trip to Ireland

[pontifex]

I'm mostly interested in seeing the cultural and historical side of Ireland.

I've never been out of the country - barely been out of the state of PA. Never flown in an airplane.

Easiest way to plan a trip? Get a package deal thing or what?

Whats the least expensive way to go, but also making it enjoyable?

 

[Scouzer]

Contiki is good if you're under 35.

 

[glenn1]

Originally posted by: pontifex
I'm mostly interested in seeing the cultural and historical side of Ireland.

I've never been out of the country - barely been out of the state of PA. Never flown in an airplane.

Easiest way to plan a trip? Get a package deal thing or what?

Whats the least expensive way to go, but also making it enjoyable?

Fly-drive vacation is the way to go IMHO. We did the Emerald Package with Sceptre Tours and it worked fabulously. We liked it enough that we got the same package for my parents and they loved it too (they're not very easy-going travelers). The vouchers for the Bed and Breakfast places worked fine, and we really enjoyed staying in Adare Manor the last night. Mind you, we went back in 2002 when airfares were still dirt cheap and the Euro was a little less pricey.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: glenn1

Originally posted by: pontifex
I'm mostly interested in seeing the cultural and historical side of Ireland.

I've never been out of the country - barely been out of the state of PA. Never flown in an airplane.

Easiest way to plan a trip? Get a package deal thing or what?

Whats the least expensive way to go, but also making it enjoyable?

Fly-drive vacation is the way to go IMHO. We did the Emerald Package with Sceptre Tours and it worked fabulously. We liked it enough that we got the same package for my parents and they loved it too (they're not very easy-going travelers). The vouchers for the Bed and Breakfast places worked fine, and we really enjoyed staying in Adare Manor the last night. Mind you, we went back in 2002 when airfares were still dirt cheap and the Euro was a little less pricey.

So explain a little more how it worked. Do they just like give you a map with certain things highlighted and the keys to a car and let you go?

I'm kind of in a dilemma here where I kind of want it to be a personalized trip where I can spend as much time in an area that I want or go to something that isn't on the iteinerary, etc. But at the same time, I've never traveled before, I have no idea what I'm doing or what I need to look for, etc.

 

[Turin39789]

We went in 07, Did it all ourselves, read up on tripadvisor and some books. We went with another couple, friends of ours, Drove ourselves, and split the costs. Enjoyed it very much. Can give you more detail, will it just be you, are you looking for landscape sites or festivals or historical castle stuff or what?

 

[OdiN]

I'd say you should probably take a plane.

 

[Turin39789]

Originally posted by: OdiN
I'd say you should probably take a plane.

boat can be cheaper if you have unlimited time

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Turin39789
We went in 07, Did it all ourselves, read up on tripadvisor and some books. We went with another couple, friends of ours, Drove ourselves, and split the costs. Enjoyed it very much. Can give you more detail, will it just be you, are you looking for landscape sites or festivals or historical castle stuff or what?

It would be by myself most likely. I don't know anyone that could go with me.

I guess mostly landscapes and castles. Seeing some of the famous and historic towns like Dublin and Galway and some of the smaller rural towns. I definitely want to visit Dunsany castle. Other historical sites are high on my list of things to see.

I'm not much of a drinker but I'd like to visit some Irish pubs and see some live traditional Irish music.

 

[Turin39789]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Turin39789
We went in 07, Did it all ourselves, read up on tripadvisor and some books. We went with another couple, friends of ours, Drove ourselves, and split the costs. Enjoyed it very much. Can give you more detail, will it just be you, are you looking for landscape sites or festivals or historical castle stuff or what?

It would be by myself most likely. I don't know anyone that could go with me.

I guess mostly landscapes and castles. Seeing some of the famous and historic towns like Dublin and Galway and some of the smaller rural towns. I definitely want to visit Dunsany castle. Other historical sites are high on my list of things to see.

I'm not much of a drinker but I'd like to visit some Irish pubs and see some live traditional Irish music.

We went in March, just before tourist season started, we were there I think for 9 days and left the morning after St. Patricks Day. We flew into Dublin, drove a long drive south to Kilkenney and stayed there one night in a shitty hostel. Middle of the next day we drove to Kilarney and stayed in a wonderful Cabin. We based there for 3 days and drove around the ring of kerry, then drove to Galway for two nights, then drove to Dublin for two nights.

It was a lot of driving, but I don't mind driving and actually didn't really let anyone else take over at the wheel. Kikenney was a neat town, we walked around and stopped in a pub and watched a football match, then went to a bar for some music, took some nice pictures and relaxed. Kilarney had some great views, and some of us were hungover the day we drove the ring, but they revived in time for me to take one of the detour alternate routes that took us to the coast and was breathtaking. Really a neat town, we stayed just outside of town and the cottage was great, got to have a peat fire every night. Galway was wonderful as well, had the nice artsty/bar/restaurant district. Great seafood, and I got engaged here.
Dublin was busy, made the mistake of trying to drive into town for dinner before dropping the car off and that took forever. We spent our full day here on st. patricks day so it was a bit hectic but we still managed to take the Guinness tour and see the tart with the cart, would have like more time but probably would have spent it in kilarney or galway. We cut out cork and waterford for times sake, we also missed some stuff by going early, in kilarney the mucross house and castle were mostly closed and didn't open until the next week.

so much more to say, this was my first international trip but it was a blast. Read up and figure out what your must see's are, then figure out which ones you need to drop to be realistic and then flesh it out

 

[Spineshank]

I just went there a few weeks ago. I went through EFtours however so thats not an option. But i would do a tour of some sort. Driving on the other side of the road really screwed with me most of the trip haha.

 

[glenn1]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: glenn1

Originally posted by: pontifex
I'm mostly interested in seeing the cultural and historical side of Ireland.

I've never been out of the country - barely been out of the state of PA. Never flown in an airplane.

Easiest way to plan a trip? Get a package deal thing or what?

Whats the least expensive way to go, but also making it enjoyable?

Fly-drive vacation is the way to go IMHO. We did the Emerald Package with Sceptre Tours and it worked fabulously. We liked it enough that we got the same package for my parents and they loved it too (they're not very easy-going travelers). The vouchers for the Bed and Breakfast places worked fine, and we really enjoyed staying in Adare Manor the last night. Mind you, we went back in 2002 when airfares were still dirt cheap and the Euro was a little less pricey.

So explain a little more how it worked. Do they just like give you a map with certain things highlighted and the keys to a car and let you go?

I'm kind of in a dilemma here where I kind of want it to be a personalized trip where I can spend as much time in an area that I want or go to something that isn't on the iteinerary, etc. But at the same time, I've never traveled before, I have no idea what I'm doing or what I need to look for, etc.

Not quite. Basically, once you land (either in Shannon or Dublin, I'd recommend SNN) you pick up your rental car from Tom Dooley rentals. Then you're in a pretty standard motel the first night. And honestly, that's not a bad setup - you'll probably be pretty tired after the flight, and the hotel is relatively close to the airport, just far enough to get some practice with a right-hand drive car.

After the first night, you have vouchers which you can redeem for a night's stay at a long list of bed and breakfast inns. You can drive wherever you wish, and stay in a B&B at the end of the day that's convenient for you. You need to call ahead and confirm they have availability, but most do.

As far as itinerary, you're on your own to figure that out. We had a list of places we wanted to go (Ring of Kerry, Cliffs of Moher, etc) and just figured out where to spend the night based on them. Never had any problems with finding a B&B with availability near any of the places we wished to visit.

 

[Bill Brasky]

Originally posted by: Scouzer
Contiki is good if you're under 35.

I would agree with this. I don't know about their tours in Ireland, but I was very happy with their greek island trip. It was nice having the travel arrangements taken care of, and the travel group is usually pretty fun. Like Scouzer said, everyone's under 35 and most are traveling alone or with a friend, which makes the evenings more interesting.

edit: probably not cheaper than DIY though.

 

[pontifex]

I checked out the Contiki site and I don't think it's for me.

 

[DarrelSPowers]

I spent a while in Ireland, working at a cement plant, and one thing I noticed is how disturbingly american parts of ireland have become. That said, the whole country was freakin awesome, and I reccommend staying on the northern and western parts, which are a bit less populated than the west coast, and are truly a sight to behold. The irish airline AerLingus usually has good package deals for flights/car rentals/B&B stays. B&Bs are the way to go, stay away from the hotels, not only because of how touristy hotels tend to be, but the folks who run B&Bs are usually really friendly and will help you out with directions to the best sights and pubs.

One part that I'd say is a "must see" is the city of Galway and the Aran islands. Galway is an old fishing city on the west coast, and famous for its live music and seafood... best fish & chips I've had in my life (at a place called McDunnahs)... and over the time I was in ireland I ate ALOT of fish & chips... From there you can take tours to the south of the Burren and cliffs of moher, to the north of Connemara, and get ferries to the Aran Islands. But be warned, some places americans aren't loved as much as you'd think. During one night at a pub listening to a local band sing irish songs, some american tourists requested "Danny Boy" and the band basically told them to fuck off... priceless.


But yeah, those are my two cents, and if you've got any questions just pm me... when I was living there I was working in Drogheda, a small farming town north of Dublin, and the other workers at the cement plant showed me some great local bars where farmers get together during the week, get drunk and jam out and sing irish ditties... so yeah, good luck, regardless of what you end up doing ireland is a hard place not to enjoy.

 

[Spineshank]

Originally posted by: DarrelSPowers
I spent a while in Ireland, working at a cement plant, and one thing I noticed is how disturbingly american parts of ireland have become. That said, the whole country was freakin awesome, and I reccommend staying on the northern and western parts, which are a bit less populated than the west coast, and are truly a sight to behold. The irish airline AerLingus usually has good package deals for flights/car rentals/B&B stays. B&Bs are the way to go, stay away from the hotels, not only because of how touristy hotels tend to be, but the folks who run B&Bs are usually really friendly and will help you out with directions to the best sights and pubs.

One part that I'd say is a "must see" is the city of Galway and the Aran islands. Galway is an old fishing city on the west coast, and famous for its live music and seafood... best fish & chips I've had in my life (at a place called McDunnahs)... and over the time I was in ireland I ate ALOT of fish & chips... From there you can take tours to the south of the Burren and cliffs of moher, to the north of Connemara, and get ferries to the Aran Islands. But be warned, some places americans aren't loved as much as you'd think. During one night at a pub listening to a local band sing irish songs, some american tourists requested "Danny Boy" and the band basically told them to fuck off... priceless.


But yeah, those are my two cents, and if you've got any questions just pm me... when I was living there I was working in Drogheda, a small farming town north of Dublin, and the other workers at the cement plant showed me some great local bars where farmers get together during the week, get drunk and jam out and sing irish ditties... so yeah, good luck, regardless of what you end up doing ireland is a hard place not to enjoy.

I agree the West and North are the best parts. I like Galway a lot but actually liked Cork better. I was in Northern Ireland as well and went into Derry..what a crap hole.

 

[DarrelSPowers]

Originally posted by: Gnrslash4life
I agree the West and North are the best parts. I like Galway a lot but actually liked Cork better. I was in Northern Ireland as well and went into Derry..what a crap hole.

Yeah true... the town i worked in was a short train ride to belfast, so I spent some time in the north as well. Depressing? slightly more than the rest of ireland... crap hole tho? Being from an irish family, the whole IRA/Republican vs Loyalists was extremely interesting to me, and I have some amazing pictures from west belfast/derry... and the bushmills distillery is up there too! ya can't miss that...

I'm sure ton's of people have seen this picture, but seeing it in person gave me a feeling I can't describe to theis day.

 

[Injury]

My recommendation is to fly over there with only plans of where you are going to stay. Ireland is roughly the size of Ohio and driving from one corner to the other only takes a few hours.

You typically won't find hotels in most of the smaller places... you'll only find them in the "larger" cities (Dublin, Waterford, Cork)... it's much cheaper and you get a better taste of the culture to stay at any of the dozens of bed and breakfasts you find where some older folk put you up for the night and cook you breakfast in the morning.

Don't plan too many things out. The thing I found when I went there was that a lot of the big things you hear about are very touristy and while you shouldn't stop yourself from doing something if you WANT to do it, a lot of the stops on package tours are a matter of people putting on a show for you.

The BEST way to find out what to do is to just talk to people in pubs. The locals know the area better than anyone. Give them a hint as to what types of things you may want to see and they'll point you in the right direction.

I'll send you a PM with a link to my travel journal so you can read about it and see what you think.

 

[loup garou]

We used CIE Tours, they did a package with airfare, car rental and coupons for 7 nights in B&Bs across the country, a night in a castle, and 2 nights in a hotel in Dublin. Castle and Dublin hotel were chosen in advance, they had a book full of participating B&Bs we could choose as we went.

Basically, we'd get up in the morning, eat the B&Bs Irish breakfast and decide where we wanted to drive, drive until lunchtime, stop at a pub in a town along the way, have a big lunch and a pint, call B&Bs in the town we'd determined that morning and make reservations, then hit any touristy stuff/shops along the way and make it to the destination town/B&B right before dinner time. Clean up at the B&B, eat dinner in town, hit the pub for a few pints, etc. The castle was beautiful, but kind of boring. I'm glad we did it though. I enjoyed Dublin, but I'd probably skip it next time, the countryside and small towns were just so much more beautiful and friendly.

Fucking awesome trip, beautiful country full of friendly people, and I loved every minute of it, with the exception of the day we spent in Youghal. That place is a hole.

 

[Eeezee]

All you need to see is the Guinness Factory

Just kidding, but seriously, I could have spent a few days in there and not gotten tired, but I do love Guinness.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Eeezee
All you need to see is the Guinness Factory

Just kidding, but seriously, I could have spent a few days in there and not gotten tired, but I do love Guinness.

see, i have no interest in seeing that. having that on a tour would be a waste of time to me.

 

[DougK62]

I'm interested in hearing more about people's trips to Ireland!

 

[Spineshank]

Originally posted by: DarrelSPowers

Originally posted by: Gnrslash4life
I agree the West and North are the best parts. I like Galway a lot but actually liked Cork better. I was in Northern Ireland as well and went into Derry..what a crap hole.

Yeah true... the town i worked in was a short train ride to belfast, so I spent some time in the north as well. Depressing? slightly more than the rest of ireland... crap hole tho? Being from an irish family, the whole IRA/Republican vs Loyalists was extremely interesting to me, and I have some amazing pictures from west belfast/derry... and the bushmills distillery is up there too! ya can't miss that...

I'm sure ton's of people have seen this picture, but seeing it in person gave me a feeling I can't describe to theis day.

Derry seriously had trash all over the city. Not like other cities dont but this seemed like a small city with a TON of trash all over it.

 

[Turin39789]

I'm too lazy to pic out the non-irish pictures, but here is an album that is a very few of the pictures I got while over there.

weeee

 

[Uppsala9496]

I've been to Dublin twice (long weekends). First time stayed in Dublin proper the whole time. Second time stayed in Dublin as well, but hit wicklow to golf one day.

My trips were more of a meeting point for my friends from Sweden. Couldn't afford to get to Sweden, so we hit Ireland since it was cheap. Had a good time, but the trips were each only about 4 days long. 4 days in Dublin is plenty to see everything. Any longer than that and I would have been bored.