worldiswide

My daughter is going to a wedding in said town in June Guidebooks have said public transport is not reliable or frequent from Dublin. Any recent information from FT'ers. Is it best to rent a car? How long should the drive take? She also read that signs can only be posted in Gaelic not English in this county. Is this up to date?

Any suggestions for sights along therapy from Dublin or side trips while in Connemara.

UAPremExecflyer

Not sure what your daughter is reading or what you've been reading?
But, for a start, there is no town called Connemara.
Connemara is a district that covers part of County Galway http://www.connemara.ie/en/ and www.connemara.net
There are plenty of buses from Dublin to Galway: a good big entry point to the Connemara area.
Try searching "Dublin Galway bus" and you'll find several companies, including http://www.gobus.ie and http://www.buseireann.ie
Your daughter can also take the train http://www.irishrail.ie/timetables
it is not true that the road signs are only in Irish/Gaelic. In the Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking) areas, the signs are usually Irish first (in bigger letters) and then English.
You can drive from Dublin to Galway in two hours or less: take the M6 motorway. You could stop off in Athlone, roughly halfway and have lunch and see the River Shannon.
Given that your daughter's wedding is outside Galway (in Connemara), which is predominantly rural, then I'd suggest a car. All the major car companies at DUB have satnav units to rent. Or she could take the bus/train to Galway and rent a car there.
Also, if your daughter is used to US roads, then she should be prepared for a significant adjustment: the ones in Galway and Connemara will be smaller (one lane each way or just one lane) and many times with no road markings delineating the centre/center ...

colmc

Connemara is in County Galway (it's not a county at all itself )

Public transport isn't *that* bad to Galway city itself, with trains and regular intercity coach services, but of course as you go further out it obviously isn't as frequent. It does exist, however, but there aren't direct Dublin -> Connemara services that I'm aware of.

Bus Eireann (www.buseireann.ie) and Michael Nee services go out that way IIRC from Galway city.

Renting a car is obviously an option. It would probably take about 3.5 hours to drive.

The signs issue generally isn't too much of an issue. The town names in English are very similar as the Irish ones, for the most part. My US partner had no trouble navigating the area while driving.

empedocles

Is the part of a bigger trip to or is she just going for the wedding? If she is just going to Galway & western Ireland, it would be "easier" to fly to Shannon, assuming the price is similar.

worldiswide

Thanks for your responses. The wedding is at renvyle house hotel and address is listed as Connemara county Galway on the invitation and on the website of the hotel Based on responses here she's leaning towards renting a car in dublin sat nav is certainly a good idea. is there a recommendation for rental car companies. local or the international ones. And what is the deal with CDW and Ireland exclusion on credit cards. Is it driving conditions or drivers?

Btw the guidebooks are fodors and eyewitness that are indicating transportation options as not reluable I like to double check with people in the know and as usual you get better information here.

She hasn't been to Ireland before but she's an experienced traveler in other parts of europe and a great driver. Just trying to provide some additional details and support like any mother and most especially an ft one!

She's got an award ticket into Dublin and out of London as one of her friends has never been there and wants to split the time. What's the best option for flights between Dublin and London?

Gagravarr

Money or points? And which bit of London?

If she'll be paying cash, and isn't in a huge rush, then sail+rail is only €46 one way from Dublin to London. There's some very nice scenery along the way, and that price will be to basically any UK rail station (so will get her to exactly where her friend is, not just the airport / main terminus station). Just depends on how pressed for time (it's about 8 hours)

UAPremExecflyer

The hotel listing is Renvyle, Connemara ...
I digress ... Suggest you read this thread on car insurance and credit cards http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/u-k-i...-confused.html
All of the majors car rental companies are at DUB airport. You should check their sites for deals. You can also use an aggregator like Dan Dooley or Auto Europe.
Flights from DUB-LHR/LGW are at least one/twice an hour throughout the day.
You can go with Aer Lingus, British Airways, Ryanair, Air France (to LCY). It's a 50-min flight.

Mwenenzi

Ireland is right hand drive. And many cars are manual - standard transmission. Has she driven RHD before ?

DJ Bitterbarn

Well they could have picked a more remote location. Maybe.

So in some ways, she's going to be lucky with public transit to a point, then very unlucky. But if you absolutely don't want to rent a car, then my advice (and somebody correct me if I'm off here) is:
1. Get the bus from Dublin Airport to Galway, either BusEireann or CityLink. Probably Citylink, though, because this seems to set you up for the next step
2. Get the citylink bus from Galway to Cliffden, get off at Letterfrack. I think BusEireann probably goes here as well, but didn't find a schedule.
3. Get a cab from Letterfrack. Get a taxi number in advance or call the hotel and ask if they can pick her up. Before you rent a car, see if they'll do it. They may. Or, alternatively, if she's feeling adventurous, just start talking to people and somebody will maybe give her a lift. I've heard of a third option of just getting into cars stopped at lights, but that's only ever happened to a friend of mine... and he gave them a lift anyway.

To get back, do the reverse.

If I can answer your question with a picure...


The guidebooks shouldn't list anything in Ireland as "reliable"
This is, of course, only because the North American definition of reliable usually implies a simple progression of needs to fulfillment of those needs. Instead I would say: You will get where you are going. You will eventually get what you are looking for. It may not come in the way you expected or be what you thought, but it'll happen and it'll all be grand. Have I waited hours for a bus that never came? Absolutely. And not rural either. City centre. But I got there in the end. The unreliability is backed up by the reliability that even if you think something didn't work, something will probably work in the end.

Driving in Ireland is not like driving in Europe, but that's not said to scare you. It's just different. Drivers are (especially in rural areas) extremely courteous. But especially up in Connemara you will find roads that are nothing more than a paved sheep track through a peat bog. Speed limits are (as I hope you realize from my image above) completely a suggestion. You can do it, though. People do it all the time. If she's driven in Europe she's got a big advantage, although all my coworkers in Poland who have been there have commented on the driving conditions in Ireland. Not necessarily bad, just ... different. Sometimes surprisingly so. What it comes down to is if she wants to experience some very new driving or if she wants to relax on the bus with friends (assuming they're going together) and probably meet some new people.

Depends what you want to pay and what you want to see in London. But if she doesn't have a car and doesn't need to be back in Dublin, then go from Shannon (or Knock). Both of them are closer and saves on a long trip across the midlands. Plus, you can avoid Dublin.

worldiswide

Thanks for the sail and rail idea. She is going to explore it.

A little bit.. so it will be an adventure.

We definitely agree. Its a long story.. they always are.. but its a destination that is off the beaten path and it suits the wedding pair quite nicely.

Thanks for the detailed instructions. They will be very helpful.

I love it. Picture is definitely worth a thousand words.

Thanks for all the great advice. It will be an adventure and that could be good. I completely get your point about perceptions by Americans about what is supposed to happen vs what actually may happen. Go with the flow..

Christopher

But don't forget that, unlike in the UK, speed limit signs are in kilometres/hour, not miles/hour. Similarly, road distances are in kilometres (generally).

That in itself is a grand description of "reliability" in Ireland.

gaelflyer

Driving in Ireland nowadays is well within the range experienced in other parts of Europe, with the obvious important difference that we drive on the left. If the OPs daughter has driven in Europe than she should drive if she wishes. It is true that credit card companies often exclude Ireland from coverage. This arises as there are far too many Americans with limited driving experience, who appear to have no conception that a European country has an organic road network rather than an engineered one, and who arrive after a couple of hours sleep on an overnight flight and zoom off on realistic schedules. Previous experience is very relevant.

And as for the off quoted picture above, a similar road in the UK would have a 60mph speed limit which never seems to attract comment. A speed limit is a legal restriction, no rational person would expect that it inevitably represents a recommendation.

DJ Bitterbarn

Well the setting should be spectacular no matter what! sounds like they'll have a grand time.

Because of how many times this has come up: The gears are laid out exactly like they are in LHD, but on the other side. They are not mirrored. So 1st is top left, 2nd bottom left, etc.

I mention it because I've seen all kinds attempt to live there and the various ways that people deal with it. Including some VERY Type A individuals who had a spectacularly hard time adapting. But everyone did. It's not a difficult atmosphere to adapt to. The best thing I think anyone can do in Ireland is relax, budget more time than you think you need, be flexible and you'll have a great time.

I didn't mean to imply all roads were equally signposted, but maybe it would help to explain that the speed limits are often set (as I recall) by road class and not by actual driving conditions. So an N road would typically have a given speed limit outside of town regardless of what the actual, practical speed would be.

That the actual speed limit could be (as in the case of that picture, chosen from a large set of possible candidates) double what the reasonable driving speed might be is, in my experience, more unique to Ireland than anywhere else. And after fifteen minutes driving the only reason it's still surprising is that the signs are there. But they are, and they're prevalent enough that it's something everyone I know remembers if they've lived there at one point.

But in a lot of countries the posted speed limit is more of a recommendation, or at least something you have to keep in mind because you're inevitably going to be driving faster than the posted speed. See: Poland. Also see: Canada, where the speed limits are set (IMO) far too low for the majority of driving conditions. Only in very poor conditions would one consider the speed limit an unrealistic number.

gaelflyer

As you say, the surprising thing is the signs. Every European country has a general speed limit and has a vast number of small roads where nobody has ever suggested that this limit is appropriate, but where they also haven't wasted time posting a lot of different limits. Present signposting in Ireland, which dates from 2005, draws your attention to the general limit. A curiosity of signposting, but entirely immaterial to driving conditions or their difficulty. Where specific lower limits are posted in Ireland some of these are too low also.

worldiswide

We value and appreciate all the comments suggestions and thoughts. Shes flexible and adaptable so that should help in this experience. And to dj bitterbarn. Shes not type a or shed be posting and not her type a mother.

We've all got roles to play.