Touring Ireland Soon... Help Please!!

[TTNOS8]

Hey all,

Taking a holiday in Ireland in mid June, and have been searching the internet for top tourist attractions/accomodation/etc/etc and haven't been coming up with heaps of answers.

Just wondering if any of you have been over there, where you went, what sites were best, where you stayed, what you did for money, what you though, etc, etc.

Basically any experiences I'd love to hear about....

Thanks
J

[Cobra]

I went to Ireland in 2004. I went all over the country, from Dublin to Donegal, Wexford to Limerick, Belfast to Galway (and in no particular order). What I did? Well a lot of the time i got drunk!! Some of my experiences would best be shared in a PM or maybe not at all LOL!

Dublin is one which I'm sure you'll be seeing, but I will recommend it anyway. Temple Bar is where all the action happens. If you're looking for night clubs you'll be dissapointed, but the pubs sure make up for it. I managed to find an Aussie pub as well called the outback but it was on the outer edges of the city and quite hard to find unless you look for it (I knew about it).

Another place I highly recommend is Galway. I was lucky and went there on a good day. It was sunny and about 18 degrees for the 3 days i stayed there. The nightlife rocks as there are so many uni students based there and theres so much atmosphere and buzz around on the streets and night and during the day. The beach was not to bad relative to the rest of the country and even the UK considering most of them are ladened with pebbles. Don't ask me where I stayed because i don't remember, it was some B&B, one of 100s which you will no doubt find with ease.

Wexford was also good, but that's because I've been there a few times as it's my mums county of birth. I visited Curracloe beach, where the movie Saving Private Ryan was filmed. If you ever watched it (which most people born before 1990 probably have) you'll sure find it interesting standing there over the sand dunes and picturing it all happening, I know I certainly did.

One place I was not a fan of though was Belfast. I'm glad I went there and it was an experience I will never forget but I have no desire to go back. It probably didn't help going on a cold wet and grey day but still, I don't think anything would have been able to mask the sombre, miserable feeling you get from being in the place. The amount of bombed buildings and pro IRA graffiti still around the place was depressing. The residents definitely were not the happy bubbly people like those from the republic of Ireland, and probably with good reason too I suppose.

Over all Ireland is a great place to visit and I highly recommend going there. I recommend you rent yourself a car (I'm assuing you'll be doing that though), do a search on accommodation around the place as depending on what time of year you you go you may find all the B&Bs full. June is close to the Holiday season so I suggest you get on to it quickly. The beauty about the country is the fact that it's so small you dont travel hours apon hours to get between two places (like Australia) yet theres so much to do and see you won't get bored or feel like you've seen everything after 1 week.

[Ringo]

Went to Ireland at the end of 2006 as part of our Europe trip and loved it - 283 different shades of green in that country.

We flew into Dublin, did one night of Temble Bar (eh…overrated…all me met where Drunk Poms) hired a car and basically did a loop of the south of Ireland over about 5 days including the "Ring of Kerry".

Highlights:
I liked the people - Irish and Aussie are the same in that we both dislike the Poms, Authority, Sobriety and losing any international sport.
Irish Food - big meals and good value in most Irish pubs….yummo
Ring of Kerry is a really nice drive but do it anticlock wise because that’s the way the Tourist buses run and their roads are no overly wide!
Scenery….just breathtaking
Accomodation was good all over - Recommend Wotif.com
Stayed in a B& B with a lovely older Irish couple out of Cork…just made us homesick after 6 weeks on the road. Tourist info in most big town can set this up for you no sweat.
Driving down a one way road in Dublin the wrong way and then being confronted with three lanes of traffic coming around a bend…we laughed about it…afterwards.
The west of Ireland…it’s the area time forgot.
Cliffs of Mohair
Blarney Castle - I have kissed the stone and bought the photograph for 12 euro to prove it
Listening to people talk Gaelic in the south of Ireland…aiy!...The true Irish !

Lowlights
Walking into a Irish pub for lunch in some small quanit town outside Cork and being greeted by an Aussie chick behind the bar from Griffith NSW…"How ya go-in..?"

Tips to keep in mind:
Driving from one place to the other takes twice as long as you'd think. Took us 6+ hours to go from Cliffs of Mohar to Dublin. Avg speed of 35 miles per hour when going cross country because...
Traffic snarls in every frikken town you drive through. The highway goes down the centre of every town and they all have pedestrian crossings.
Blind bends - There are no sign posts to warn you of the hairpin bend your approaching in a 100k zone…seriously…don't lose your concentration.
Roads are lined with stone walls leaving no margin for error at times…
Its not cheap…its not the UK but its still just not cheap.

Wikitravel has a nice snapshoot with lots of links...http://wikitravel.org/en/Republic_of_Ireland

[TTNOS8]

Thanks heaps!!!

Loving the info coming through.

We are there for 12 days and were kinda more interested in the ROI than Northern Ireland.

Please keep it coming...... _2:

[TTNOS8]

Where did you lads stay in Dublin itself?

And were they good/bad/?

Thanks again

[RSgerry]

wherever you go you will love Ireland. If you can get to the North, it is well worth it. Lovely people, unbelievable scenery...lots going for it. The only time I felt intimidated was in a place called Portadown where every lamppost had an English flag hanging off if and the kerbs were painted red, white and blue.

My highlight were the Cliffs of Mohr. the word 'stunning' doesnt do them justice. But as mentioned, travelling does take an awful long time. I drove all around from Belfast, to Dublin, down to Waterford, across to Galway and back to Belfast. Great place. Enjoy.

[Jastel]

It's actually the Cliffs of Moher if your trying to google it, nice spot

Just underneath the Ring of Kerry is the Beara Peninsula, I enjoyed this drive more than Kerry, not so crowded either

The Giants Causeway is in Northern Ireland but is worth a visit, also nearby is Carrick a Rede rope bridge to a small island off the coast.
If the weather is good there is lots of nice coastal scenery here

I skipped Belfast too, weather was no good when I was there

Cobh is a town at the bottom of Cork (I think), very pretty town and has an immigration museum about the irish leaving for better lives elsewhere, even bits from the Titanic and Luisitania which sank nearby, it is called "The Queenstown Story", Queenstown was the towns former name

Blarney Castle and Stone, overpriced tourist rip off but you gotta do it once

In Dublin

There is a Guiness Brewery Museum, you can spend a while there, you get a free Guiness in the Gravity Bar, which overlooks the city
Even if you don't like the black slop it is worthwhile

Trinity College and the Book of Kells, very famous, but not that exciting unless your a history buff

The Spire, you can't miss this, a big spike was there Millenium project

Killamain (sp) Goal

They have an open top double decker bus (most tourist town have them)
about 20 Euro or so and they drive around to all the sights, very good value, you get on and off as much as you like for 24 hours, they do a set loop and come by every 30 mins or so.

Dublin is a nice city, part modern, part old, you can see bullet holes in the post office still from the IRA etc, river Liffey runs through it, pretty.

And plenty of churches and castles

If you rent a car get a diesel, it is 10 -15 cents a litre cheaper than petrol

A tip for Irish driving, a lot of two way roads are like three lanes wide with a line up the centre, meaning both directions get one and a half lanes. If you are behind someone they might pull suddenly to the side, what we would call the emergency lane, and this means you can overtake, they normally do it when it is clear for you to go, when you are past it is polite to flash your hazard lights twice to thank them.

[TTNOS8]

Thanks heaps again everyone....

Anyone else got anything to add? It all helps.

Where did everyone stay in Dublin?