anyone been to Ireland?

[BREWCREW5]

I may be going sometime in early spring. Any "musts" when I am out there? Thanks.

[InsomniacInkRoss]

I haven't been, but, Jameson Distillery and Guinness Brewery

[Hofbraunhaus]

The Cliffs of Moher are really cool. I also loved the Guinness Brewery as well.

[sbrylski]

Northern or the south? Blarney Castle was kind of neat.

[Beerambassador]

I went on my honeymoon three years ago and fell in love with the whole damn island! I'll keep it short, but there's so much to see and do.

 

The Galway area is amazingly beautiful and while I didn't find Galway to be that great of a city, it serves as an awesome base for sightseeing on the west coast. The Cliffs of Moher are a short drive south and are a must see and lots of other beautiful coastal areas to see. We stayed in Salthill, just outside of the city. They have a famous promenade along Galway Bay - very cool. Lots of great music in the pubs in the Galway area.

 

You could probably spend a whole week in Dublin and the area if you had the time, there is so much to see and do. The Guinness "Brewery" is a must-see. I put brewery in quotes, because you don't really see the working brewery, but more like a Guinness museum. Really neat and you get a complimentary pint on the top floor at the end. It's a beautiful room, all glass and you get a really stunning view of Dublin. It'll be tempting to drink nothing but Guinness the whole time you're there. The Jameson Distillery, again, is not a working distillery. Not nearly as neat as the Guinness tour, but if you love Jameson, probably worth your time. Otherwise, skip it.

 

The tour of Kilmainham Gaol was also amazing. It was a British prison where they held Irish political prisoners. Very emotional stuff...it's a real patriotic symbol for the Irish.

 

We went on a musical walking tour in Dublin, which was a ton of fun. You follow a couple of musicians around to a few pubs and they play for you and tell you all about irish music, instruments, history, etc. A great way to spend an evening.

 

Almost every book I read suggested seeing the Book of Kells. We both thought it was a waste of time. Neat seeing something that old, but I thought it was way overrated (and I love historical stuff). The book is like an add-on to the end of the tour of Trinity College. The tour of trinity itself was a lot of fun. College students are the tour guides, and it's fun and witty.

 

Near Dublin is Newgrange which is amazing. You can go in the oldest building in the world. Crazy neat historical stuff. Trim Castle, in the same general area, is also worth a visit. Really neat stuff. To the south of Dublin is the Wicklow Mountains, which is another amazingly beautiful drive. The neatest thing in that area was visit Glendalough, a beautiful mountain valley with the ruins of a monastery.

 

Spend some time in pubs (duh!). When you're on the coast you can get a lot of amazing seafood. I had the best seafood chowder I've ever had in a small pub on the coast in the middle of nowhere.

 

For what it's worth, Rick Steves Ireland tour book was a great resource and starting point, but certainly not the bible.

 

If you have any other questions, just ask.

[Hofbraunhaus]

The tour of Kilmainham Gaol was also amazing. It was a British prison where they held Irish political prisoners. Very emotional stuff...it's a real patriotic symbol for the Irish.

I can't believe I forgot to mention this. The prison and the brewery were my two favorite things in Dublin.

[Invader3K]

Not that I'm going to Ireland anytime soon (maybe someday...we might be going to Germany in 2011, but that's up in the air right now), but I'm curious on the costs. I've heard Ireland can be surprisingly expensive. Just wondering if that's accurate or not.

[Beerambassador]

Yeah, Ireland was/is expensive. They had a super high cost of living there, but it may have gone down some since they're economy tanked big time. A pint of beer was around 5 euro...just for an example. I think that meant around $6-6.50 dollars at the time I was there.

[TooLiveBrew]

Wow, Beerambassador hits basically everything I would've said. I have to disagree on the Book of Kells, though, since it's such an amazing work of art. In fact, I didn't do a guided tour of Trinity College; we went there mainly to see the BoK. Newgrange is amazing, as are the Cliffs of Moher. You really can't go wrong in Ireland. One 'tip' I'd have is to be sure to try the pubs in the smaller towns (if you're traveling in that manner). Dublin is an awesome city, but you really get a nice feel for the country outside of it.

 

Sbrylski is right to ask, though, where you're going on the Isle. If I'd call anything overrated, though, it'd be Blarney Castle. You basically just wait in a long line to go up to the top level of the castle to kiss the Blarney Stone... which kinda loses its appeal & luster when you're number 100+ in a long line http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif But it's definitely still something I'm glad I can say I did.

 

 

I have to share this story from my trip there (even though it's not going to be helpful in trip planning): I went with my family (dad, mom, sister), and we were eating in a pub -- I sadly can't remember in which town -- just enjoying dinner. It wasn't very busy, with mainly locals in there. We seemed to be the only Americans or tourists there. They had some TVs mounted on the walls around the pub, all on the same channel, which happened to be playing their national news program at that moment. Well, the lead story for that day happened to be a kidnapping. Did I say kidnapping? I meant horse-napping. Complete with interviews with the owner(s) & groundskeeper... it was really reported as if a child had been abducted.

 

My mom & I only lasted about 3 or 4 minutes before we were just busting out with laughter, even though we were honestly doing our best not to. We got some dirty looks & unfortunately fulfilled the stereotype of the 'ugly American'... but to this day, I still smile when imagining Peter Jennings or Brian Williams leading off the nightly national news with a horse-napping story. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[bigredrobbo]

The Temple Bar area is pretty fun too, with all the street performers and bars with local musicians hamming it up for tourists and locals alike!

[tristarscoop]

Quick concise answer, but if you want more, we spent two weeks there and I drove the whole time. We drove from Dublin to Galway and then down and around the island back up to Dublin.

 

Just north of Galway is the Connemara region and Kylemore Abbey up there is cool. So is the Dingle Peninsula and Dingle city. That was the best drive we did. Green and farmy into Dingle, coastline on the way out. Very cool.

 

I second, third and fourth Glendalough and also, in that area, Powerscourt Estate and Powerscourt Waterfall.

[rluzinski]

For what it's worth, Rick Steves Ireland tour book was a great resource and starting point, but certainly not the bible.

 

My wife and I used that book when we went about 7 years ago (wow, long time ago). He tells you not to waste your time with the Blarney stone, which I agree with.

 

We flew into Shannon and drove counterclockwise, finishing in Dublin. Stayed in a bunch of bed and breakfasts. The Cliffs of Mohr are breathtaking. Dingle Peninsula was neat and beautiful (some still speak Gaeilic there). Went to a few castles (can't remember their names). We also did the tour where they make Waterford Crystal. It was neat to see all the people lined up, still filing (what do you call it?) the designs in by hand. Didn't spend enough time in Dublin.

[tristarscoop]

I would highly suggest the hop on/hop off bus tour in Dublin. It's less than $20 and covers all the touristy things you'll want to do and allows you to spend as much time there as you want.

 

I know a lot of people like the Gaol, but I have to say that we left the tour early - it's a fairly long tour. We loved the beginning of the tour and the inside, but once we started outside we didn't feel like it was worth staying.

[davemakovec]

A friend and I went there for about a week when I was teaching in France. The highlight of the trip had to have been renting bikes and riding a circuit around the Dingle Peninsula - it's a tiny little town, people are very friendly, there's music in every pub, and it is very, very cheap there.