I'm heading off to Ireland next week for my first time ever. All I asked for was the opportunity to drink Guiness in a few pubs, and visit the place where they make it (I think they call it the Guiness Storehouse, and somebody told me it is closed due to economy issues.........but a quick glance at the website doesn't show anything amiss). I think my wife has the trip pretty much planned out in terms of where we are staying, but she wanted me to fill in the details as to what I really want to see, and to be honest..........I've failed miserably. We are usually the "where the day takes us" kind of people, but I few highlights to center our activities around would be great. I think we are flying in and out of Dublin, but we may have changed that to flying into Dublin and out of Limerick. I think we're going to spend a night in Waterford, and I'm pretty sure we have something like four nights at some place relatively close to the Ring of Kerry. Obviously, we'll have a car. What are some must sees?
We spent a week there 2 summers ago. We flew into Dublin and spent a day there, then took a train tour (I highly recommend this) that went to Blarney Castle, Cork and the Rings of Kerry. Here is a link to the tour. http://www.railtoursireland.com/tours/dh036.asp Look at the itinerary for ideas of where to go. It was beautiful and you should probably try to do a bus tour in the Kerry area, at the very least. You want to be able to look at the countryside, not the little windy roads, and the drivers are very entertaining.
Guinness Brewery, as you mentioend, is a great place. In Dublin, check out the temple bar district for some awesome night life. One hell of a bar scene. If you are into history and old buildings, check out the museum at trinity college and dublin castle. When I was there (2006) you could hang out in front of trinity and these phd history students would come around and lead historical tours of dublin. I highly recommend that. Was extremely interesting and fun. Outside of dublin, check out Glendalough valley. Gorgeous, gorgeous scenery. And this unbelievable old church compound and cemetary. It was burned down by the vikings like 5 times. I also recommend Bray. Cool town on the coast. Also the home of ireland's largest still-irish-owned brewery.
Pole, I just saw the other thread, we spent a week in the Netherlands, Brussels and Brugge last summer. Do some traveling around the Netherlands and a side trip to Brussels or Brugge (or both). Make sure you see some countryside while you are there.
Thanks.......unfortunately, I won't have a LOT of free time in the Netherlands......I think like two nights in Amsterdam and a few in the Hague, and when we are in the Hague, my wife will be working, so I'll be pulling daddy-duty with the little one. We want to go to Brussels and Antwerp, but it will have to be another trip. Fortunately, we'll probably get one family-type trip a year for the foreseeable future.......so the little one should be fairly worldly.
If you have the time, I would recommend hitting Northern Ireland as well. You can get a black cab tour of Belfast that shows you the walled divisions of Protestant and Catholic, you can stop in at the Royal for a pint with the hardcore protestants, then pop over to the other side of town and drink some Guinness with the Catholics at Kelly's Cellars. The Giant's Causeway is spectacular, and the Bushmill's distillery has a 12 year old whiskey aged in Sherry barrels that is the nicest whiskey I have ever tasted. Both are in the far north, but it is a beautiful drive from Belfast up the coast. As for Dublin, Dublin castle is worthwhile to stroll through, there is the oldest pub in Ireland, and there is a pub a couple blocks north of the Jameson distillery that has traditional Irish music being played by local musicians most nights, though I can't recall the name of the place.
That's at just about every pub not in the temple bar district - and even some of those have bands. As fun as the temple bar was, the bar scene around the hostel (near the bus station - no I did not stay there) was just ridiculous. Tons of local bands playing irish folk music, loads of people, and just general merriment.
I don't know if you saw my comments in the UK thread, but it is like the most expensive place in Europe. I'm sure you can do things on the cheap, but we almost cancelled this leg of our trip twice because of the high prices. And if you are flying there from another European city like we are on one of those value airlines, they totally restrict the weight limit of your luggage and charge you an arm and a leg if you go over.
Make sure to visit the actual temple bar while you're there. They have like 400 whiskys. From about 5 to 500 bucks a glass depending on the age/brand. Ridiculous. I had a great time there "recovering" from jet lag.
Everything mentioned plus... St. Patrick's Cathedral is always worth a shot (if they're done restoring it). St. Stephen's Green is absolutely gorgeous.
Temple Bar is awesome, as is the town Bray. You said you have a car so I'd look into staying at a B&B in a small town.
dude, get hammered 24/7 !!! and wear a rockets jersey to a bar! Please take some pics and upload them if you can.
