My 23 year old daughter and her 78 year old grandmother are hoping to go on a “big” trip this year. My MIL has always wanted to go to Ireland; she’s in pretty good shape physically but her eyesight is extremely poor. My daughter wants to make this a really special trip for her. If the cost isn’t too much more, they would love to include England, Scotland, or France too.
The two of them would prefer to do the Tour type trip where transportation, hotels, and some activities and meals are included. We are trying to find some good tours that are not too expensive but include a fair number of “experiences” in the late July and in the 7-10 day time range. The amount of information is overwhelming and the prices are higher than we were hoping for.
I thought this illustrious group may have suggestions for places to start looking for this type of tour. Also any suggestions/things to avoid when planning and taking this type of trip. Don’t know if this helps or not but my MIL is retired military and AARP member; my daughter is a teacher and an NEA member.
We almost went on a CIE tour last year, but my DD dis some research and booked us (8 adults with various dietary restrictions) a private tour with few included meals instead.
The CIE tour looked lovely, though.
We have booked flights to and from Dublin at the end of March, with my HS senior, my husband, me, and mt SIL, who went on a tour with her parents last year, and who thinks we can wing it on our own. Planning to rent a car and drive the Ring of Kerry. I’m interested in any advice or suggestions, as well.
We did a self tour of Ireland last year. My advise is not to try and do too much. Driving wasn’t bad but you can’t go real fast (nor do you want too). Get the super CDW insurance as you will scratch up your car and probably will knock the outside mirror off and you may also back up into a stone wall. We did all three and with that insurance, you just turn the car in and walk away. Also get an automatic even if you know how to drive a manual. You don’t need anything more to think of when you drive. I used Tripadvisor and pestered the people there with all sorts of questions.
OPW sites/attractions are grouped by geographic area. Clicking through provides detailed info on each attraction (hours of operations, admission fees, accessibility, etc)
Do you plan to stay in Dublin? If so, you may not want to pick up the car until you are ready to depart Dublin. Driving in Dublin is challenging, and I owned a car while living in Boston and NYC.
Is someone comfortable driving stick from the other side of the car on the other side of the road? I never tried it as I knew I would crash, but my husband managed w/o incident. And, unless things have changed, AmEx will not cover excess insurance in Ireland, one of only six countries they will not touch. (Shocked to learn they did provide coverage in Costa Rica, a country where pedestrians, livestock and cars share unlit roads after dark.)
GPS was essential and you will not want to rely on your iPhone as the roaming charges would be outrageous. We brought a handheld GPS with Irish maps and it saved us many times.
I could ramble on and on but then would completely take over the thread of the person looking for tour group info. I have never taken a tour, so cannot offer any advice other than to pack layers and include something waterproof with a hood.
@CT1417, i’ll gladly take all the advice you have! You can PM me, although I think maybe there are many CC people who would also appreciate the info.
We have rented cars in Germany. All three of us can drive a stick, though none of us has driven on the other side of the road. Pretty sure my husband will be doing all the driving. We don’t plan on driving in Dublin. The good news is there won’t be as many tourists and tour busses the last week of March. The bad news is the weather will be very iffy. We are taking it easy, with no hard set agenda, and will not mind a rainy afternoon spent in a small pub, if necessary.
OP here. Thanks for all the information. The CEI tours look amazing, but they may not be able to swing the cost. They may end up renting a car and doing self-guided as well. Would love to here the good and not so good about that option as well. (Although the driving details are making me second guess my daughter driving over there.)
@GAMomto4 – having not been on a tour, I would guess the greatest advantage, especially with multiple generations, is that someone else has handled all of the planning—and you won’t get lost, or waste time looking for a place to eat. Aer Lingus offers vacation packages that include hotel/B&B, airfare, and rental car, but no tour bus or tour guide. When I looked at the packages several years ago, the rates seemed attractive, but I could never make the itinerary work out as I was working around school break schedules. One more thing to check out in case the CIE tours are too expensive and you don’t want to do all of the research and planning yourself.
@eastcoascrazy – we never followed a typical tourist track as we fit our tourism in between visits to family members. We fully intended to drive the Ring of Kerry, but by the time we arrived there, we had already driven nearly 1000 KM, and just couldn’t bear the thought of another day in the cramped car, so we skipped it. Instead, we spent more time than needed at Muckross House & Gardens and Muckross Traditional Farm. (My boys were elementary/middle school age then so they enjoyed the farm.)
In terms of places we really enjoyed visiting: Kilmainham Goal, right outside Dublin; historic walking tour of Dublin led by Trinity College grad students (but only if you really want to hear Irish history); Cahir Castle, not very far from Rock of Cashel in Tipperary, so if visiting Rock of Cashel, leave time for Cahir (pretty town and nice castle). I would skip Bunratty Castle, unless you want a touristy experience. We have never made it down to Cork, so will have to on our next visit.
The weather may be fine; it is completely unpredictable. We have enjoyed perfect weather in mid-April twice but a May visit ranged from freezing to 70 degrees, all in one week. Pack for the worst, and maybe you will get lucky.
If they rent a car, Ireland is one of the few countries in the world where car rental agencies require you to purchase car insurance - you will have no option. So be sure to add that cost in as well. There’s a reason they require car renters to purchase insurance… it can be tricky to drive over there.
Yup. Was one of the few countries in the world our Credit card didn’t offer automatic insurance for. My H did drive a manual all over the country-- I certainly wouldn’t have, but he did fine.
eastcoastcrazy We had a wonderful trip to Ireland last April. We went to visit our son who was finishing up his study abroad. We also visited Scotland and London. I made all of the travel arrangements and my husband did the driving. Although I’m fine with driving a stick, driving on the left side of the road was scary to think of. He did fine. We drove down to Cork and then over to the Ring of Kerry, east to Birr (genealogy) and back to Dublin. We used this place in Dublin, which worked out well. http://www.staycity.com/dublin/augustine-street-apartments/ This was where our son lived during his study abroad so an added bonus was he knew the area around it very well. We stayed at two other bed and breakfasts, one in Cork and one in Birr. Both were wonderful.
Something we did in each city was the Free city tours: http://www.newdublintours.com/ Excellent tours and you pay what you think it’s worth. PM me for more info.
Just wanted to update. We ended up booking a tour with CIE Tours instead of doing it on our own, because the tour included two days in Northern Ireland, including Belfast, Derry snd the Giants Causeway. We would not have felt at all comfortable driving in Belfast on our own.
It was the first time we’ve ever done a tour group vacation. We just returned from Ireland, and had a fabulous experience. I would highly recomment CIE.
Next time we go, we’ll fly into Shannon (smaller city, easier to drive out of), rent a car, and return to some of the towns and sites we most loved.