thereafter, that became one of the criteria we used.
If you are flying into Dublin, I can recommend you spend the first night in Slane (near the Newgrange passage graves). We stayed at the Boyne View B&B.
If you leave from Dublin, I recommend staying at the Holly Tree House in Swords, right outside the airport. You can easily drive into Dublin frome there - only one, well-marked turn to make.
Jan 20th, 2001, 09:22 AM
#5
Guest
Posts: n/a
Since I don't drive a standard shift car, I cleverly reserved a standard shift one. That meant my travel partner who loves to drive had to do all the driving and I was free to view and play navigator. (Yes, I know that was sneaky of me). But he actually prefered the stick shift anyway, and was a whole lot cheaper. One little hint that was given to us and worked. If you are driving the Ring of Kerry: most of the tours and even self-drive cars seem to do the Ring in a counterclockwise direction. We did it clockwise and had no traffic going our way, although we sure saw a lot of backups going the other direction.
