We are going to Ireland next month (visiting the SW) and are so excited. We have done a lot of research. We’ve watched travel videos; movie videos filmed in Ireland, bought tour books, looked up lots of sites on the internet and read trip reports on Fodor’s. Thanks for all the advice. It’s really helped us to plan our trip.

I would just like to hear more and thought it would be interesting to know what you liked best about your trip.

Thanks,
Robbyn

My husband and I and our (then) 10 and 12 year olds went to Ireland the summer before last and we loved it (all except getting there--Aer Lingus cancelled our flight from New York to Shannon and we wound up on a Bangladesh airline to Brussels)! We got to see a good bit of the country in our rented Renault Elf. Highlights for us included a boat ride out to the Aran Islands (where we rented bikes), the Dingle Peninsula, Dublin and Newgrange. The country really is breathtakingly beautiful and the people are quite friendly--try to head off the beaten path a bit if you can! Also, read "Nory Ryan's Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff for a telling tale of the devastating potato famine--our family listened to the book on tape before we went and it gave us a sense of the country's history. Have a wonderful trip!

Thanks Lojack, I have reserved the audio from the library.

Anyone one else?
Thanks...
robbyn

We had just settled into our tiny cottage that we rented for 2 weeks. It was sunny Sunday afternoon and we strolled into our nearest very tiny town called Broadford. We picked a pub, walked in, and 4 men at the bar turned and stared at the American man and woman entering. It was a deer in the headlights moment for all of us! The next thing I knew, one the men said ( and I quote) "come on in, you are most welcome here." They bought us beer, sang songs for us,and give us a history lesson about themselves and their town. It is truly a cherished moment of many that we experienced in Ireland. Have a great trip, you will love it.

Hi Marlie

As a single most memorable experience, I would have to say the Cliffs of Mohr. As a second, Ring of Kerry and for a third, Trinity College library.

Most memorable, hm. There were so many. Dingle Peninsula definitely - lunch at a gift shop out at the end of the peninsula with an incredible view over the water. Also, the Aran Islands. The Rock of Cashel. AND ranking right up there were the two times when traffic was completely stopped in both directions for a group of cows being moved from one field to another (or off to milking or whatever). You'll love Ireland! If I may again (modestly and humbly) recommend my trip report from last summer... it's called Penny and Karen's Ireland adventure (or something like that - search for Penny on the Ireland board).
Karen

My best memory was stopping in Boyle, ireland for a quick pint on our way to Athlone. The pub we happened to pick was an Irish pub owned by a guy from Nashville! There was Elvis on the jukebox and the pub was decorated sort of country-western!! My travel partner ordered a Smithwicks,pronouncing it wrong. All of the irish men at the bar burst out laughing, and we ended up staying for hours talking with the locals and the ex-pat who ran the bar. It was a great experience, and a great chance to talk with the locals who are every bit as friendly as I believed.

Horseback ride in the west; walking into a pub cold (from riding in the rain, please note still able to walk) and warm fire--August my first Hot Irish Whiskey by the fireplace. Eating sandwiches in the rain, spending nights in Clifden's Abbeyglen Castle Hotel. Another visit, last year my friend and i just drove in the west. Finding castles and ruins and the Abbeys...best of all the people.

My most memorable experience in Ireland was buying an Omega watch at the Shannon Duty-Free for $38.

Oh, wait. That was my <u>only</u> experience in Ireland. What was the question?

There are so many, where do I start?

Hiking the Cliffs of Moher and having the waitress at the visitor's center let me ladle all the cream I wanted on my apple pie...

Trying to hike out to the Beehive Huts in a teeming rainstorm with a friend and being picked up by 2 carloads of girls, who took us to a pub...

Hitchiking on the back of a tractor on the Aran Islands after hiking out to Dun Aengus fort...

Driving the back roads of Co. Clare with a couple of Irishmen in a Mini, looking for a pub reputed to have fantastic music...and then finding it...

And there are many more. My backpacking tour of Ireland was one of those life-changing trips.

The waterfall walk in the Glenariff Forest Park in Northern Ireland, on the Antrim coast is purely and simply magical. The Antrim Coast is magical.

When we were staying for one rainy night in Cavan we ate dinner in the restaurant attached to our guesthouse. It was the one we could see from the bus station. Whilst having dinner a group of men who looked like they workers on a dinner break were also eating. There was traditional music on the cd player. Soon one was playing the spoons and another was chair dancing (with his feet) to the music. That was magical as well!

Sitting by the fire with my father(and Uncle who still lived there) in the house they were born in...they, telling us stories of long ago.... (1970)

Having the local &quot;lads&quot; line up to dance with this American girl! (1970 &amp; 1971)

On a trip with my sister....picking up hitchhikers of all kinds (locals and other foreigners) and not being afraid of anything! (1971)

Climbing Croagh Patrick during the annual Pilgrimage with (1971)

Hanging out with the local teenagers my age....(1970 &amp; 1971). (still friends all these years later)

Picking up two 80 year women hitchiking...thumbs out and all...

House parties with locals that go on all night....(1971, 1984)

Too many to mention-7 trips with my 8th in 2 weeks!! And, 9th in September probably.
Shadow

Karen,
I read your trip report about 2 months ago and have just read it again. I enjoyed it very much, just hope we have as much fun as you and Karen did. Reading about Karen's tar experience sounds like something that would happen to me. Makes the trip more interesting I guess.

I was wondering if you had any of your pictures on line anyplace. I'd sure like to see the picture of the bull that you took.

Thanks for all the replies. I've really enjoyed reading them. It's just making me more anxious to start our trip.

Robbyn

Just thinking about an answer to your question has brought a smile to my face.

- Meeting a distant relative of my husband's in a peat field in Co. Mayo. She invited us back to her house for tea and cake and filled in many blanks in the family history.
- My husband drawing a heart and our initials in the sand on a beach on Achill Island on our 25th wedding anniversary trip.
- Riding in a 'very' small boat to Ilnacullen Gardens at Glengarrif. There were no life jackets and although I swim, my DH doesn't. The gardens were worth the anxiety, however.
- 'Driving' (yes, we really did) the Gap of Dunloe from the wrong end (where there weren't any signs saying you can only go so far by car.)
- Being scrutinized by the very Catholic landlady of the last B&amp;B in Co. Donegal. It was like trying to get through Checkpoint Charlie.
- Crossing the border into Northern Ireland, many years ago, and having our car searched by young men with machine guns.
- Renting a thatched cottage at Ardmore, in Co. Waterford and having peat fires every night. Walking the Cliff Walk, the sing-along at Paddy Mac's pub, watching the nuns go for a walk on a windy day eating ice cream cones.

That's probably the most wonderful thing about Ireland. The contrasts between beautiful things and real life.

the dingle peninsula ,the beehive huts ,the oratory,the surfers at inch,the connor pass,the beautiful coast and beaches of the west coast,the forge restaurant in dingle and kitty kaboodles restaurant in dublin near st stephens green and the spooky Dumbrody abbey near wexford

After days (really weeks) of extensive research in the days before internet and Fodor's Forums, we land in Shannon with Plan A, Plan B and Plan C but no reservations other than our flights home from Gatwick. Nice ladies in the airport Tourist Bureau made our first reservations at a Farm and Breakfast and for a castle banquet that night. We were seated at a table of English speaking folks (table separated by languages of origin) and we asked an American family headed home the next day what there favorite part of the trip had been.

Their answer was the Aran Islands. My mom asked me if we were going there, but I said no, I didn't think we &quot;had time&quot;. We decided to go that night. They told us where to go to catch the ferry the next day and we were there. Unfortunately, the ferry never arrived. After checking the timetable on the sign, we realized the ferry didn't come to that location on Sundays.

We spent the day riding around Connemara. Peat bog - right there! Connemara ponies - standing in the road! Connemara marble - quarry at the side of the road! Jumped out to pick up a marble chip to bring home. What in the WORLD does that sign say? - Dig through the travel bags to find the map that has the Gaelic placenames! Does this road really go where want to go? - Of course it does! Well, maybe not. The road gets smaller and less gravelly and becomes mostly dirt...and then we are in the midst of a community just as Mass is over and the entire population spills out and walks down the middle of the road. Little girls in crinoline and lace eating ice cream cones. Everyone looking at us trying to figure out why in the world we are going down this little lane to nowhere. Other lost rental cars that thought I knew where I was going had to que up as I turned around at what looked like Land's End. Nothing between us and the US now but a lot of water.

The rest of the afternoon was wonderful. The trip to the Aran Islands was magical. On the way back to what was supposed to be the &quot;start&quot; of our itineray two days later, my mom and I decided that if we had to go home now, we would have had the most magical trip to Ireland ever.

Ireland IS magical. Please don't overschedule and allow the unexpected to happen. I have more stories, but have rambled on long enough already.

The Aran Islands are a must-see. We, too, thought we didn't have &quot;enough&quot; time but we made time and still are thankful we did.

I also loved Malin Head on the far north coast of the Republic. It's stunningly beautiful, amazingly quiet and there's a gorgeous little thatched-roof farm in the foreground of the scene, complete with a farmer feeding his horses in their wave-pounded seaside pasture at sunset. Magic.

To The Top again...

My wife and I sat on a bench overlooking the harbor bay at Clifden and watched the sun sink and paint the sea different colors as it sank. That was after a dinner where the catch of the day was delayed slightly as the fisherman's dory can up to the landing with fresh salmon.

Clip clopping along on a horse and buggy ride around the Lakes of Killarney, blissful scenery and a very entertaining commentary from our driver Danny. Walking along the country roads of Doolin, being practically swept away by the winds and marveling in the beauty of land and sea. Drinking irish coffee and having a sing a long with a German couple who spoke not a word of English in Kenmare. Dancing a jig with an ancient Irishman with a brogue so thick I couldn't understand him, but laughter knows no barriers.