Visit Ireland - What to Know Before You Visit Ireland

Visiting the Emerald Isle of Ireland is one of the best vacations you can take to Europe. Here we go through what travelers and tourists to Ireland should know before they visit. From accommodation, to transportation, to driving, to the food, and more we help you get ready to visit Ireland. So whether you are visiting Dublin, Galway, the Ring of Kerry or More we have you covered with the basics of visiting Ireland.
Filmed in Waterford, Ireland
Copyright Mark Wolters 2019

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[ericbrett]

I went to Ireland in 2006, we went there, y children and I, to scatter my wife's ashes. We stayed at a BnB in Kilkenny and the lady of the house was very helpful and told us a great place to scatter her ashes. We went to Tramore and had some fun. It was a family trip we had planned before the death of my wife. We went to honor her.

[amy]

Is anyone else Irish watching this
Or just me 🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪

[robsmith]

Here's advice I'd give.
1. Only go to temple bar for a look, don't buy a pint - too expensive.
2. Do the wild Atlantic way, its a coastal drive on the west that encompasses many sites.
3. Irish people like to take the piss, don't take take it personally, we're just joking around with you.
4. Dublin has many free museums such as the National Archaeology and National History Museums of Ireland.
5. As Wolter said, be prepared for dramatic weather changes, on st Patricks day in 2018 it snowed on St Patrick's Day!.
6. Go to a music session at a pub if you can. Its the authentic Irish experience, people do this even when there are no tourists around.
7. Never leave a bag on a table outside. I was in Dublin before and a café owner told my girlfriend to take her bag off the table as sometime people would run past and snatch bags.
8. Rail, and even intercity Bus Éireann buses can be very expensive. A Dublin coach return ticket from Waterford to Dublin will cost only only 20.
9. Try Irish Chocolate! It's very nice.
10. Just have fun with the people and the atmosphere. Its quite a convivial atmosphere around the place, particularly in Summer. Irish people are easy to talk to and are generally happy to interact or share some information you might need!

[MrCharlieAppleby]

There are no fries on a full Irish breakfast.

[accessfm]

Take it from an Irish native 🇮🇪... Dublin is like any other city. Aim more for Killarney, Dingle, Galway, Westport, Kilkenny and anywhere in County Clare.

Avoid 🚫: kissing the blarney stone (ripoff tourist trap), jaunting cars in Killarney (horse and cart rides through the national park - locals avoid), Guinness store house (unless you really like Guinness), and probably my last avoid is temple bar in Dublin City... It is renouned for being a lively spot for tradional music sessions, pubs and outdoor music and entertainers... The truth is it is the best place to be offered drugs openly, see a fight, be in a fight or get robbed and to boot it is the most expensive place to drink and eat as it is a tourist trap. Ask a local they will always tell you how it is in a particular place.

Best time to come here: during our warmer weather... May to September.

You can wing it while you are here... Trivago and trip advisor are great to use here for booking that day for hotels and most bed and breakfast accommodation is available as walk ins if not full that night.

Hope this helps.

[StarMonkies]

I have to say we loved Cork when we were there. I would recommend any one visit it when you are in Ireland. Nice walkable city with lots of narrow streets and places to explore. There was buskers on every street. It really had a great atmosphere. The food was fantastic also.

[niamhtoland]

Why did no one mention Donegal .People often think that it is part of northern ireland and it isnt also in 2015 donegal was named the best county for beaches definately check it out

[JfkJames]

‘Cork I’m not a big fan of’ . That hurt :(

[joselandaverde]

My friend and I did a 2 week road trip for my birthday last June throughout Ireland. Best trip ever. Driving on the roads was a bit tricky at first, but once you get around the big roundabout leaving Dublin airport, you're good to go and actually really really fun to drive around the countryside and cliffs and towns. Worth getting a rental in my opinion. We went clockwise from Dublin to Waterford, to Killarney,  Portmagee (waters were too rough to ride out to Skellig Michael, but the Kerry Cliffs were very cool),  the Dingle peninsula (the town of Dingle was wicked fun; very underrated whisky!), birthday in Limerick, stayed on (and strayed off of) the Wild Atlantic Way all the way up the coast; Galway (lots of pubs, clubs, restaurants, street festivals), Sligo (crashed a bachelorette party on a Sunday night), and ended up all the way in Malin Head - my favourite place in Ireland after Dingle. Along the way, we sampled a wide variety of local beers and whiskies - made for a really good time making friends at pubs and restaurants! We took the ferry out of Greencastle and did a nice drive into Northern Ireland (I was disappointed that no one looked at or stamped my passport) along the majority of GoT locations and castles, small towns and memorable hostels (the one at the foot of Giant's Causeway was sooo much fun), then into Belfast for a few nights (all during the World Cup, so pubs were pretty crazy at this time!). Slowly drove back to Dublin, stopping in random towns for coffee, brewery tours,  and pub food, mesmerized by the scenery (I glued a GoPro to the dash of the rental and got some unreal scenes...I literally drove up a freaking mountain to get to Malin Head - best drive ever other than Cabot Trail in Canada). Seriously best trip ever; I decided that I'd visit once every five years-it's that affordable and memorable.

Everything he said in the video is true; from the weather to the food (he forgot to mention how generous the portions are!), the people are very helpful and friendly - at no point during our trip did we feel worried or frightened (for context, I'm 37, she's 30), and it was without a doubt, one of the most memorable things I've ever done.

[lisaspikes]

I spent a week in Ireland about 5 years ago. My brother’s family and some in-laws and I rented a castle! It was marvelous! We went all over on day trips.
I liked Cork! We spent a fun day there.
And I can’t say enough about the people. Everyone was great!

[eoin]

*90% of the people watching this are Irish*

[angelfire]

Here are my top ones from my trip:
- Don’t be afraid to talk to people. The Irish are generally pretty friendly.
- Get out of Dublin if you can. I spent a week in Dublin with friends, and while it was great, I really wanted to get out to see other places. We took one trip to the Cliffs of Moher, and it wasn’t nearly enough to see all the beautiful countryside I wanted to see.
- Don’t stay in a hotel in the city center, as it can be rather expensive. Try to find an Airbnb or something similar. You’ll save a lot of $$$ and you’ll feel more connected to the society around you instead of feeling so much like an outsider.
- If you don’t like strong language, this may not be the destination for you. :)
- If you pay with card, they might give you the option to pay in Euro or your home currency. Even though paying in your own currency is convenient, you are paying for it, because they are giving you an unfavorable exchange rate. Opt to pay in Euros; that way you get the standard interbank rate from your card issuer.

[qweasdzxc]

*dont forget knock airport for the west*

[martingutierrez]

I went to Ireland recently with my gf, we stayed through New Years. We flew into Dublin got a rental car, it took us a couple of hours to get use to the driving but caught on real quickly and the drivers weren’t aggressive at all! We only heard honking when another local was saying hello to someone else. We booked with AirB&Bs and stayed at peoples houses and we went from Dublin to Cork, Galway, Belfast, and back to Dublin. But YES if you want to explore Ireland in peace without having a deadline time with tour buses, GET A RENTAL CAR! Driving not difficult on the opposite side of the road and is actually more enjoyable in my opinion and you can buy a big red letter “N” which basically means “New Driver” and stick it on the front and back of the car to let local drivers know that you’re a new driving in Ireland and they’ll actually give you space or avoid your car all together, which we did! So with our rental we drove around the entire island. If you’re in Cork find a restaurant called “The White Horse” great food! When we made it to Belfast, we finally went on our first bus tour after all that driving we needed a break, plus we had a three night stay in Belfast which is why we took the tour and the tour took care of a lot Northern Ireland popular destinations which was like 4 or 5 places and cost about €30 each person at the time. Everything else in the video about right, expect to pay for parking almost everywhere you go, make sure you have money ready, most areas accept credit/debit cards but I found that paying with actual money was easy and faster AND if you’re staying somewhere that has a restroom USE it before heading out! I had a difficult time finding restrooms...ugh it sucked lol sometimes I had to walk back to our Air B&B just to use the restroom, luckily it was towards the end of our nights but the walk was sometimes more than 2 miles. Oh and if you do get a rental car and hook up your phone through Bluetooth don’t panic if the music stops and a news update start playing, the updates usually about traffic hour, weather, and any small emergency within the area, pretty helpful. But yea! For anyone going to Ireland soon! Enjoy!!! Don’t panic about the small things and just enjoy the culture and scenery.

[IR]

Driving from Cork to Dublin is now 2 - 3 hours or less. Galway to Dublin is 3 Hours. Belfast to Dublin is 2 hours drive. This is both for coach and car travelling. It is cheap to get a bus to the next city, 20 Euros return some times, the return fair is for me to get home, but you guys get a one-way ticket.
Spend only 2 days in each city as they are small enough to see in that time.
Google...Air B&B is a great way to have a nice place to stay and can be cheaper than a hotel.

Enjoy Ireland and welcome.

[EweofLittleFaith]

Mark, as a local I can say that you've nailed it. This is the definitive guide to visiting Ireland.

[LeroyTyler]

One other thing: when you depart Dublin for the U.S, it has U.S Border Preclearance, meaning you go through U.S immigration and customs IN IRELAND, so when you arrive in America, you can just get your bags and leave :)

[max__pain]

Youghal. Go to Youghal. A somewhat hidden gem of a seaside town where i spent happy times in my childhood.

[TravelwithTommy]

Thanks for the info Wolters. Never been in Ireland. Will put this beautiful country on my bucket list.

[IRISHATLANTIC]

Explore the West, County Mayo and the Connemara part of County Galway, even nicer than County Kerry.

A lot of our stuff is much older than the Egyptian pyramids.