Kylemore Abbey-Ireland

Maggie117 · Guru

Kylemore Abbey-Ireland

Itallian Chauffeur · Moderator

You are actually in the Trip REPORT Section, rather than the Trip PLANNING Section ...

You might get more results there, but ...

http://www.railtoursireland.com/tours/dh04.asp

It's a long, one-day, rail and bus tour, begining and ending in Dublin, at Heuston Station. It runs about 90 Euro per person, I think.

Bob

Michele Erdvig · Host

Maggie,

I moved your post to the "Ask Michele" section. So all is well.

My thanks to Bob for his link to the day trip to Kylemore Abbey. If you miss it this time please assure your mother that she is not missing a great deal. The best thing is the way it looks from the outside. And you can see it in any photo.

Since the abbey is a girl's school only a few rooms inside are available for touring. Nothing very special. There is a wooded walk along the lake to a small church and a bus ride to the walled garden. There is also a nice cafe and gift shop there. Most people are underwhelmed by the inside of the abbey.

I will be putting a print of Kylemore Abbey on my Irish Shop shortly. Maybe a gift idea instead of an actual visit? biggrin

Or you can wait till you are in Dublin and see how you feel.

Michele

Maggie117 · Guru

Oh dear. Sorry for the error. I think so much on the job and when I come home I turn off my common sense! :) Thanks for correcting me! Thanks Michele for moving my ?!

Maggie117 · Guru

Thank you for your candid feedback. I will surely share it with mom and she will likely trust your opinion as you got us through Ireland flawlessly! :)

Michele Erdvig · Host

Maggie,

It is the outside of Kylemore Abbey that is so romantic and wonderful. Snuggled up to a mountain and reflected in a lake, it is more like a dream than reality. I always stop for a photo when I an there.

I have a couple of images you might want to look at in my Irish Shop:

Kylemore Abbey Poster or Print

Kylemore Abbey Artistic Mousepad

I can put those images on any product on the Zazzle site.

Michele

meredith · Veteran Member

Maggie,

I agree with Michele that it's the outside of Kylemore Abbey that is wonderful. It was on my must-see list when we visited there last September, en-route from Westport to Ashford Castle. We took a look through the limited rooms that were open, and walked through the grounds. We were lucky to finish up just as the tour buses started to arrive. The tranquilty you imagine when you look at a picture of it doesn't exist with hordes of tourists swarming over the grounds! Since then when I think of the Abbey, the image that always springs to mind is that of the one you see in the photos, not the interior, or even the grounds. The images in the photos are beautiful, and the reality doesn't disappoint, but it is a long way from Dublin just for that.

I read or heard somewhere that the school is closing down. Does anyone know if this is actually the case?

Kind regards
Meredith

Maggie117 · Guru

Oh dear. Michele your photo is exquisite. I think if mom sees that she will want to visit. I agree the perfect visit would be with no one else walking the grounds, which is very unlikely... maybe this will continue to be a dream...dreams are good! :)

Carrie · Veteran Member

I looked up Kylemore Abbey on Wikipedia and it says that the nuns have decided to close the school in 2010, but they have no plans to sell the property and will continue to live there.

Itallian Chauffeur · Moderator

Further details on Kylemore's future:

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/one-of-irelands-most-prestigious-girls-schools-kylemore-abbey-in-connemara-this-week-announced-it-would-be-closing-its-doors-as-a-fall-in-vocations-and-a-slump-in-emand-signsignal-the-demise-of-dormitory-life-marese-mcdonagh-reports-112544.html

I hope the writer is wrong -- would wish that the Irish Government would opt the property as a national Landmark....

Bob

Itallian Chauffeur · Moderator

As to the desireability of actually visiting Kylemore goes, my wife and I have been there three times, but have only toured the property ONCE (in '08).

It is WELL worth a detour of a couple of hours -- we particularly enjoyed the multi-hued marble of the chapel -- but Michele is right on that Kylemore isn't worth taking a LONG, full-day, just to visit IT.

Now, if you wanted to take a few days, you could base yourself in Galway and do a day tour of the Connemara that INCLUDES Kylemore and maybe visit Inis Mor, too, then Kylemore would be more realistic and justifiable ...

There is NO place in Ireland that I can think of that is NOT worth seeing, but time constraints / distances / weather always have to be factored into the choices ... evileye

Bob

Michele Erdvig · Host

Maggie,

I like Bob's suggestion of taking a train from Dublin to Galway and spending a couple of days there. I think that makes much more sense than the marathon Railtours tour. But whether you do that will be determined on if you self-cater in Dublin or not.

Everyone is always hampered by limited time as to what they can wisely see and do.

Michele