American Visiting for the first Time.

shawnpsennett

Hello All,
My name is Shawn, my fiance Carmen and I will be visiting Ireland for the first time. I am an Irish American, meaning both sets of Grandparents were born in Ireland. My Fiance is Canadian, and we are planning a 10 day trip. I am 37 and Carmen is 30. We are looking for tips on places to stay, eat and things to see. Should we rent a car? We are flying in and out of Dublin coming in on November 27 and leaving Dec 7. We are planning to travel around to see the country. Would appreciate any suggestions and correspondence. Thank you in advance for your time.

Cheers
Shawn

Davidth88

Hi,

Firstly , I hope you enjoy Ireland !

Thats a very general request.

Are you interested in looking up where your grandparents came from , in which case give us some clues , people from those specific areas may be able to offer some advice

What are your interests ?

The weather around that time won't be nice for sure , and the days will be short , so you will need to plan any visits carefully.
The upside , very few tourists around that time so places will be empty althoguh some places may be closed.

shrapnel222

you will definitely need to hire a car. what i would suggest is take a look at a map/guides and decide roughly what you really want to see, then we can advise more with regards to hotels, routes, places to see. 10 days is good but don't try and do it all as you'll end up being in the car all the time. also let us know your budget for hotels etc or will you be going down the B&B route...

spurious

Don't rent a car for the days you will be staying in Dublin. Madness.

spank_inferno

Yes rent a car for sure.

Depending on where you stay in dublin, renting a car my also be a necessity.
Public transport in the city isnt great and Dublin bus isnt tourist friendly.

Davidth88

I would not bother renting a car while residing in Dublin, more of a bind than a help.

Dublin bus isn't that bad , anyway a lot of stuff is walking distance if you stay in the centre of town.

shawnpsennett

First off thank you all for the responses. We are trying to do this on a budget of around $1000.00 - $1500.00 U.S. We are planning to start in Dublin go to Tramore, Cork, Killarney, Galway, Westport, then back to Dublin for a concert on Friday, then we have the weekend. Will we have time to go to Northern Ireland over the weekend? We leave on Monday Morning? Thank you all again for your tips. Does this sound like too much in a short time? If anyone is planning trip to California or Canada please send me a note and I will help with that. Thank you!
Shawn

rossie1977

irish rail connects dublin with all the major towns that you have listed (westport, galway and cork) http://www.irishrail.ie/home/ bus eireann http://www.buseireann.ie/ travels between places like westport and galway, cork and killarney, tramore

as far as driving goes if you have a car with a sat nav then you should be ok, my cousins' husband was recently in ireland for the first time (he is from detroit but lives in NY now) and he didn't have any problems he said with the sat nav

i wouldn't recommend driving into northern ireland with republic plates on the car, despite what you read tensions in northern ireland are still very high, certain towns and areas are very loyalist and a republic reg car driving around is an easy target, bushmills e.g. where they make the whiskey next door to giant causeway has loyalist flags and murals all over the village

Davidth88

That is quite a lot in the time . It's doable , but you are going to see a lot of road for sure.

yes you could easily get to NI on the weekend, Belfast is only 2 hrs away by car from Dublin .

However if you are in Dublin , there is enough to keep you busy for a weekend anyway .

All the places you mention are lovely , I know Killarney very well.

To be honest it seems like you would be spending every day travelling to the next place rather than pausing to take in the area you are actually in .

You will certainly need a car if you plan to do that , there is no way you could do that without a car in the time you have.

shawnpsennett

Hello All,
Thank you for your in put. Can you now recommend accommodations.
Friday Nov 27th - Dublin
Saturday Nov 28th - Kilkenny
Sunday Nov 29th - Cork
Monday Nov 30th - Killarny
Tuesday Dec 1 - Galway (any suggestions?)***
Wednesday Dec 2 - we are alittle torn whether keep going north toward Westport or east back to Dublin? any suggestions....you guys have been great by the way!
These days are flexible. Anyone up for an American and Canadian crashing on your floor? Money saved can be drinking money for those who accommodate.


*** any suggestions of local watering holes (i.e pubs) or places of interest other than tourist traps would be wicked!

Davidth88

If you check the regional boards they usually come up with good ideas.

Donagh_mc

You'll certainly be seeing a lot of road alright! I'd go East(no offence Westport ).

Killarney pubs I'd rrecommend - Scotts, Courtneys, The Lane, McSorleys, The Failte. There's also tones of B&B's so you should find one easily. Something on the Muckross Road would be a good location to stay.

shanagarry

OP, that drive from Killarney to Galway will be a long one... You will be doing a lot of driving in general, so you run the risk of just checking places off the list rather than exploring them. If you don't go to Wesport would you consider adding a few days along the way and only going back to Dublin from Galway on the Friday?

You could, for example, take more time between Killarney and Galway and go by Clare and the Cliffs of Moher, or you could take a day around Dingle and the Blaskets (Ryan's daughter country)

6ix

As someone already mentioned, a big factor in is the weather.

If you were here now (we've got a some sunshine for a few days!), those drives that you've planned would be pleasant, and at times very scenic and enjoyable. In November/December, you are much more likely to have torrential rain, mist, fog, maybe even hailstones, which will make driving more unpleasant. Of course you may have sunshine, but if I were you I'd limit the amount of driving, and enjoy the places you are visiting.

Westport is really nice, although it could be a bit far considering Killarney to Galway is probably 3 hours in the car (sometimes on poor roads) if you travel the previous day.

10 days is quite a short time, so maybe make 3 major stops instead of 5. If you enjoy it you can always come back to visit all the other places you've missed like the Northwest coast (Sligo/Donegal), Giant's Causeway in Antrim, Carlingford Lough in Louth, and Wicklow. You could also do a day trip to Wicklow when you're in Dublin, although there's plenty to keep you occupied if you want to stay in the city.

Also, I can only speak from experience but I'm in Northern Ireland regularly enough and having Irish reg plates has never affected me.

fricatus

Shawn, you could be lucky or not on the weather, but driving here in Ireland is a lot different from the USA, so allow double the time you'd allow for equivalent distance.

The good news is that all the old crappy national roads from Dublin to the main cities are being upgraded in full to motorway. There's about two years to go on the programme, but a lot of it is already open (most of Dublin-Belfast, most of Dublin-Cork, around half of Dublin-Galway and Dublin-Limerick, and sections of Dublin-Waterford).

Outside of that, you'll be mostly on two-lane roads which tend to carry quite a bit of traffic, so overtaking is not always easy. Also a lot of the traffic is slow trucks, and indeed you'll definitely encounter tractors every now and again. Sat-nav is the way to go, and you should maybe post on the GPS forum and ask what's the best for Ireland. I've got a Tom-Tom and find it quite good, though some new motorway sections are not on them.

The advice from other posters on limiting yourself to a few places and enjoying them more in depth is sensible in my opinion. Sure, Ireland has "sights", but often what visitors find they enjoy most is just being in a place, chatting to locals, passing the time of day, even in a big city like Dublin. In my own humble opinion, you should try to check out a game of hurling (mostly in the south, east and the eastern part of Galway). Post on the GAA forum with specifics and people will advise you on a good club game.

As regards north of the border, I've driven an IE reg car up there tons of times, with never an ounce of bother - even in the bad old days when there were soldiers on the streets. The cops go around in normal cars nowadays, so that tells you how much things have changed. There are still a few idiots who still have a problem with all things southern, but someone will always have a problem with something, right? If you're unsure about anywhere, reset the sat-nav and keep going. Also, your hotel reception will be able to advise if there's anywhere local you need to avoid.

You mentioned that your grandparents were born in Ireland. It might be a bit of fun to look for their census returns from 1911, since they've just been scanned and put up online. My paternal grandfather was a "scholar" and the family had "servants". How life has changed Check out http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/

Above all enjoy...

shawnpsennett

Can anyone recommend cheap motels to stay at? I am not looking to spend $200.00 per night. If it were up to me I would pack a back pack with a sleeping bag and sleep in a park, but my fiance won't and if she is not happy Shawn is not happy. In the states we have Motel 6 that starts at about $40.00 per night. I am not looking for anything fancy just a place to lay my head and shower, again a park and a water hose would work for me but not Carmen. Thanks to all again for your help. If anyone is interested in meeting up for a pint please let me know. Thanks!

Shawn

Naked Lepper

travel lodge is around 50 euro a night or so
you should get a double room for less than 100 euro a night in a mid range hotel anywhere in the country, easily.

dont listen to that fool who said you need to be worried about southern plates when in northern ireland

dont try and cram too much in as youll get pissed off with driving

Savman

shawnpsennett wrote: »

Hello All,
Thank you for your in put. Can you now recommend accommodations.
Friday Nov 27th - Dublin
Saturday Nov 28th - Kilkenny
Sunday Nov 29th - Cork
Monday Nov 30th - Killarny
Tuesday Dec 1 - Galway (any suggestions?)***
Wednesday Dec 2 - we are alittle torn whether keep going north toward Westport or east back to Dublin? any suggestions

Lot of driving there tbh, might wreck your head after a while. I would recommend Wicklow (so called 'Garden of Ireland" but in fairness does have a lot of very nice spots). In Dublin you'll wanna be near O'Connell Street, Temple Bar or Stephen's Green otherwise you'll be off the beaten track from a tourist perspective.

Kilkenny, grand, about 90 miles drive (can be done in under 2hrs on a good day). This will take you thru Carlow town if you go via M7/M9. Cork, worth seeinig I shpose, the City itself is very similar to what you see in Dublin, shops and traffic. I'd say it would take a while to do the nicer parts or Cork as it is the largest county (Kinsale is nice if you have the time). Killarney is a nice town, but personally I found the drive a real pain.

I think you'd like Galway, has it's own character not unlike Temple Bar. I've never been to Westport but generally anywhere in Mayoooooo will have that 'whey out whest' vibe going on, so depends if that floats your boat.

Going up North is ok so long as you stick to the main roads during daytime. M1 from Dublin will have you in Belfast inside of 2hrs so could be done in a daytrip. Highly recommend a satnav, we're a poxy country for signposting stuff especially on minor roads.

Places to avoid: Limerick City after dark!

Accomm try www.travelodge.ie see if you can get the Saver rooms on advance purchase. As for how to put all this into an itinerary...not sure but you'll have fun piecing it all together