Cliffs of Moher

palaver

Don't know if this is the right forum, i trust the mods.

Anyway, i've been at the cliffs last sunday with visitors from abroad - and was disgusted. I sent an email to the management, see below. Has anyone seen the new place recently? Awful!

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I came last sunday with visitors who were for the first time in Ireland. It was embarassing
I was deeply disappointed, considering the amount of money which was invested.

My very first impression: For about 30 million Euro investment it wouldn't be too much to ask to get a decent café management, where you don't need to pay 4 Euro for a tiny piece of carrot cake, which actually was mouldy ( I brought it back to the poor girl at the check-out who offered a cake replacement, which I didn't trust, understandably). The café by the way looks cheap, more like an old take-away than a place where you can enjoy some decent catering and a view (only one window offers one).
You should have asked the Avoca Café or such like to do the catering. They know how to do good food and create a bit of style.

2nd: The exhibition is very poor and tends to be "state-of-the-art" but without a real interest and understandable explanation of what is real special about the cliffs. Whoever designed it was more in love with their own design than with presenting the natural history of the cliffs.

3rd: I understand that the cliffs need to be secured. But what happened was a tourist-motorway or the Red Cow of the Cliffs. It looks awful and plain, and all the dramatic beauty of the cliffs look like a photoshoot. The atmosphere is gone.

4th: There are no bins placed along the way. People have no other choice than to throw their rubbish (and cigarettes) whereever nobody looks. Well, you see where they deposit it.

5th: I used to enjoy the musicians and the odd-ball-sellers hanging around the cliff-way. They presented more authenticity than all the "state-of-the-art" facilities. The new shops still look like, well, empty. Probably nobody can afford the rents. Your strict policy and money making kills the charms of this sight eventually.

6th: All the multilingual signs are placed like discarded posters, like: if you can't read them, dig them out.

7th: Admission fees, don't get me started. 8 Euros for the car park, and another 4 Euros for the sad exhibition. And then a fortune for the miserable snack or a plain coffee indoors. To visit the Cliffs of Moher you have to ask the Credit Union for a loan.

8th: With toilets for hundreds of people a day you should see to it to clean them several times a day. They already look very, well - used. And even if the design is quite agreeable I still wonder if the taps need to be fancy waterfalls - considering ecological concerns.

On the positive side: The film "The Ledge" is absolutely gorgeous. Far too short because it is very well done and fetching and I would love to watch it forever. But to pay altogether 12 Euro to see it, not to mention the bill from your café, is way over the top.
And the staff is nice and helpful. Hope you pay them well, at least.

Anyway, don't complain when you get bad reviews. I'm not the only one, as far as I've heard.

monkeyfudge

I could never understand the point of an interpretative centre for some cliffs.

They're cliffs! What needs to be interpreted exactly???

brianthebard

Oh rocky rockrock, with your craggy face of...rock, speak to me! (I'm sorry I'm slightly delirious.

Owen

I don't think they're allowed to call them interpretive centres anymore, there's some new mystical marketing term they're using these days that escapes me ...

aidan_walsh

ned78 wrote:

I don't think they're allowed to call them interpretive centres anymore, there's some new mystical marketing term they're using these days that escapes me ...

IMAX.

legs11

muppets who pay money like this is the main reason we are being fleeced left right and centre all over the land

i was in the cliffs a few yrs ago with a mate, went to cliffs, took pics, parked without paying, (used the coach bay), no messing no mouldy cake, no toilet.

in and out.... they are just cliffs, nice ones tho.:rolleyes:

Dave

Ah, you don't have to use the cafe (which I found quite nice actually), bring a fecking sandwich! How long does it take to see the cliffs anyway! It's hardly a full days activity, a bit of common sense goes along way. A tourist attraction selling over priced everything! Shocking!

The new building is absolutely amazing though, both from an architectural and engineering stand point. The one thing I do agree with you on is the motorway they've thrown into the place, and the €8 parking fee, but 4 people in a car and it works out at €2pp, which isn't so bad.. But all in all a job well done I'd say.

edit: Can't believe you sent an email to management :rolleyes:

Pherekydes

palaver wrote:

6th: All the multilingual signs are placed like discarded posters, like: if you can't read them, dig them out.

There is one multilingual sign right outside the centre with a strange new language called 'Gaelige'. I didn't check the others. I wonder are they all misspelled.

growler

I agree with the OP, putting an centre at the cliffs is crass commercialism at its very worst, they have ruined an area of natural unpoilt beauty by trying to cream as much cash from the hapless visitors as possible. Never mind that you can no longer get anywhere near the cliffs themselves (no doubt due to some farce health and safety legislation that reckons people won't be able to equate a 500 foot drop off a cliff with potentially dangerous fall). Paying to see pictures and videos of a cliff in an indoor centre when the actual cliffs are a 100 metres away is plain daft.

I spend a lot of time in Clare and no longer take any visitors to "official" cliffs, preferring instead to take some of the boreens to the south and walking along the cliffs from there. Whichever gob****es in Clare County Council agreed to this farce should be sacked.

Well done for complaining, not that it will make any difference, as they are probably making a fortune.

Saruman

Im curious palaver, you say YOU were disgusted.. however what did your friends think of the whole thing? I mean its not there for us as much as its there for tourists.
I mean the ammount of money it costs Americans to come here is scary and thje least they might expect after hours on a bus is to arrive somewhere warm and sheltered from the wind where they can get some coffee, look around before/after they brave the cliffs.

gucci

yeah cliffs are cool, but please park in the parking lot!!
last year i was there, met a bus on the road and accidently clipped a wingmirror of a car that was parked on the side of the road (illegally in my opinion) i didnt i cause any damage, but knowing my look mr. polish driver was on his way back to the car and seen the whole thing, after me deciding there was no damage (minor scrape to the matt black mirror cover which had came halfway off but i pushed it back on)i politely told him there wasnt a chance i was giving him 50euro which is what he reckoned was the damage i had done and i was on my way!!
cue high speed chase of him following me to doolin (looked like something from fr ted id say!) he passed me out and pulled cross infront of me blocking all the traffic both ways. i proceeded to tell him i owed him nothing (the mirror was fine!) and he threatened me with all sorts and jumped about on the road for a few mins while i turned up the radio in my car and chatted and laughed with my girlfriend fully expecting him to smash my windscreen in anger. he eventually drove off when others started to beep the horn.....il never forget my trip to the cliffs!!

Alun

What was there before was pretty damn awful too ... cheap, nasty and very, very tacky, I thought. I've not seen the new centre, but it can only be an improvement on what was there before.

Owen

gucci wrote:

(minor scrape to the matt black mirror cover which had came halfway off but i pushed it back on)i politely told him there wasnt a chance i was giving him 50euro which is what he reckoned was the damage i had done and i was on my way!!

50 would be about right for respraying and lacquering a mirror. You caused damaged to someone else's car, and didn't pay up. Not cool.

source

My Gran Aunt lives in Florida and runs a very successful tour company, every year she comes over for a few months, and runs 2 week tours around the country with bus loads of americans, She has said that it's the worst thing they could have ever done to the cliffs, she has brought 1 tour there since the centre opened and has not gone back with any others, It's overpriced, and frankly embarrassing. So it has already missed out on loads of "business" from this one tour operator alone.

Dyr

growler wrote:

I spend a lot of time in Clare and no longer take any visitors to "official" cliffs, preferring instead to take some of the boreens to the south and walking along the cliffs from there. Whichever gob****es in Clare County Council agreed to this farce should be sacked.

you cant actually visit the cliffs themselves now? jesus wept. Really this country is starting to disgust me, we're becoming a nation of pimps. Everything has a price tag and the price is always a rip off


BTW I remember an american friend commenting years ago that in america theyd have warnings and barriers all over the cliffs but in ireland we make the assumption that people arent all f*****ng idiots and if they are its not our problem. I guess that's changed now.

Ishmael

Was there on the bank holiday weekend just gone.

I agree that charging for the parking is a bit unfair, i mean, there is basically nowhere else to park so its either pay the eight euro or take the chance of parking along the road.

The restaurant seems nice from the outside, i didn't bother going in cause i had food with me and theres plenty of bushes along the cliffs

What annoys me most is the barriers tho, There a little too far away from the edge and tend to obscure the view of the cliffs a lot of the time.

Of Course theres always the option of walking up the cliffs a bit and hopping out over the barriers to see the cliffs as the should be seen (Not that i recommend anybody doing this especially if you're any way nervous around heights). Theres a good 3/4km walk along the edge down to the far tower that can be seen from the observation area though.

gucci

ned78 wrote:

50 would be about right for respraying and lacquering a mirror. You caused damaged to someone else's car, and didn't pay up. Not cool.

1. His car was parked in the LEFT HAND LANE of a narrow road, 200 metres from a car park that was half empty....if he cared that much about his car he would not have parked it there.
2. Judging by the overall state of his vehicle, multiple scrapes and dents, the scratches were the least noticeable of the marks on his vehicle

monkeyfudge

Bambi wrote:

BTW I remember an american friend commenting years ago that in america theyd have warnings and barriers all over the cliffs but in ireland we make the assumption that people arent all f*****ng idiots and if they are its not our problem. I guess that's changed now.

I think too many American's were going over the edges. They have those signs in the US for a reason.

If you've ever brought a male American there you'll notice they just love to run right up to the edge and pose there.

Owen

gucci wrote:

1. His car was parked in the LEFT HAND LANE of a narrow road, 200 metres from a car park that was half empty....if he cared that much about his car he would not have parked it there.
2. Judging by the overall state of his vehicle, multiple scrapes and dents, the scratches were the least noticeable of the marks on his vehicle

No excuse mate. You still caused damaged and fobbed it off. Still not cool.

gucci

ned78 wrote:

No excuse mate. You still caused damaged and fobbed it off. Still not cool.

if i had done it in the car park i would have considered paying. parked on a road tough titties.
you'll notice i got out of the car, and examined it, rather than fobbing off completely.

Raiser

palaver wrote:

Don't know if this is the right forum, i trust the mods.

Anyway, i've been at the cliffs last sunday with visitors from abroad - and was disgusted. I sent an email to the management, see below. Has anyone seen the new place recently? Awful!

---

I came last sunday with visitors who were for the first time in Ireland. It was embarassing
I was deeply disappointed, considering the amount of money which was invested.

My very first impression: For about 30 million Euro investment it wouldn't be too much to ask to get a decent café management, where you don't need to pay 4 Euro for a tiny piece of carrot cake, which actually was mouldy ( I brought it back to the poor girl at the check-out who offered a cake replacement, which I didn't trust, understandably). The café by the way looks cheap, more like an old take-away than a place where you can enjoy some decent catering and a view (only one window offers one).
You should have asked the Avoca Café or such like to do the catering. They know how to do good food and create a bit of style.

€30,000,000 to build a Cliff-side cafe with only one window affording a view :eek: That sounds about right for Ireland - Was Dick Roche involved ?

palaver wrote:

2nd: The exhibition is very poor and tends to be "state-of-the-art" but without a real interest and understandable explanation of what is real special about the cliffs. Whoever designed it was more in love with their own design than with presenting the natural history of the cliffs.

The Cliffs are quite high with lots of water crashing against their bases. People find this quite interesting, scenic and worth a visit. Next time ask a passer-by if you're not sure.

palaver wrote:

3rd: I understand that the cliffs need to be secured. But what happened was a tourist-motorway or the Red Cow of the Cliffs. It looks awful and plain, and all the dramatic beauty of the cliffs look like a photoshoot. The atmosphere is gone.

Your point here was somehow lost between your brain, the keyboard and the screen - "Cliffs look like a photoshoot" ?

palaver wrote:

4th: There are no bins placed along the way. People have no other choice than to throw their rubbish (and cigarettes) whereever nobody looks. Well, you see where they deposit it.

Put your rubbish in your fec king pocket - smoke when you get back to your car so that you don't annoy other people.

palaver wrote:

5th: I used to enjoy the musicians and the odd-ball-sellers hanging around the cliff-way. They presented more authenticity than all the "state-of-the-art" facilities. The new shops still look like, well, empty. Probably nobody can afford the rents. Your strict policy and money making kills the charms of this sight eventually.

Hawkers and crusties flogging stuff is "authentic" ? Cliffs are formed by immense forces acting on the earths crust over hundreds of thousands of years. The lads in dirty Dreadlocks from Birmingham came much later.

palaver wrote:

6th: All the multilingual signs are placed like discarded posters, like: if you can't read them, dig them out.

You may have a point here - nobody from Ireland ever seems to fall off - no doubt having consulted the unobstructed signage and in consequence having then taken their photos from some safe vantage point.

palaver wrote:

7th: Admission fees, don't get me started. 8 Euros for the car park, and another 4 Euros for the sad exhibition. And then a fortune for the miserable snack or a plain coffee indoors. To visit the Cliffs of Moher you have to ask the Credit Union for a loan.

If as you say €30,000,000 of the tax-payers money has gone into a tarmac car-park a dodgy cafe and a few signs then I wouldn't be impressed with a further €12 levy either to be honest - maybe you should be allowed to show an Irish Passport to explain that you have already paid in full.

palaver wrote:

8th: With toilets for hundreds of people a day you should see to it to clean them several times a day. They already look very, well - used. And even if the design is quite agreeable I still wonder if the taps need to be fancy waterfalls - considering ecological concerns.

Now you seem to be just working hard to find faults.

palaver wrote:

On the positive side: The film "The Ledge" is absolutely gorgeous. Far too short because it is very well done and fetching and I would love to watch it forever. But to pay altogether 12 Euro to see it, not to mention the bill from your café, is way over the top.
And the staff is nice and helpful. Hope you pay them well, at least.

Anyway, don't complain when you get bad reviews. I'm not the only one, as far as I've heard.

The Ledge ? Never heard of it - but for €12 there would want to be at least some nudity and a car chase.

Owen

gucci wrote:

if i had done it in the car park i would have considered paying. parked on a road tough titties.
you'll notice i got out of the car, and examined it, rather than fobbing off completely.

:rolleyes: It's still wrong. You still caused damage to someone's car, he even asked you to pay, and you said no.

jackdaw

It is a shame.. I remember going there with my grandad when i was a little kid, back in the early 80's, there was just an old green road to them and parking was obviously free, not much tourists there, but it was unspoilt scenic beauty .
I went there last year with my gf and it was a shock to me ..
a fuc*ing building site!! lots of dopey americans wandering about,
they have sold these cliffs on the basis that they are the most amazing cliffs
in Ireland, there are far nicer cliffs in the Aran islands, i can't remember the name, they have a ringfort there...

mac123

I agree with you ned. If you damage someones car, you pay for it. Maybe next time it will come to blows and gucci will learn his lesson!

pwd

they have barriers now?
i went twice and sat on the edge.
so you can't do that any more?

stovelid

monkeyfudge wrote:

I could never understand the point of an interpretative centre for some cliffs.

They're cliffs! What needs to be interpreted exactly???

Interpretative centre = charge mugs to view a natural resource

Owen

jackdaw wrote:

lots of dopey americans wandering about

Ah yes, you can tell them a mile away when you hear them shouting, instead of talking, about how great the Cliffs of Mohair are.

ejmaztec

At least they won't be building an “interpretive” motorway through there like the M3!

galah

Ishmael wrote:

Was there on the bank holiday weekend just gone.

I agree that charging for the parking is a bit unfair, i mean, there is basically nowhere else to park so its either pay the eight euro or take the chance of parking along the road.

.

well, taking the chance describes it - because the parking lot people are in cahoots with the local council, and will ring the traffic corps(e) who will then proceed to tow the car and/or fine you...(I tried that one once because I did not want to pay 8 Euros on a very rainy stormy Tuesday in November for a 5 minute photo stop - got threatened by the parking lot guard...)

Cliffs of Moher? Never again.

gucci

well if you value the safety of your car id put it in the lot, see my posts above. parking along that narrow of a road is a bit of a joke.

Ishmael

pwd wrote:

they have barriers now?
i went twice and sat on the edge.
so you can't do that any more?

You can, but you have to walk (down/up) past the place where the barriers are.

palaver

short update:
I actually got a very long reply from the director of the cliffs which basicly says that everybody is delighted with the new facilities and full of praise. Only naughty little me is complaining.
I've got another impression, though. I work in tourism so i should know. Most of the people i talked to weren't delighted at all (i.e. my guests who were with me, to answer a question above). No matter how shabby the previous facilities have been, the new ones are seen as way over the top and not worth the 30 mil.

The cliffs of Kilkee have a nice view, too, have no facilities whatsoever (yet!), are off the main tourist trail and are for free.
And for real dramatic cliffs with stunning views there is always Slieve League. Hope it stays that way and they don't transform all of Ireland's natural beauty into concrete Disney worlds, only for cashing in on it. But then, you never know ...

biko

Moher was always the tourist trap. As long as they leave other gems alone I'm happy.