My dad has always wanted to make the trip to Ireland. Even though there's our roots are too far back to trace (I'm 4th generation Canadian), we still want to embrace our past.

His schedule is tight, but I cashed in a few miles and will be in Ireland for the first visit in early March. To this point, I've only got tickets to LHR. Everything else is up in the air.

I'm looking for sugestions, advice, experience.....

Just got back from 8 days in early October
(see my post on the Hilton board about the Conrad hotels)
My recommendations as to what to do would be tempered by how much time you have to spend.
It was our first visit and the trip was somewhat disappointing many due to the fact that we did not get to see even half the places/things we planned to visit.
First off driving in Ireland is no picnic
(they drive on the left, but that not a problem for me)There is absolutely no motorway system, look on the map, plan to go 100 miles to say Galway 2 1/2 conservative right?? Well its going to take 5, because you are going to be through dozens of medeaival towns get stuck behind dozens of tractors that after you spend an hour getting out of Dublin (forget road signs, there arent any)
We had 3 days of incessant rains (locals will tell you that's normal for all the year, but I guess that explains why the country is so green.
We went mostly south and west. Kilkenny, Waterford did the beautiful drive along the coast through Ardmore.
Then Killarney and the must do drive around the Ring of Kerry. Lots of castles, Cahir and Rock of Cashel.
If you are familar with the BBC series Ballykissangel we took the train from Dublin to Avoca (Ballykissangel that was a 1/2 day train/bus tour and was well worth it.
Dublin needs about 3 full days and hase some supprisiing great restaurants (and off course pubs) DO NOT attempt to drive there unless you enjoy being lost.
If I can answer any more or specific questions drop me an e-mail.
Mike

Its been a while since MrsOpus and I were there, but there are now very low fare options from London to Ireland. Ryanair.

I would definitely drive while in Ireland. There are very few, if any, viable alternatives. I guess, the bus. Just follow signs to the next town on your map. Roads are narrow, hedgerows often on the sides, but once you get used to the right hand drive and learn to look left, things will be fine. Being ambidexterous helps as the gear shift requires use of ones left hand and most cars are manual.

The wild Northwest coast is beautiful and friendly, albeit a long way away. The Southwest is probably more attainable and is equally interesting.

Enjoy.

Check out my thread in the UK/Ireland forum under FT Travel (might have to dig back a couple months). I went in May and it was awesome! Dublin is a great city and we spent a good amount of time out on the West coast in Killarney. B&B's are definitely the way to go and inexpensive as well... if you hit a great one, make a note of it for next time. Good B&B's are valuable contacts! (Drop me a line if you need a recommendation for Killarney. We stayed at a good one in Dublin too -- but it was just a bit out of the way. If you don't mind that, I can recommend it as well.)

The restaurants are great, and the people are generally warm and friendly! The scenery is literally "breath-taking." Ireland is a stunning place. Enjoy it!

I agree that a car is a must unless you want to take a lot of bus tours, the rail system is almost non-existent except for the light (electric) rail system running to the south afor Dublin and a few suburbs/towns nearby.
If you do the Ring of Kerry in a car make sure to go clockwise because if you go anti-clock you will stuck behind a lot of tour buses which always seem to go in that direction and you will never get by them unless they stop at a viewing site.
Mike

When I took my dad over (both sides of the family come from Ireland), he was really interested in tracing the family tree. Each county has a non profit genealogical service, and he was able to get a preliminary report from one of these centers (County Clare) for about $75, and a more detailed follow up report for about $150. They go through old parish records, and have a surprising amount of detail in their reports. If you can trace back what county your family hails from, this might be something worth pursuing. My dad and sister have even been back to the land our distant relatives occupied in the 1800's, and to cemetery plots, based on the information they obtained from these reports. There should be a listing of these centers on line somewhere. The one in Clare used college students to maintain their records and do their research.

Aside from that, if you're out on the west coast my favorite place to go is Doolin, which has about 3 pubs that have live music each night. It's not far from the Cliffs of Moher, and it's pretty rural out there, but well worth the visit just for the music. There's plenty of B&B's in that area.

Suggest you get a copy of Frommers' Irelands Best Driving Tours excellent guide book.
Breaks the entire country down into about 25 one or two days drives. Give specific milages, turn-off marker things to see on the drive.
Found this book invaluable on our trip.
If you are unable to find copy I can lend you mine.
Mike

Book an extra half day for Kenny's Bookstore in Galway.

I would suggest flying Ryanair from London to Dublin and then a couple of days to adjust to the time difference and check things out. You won't need a car whilst in Dublin. Just use the DART or bus. Dublin has most things that any other capital city has but usually a smaller version. This is good because it means you can look around the national gallery in a couple of hours and not feel as if you have missed anything. The same goes for Dublin City museum, natural history museum. The Guinness museum is a must do. After about 3 or 4 days in Dublin I'd get the train to Galway or Cork or wherever. Everywhere is good. Rent a car once you get to where ever you are going to (try Dan Dooley). Take your time and don't try to see everywhere in one go. The far southwest is FULL of tourists so it might be worth steering clear of that area. After about a week of traveling around I'd head back to Dublin by train and then up to Belfast. Most people completely miss out on the north and it's really well worth going just so you can see for yourself that normal people are not shooting each other (save that for Oakland). If you wanted even longer in the north you can stay at a hotel in the Bushmills distillery! Whatever you do you'll have fun.

If Ryanair doesn't appeal to you then I would suggest you look out for deals on British Midland.

[This message has been edited by parra (edited 11-25-2002).]

Hello,

I live in County Kerry (just off the famous ring of Kerry) so if anyone has any particular questions, just email me or ask here.

As for Ryanair from London-Dublin. Please bear in mind that you'll have to change airports (probably from LHR to STN) and that will cost you GBP15-20 per way. It might just be easier to fly Aer Lingus from LHR, especially with the many fare sales etc.

BTW, I don't think there will be many tourists in March, certainly not around my area.

Jeremiah

[This message has been edited by teahan (edited 11-25-2002).]

When we were there we connected to a BMI flight from LHR to DUB. Very pleasant flight (although navigating Heathrow wasn't) and it only cost me 15,000 miles roundtrip! It's not too expensive either if you want to get the 500 UA miles for the route.

Thanks, everyone for all the advice. Keep it coming.

We only have a week, but better short than not going at all. The wisdom and range of it all is apreciated.

TY

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