Shannon vs Dublin for Flights and Car Rental

Cloud · Member

Shannon vs Dublin for Flights and Car Rental

Itallian Chauffeur · Moderator

Welcome to Michele's Forum! biggrin biggrin

As with all cost-comparisons, it is always important to verify that you are comparing Apples to Apples in (terms of car type, duration of rental and "Add-On" components -- like insurances, Transmission choice, age of renter and extra drivers).

Local prices are based upon Supply and Demand PROJECTIONS and can fluctuate greatly from day-to-day and week-to-week. I have heard of individuals who have received substantially lower quotes by opting to bus to either Limerick or Galway to pick up their rental car, rather than doing so at Shannon Airport.

Another consideration (SNN versus DUB) is Flight Costs, Flight Schedule convenience AND where you plan to travel and wish to see once you arrive. For example --If you have NO interest is visiting Dublin or the east coast, saving a few dollars on flights / car hire at DUB will more than be negated by the time / cost of driving To and From Dublin in order to reach the West and then return. If the plan is to 'Sample' BOTH, consider flying into DUB and Out of SNN (or, the other way around!) and a One-Way Car Rental. MOST companies do NOT charge One Way Fees on rentals between airports that are longer than four or five days.

SNN is a smaller, more 'Personable' airport and provides an easier transition to driving in Ireland. SNN is also much closer to perennial tourist favorites like: Galway and Connemarra, Cliffs of Moher and the Burren, Killarney, Kenmare and Dingle. Flying Into DUB allows you to 'hunker down' for a day or so and acclimate before renting the car. You could also do the same via SNN by taking the bus to Limerick or Galway.

Again -- a LOT depends upon your plans, time of year, your visiting "Wish List" and preferences.

Michele Erdvig · Host

I'll add my welcome too. Bob's advice is spot on and he covered all the basics and then some. Keep in mind that your trip is over a year away so the prices you are seeing may have no basis in reality once you start getting closer to your dates. Let us know if you have any other questions as your trip plannig proceeds. We are here to help.

tony2phones · Guru

Personally I prefer Shannon to Dublin Airport, but I'm biased living close by and preferring easy access and transition.

Car hire prices are pretty well the same when compared like for like at any of Ireland's airports and off airport sites can bring down or push up prices so shop around (making sure quotes are fully detailed). Shannon does have the easiest introduction to Irish roads and their intricacies.

Then again it depends on your itinerary? no point flying into SNN if you intend to have Dublin in the middle of a mix as you do not need nor want to have a car in Dublin. Its always possible to fly open jaw into one and out from the other but with only 2 1/2 hours separating each airport these days it makes little difference.

Cloud · Member

Thank you all for your advice!

The car quotes I checked were on the Dan Dooley's website with all options the same except for location. Dublin came back 398.37. Shannon came back 729.76. This was for the smallest automatic from 17-SEP-2016 through 30-SEP-2016. On flights I don't have the numbers with me, but my friend has been getting offers of around 600-700 round trip to Dublin, but looking flights up on line prices to Shannon were around 1100 round trip.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the advice I've received before is to make reservations as soon as possible to get the best rates. Coming up this September we'd be able to start making our flight reservations. Should we wait? I'm afraid if we wait too long we'll end up paying a lot more.

As for our plans, we'll be there two weeks. Our trip starts out with five days on horseback at An Sibin Riding Centre in Whitegate, Co. Clare for the Irish Castle & Monastic Ruin ride. After that we hit the road focusing mostly on pre-christian sites, old forests and waterfalls.

Michele Erdvig · Host

You might call Dooley and ask them about pricing. Perhaps they can tell you more about the price difference. Try Avis too. $600 - $700 RT to Dublin sounds better than Shannon at this point. What airline is it?

Buying airline flights is a crap shoot. You will always be second guessing yourself and there is no rhyme or reason to the fluctuating prices. Only the airlines know the secret to pricing and they don't tell us. But $600 - $700 is excellent.

If you do decide to fly into and out of Dublin be sure to schedule it so you have a day to rest on arrival and proceed next day to Clare for your horseback riding adventure.

tony2phones · Guru

You might find an intermediate Auto comes in cheaper than a micro automatic purely on supply and demand.

2" each side gives 4" shoulder room yet many folk are obsessed with getting something really tiny so that the nasty Irish walls don't jump out onto the mirrors. How I manage to drive a 6' 6" wide van on the lanes round here must be in the realms of a Stephen King novel.

There is no viable reason why a rental car from Shannon should be twice the price of the same car from Dublin. Shannon is definitely the best option for over here in the "Lough Derg Lakelands" You might not need a car for your stay at the centre but you need to check if they have a shuttle service as there are no bus's down there.

PS. Clifden Arts Week is on 17~27 September this year if you want to fit a festival into your mix http://www.clifdenartsweek.ie/ we will be heading there for a couple of days.

-- Edited by tony2phones on Tuesday 14th of July 2015 05:44:43 PM