Carlow or Kilkenny ?

florentine

Hi everybody !!

I'm a french girl of 22 years old and next year I will be a french language assistant in a school in Castlecomer. I would prefer to live in a city and I saw that the two nearest cities are Carlow and Kilkenny. As I don't know at all this part of Ireland, I would like to know by irish people which city is the best to live ? Which one is the best for a 22 years old girl ?
Thank you very much for your answers !!

byhookorbycrook

Carlow is not a city, Kilkenny is quite a small city. Will you have your own transport?

florentine

Oh Carlow is not a city... I believed when I saw it on google map..
No I won't have my one car.. I thought take buses because I don't know if I can brought my french car and drive during one year on a left road way..
I have to check that. So What do you think is the best for me ?

Owryan

Not too sure if there is much of a bus service from Carlow to Castlecomer , or for that matter even from Kilkenny .

RealistSpy

Carlow is the place to be
Regarding bus - JJ Kavanagha
Link

almighty1

florentine wrote: »

Hi everybody !!

I'm a french girl of 22 years old and next year I will be a french language assistant in a school in Castlecomer. I would prefer to live in a city and I saw that the two nearest cities are Carlow and Kilkenny. As I don't know at all this part of Ireland, I would like to know by irish people which city is the best to live ? Which one is the best for a 22 years old girl ?
Thank you very much for your answers !!

Its highly unlikely there are any bus routes between Castlecomer and either Carlow or Kilkenny. Without a car, your best bet would to organise a lift with one of the teachers there (I presume there would be more coming from Kilkenny)

Even though I'm from Carlow I personally I would prefer Kilkenny because of the castle (grounds) and general buzz around the place. Its more of a touristy place with a bit more heritage than Carlow.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

yeah, kilkenny is nicer even if only for the castle grounds. on the rare nice day you can sit out there with a book and a coffee unlike carlow where your only options are a park bench or the dinn ri beer garden.

foggy_lad

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

yeah, kilkenny is nicer even if only for the castle grounds. on the rare nice day you can sit out there with a book and a coffee unlike carlow where your only options are a park bench or the dinn ri beer garden.

There are also regular buses between Kilkenny and Castlecomer with bus Eireann as well as jj kavanagh's.

http://www.buseireann.ie/pdf/1285339721-7.pdf

http://jjkavanagh.ie/images/events/Clonmel-Dublin-2012.pdf

Mollyd90

+1 kilkenny.

kilkenny will probably have more for you to do in your free time as regards tourist attractions. Kilkenny's attractions, shops etc are pretty much in walking space of each other while carlows are a bit more spread out, it all depends on what you are interested in though. I would leave your car at home and use public transport here.

DHennessy

definitely live in kilkenny, its a much better place. Its a nice city and has a lot more to do.

foggy_lad

Carlow has been moved out to Business parks during the boom years so the town centre is non existent apart from Fairgreen shopping centre, Kilkenny has a booming town centre area as well as loads of shops in outlying business parks.

Rega

Kilkenny's much nicer

slimjimmc

RealistSpy wrote: »

Carlow is the place to be
Regarding bus - JJ Kavanagha
Link

Why on earth would the OP take the Dublin-Waterford bus route to get to Castlecomer from Carlow (or even from Kilkenny)?

NiThigim

slimjimmc wrote: »

Why on earth would the OP take the Dublin-Waterford bus route to get to Castlecomer from Carlow (or even from Kilkenny)?

Yes clearly incorrect advice ( maybe confused with Castledermot!!). foggy_lad has given the correct public transport advice.

Florentine, Carlow and Kilkenny are about the same size it's just Kilkenny has a charter allowing it to call itself a city. Both are the size of a small French town. As mentioned earlier there is not much to choose between the two however Carlow has a Technical college so there will be a lot of people of a similar age people around during the school term.

Bonne chance and welcome to Ireland.

tom traubert

florentine wrote: »

Oh Carlow is not a city... I believed when I saw it on google map..
No I won't have my one car.. I thought take buses because I don't know if I can brought my french car and drive during one year on a left road way..
I have to check that. So What do you think is the best for me ?

Florentine

If you feel confident that you can drive your own car on the left hand side then I recommend that you should bring it with you. Public transport in Ireland is not very good except to,from, and within the larger urban centres.

The link below provides some information on the temporary importation of vehicles due to temporary transfer of residence.

http://vrt.ie/vrtDetail.php?page=23

As for where to live? I moved to Carlow almost twenty years ago now as I began to work here. I'm quite happy here but I would recommend Kilkenny for you. I feel Kilkenny has more to offer in terms of diversity of social outlets. It attracts many more tourists than Carlow and as a result there is more to be experienced there in terms of festivals, live music, etc etc.

I hope the above helps