Where to retire to in Ireland?

Where are you from originally? I wouldn't advise going anywhere that you don't have family connections to: you'll be blow-ins anyway, but having some connections, no matter how tenuous, will help.

Also, have you lived in Ireland before? If not, then I would advise moving to a rental property for 12 months to try out the weather, the culture and the health-service before you make any committments. Depending on your expectations, you may be in for a surprise.

TBH, everyone is going to come up with a different answer to this question unless you're very specific in stating what exactly you want.

Are you originally Irish, or do you have experience of Irish people? If so, you'll know that Irish people tend on the whole to be very proud of their local area and will big it up no end. And who can blame them? It is a beautiful country and almost everywhere has something to recommend it.

For my money, the coastal regions (pretty much the whole way around) are best, because you can find lovely sea views, cliffs, bays, harbours and estuaries everywhere you go. But then I'm biased, since I'm from a coastal area! Dunmore East is my perfect spot (and my recommendation) but even I have to admit that there are places that can almost compare elsewhere in the country.

Inland areas are generally seen as less desirable, but this also stems from the fact that most mountainous/hilly scenic areas are near the coasts, and the interior tends to be fairly flat. Even this isn't a hard-and-fast rule though, since some of the loveliest scenery is in places like the Glen of Aherlow, or along some of the river valleys (the Suir near Clonmel and the Barrow and Nore valleys in Kilkenny/Wexford spring to mind). Even in somewhere flat and likely to be dismissed such as Offaly, you can find yourself a beautiful corner next to a canal and a willow tree, and you're made!

You'll just have to hire a car and tour the whole country - twice!

Wexford area is nice.
Coast access, bit better weather. Good links to the capital when it's needed.

Our neighbours retired to Wexford a few years ago and they just love it.

I'd second Wexford! Its lovely down there in the summer.

What about Dunmore east in Waterford its got all you would need, yet is near Waterford and there is a regular bus services to bring you to Waterford if you need to.

Zelda247 wrote: »

Does anyone know what Cobh is like?

The hills are rather steep. No bus service, but there are trains into Cork.

West Cork gets a lot of retirees, from both the UK and Germany to a certain extent. If I was looking down there Kinsale would be a good place to start as there are a good few retirees living in the town or near it. It's a beautiful place with a big foodie/eating out culture but I'm not sure how far €150k would go there as I'm not familiar with prices in the area. Another option might be parts of Wicklow, it can be rural but you're never that far from a town or beach as well as having the Wicklow mountains on your doorstep. In terms of scenery I'd rank Wicklow as top 3 in Ireland just below Donegal and Kerry. Wicklow has the advantage of being next door to Dublin over the other two counties that are a good bit away from main urban populations.

Another thing to consider - part of retirement should be spending more time with your family & friends. I presume a lot of those are from the UK and would intend visiting you in Ireland. IMO with these things if they have to fly and then take a bus/train for a considerable amount of time just to get to your new home then you might find that people don't visit so much which can make things lonely at a time when you have lots of time on your hands. So do consider your location in terms of flight connections back to the UK.

Maybe not any more but Cobh would have had a rough reputation, possibly no longer though. Its West Cork that attracts English, French, Germans that are retiring or that work from home. Kinsale, Clonakilty, Schul, Baltimore etc.