Ireland is amazing. It’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve been, with its rugged coastlines and green, rolling hills. It really does earn the name the Emerald Isle. I had been to Ireland once before, but was thrilled to have the chance to go again for my friend Clodagh’s wedding.  I decided if I was gonna go to all the way to Europe, I would make an extended vacation out of it. Since I had never been to Scotland and it’s so close, I decided to make that my second stop. (More to come on the wedding and Scotland!).

We spent 5 days in Ireland and were able to explore Dublin, saw some of the countryside in Wicklow for the wedding and even ventured up to Northern Ireland.  It was an amazing vacation and I can’t wait to go back to explore more of the country on a future trip.  After coming home from this trip, I found out that I’m 18% Irish and 35% Scottish/British (thanks ancestry.com DNA!) so further exploring these places has become even more personal and exciting!

Accommodation

I used Airbnb for the first time in Dublin. It was a private room in an apartment where the owner was also residing.  The apartment was in Temple Bar, a fantastic location in Dublin. It was walking distance to many bars, restaurants and shopping. I thankfully found the apt without any issues and the host Cristina was gracious enough to let me in early even through the room was still taken by the previous nights occupants.  I made myself comfortable on the couch and took a couple hour nap, before getting up and ready for the day.  The apt was really nice and comfortable, however I think going forward I would only stay somewhere where I had the entire place to myself.  The host was lovely and made us feel at home, but just being in her space was awkward at times.

For the wedding night we stayed at the most adorable B&B, the Moore’s of Grangecon.  The B&B was in Dunlavin, which was about a 5 minute drive from the wedding reception.  The owners Paul and Karen also own and run a restaurant on the property, which provided us with a fantastic Irish breakfast the morning after the wedding.  After checkin in to our room, Paul was gracious enough to drive us to the reception so that we didn’t have to leave our car overnight.  It was a perfect room and exactly what I wanted a local Irish B&B to be.  I would highly recommend staying there if you are in the area.

Traveling in Ireland

I flew Aer Lingus into Dublin and had a great experience. The planes were in great condition, with comfortable seats, a friendly flight crew and good food. However, majority of the major airlines fly into Dublin so you may find a cheaper deal depending on which airport you’re flying from.

Traveling through Ireland is easily done by car. There are tons of rentals available but most are stick shifts.  Automatics are available but they cost more.  Also there are many tours that go to other parts of the country.  I recommend Dublin Tour Company and Finn McCools Tours as we had great experiences using both. I had a not so great experience with Paddywagon Tours and would strongly encourage you to avoid them.

Ireland is small so flying between cities isn’t necessary, but if you want to travel to other parts of Europe, Ryanair is the way to go. It’s an Irish budget airline that goes all over for dirt cheap. We paid €17.99 to fly to Edinburgh. Its no frills but they get the job done and save you money to spend elsewhere. If only we could get them in the US!

Food

Irish food tends to be similar to British food; it’s heavy but delicious.  In addition to food, you can’t get enough beer and cider.  You’re in Ireland after all, drinking is practically a requirement! Just throw your diet away and live it up. The fish and chips, Shepherd’s pies, Guinness stews and Irish brown bread make the calories totally worth it.

Obviously Guinness is huge in Ireland, but since I’m not a beer drinker I was looking forward to the cider.  Fun fact: Magners Irish Cider, which I frequently enjoy in the US, is called Bulmers in Ireland.  For whatever reason, it couldn’t be sold internationally as Bulmers so they re-named it Magners for exportation.  I enjoyed many a pint of Bulmers over the course of the week.  I’d suggest you at least have one under the local name while in Ireland, if you’re a cider drinker.

Last, but most important….eat as much of the local Irish butter as you can.  I know that sounds crazy but it is SO good.  Then when you come back home you can start buying Kerrygold Irish butter because you’ll be addicted and maybe eat an entire brick in 4 days.  (Yep I’ll admit it, I did that. And I’m not even going to apologize for it because it was so delicious.)

General Tips

1 – Dublin is pretty easy to navigate once you get your bearings.  The city is very walkable, but another easy way to get around is the Dublin hop on hop off tour bus.  If you’ve read any of my other blog posts, you know I love a double decker bus tour.  They are so fun and you learn tons of information along the way.  And they stop at the major sights so you’ll be sure to take advantage of all the great photo ops.

2 – The weather in Ireland can go from beautiful to rainy pretty quickly.  I’d suggest packing a variety of clothing, including a rain coat and umbrella, because at some point you will need it.  We were there in early fall and although it was warm, when it rained the temps dropped quickly, and a coat and scarf were necessary accessories.

3 – Ireland users the Euro. I used my credit card 90% of the time, however also took out a little bit of cash from the ATM, which was beneficial every so often. You won’t need much but it’s a good idea to have some incase you run into somewhere that wouldn’t take cards, especially if traveling through rural Ireland.

4 – If you travel to Northern Ireland, remember it is a completely different country with a completely different currency.  Northern Ireland is part of the UK and uses the Pound.  If you plan to travel to Northern Ireland, you may want to get some cash for your time there as well.

5 – Take the Airlink Express bus into the city center and most likely you will be able to walk or take a very inexpensive cab to your accommodations.  The bus is only €6.00 one way or €10.00 round trip, where a cab from the airport to the city center can cost €20-25 one way.  Put that extra money towards a drink instead!

Ireland is a small country and very easy to travel in and around. Although I absolutely love Dublin, I encourage you to visit as much of beautiful Irish countryside as you can.  Also, when you land, consider having Garth Brooks song “Ireland” as your soundtrack to walk/dance off the plane. “Ireland I am coming home! I can see your rolling fields of green and fences made of stone.  I am reaching out, won’t you take my hand, I’m coming home, Ireland!”  Learn the lyrics and sing along!  I won’t confirm or deny doing this myself, but it probably, really gets you into the Irish spirit. 😊