just wondered have any of you ever visited places like-Glendalough or done the wicklow gap tour or gone hill-walking on the beautiful wicklow mts---heck--yes i am " plugging" my county of birth as all your trip reports here seem to all have a fixation on the west coast of ireland--

I spent some time in Dalkey two years ago with friends and loved it! We also went down to Avoca and the drive was beautiful.

I'm going to Northern Ireland in 2 weeks--can anyone offer recommendations for that?

You might get more answers if one knew to which east coast your post refers, w/o having to open it.

MelJ... we visited Northern Ireland and traveled the coast. We loved the Glenariff Forest Park and stayed at The Meadows B&B in Cushendall. This is a beautiful area. Carlow1, I agree with your post. We stayed North but would like to see the coast that we see from Scotland!

In my visit in Jan 03 I visited Glendalough and the Wicklow moutnains. Absolutely beautiful- and that was in the middle of winter. Haven't made it to the west coast yet - next trip.

carlow1, I've been planning a trip to Ireland with la kidlets. We intend to stay on the east coast just for the sheer convenience of it (we'll be taking the ferry from Dun Laoghaire to Holyhead, Wales) and plus it seems to satisfy all of our present requirements.

We plan on staying in Dun Laoghaire and using that as a base for Dublin, the Wicklow Mountains (my daughter wants to hike there), Castletown House (as we are Connollys), and a day trip to Kilkenny/Rock of Cashel/Blarney Castle. While most of the trip will be designed around what my daughter wishes to do I've extracted promises that it'll will OKAY for me to explore the James Joyce tower near Dun Laoghaire and the Writer's Museum in Dublin.

Thanks for plugging your area!

MelJ

Why not post a new thread asking for information on the North of Ireland, with a suitable heading. I, and many others, would be only too glad to help if you give us a few more details of what you are after.

Angela

I immediately thought...gee, I don't know...What IS wrong with New York?

Having traveled to both the east and west of Ireland, we enjoyed our trip to the east more. I know the scenery in the west is beautiful, but it got kind of boring. I enjoyed staying in Dublin and driving south to Glendalough and we did get down to Avoca and have a pint in Fitzgerald's Pub of Ballykissangel fame. We drove out to Kildare to the Curragh and up to Howth. I was not enamored of the west.

ooohhh miaow i know this post got lost in cyber- space!!! but you know we ain't all puuuurrrfect and thanks for the replies people!!! xxxx