Ireland

Robisere

Hoping to take a 7 -10 day holiday in the Republic in August, in time for our Silver Wedding anniversary. We are 68 and 69, both have slight mobility difficulties and other medical problems. Currently looking at the Galway Bay area and probably a Holyhead - Dublin ferry. I have researched other areas but the ferries to the north of Ireland involve a long crossing, which means Scotland or Liverpool out and we would have to have a cabin. The cost of this would be almost as much as the actual holiday! We would probably stay in a B&B somewhere in Wales before taking the ferry, and maybe another on the way home. We are looking at Guest Houses and B&B establishments, as we find hotels too restrictive.

There are other reasons why I do not want to go to Northern Ireland, which I visited several times during the late 60's & 70's. (which may provide a clue as to my reluctance) I loved the scenery and most of the people in N.I, especially the Mourne area, and the Antrim coast, but would prefer the South.

My question is, has anyone here visited and/or stayed in the Galway area? Any recommendations? I will be driving our own car, but we will probably use public transport quite a bit. we don't mind a bit further afield, but would like to be in or very close to a large village or town, for entertainment.
Thanks to all replies!:)

trailingspouse

Galway is my all time favourite town. It's a great place for traditional Irish food, drink, music and general craic.

Salthill promenade is wonderful, overlooking Galway Bay. Marvellous views on one side of the prom and nice cafes, an aquarium and crazy golf on the other. For 6 months my classroom overlooked the bay, when I worked at the Galway Cultural Institute.

You are also within striking distance of the Aran Isles, and if you head north out of Galway you get to Connemara which is phenomenal. South of Galway there's the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher.

I would suggest you stay in Galway (there are hotels in the centre, B&B's on the outskirts, somewhere like Lough Atalia isn't far from the centre), then drive out of town for the longer trips. The centre of Galway is small enough for it to be accessible on foot - but if you have mobility issues you would probably want to drive/taxi out to Salthill.

Have a lovely time.

rustyboy21

Galway was my favourite place in Ireland. Stayed in the Jurys inn right on the river bank, beautiful.


Didn't like Limerick much at all. Felt threatened when we parked the car in a shopping centre. There were a large crowd of lads, I think travellers, who felt really oppressive.


Sligo is lovely, Athlone in the centre was really nice too. Drogheda was nice, the D hotel there was really nice.


Cork and Waterford are good too, just hopefully if you stay there, you don't come across the incident we did in the Jurys inn. We checked in and went to our room. We thought the next romm had the TV on full blast and playing !!!!!!! woman screaming for more etc. Tried knocking on the interconnecting door to tell them to pipe down, no response. I went down and asked for a room change , due to the noise, said next room had !!!!!! going full blast. Receptionist just smiled, male staff member laughed and just said 'we don't have !!!!!! channels on the TV's' He had picked up a woman of ill repute on the dockside in Cork !


Was so knackered when we finally arrived for our last night in Temple bar district of Dublin, that we ended up getting sandwiches and a bottle of wine from the local Tesco and were asleep by 8pm.


Driving is fine, scenery lovely, just avoid Cork Harbour ! lol


OH.... and best way across is the HSS from Holyhead, only 2 hours and really comfortable. See if you can rent a house/apartment round Treaddur Bay, only 10 mins from the harbour and lovely.

Katiehound

From what I have seen of Co Kerry public transport is fine if you want to go by train or bus between major towns but in all the years I have been going I haven't seen a local bus. I don't think they exist, in which case you will be driving!

A couple of things to remember on the road- traffic lights go from red to green (no amber) and on main roads (not motorways) there is something which looks like a hard shoulder but in fact slower drivers tend to use that!

The fastest slickest crossing is as already stated by HSS from Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire

I would suggest that you go in September rather than August because the main holiday season will have ended with the children back at school so there will be far more choice for B&Bs etc. The easy way to do it was to get the B&B book but I see it is now all on line! (Official site is Discover Ireland.ie) We used to have the book, read up about the property and then go knock on the door when we saw the outlook etc! Then we would ask to see the room , check the price and take it...or move on. Out of season that is quite possible, at the height of the season may not be quite so easy.

if you pick a main town touristy area there are likely to be day trips by coach run by local operators.

Personally I like Kerry! (since I have had a house there for 25 years!) but Galway is lovely too. I would suggest you take your time, enjoy the scenery and go down the smaller roads, that way you meet the locals and see the real Ireland.
Enjoy

comberspud

I have stayed in numerous hotels and B&Bs all over Ireland every week for the past 7 years.

The Hodson Bay in Athlone is one of my favourites. The hotel itself offers plenty of things to do young and old, golf, spa, boat trips etc...
Its smack bang in the centre of Ireland and Galway is just an hour drive from there as is Dublin the other way. From here you could visit Carrick-on-shannon, Portumna, Limerick, Kildare village (shopping outlet), Atlhone itself is nice.

If it was me I would be heading up the North Coast and staying around Portstewart, Bushmills direction.

Here you have some of Northern Irelands best scenery.
*Giants Causeway,
*Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge,
*Bushmills Distillery,
*Benone/Castlerock/Portstewart/Portrush/Whiterocks beaches. Best in Ireland.
*Dunluce Castle
*Downhill Demense
*Mussendun Temple
*Trip to Londonderry
*Coleraine Shopping
*Boat trips from Portrush
*Boat trip to Rathlin Island
*Ice Cream at famous Morellis in Portstewart
*Craft fairs and Markets in Coleraine most of the summer
*The dark Hedges Ballymoney

This would be a comfortable 2hr 45min - 3hr trip from Dublin

There is lots of self accommodation / B&Bs or hotels on the North Coast.

Belfast would be a 1hr 15min drive from Coleraine and you could visit Titanic Belfast. Its fantastic!!!!!!! Or would be a good stop off point on way to North Coast to break the journey up
I could make a list about Belfast but will stick with the North Coast this time round.

Katiehound

Hey but OP said he didn't want to go to Northern Ireland!

Loads of lovely places in Eire. Irish towns tend to be a lot smaller than UK towns so if you want a centre with pubs (with music), nightlife, restaurants you are generally looking at the main towns such as Galway City, Killarney etc.

I forgot to say that the ferry fares come down when September kicks in! (as in all things August is the peak season) Long ago I went on the Liverpool ferry (then it sailed out of DL rather than Dublin) and I really enjoyed it as it cut a good bit off my driving UK side. How does a cabin price compare with staying overnight before the crossing? Would it not be cheaper than B&B?
For savings on the ferries always travel Tues or Weds. The most anti-social hours are the cheapest! Think 02.30 outward or return arriving 001.30!

Robisere

Thank you, TrailingSpouse, Rustyboy, Katiehound and comberspud.

All good advice, thanks to spud but I had said in my post that I do not want to go to the North of Ireland. I know the North very well, but was wearing khaki when I went there, 'nuff said? It's beautiful up there right enough, but there are dark memories there for me. I still have friends there, some of whom are six feet down.

If you guys don't mind, I have printed out all the advice and will use it to guide our choices. Thank you all very much, I knew this was the right place to come!

EDIT: Katie your second post came in whilst I was typing, thanks for that. I know about the reduced fares in September, but we want to go during our anniversary on August 5th.

Cabin was contemplated due to my disabilities and the fact that we will be driving to Holyhead from near the Lincolnshire coast, one heck of a drive you will agree. Hence the need for an overnight stay, but the HSS will make things much easier.

Once again, many thanks!

Probably find a Premier Inn or similar somewhere along the way.

Katiehound

Er I do that drive regularly... sailing out on the 02.30 from HH next Tues! 250 miles to HH (and 200 miles the other side)

There is a Travelodge at Holyhead... very close to the ferry

If you are going in August then you will likely need to book your accommodation in advance which takes away the serendipity factor!

Tarry

I was going to book the travelodge at Holyhead one time, but saw it had bad reviews so was put off, although if I ever cross over from Holyhead again, might look back into it. I've travelled over from Holyhead twice (twice from Pembroke (poxy) Dock), and since I travel over from East Sussex, it's quite longed winded, so we break up the journey someplace. Never used the High Speed as I tend to get bad weather when I cross (no fun) so tend to use the conventional ferry also it works out cheaper, well, just a tadge. I had a bad crossing on the night ferry (no cabin) so I tend to travel in the day time as i'm not as tired etc.

Last time I went over to Ireland was in September 2012, and I stayed in Trim (as in the place!) in Meath, and visited around that area, taking in Newgrange, Malahide, Wicklow, to name a few. I adored Wicklow and when I get over again, I will probably base myself there. The mountains, the coastline, the towns are beautiful!

On other trips to Ireland, I have stayed in County Roscommon in a place near Boyle (as in in place not Susan) and visited the lovely Leitrim, Sligo, Mayo, of the top of my head. I am aware that I have probably spelt Leitrim wrong. On another I stayed in County Tipperary in a town called Dundrum (ironic as this may sound, but as it was a long way to Tipperary to do in one day so after it was a long way to Tipperary we decided to stop overnight somewhere on route) and the first time and a 28 hour awake day stayed in Dungarvan.

Not sure if any of that actually helps!

donglemouse

trailingspouse has it spot in my opinion

i drove round most of ireland a couple of years back and used galway as a base for trips day trips to connemara & the burren, then went on south to cliffs of moher staying somewhere nearby overnight

if you have more time and continue south kerry is great - in particular the isle of skellig michael which is my favourite place in ireland

i stayed in the radisson in galway which is modern and sometimes has good deals, it's walking distance to the centre but there's alternatives that are more central as well

Tarry

For my long ramble I never wrote where I stayed, I used self catering cottages with Imagine Ireland.