Seeking Both Ireland Advice & a Garmin Question

[bugs4cy]

In less than a month, 3 Cyclone Fanatics (and one Poke fan, but we still love her... most of the time) are taking off for a fantastic Ireland vacation. Recently there was a great thread about travel advice to Germany - - so I'm wondering if other CFers have Ireland travel advice. We're doing the go-as-you-please itinerary where we have a car and vouchers good for any of the 2,500 hotels, B&B, and castles all over the country. What are the Must See places?

We've acquired a few detailed maps and bought the Europe SD card for our Garmin unit. The instructions are worse than pitiful. So - do we just pop this in the unit when we get over there and viola, it's magic? Does it erase our current maps? Anyone with experience?

 

[Broodwich]

Newgrange.

It's old man. REALLY OLD.

 

[jsb]

Oh man, I was in Ireland last June and had a great, great time. I was there with a friend, so it was more of a girl's trip, but I'd love to go back for a honeymoon and do a lot of the same things.

We spent 5 nights in Dublin, 4 nights in Killarney, 3 nights in Galway, and 1 night in Shannon. In Dublin we did the usual things.....Guiness Storehouse, the Jail, Dublin castle, Trinity College/Book of Kells, St.Patricks, Christ Church, etc. Highly recommend doing the musical pub crawl tour---it's touristy but fun. We also took a day trip to the Wicklow Mountains. Very fun.

In Killarney, we did a lot of outdoor stuff. We spent a day hiking the Gap of Dunloe and then had a boat ride through the 3 lakes. This took all day, but it was so much fun and there were beautiful views. The hike was around 7 miles. We also drove the Dingle Penn. We also did a Killarney National Park one day. We stayed at a place a mile or so out of town called Kathleen's Country House (I think....it was Kathleen's something). It was a pretty cute little inn. The hostess was pretty nice and fun. I'd recommend it.

In Galway, we did the Cliffs of Mohr and the Aran Islands. We did a bike ride around the island. We also toured the city and saw a church where it is believed that Christopher Columbus stopped at before heading to America.

We planned our trip in about 15 minutes, but we both wouldn't change much at all about the trip. We loved the amount of time we spent in each city. I definately wouldn't spend more than 3 nights in Galway. We really focused on stuff that we could do outside of the car, so that the person that was driving could enjoy it. We didn't do the Ring of Kerry b/c we were worried about driving it, but I've read that Dingle is better anyway. One thing that we would do more of if we went back was stopping in the different little towns we drove through. The driving was a bit stressful and we were always wanting to get to our destination. I think if either of us went back, we would feel better about stopping in different cities. To save money, we would eat breakfast at the hotel/inn, buy a small snack at lunch time, and would eat an early dinner. Most restaurants would have a 3 course early bird special for around 20 euros.

Some things that we were glad we did was eating at nice restaurants and not eating crap (don't get me started on a trip to Italy where TWICE we eat at some crap restaurant b/c we were to tired to go to a good one). We were glad we didn't pack too much into each day and that we didn't focus on seeing everything, but seeing what we did see WELL. We were glad that we did a lot of the outdoorsey stuff too. We stayed at a kind of crappy hotel in Dublin (but in a good location) and a small inn/B&B in Killarney, our hotel in Galway was a nice, modern one and it was nice to have a big, cool, room with modern stuff and lots of TV stations towards the end of our two weeks.

As far as your GPS question.....I bought a Europe map before going to Ireland and it worked very good for us. It got us lost a few times, but we always found our way.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. We really did have a great time.

 

[joefrog]

Just did Ireland last year. Do not spend too much time in Dublin. Maybe a couple of the sights, Guinness is the best spot to visit by far, even if you don't drink. Best view of the city from its tower.

Get out in the country. Western Ireland is the best, so beautiful over there. Dingle peninsula is awesome, as are the Cliffs of Moher. The Burren is really cool too.

We really enjoyed Waterford, but they do not do the factory tour there anymore. Cork was nice, also Killarney, and Galway too. Blarney castle is worth seeing, but don't bother going to the top. And do NOT kiss the stone. Just trust me on that.

Save money on lunch and make your own food. Also, eat dinner early. Trying to eat after 9 doesn't seem to work very well in much of Ireland.

A lot of the smaller castles and stuff are really neat and worth seeing. Powerscourt is just outside Dublin and is amazing.

Powerscourt Estate

Get the Rick Steves Ireland book, he is the best at travel books in my opinion.

Amazon.com: Rick Steves' Ireland 2008: Rick Steves, Pat O'Connor: Books

People were all very friendly, and really liked Americans. Everybody has family in America. Driving is not hard, except in Dublin.

Hope this info helps.

 

[sunset]

We did something similar. We landed in Shannon and drove around the entire island sticking to the coast. You will have a great time.

1. Be sure to hit every small town pub you can. Great times.
2. I'm not sure when you will be there, but the first Sunday of Septembe is the All-Ireland hurling championships in Dublin. I doubt you will be albe to get a ticket, if you can do so, but be sure to hit a pub to watch. More passion in an all-Ireland hurling match than any sporting event I've ever seen. It's an awesome experience.
3. If you are a movie buff, check out the town they shot The Quiet Man. Great movie and kind of cool to see where they shot it.
4. Ancient ruins all over the country, just check the tourist books.
5. Post office in Dublin (bloody Sunday location).
6. Londonderry in the North. You can still feel the tension in the air.

Too much to list. You will have a great time.

 

[CycloneDaddy]

The clubs in Kilkenny are suppose to be sweet if you are into that kind of stuff. I went with my in-laws in March so I did not go to the clubs but a lot of young Irishmen recommend them.

The Powerscourt Waterfall is really neat to visit.

Head over to Wicklow and check out Glendalough. You will be able to do some hiking around the lakes and check out a cool Abbey.

Have fun driving. At first I was pretty nervous but I didn't think it was really that bad after a few miles. A lot of the roads are pretty narrow but that is what makes it fun. Also, they don't do a great job with street signs so good thing you have your gps.

 

[clonestar12]

Some neat places in the North(UK). Portrush has Dunluce castle, and is also near Giant`s Causeway. Bushmill distllery is close as well. I traveled to Ireland 2 out of the last 3 years, but both trips were for golf. I can point you to some of the best courses in the world.

 

[Havs]

I thought you were talking about the KCCI Sports Department. Wow. I need to get out more often.

 

[Aaron Jacobs]

The only thing I really know about Ireland is to take off your hat when you are inside around a lady.

 

[CycloneYoda]

Green Spot Whiskey is wonderful, and impossible to find in the states. Get some.

 

[dmclone]

We've acquired a few detailed maps and bought the Europe SD card for our Garmin unit. The instructions are worse than pitiful. So - do we just pop this in the unit when we get over there and viola, it's magic? Does it erase our current maps? Anyone with experience?

I have a Garmin with both US and Europe maps built in so i don't know how the card will work. It shouldn't wipe out your maps. I would try and turn in on here and plan a trip between two locations in Ireland to see how it works.


I will tell you that when you first turn it on in europe it will take a little longer to connect to the satelites compared to normal. I made the mistake of starting to drive in Paris before it got a signal, which took about 10 minutes. I was the guy driving in a circle at the airport until the GPS kicked in. Once it got up and going it was 100% accurate and was a real lifesaver.


My wife and I are planning on going to Ireland next spring. We plan on spending a few days in Dublin, 2 couple of days in Dingle, and a couple of days in the Galway area. If we time it right I may end up spending a day watching the Isle of Man races, which I''ve wanted to see for a long time.

 

[westlbcyclone]

I got back about 3 weeks ago from a 2 week trip around the southern part of Ireland. Te cliffs of mohr are great. Try to get there in the morning, there aren't many other people and the view is awesome. If you can, try to get to O'Conner's in Doolin (which is near the Cliffs), it's a great pub in a tiny little town that has traditional Irish music 3 or 4 nights a week and is fantastic. Don't spend too much time in Dublin, our group was there 2 days and that was plenty. Some of us skipped the Book of Kels, but the people that went said it was very cool, you just couldn't see much of it. It is so famous that is where everyone goes, and it is always packed. Kilkenny and Kilarney are fun places, if they are still doing them, try to go on a Smithwick's brewery tour. You actually go into the brewery, and have a free tasting training at the end. That was great! Also the Jameson Distillery in Middleton. Fantastic tour, with a tasting afterwards.

 

[IsUaClone2]

My wife and I did Ireland several years ago and loved it. We would like to go back using the same formula provided by jsb above.

One new bit of advice: when we drove to our hotel in Sligo we found the parking lot almost completely full except for one spot under the only tree in the area. We thought we had a piece of great luck finding the only shady spot in the lot. The next morning we thought someone had stolen our red car because there was a white car sitting where we had parked. I spent two hours trying to find an open car wash on Sunday morning. I don't know what kind of birds used that tree as their nightly roost but they were well fed.

 

[intrepid27]

Pirates in Ireland. AARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

Some really good advice in this thread. From my experience, the western part of Ireland is the best. The Cliff's of Mohr, The Ring of Kerry and the Dingle peninsula are all must sees. I would have loved to get over to the Aran Islands. Hopefully some day I will.

 

[ksclone]

Make sure to head to Belfast - there are some real hidden gems there. CS Lewis' birthplace, the ship yards that built the Titanic and the UDA/IRA murals around the city for starters.