Anyone have tips on planning a budget Ireland trip?

[auger]

We just returned from a 2 1/2 week trip. We found that renting a car from Dan Dooley at Shannon was a bit cheaper than other options. (We had to take a shuttle to the rental location, but it was fine.) More credit cards cover CDW in Ireland than was the case just a couple of years ago. We used a Visa that offered primary insurance, which meant we had to bring a letter proving coverage with us.

If we'd wanted or needed to chose a rental that included the insurance, easytourireland.com was supposedly a good place to rent from.

On our previous two trips, we stayed in B&Bs. This trip, we stayed in hotels, plus an apartment for a few nights. Most of the hotels covered breakfast in our rate. The ones that didn't offered it for a fair rate, around 10E per person. Breakfasts were substantial, so we just ate some yogurt or something like that for lunch.

The current Lonely Planet Guide for Ireland, and Rick Steve's guide both listed reasonable restaurant and pub options for dinner.

You can a buy a Heritage card that will cover many of the tourist sites. We didn't buy it because we'd done most of those on previous trips.

I'd advise renting as small a car as can fit all of you (plus luggage) in reasonable comfort. The roads are often extremely narrow and windy. In the countryside, you'll find yourself backing up just so someone coming in the opposite direction can pass you. You won't want anything that's bigger than necessary!

LOL! Sounds like the roads will be the biggest obstacle in the trip!

I'll check into the Heritage Card to see if it is something we might benefit from. We are more about seeing the real Ireland rather than too much tourist Ireland. But who knows?! We may turn into typical tourists once we get there!

The guides you mentioned sound like great help in having a clue about meal options.

Thank for the tip about the rental car insurance. I usually check with my agent before renting any vehicle, so hopefully she can give me whatever proof of coverage we will need.

 

[agavegirl1]

Where in Ireland are you going? I haven't been since 2000 but did find Shannon to be the cheaper airport with a rental car and driving to our destinations....yes on the left through little skinny roads we shared with tour busses and one way streets through major cities and roundabouts and everything. It was still very fun.

 

[burns2225]

I would say that the Cliffs of Moher would definitely be a not to miss! It's probably a 3 1/2 to 4 hour drive but will be worth it! Blarney castle was beautiful...had a great park and castle and obviously the Blarney Stone (about 2-2/12 hour drive)...if you enjoy whiskey..Tullemore had a great tasting and beautiful tasting room (1 1/2 hr drive)..Wicklow National park was a beautiful drive and close to your location...and helpful hint...if you are driving ..all the M roads are like highways here in the states with bigger lanes and faster speeds..so driving is easier and will take less time than other roads! Not sure how long your trip is..we were there for a week and loved it...We actually enjoyed everything...but felt Dublin was a let down...kind of like any other big city...really enjoyed the smaller towns...all had great pubs and great people!

 

[shamrock30]

LOL! Sounds like the roads will be the biggest obstacle in the trip!

I'll check into the Heritage Card to see if it is something we might benefit from. We are more about seeing the real Ireland rather than too much tourist Ireland. But who knows?! We may turn into typical tourists once we get there!

The guides you mentioned sound like great help in having a clue about meal options.

Thank for the tip about the rental car insurance. I usually check with my agent before renting any vehicle, so hopefully she can give me whatever proof of coverage we will need.

I'm almost positive your car insurance from the US isn't going to cover you for Ireland. You usually either have to buy a lot of coverage from the rental place, or go with the coverage you get from select credit cards. If you do the latter, you have to clear it with the car rental agency in advance, and they'll still probably want you to bring the coverage letter when you arrive. They are even stricter about CDW in Ireland than they are in most other European countries. Also, be sure to look up reviews about using in Avis in Ireland, to make sure they are your best bet.

 

[NinaBella]

With 6 adults you may want 2 rental cars. We are planning on a trip next summer with our 2 teenagers and will be renting a mini van knowing we need space for luggage. Their cars and vans are tiny. We have friends who may join us but in their own car.

I refuse to put luggage outside the car after one Christmas we stopped for lunch traveling back from grandma's house. I told DH a van was blocking the view of our SUV from the window (double parked behind us) . DH said not to worry, but when we arrived home realized we were missing items from the soft carrier strapped to the roof. All of the kids christmas presents we put on last (2 kids were toddlers, 2 preteens. The gifts were just in target bags and last items to be put in after suitcases).

US auto insurance does not cover you overseas. My insurance covers me in Canada but not Mexico or overseas. You can check with your credit card companies about auto insurance and trip insurance, especially if you have a gold or platnium card.

 

[burns2225]

Please note that US car insurance does not cover you in Ireland...and if you only get normal CDW coverage you will still have a $1600 deductible (for most companies) if in an accident...we went with the super coverage which covered everything and no deductible..we rented though Hertz and the insurance plus super coverage was $348 for the week..well worth it to have no worries! Please note we were on many roads that sheep were all over..pretty common on off the beaten track roads..major obstacles..they don't really move!

 

[shamrock30]

The company I listed in my original post only offers rentals that include the super CDW, plus for a small additional daily charge, they'll cover the few things that are excluded. (Tires, mirrors, etc, I think it is.) As I said, we didn't go with them, since out card had primary coverage, but it was a tough call.

 

[Soulsearching]

My husband and I just visited Ireland in May. We were able to do a tour of southern Ireland. We started in Dublin..went west to Galway..down toward Killarney..up to Kilkenny and then flew back out of Dublin. We stayed at reasonable prices places (averaged about $100 US dollars per night) all included breakfast and parking. We ate out or at hotels each night..overall I would say the prices were comparable to US prices to eat out...average drinks and meal at night was around $50-60 US. Driving was scary...my husband was a trooper...be aware some roads are very narrow and curvy...and driving on opposite side is tricky..definitely get an automatic! We visited the cathedrals, Guinness and Jamison distillery in Dublin...used hop on hop bus with Dublin Pass, Tullemore distillery, Connemara National park, Kylemore Abbey, Cliffs of Moher, took car ferry, Ross Castle and National park, Torc Falls, Muckross castle, Blarney Castle, Rock of Cashel, Smithwicks, Wicklow National park, and Wicklow Goal. If you have questions, please feel free to ask!

Is there anyway you could post your itinerary or Private Message me. I am thinking of going in 2017 and would love to hear all your recommendations.
Thanks!

 

[s3058]

Where are you hoping to go in Ireland Soulsearching?

I'm Irish and have travelled around most of here if you have any questions you think I could help with

 

[Soulsearching]

Where are you hoping to go in Ireland Soulsearching?

I'm Irish and have travelled around most of here if you have any questions you think I could help with

That is just the thing, I don't know where to travel and what to see yet lol

We don't like large escorted bus touring, but would love to travel by car and visit the sights that are must sees! Not sure if we should stay at hotels, castles B&Bs or Inns, but would love recommendations. Also eating with the locals, we did that in Italy and Paris and love it. Any and all advice and recommendations would be great.

Thanks for offering.

 

[s3058]

Being from Dublin I'm obviously going to suggest there it is the only real "city" in Ireland, most other large urban areas would be considered town (Although Dublin is smaller then a lot of towns in the US and not comparable in size to any major US or UK city. We are teeny!). I would suggest a few days here as the city itself is immersed in history. You can walk down O'Connell Street (the "main street" of Dublin) and see the bullet holes left in the GPO from when we fought for independence in 1916. As well as that there are a number of (mostly free) museums that carter to history, art, science, etc. And much much more. You could easily spend a few days here just taking in the history if you wanted.

If thats not really your thing there is plenty of shopping for high fashion head to Grafton Street, for cheap and cheerful head to henry Street. Most things in Dublin City Centre are in comfortable walking distance (which is a great way to see the scenery!) we also have a bus service and a luas, which is a tram of sorts. They are currently building a new route for the luas but that should be well completed by next year. You can get different tickets but these are the cheapest public transport options in Dublin (and the ones you'll meet the most locals on)

For eating in Ireland avoid anything branded as an "Irish Pub" (There is a few places ) and head to local pubs and restraunts. In Dublin Temple Bar is a big tourist area for drinking but Irish people do venture there so if your willing to pay a premium for a pint and want to have a tourist service (a service where you won't hear the bar staff swearing or telling someone to feck off) then head there, otherwise most suburbs (and urban areas) will have locals, a pub where the pints aren't too expensive and the staff will let you stay past closing if your not finished your pint Anywhere you go in Ireland youll find hearty Irish pub grub, stews, coddle, mashed potatoes and thick cuts of meat, but in larger towns you'll find other restraunts too, a lot will be locally owned (compared to the UK and US we have considerably less chain stores and restraunts). I would highly recommend a visit to the local chipper

I'll stop there for now (or forever if your not finding this helpful!) as I don't want to make this too much of an essay if you have any questions or want me to continue blabbering on let me know. Its a badly kept secret that most Irish people can talk for days!

 

[Soulsearching]

Being from Dublin I'm obviously going to suggest there it is the only real "city" in Ireland, most other large urban areas would be considered town (Although Dublin is smaller then a lot of towns in the US and not comparable in size to any major US or UK city. We are teeny!). I would suggest a few days here as the city itself is immersed in history. You can walk down O'Connell Street (the "main street" of Dublin) and see the bullet holes left in the GPO from when we fought for independence in 1916. As well as that there are a number of (mostly free) museums that carter to history, art, science, etc. And much much more. You could easily spend a few days here just taking in the history if you wanted.

If thats not really your thing there is plenty of shopping for high fashion head to Grafton Street, for cheap and cheerful head to henry Street. Most things in Dublin City Centre are in comfortable walking distance (which is a great way to see the scenery!) we also have a bus service and a luas, which is a tram of sorts. They are currently building a new route for the luas but that should be well completed by next year. You can get different tickets but these are the cheapest public transport options in Dublin (and the ones you'll meet the most locals on)

For eating in Ireland avoid anything branded as an "Irish Pub" (There is a few places ) and head to local pubs and restraunts. In Dublin Temple Bar is a big tourist area for drinking but Irish people do venture there so if your willing to pay a premium for a pint and want to have a tourist service (a service where you won't hear the bar staff swearing or telling someone to feck off) then head there, otherwise most suburbs (and urban areas) will have locals, a pub where the pints aren't too expensive and the staff will let you stay past closing if your not finished your pint Anywhere you go in Ireland youll find hearty Irish pub grub, stews, coddle, mashed potatoes and thick cuts of meat, but in larger towns you'll find other restraunts too, a lot will be locally owned (compared to the UK and US we have considerably less chain stores and restraunts). I would highly recommend a visit to the local chipper

I'll stop there for now (or forever if your not finding this helpful!) as I don't want to make this too much of an essay if you have any questions or want me to continue blabbering on let me know. Its a badly kept secret that most Irish people can talk for days!

OMG! I love this. Give me more!
Where would my next stop be after Dublin???? What would I see and where would I eat???? 8 days of traveling , so keep talking please

 

[sharbear]

Look at flying out of Windsor. My sil has found that it's been cheaper.

 

[burns2225]

Is there anyway you could post your itinerary or Private Message me. I am thinking of going in 2017 and would love to hear all your recommendations.
Thanks!

We started in Dublin..our plane landed at 7:25am..we stayed at Harding Hotel...purchased the Dublin Pass and used the hop on hop off bus to see some sights..we toured Guinness, Jamison, St Patricks Cathedral and Trinity College..day 2 we headed to Galway...stayed at the Maldron Sandy Point (probably about 1 mile walk to downtown shopping/dining area) we enjoyed some great food, drinks, shopped, saw the Spanish Arch..day 3 we drove up and did circle for Connemara Park...saw Kylemore Abbey..and Did connemara Mine..day 4 drove and saw Cliffs of Moher..took the ferry across and made our way toward Killarney...day 5 visited the Ross Castle and national park..Saw Torc Waterfall and Ladies Ring...stayed at Riverside Inn...Day 6 drove and saw Blarney castle and Rock of Cashel and stayed in Kilkenny at the Zuni Hotel...Made our way to Wicklow and visited the Wicklow National Park area and Wicklow Goal...headed back toward Dublin and stayed at hotel near Airport...we really loved Killarney...there was lots of hiking and beautiful scenery...if we did it again...we would probably base our trip from that area...lots of driving but well worth it...and everyone we met were just wonderful and helpful!

 

[Soulsearching]

We started in Dublin..our plane landed at 7:25am..we stayed at Harding Hotel...purchased the Dublin Pass and used the hop on hop off bus to see some sights..we toured Guinness, Jamison, St Patricks Cathedral and Trinity College..day 2 we headed to Galway...stayed at the Maldron Sandy Point (probably about 1 mile walk to downtown shopping/dining area) we enjoyed some great food, drinks, shopped, saw the Spanish Arch..day 3 we drove up and did circle for Connemara Park...saw Kylemore Abbey..and Did connemara Mine..day 4 drove and saw Cliffs of Moher..took the ferry across and made our way toward Killarney...day 5 visited the Ross Castle and national park..Saw Torc Waterfall and Ladies Ring...stayed at Riverside Inn...Day 6 drove and saw Blarney castle and Rock of Cashel and stayed in Kilkenny at the Zuni Hotel...Made our way to Wicklow and visited the Wicklow National Park area and Wicklow Goal...headed back toward Dublin and stayed at hotel near Airport...we really loved Killarney...there was lots of hiking and beautiful scenery...if we did it again...we would probably base our trip from that area...lots of driving but well worth it...and everyone we met were just wonderful and helpful!

Thank you!

 

[s3058]

Sorry for taking so long to reply Soulsearching

8 days is fairly short so I would stick with the bigger towns and travel out from those for the greenery. Even in the heart of Dublin city your just a 35 minute bus ride away from farms! If I were you I would probably do Dublin, Waterford, Cork, Galway, Mayo and Donegal. They are all on the coast and whether you drive, get trains or take a bus you'll get beautiful scenery. For perspective Galway is the oppisite side of the country to Dublin and is a max 3 hour drive.

Dublin I've already detailed

Waterford is a pretty little town and is a 25 minute drive from Tramore, a beach with a couple of amusments and a fair ground. They do amazing hot donuts too. This is a seaside town with most of the place geared towards that but the beach is clean and pretty and its a populated enough area that you'll meet locals and have access to public transport. As a note one thing to be aware of is that public transport is not readily available in many areas in Ireland. Including Tramore, Waterford could be done in one night. My suggestion would be to stay in a hotel on the river front and get a river facing room, the boats are beautiful when the sun is rising Also they have a great bookshop, it's called The Book Centre, it's nice to get a coffee in and have a read, they have a nice seating area and staff are always happy to have a chat or suggest books about the local area ( also they encourage reading in their seating areas before buying the book!)

Cork is another historical city in Ireland, and would be the next most urbanised to Dublin. They have meusems, shops and bars. All Irish "urban" areas are small enough to wander around and get a feel for the place before you decide what to do.

Galway is a port city and it has some of the most beautiful waterways in Ireland, again it has meusems and shops to occupy your time and as with Cork is a great city to wander around and experience. Salt Hill is similar to Tramore and is very very beautiful at high tide. If you would prefer nice walks to the city I would suggest staying here and taking the bus (a 15 minute ride) into Galway. Get a sea facing room, trust me when I say it's worth it

Also you can get the ferry to the Aran islands from Galway. A nice day trip, although don't expect much at all. If buying an aran jumper ask what the pattern means and they all mean different things, some are for luck or love, etc

Mayo has the Cliffs of Moher and no major town so you will have to stay in a more country setting if spending the night there. Again just be aware of the public transport services, somewhere like Westport would be a good place to stay, although secondary schools do retreats here so consider that when booking. This is also fsirly close to Knock if you wanted to head there for a few hours.

Donegal is beautiful and costal but you could really do any northen county and have a similar experience (be aware however that there are areas of belfast where wearing something with the republic of ireland on it will not be received well). The troubles are still very fresh up there so avoid talking about this in pubs with the locals. It can be a very polarising topic. Also for Belfast it is part of the UK so you will need sterling

 

[Ciandella915]

I didn't read to see if anyone else said this, but I'm just popping in to say that there's a Groupon site for a lot of countries. Ireland is one. We went to the UK in 2014 and used their Groupon site for a couple of B&Bs and it was the coolest experience. We wound up in out of the way places (we were zig zag driving across the island already), and people literally turned around in the pub because they heard an accent that wasn't local, much less international! It was a great and inexpensive way to see the "real" UK.

 

[Earstou]

On our trip Dh (a geology nut) wanted to see Giant's Causeway, so we concentrated on Dublin and up the east coast to the north shore. I wanted to see some things the usual tour bus might not stop at.
This is what I found along the way:
Newgrange, a prehistoric monument older than the pyramids.
Peatlands Park, a beautiful park with peat bogs.
Monasterboice ruins includes a large cemetery, one of the tallest round towers in Ireland and two of the tallest and best high crosses. The tower dates back to when the Vikings would raid, and the monks would take refuge in the tower.
Belfast murals, we just drove thru Belfast, but did stop for about 15 minutes to check out the murals. The murals have their roots from the time of the "troubles" in Northern Ireland.

Even if you aren't heading up north, you can still see similar things. There are many ancient sites scattered throughout Ireland, and Irish crosses and towers located throughout. There is also the Lullymore Heritage and Discovery Park with boardwalks through bogs west of Dublin.

 

[Soulsearching]

Sorry for taking so long to reply Soulsearching

8 days is fairly short so I would stick with the bigger towns and travel out from those for the greenery. Even in the heart of Dublin city your just a 35 minute bus ride away from farms! If I were you I would probably do Dublin, Waterford, Cork, Galway, Mayo and Donegal. They are all on the coast and whether you drive, get trains or take a bus you'll get beautiful scenery. For perspective Galway is the oppisite side of the country to Dublin and is a max 3 hour drive.

Dublin I've already detailed

Waterford is a pretty little town and is a 25 minute drive from Tramore, a beach with a couple of amusments and a fair ground. They do amazing hot donuts too. This is a seaside town with most of the place geared towards that but the beach is clean and pretty and its a populated enough area that you'll meet locals and have access to public transport. As a note one thing to be aware of is that public transport is not readily available in many areas in Ireland. Including Tramore, Waterford could be done in one night. My suggestion would be to stay in a hotel on the river front and get a river facing room, the boats are beautiful when the sun is rising Also they have a great bookshop, it's called The Book Centre, it's nice to get a coffee in and have a read, they have a nice seating area and staff are always happy to have a chat or suggest books about the local area ( also they encourage reading in their seating areas before buying the book!)

Cork is another historical city in Ireland, and would be the next most urbanised to Dublin. They have meusems, shops and bars. All Irish "urban" areas are small enough to wander around and get a feel for the place before you decide what to do.

Galway is a port city and it has some of the most beautiful waterways in Ireland, again it has meusems and shops to occupy your time and as with Cork is a great city to wander around and experience. Salt Hill is similar to Tramore and is very very beautiful at high tide. If you would prefer nice walks to the city I would suggest staying here and taking the bus (a 15 minute ride) into Galway. Get a sea facing room, trust me when I say it's worth it

Also you can get the ferry to the Aran islands from Galway. A nice day trip, although don't expect much at all. If buying an aran jumper ask what the pattern means and they all mean different things, some are for luck or love, etc

Mayo has the Cliffs of Moher and no major town so you will have to stay in a more country setting if spending the night there. Again just be aware of the public transport services, somewhere like Westport would be a good place to stay, although secondary schools do retreats here so consider that when booking. This is also fsirly close to Knock if you wanted to head there for a few hours.

Donegal is beautiful and costal but you could really do any northen county and have a similar experience (be aware however that there are areas of belfast where wearing something with the republic of ireland on it will not be received well). The troubles are still very fresh up there so avoid talking about this in pubs with the locals. It can be a very polarising topic. Also for Belfast it is part of the UK so you will need sterling

Thanks for getting back to me!

This is a great start to my planning a trip. Thanks so much.

 

[tinka-belle]

Try CIE Tours too, they are the tour arm in the USA for Aer Lingus, but will also book a car B&B package without flights. ALL their B&B vouchers include ensuite (bathroom in your room), some other companies don't and you'd pay a supplement at check in for that if available. They will also provide a link to the Irish Tourist Board Welcome website to pre book your B&Bs if you want.