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- Q. What will the weather be like during.......?
- Q. What is the best way to reach Ireland?
- Q. Is it easy to travel around using public transport?
- Q. Where can I stay?
- Q. What language do people speak?
- Q. What if my hire car breaks down?
- Q. Is it difficult to drive on the left?
- Q. What are the speed limits on the roads in Ireland?
- Q. Automatic or Manual transmission?
A. Ireland is reknowned for being green and beautiful and unfortunately, the green part doesn't come without a fair amount of rain. There are said to be as many words in Gaelic for rain as the eskimos have for snow. That is probably not true but two of our favourites are lashing and soft. The obvious first one, is where the rain achieves the difficult task of falling horizontally at speed, driven by Atlantic storms. Soft is a fine drizzle, which is actually quite pleasant and refreshing. Temperatures are mild and it is almost unheard of to have snow on the South and West coasts. New Year's Eve 1996, is the last we can remember. Long light days, pleasant temperatures, with a fair share of sunshine describes the Irish Summer, from May to September.
To see averages for the last 30 years for various locations in Ireland, Click on "climate" at http://www.met.ie
A. By Air. International flights from all over Europe and the United States and Canada fly direct into Dublin in the East and Shannon in the West. Low Cost Irish Airline, Ryanair, have rapidly become one of the bigest carriers in the world, with their turnover in the first six months of 2005 overtaking British Airways. They fly into Dublin, Shannon, Belfast, Cork, Derry, Knock and Kerry from all parts of Europe.
By Sea. Stena Line Ferries offer HSS routes (High Speed Ships) from Holyhead, in North Wales, to Dun Laoghaire and from Stranraer, in S.W. Scotland, to Belfast. Irish ferries have routes between Pembroke in South Wales and Rosslare in South East Ireland. They also sail to Rosslare from Cherbourg and Roscoff in France. Their final route is between Holyhead and Dublin City. Swansea-Cork Ferries do an overnight sailing between, wait for it, Swansea and Cork, with cabins and couchettes available. This is a good way of getting into the Heart of Ireland easily.
We offer car rental branches at all the above airports and ferry terminals.
A. No, is the simple answer. Trains operate between Dublin and Rosslare, Waterford, Cork, Killarney, Galway, Westport, Sligo and Belfast. This is a spider with Dublin as the body. It is usually not possible to travel between any of the eight destinations without heading back towards Dublin first. You don't always have to go all the way to Dublin to head off for your next destination, but you will always have to get at least two trains to make the journey and this can make the process a long one.
Busses connect all the main centres and most smaller places too. The smaller the destination, the poorer the service. One bus a day isn't too unusual. Connections are not all they could be and travel is slow. Busses to a great extent, follow main routes, so finding your way through the extensive network of country roads which crisscross Ireland and are one great attraction of the place, is something the busses won't help with.
The best solution, giving yourself the freedom to go where you want, when you want, taking as long or as little time as you choose (actually some Irish roads mean you will go slower than you might want), is to rent a car.
A. There are a LOT of excellent hotels and guest houses across the whole of Ireland. Many of them have good websites and you can often find them by going on http://www.google.com and entering the name of the place you are going and the word "hotel", or "Guest House". In general, there don't seem to be many general accommodation web sites that are particularly good. One that has a quite good listing of hotels and Country House Hotels, is http://www.lodgings-ireland.com The best thing about it is that it has URL's for each place, so you can find ones that interest you and then call up the property's own web site for more information, then choose which web site offers the better deals and prices.
If you want to rent a cottage for a week or two, there is no better site than http://www.shamrockcottages.co.uk It is operated from England and the prices on the site are shown in Pounds Sterling, but their list is unbeatable and the prices are exceptionally good value! The site is very clear and simple.
Ireland has a great network of budget accommodation centres, ranging from basic country hostels to modern city centre accommodations, with all rooms en-suite and most offer twins/doubles en-suite, for considerably less than you would pay for a hotel. See http://www.hostels-ireland.com The traditional IYHF hostels can be found all over the country and especially in the case of remote country hostels are the organisation to look for at http://www.anoige.ie
From the budget level to the luxury level. We are confident that the best hotel in Ireland, in one of the nicest locations, is http://www.sheenfallslodge.ie We only have this confidence from jealously peering in the windows and lurking around the grounds, but it is definitely the place we'd choose if we had the spondoolies to spend.
A. Everybody in Ireland speaks English, although some accents are so pronounced, it might not always be easy to recognise it as English. English and Gaelic are both the official languages of the Republic. English is the official language of Northern Ireland. Every school child in the Republic is taught Gaelic at school.
Certain areas are Gaeltacht areas, which means the majority of inhabitants of the area speak Gaelic as their first language. All, though, will be English speakers as well. In the Gaeltacht areas, road signs are often in Gaelic only, where throughout the rest of the Republic, most signs are shown in both languages. In the North, most signs are in English only.
It might be said that having warnings to slow down, as you approach schools, written only in Gaelic, is not going to have much effect on even those who are native English speakers, let alone visitors, for whom English is not their first language, but who might understand enough to pick up on a sign saying "Slow"!
A sign saying Go Mall, is likely not to mean the same to them! Look out for school signs (drawings of children), as you might not slow down for a warning in Gaelic, but please slow down for children!
A. The car hire fleet is generally replaced within 9-12 months, so it is extremely unlikely any vehicle will breakdown, but in case of any problems, roadside recovery cover is included in your rental costs.
A. Not really. It's all about paying attention to what you're doing. We recommend you stick a little arrow on the windscreen of your car, pointing to the left. With this always in view, it's hard to forget which side you're on. Irish drivers are generally very courteous and tolerant and will often give way to other traffic. If you hire an automatic, you'll have one less thing to think about.
A. In the Republic, there are different speed limits on different roads and they are generally clearly marked when moving between different types of road. All distances and speeds are shown in kilometres (in practice, some very old road signs remain, mostly on minor roads, showing distances in miles, but these are slowly being weeded out) In general, these are the limits:-
Town and City Speed Limit - 50 Km/Hour
National Road and Dual Carriageways Speed Limit - 100 Km/Hour
Regional and Local speed Limit - 80 Km/Hour
Motorway Speed Limits - 120 Km/Hour
Special Speed Limits - 30 to 60 Km/Hour - Limits set in special areas, e.g.outside schools. These are variable, set by local authorities and clearly sign posted.
In Northern Ireland, there are only three different speed limits, all shown, as are
distance signs, in miles:-Towns and built-up areas - 30 Miles/Hour
National and other roads - 60 Miles/Hour
Motorways and Dual Carriageways - 70 Miles/Hour
A. Visitors from countries where you drive on the right might like to consider automatic transmission, on the basis that it's one less thing to think of. "Bad enough driving on the wrong side, without changing gears with the wrong hand too!" Our experience tells us it really takes very little time to become used to the change, but if you feel it's going to make things harder, we have a range of automatic vehicles. The roads in virtually all of Ireland are not as busy as many countries, so driving is generally more relaxing here.