Irland without a car

dot · Member

Irland without a car

Melissa5 · Guru

Dot, we are about to embark on our first visit to Ireland, and I have planned our trips for other places in the world as well (Italy, Costa Rica, etc.)

I am advising you as someone who hasn't been to Ireland yet, remember, but I have been researching this trip for over a year. We are driving, but if I wanted to re-plan the trip without the driving, I would happily settle for just maybe 2 areas to visit. I would choose 2 places to stay which have lots of fascinating day-trips nearby. For example for us, I would choose to spend a week in Dingle and do day-trips from there. I would look into hiring a local driver for some of these day-trips, as it would be interesting to hear the commentaries of a local! I would ask on the travel web-sites for recommendations of a particular driver. Also, I would book some day-tours in mini-buses. Michele knows about some of these, I'm sure she can advise.

Good luck! I think you can have a fine trip without driving.

Personally I don't like fully escorted bus trips because you are stuck with their schedule. That's just me. I would still plan the trip independently even if I didn't want to drive.

I am sure you will get advice from folks who have already been to Ireland.

xaimimgr · Veteran Member

Melissa

I've been following your problems (?) with the CDW and rentals. I have been sort of planning a selfcatering drive trip, but after reading about all the problems sorting out this stuff, I am coming the the conclusion that I would like to do what Dot is asking about. I hope someone will respond to her questions. I was in Ireland once with a tour group and tho I enjoyed it, I would like to "get off the beaten path" and enjoy the countryside. I loved the southwest part of the country, and that is where I'd like to go back to.

Melissa5 · Guru

XAIMI: I think Dot's plan is fine and she will have a great time...Michele will have good advice. I also think if you really want to do self-catering with a car you'll be fine too. We solved the CDW insurance problem. We are just going to buy the CDW insurance through the rental car agency. We decided to go with Kemwel, which Michele has on her web-site. They have a price guarantee policy. We didn't know about it until we found a pretty good deal with Hertz...we were going to rent from Hertz, but a number of folks have complained about Hertz renting old cars. Therefore we told Kemwel about our Hertz deal and they are matching it, so we're going with Kemwel because Michele is very experienced and recommends them and has rented from them. Our price includes everything, includes CDW insurance, unlimited mileage, etc.

I have a feeling (just my prediction) that MasterCard will eventually stop covering Ireland, because American Express and Visa can't cover Ireland for CDW insurance. (But I could be totally wrong and I'll eat my words!)

The solution in my opinion is to just buy the CDW insurance through the rental car agency, as long as your overall price is good. To give you some idea of prices, I'll tell you that our car is costing us $814 for 15 days to rent a 4-door compact automatic car with unlimited mileage and including taxes and CDW insurance; this is for July which is high season. (A manual carwould have been cheaper but we wanted an automatic.) This is the price in US dollars.

Kemwel is like a broker, and they got us a car through Europcar.

Ask Michele for more details. This will be our first trip to Ireland, I am just reporting our experience. I'm not an expert.

Have a great time planning your trip! We're going to Dingle and also County Clare and Westport too...maybe you will see some of those areas as well.

Good luck to you too Dot!

Michele Erdvig · Host

Dot,

The shorter the time you have in Ireland the more difficult it is to use public transportation. Not that it is hard to get on and off, but that it takes a large chunk of your time to use trains and buses. You have to adhere to their schedule, which may not always be convenient for you. However, if you plan your trip very carefully you can do such a trip.

During the season these places have day trips that you can get to other areas:

Dublin

Cork

Limerick

Galway

Killarney

If you want to stay in more rural and off the beaten path places it becomes even more challenging. You may have to avail of local taxis then.

Go to my "Transport" page by clicking on IrelandYes Index and you will find links to all public transport in Ireland. You can then check the schedules, prices, etc. to decide what you want to do.

You can reserve these various day trip tours through the local tourist office or your hotel.

If you do a search on this forum for the name Anita you will find a lot of posts concerning doing this type of travel.

Michele

Michele Erdvig · Host

xaimimgr,

If you plan on renting a self-catering house you need to choose the area carefully in order to have access to public transportation as well as good day trips. In the southwest Killarney would be good. Most self-catering rents by the week during the season, although in the off-season you can rent mid-week or weekends.

Michele

kathy · Veteran Member

Hello All!

And happy (belated) independence day!

i haven't piped in lately, but this topic is affecting me personally. (our family has only 1 car and lots of visitors).

a train pass won't really help you in ireland because, in general, the main lines only make a big X over the country... to get from galway to cork - you have to travel half way to dublin then change trains.

the busses do function relatively well city to city, but they are very VERY time consuming.

i think the suggestions of picking one location and doing day trips from there is ok - but then again, you have no freedom to explore yourself and you are always part of a crowd.

i tried the day trips from galway (to the burren and connemara) with my in-laws last month since i was tired of all the back-seat driving my dad-in-law was doing. we found it very inefficient and felt out of control. someone else was setting the pace, chosing what stops to make and there was no room for spontenaity or exploration. we did get to see the highlights that we were after and the commentary of the tour guide was informative, but it took much longer and was less fulfilling than if we had done it ourselves.

besides, you will spend at least 20 euro per person each day on excursions like that.

if at all possible, rent the car... bite the bullet and pay for the automatic if you need to for peace of mind but don't tie your hands by not having the choice. as for the insurance expense, it doesn't seem any different to me than any time you rent a car in the states... it is a gamble. how lucky do you feel?

you will catch on to the rules of the road and driving on the wrong side surprisingly quickly. roundabouts are a piece of cake compared to freeway interchanges in the states...

hope this helps.

xaimimgr · Veteran Member

Thanks Michele and Melissa and Kathy.

I think I will bite the bullet and pay for the CDW. I really haven't checked with my M/C people yet either. I'm looking at Apr, May next year for my trip back to Ireland. Just have to get together with my friend and collaberate on the time of year. I really would rather not go during the busy tourist season. On the other hand, she's not good with cold weather. Sooo, we will just have to see.:

kathy · Veteran Member

personally, i would not worry about crowds in ireland when choosing a time to visit. the only crowd i have come across that hampered my experience in the past 9 months was in dublin... temple bar when the pubs closed and all the kids had to stagger home. ireland is a relatively small country with lots of open spaces. there is room enough for everyone.

go by price instead! i saw my ticket costs soar from 325 in november/december to 1000 for august!!!

Michele Erdvig · Host

xaimimgr,

I agree wholeheartedly with Kathy that exploring Ireland by car is the absolutely best way to go. However, there are some people who are too young or too old to rent a car. Others will not drive in Ireland at all so their choices are limited to hiring a chauffeur-driven car, taking public transportation or taking a tour. I suppose walking and biking are in a different category altogether.

You have plenty of time for getting all your ducks in a row before your trip. If you do not want to pay for CDW (see my car rental page for lots of details) you can get a gold or platinum MasterCard or a Diners Club card. I used to get 10 offers every week from Capital One and when the right one came my way I got a platinum card from them that covers my CDW in Ireland (along with double reward points!). Start your search now for a good card and the reward will be the amount of money you save on your trip to Ireland.

Michele