Ireland information

Old Nov 3rd, 2022, 03:12 PM
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Ireland information

We are doing a cruise in July that ends in Copenhagen. Would love to add another week before return to MI. Toying with flying to Dublin and doing day tours with local guides. We don’t want to rent a car or do tour with a bus load of people. Any suggestions or recommendations as to what to plan. Interested in southern area mainly. Has anyone stayed in Dublin as home base? Thanks
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Old Nov 3rd, 2022, 08:27 PM
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If you don't want to drive and want to avoid tour groups, how about hiring a driver? We did that and loved it - no worries about driving, plus advantage of driver knowing when to visit which sites and being dropped off at most entrances rather than having to hunt parking and walk.
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Old Nov 3rd, 2022, 08:56 PM
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Rabbie's is long established and well respected small group tour company (who will also provide private tours). Their reputation was established by their tours in Scotland - but they also offer tours in Ireland (and England and a few on the continent)

https://www.rabbies.com/en/ireland-tours
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Old Nov 4th, 2022, 04:59 AM
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If you only have a week, you could stay in Dublin and day trip from there, but if your main interest is in the southern part of Ireland, you might want to contact a company like Elegant Irish which does (expensive) private tours: https://www.elegantirishtours.com

We did a hybrid tour/DIY a few years back:
-- 5 nights in Dublin on our own at the Shelbourne (including a train trip to Belfast from there);
-- 4 nights in Killarney (trained there on our own and walked to the Killarney Park Hotel from the station) visited Killarney Park and the town, then did two 1-day tours with a driver (Killarney Taxi and Tours) while staying in Killarney: Day One: the Ring of Kerry and Day Two: the Dingle Peninsula;
-- then we got picked up by an Elegant Irish driver/guide from the hotel who took us to places I had selected on route (Adare Village, Bunratty Castle & Folk Park, and Cliffs of Moher), dropped us off at our hotel in Galway, picked us up the next morning for a tour/drive through (Connemara, Cong, Burren, Kylemore Abbey), dropped us off at the Galway hotel (Park House) and we said good-bye. We spent one more day on our own in Galway.
--Then took the train back to Dublin for our return flight. (Note: we could have returned via Shannon Airport, which is closer). It is also possible to visit the Aran Islands from Galway, if that is of interest.

I didn't mind piecing together a combination of DIY and tours; this allowed us to splurge on the private tours. You probably know it's not possible to traverse all of Ireland without getting in a car the way it is in Switzerland. For us, this was a good compromise without returning to Dublin every night and spending extra time in a car/van/bus. I also have a strong preference for choosing our own accommodation, and we were very happy with our hotels.
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Old Nov 4th, 2022, 06:06 AM
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you coulld go canal barging https://www.leboat.co.uk/boating-hol...reland/shannon
or https://www.irishhorsedrawncaravans.com/

Last edited by bilboburgler; Nov 4th, 2022 at 06:45 AM.
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