Is a trip to Ireland worthwhile?

In short? Yes! Enjoy this blog as well as a few pictures from our recent trip to Dublin, Galway County, The Cliffs of Moher, and Cork County. I will spinkle in some travel tips as well. We took this trip during the 3rd week of August in 2022. Dublin is an amazing city. We stayed at the Hilton DoubleTree Inn right on River Liffey. Our first truly Irish experience was raising a pint with some locals at The Ferryman Pub, which was an incredible experience. The local drinking age is 18 years old, so when we arrived the place was full of University age students having a pint after class on Friday afternoon. Everyone was very friendly, and we were fortunate to make fast friends and learn what to do and not to do there in Dublin.

The best advice we received was to avoid the Temple Bar area. It's a tourist trap. The prices are high and some pubs actually raise their rates as the evening wears on, so that you are unknowingly paying more and more throughout the night. Makes friends with some locals and they will tell you the places to go to that have the best local cuisine.

Secondly, if you are getting around Dublin, the cheapest method is using the street level train. You can buy tickets at any stop using a debit card, and it's only $2 - $4 euros to get to most places in the city. Stops are frequent enough to get you within walking distance of most attractions.

The Jameson Bow Street Distillery tour was amazing! Keep in mind though, that although this was the original Distillery location, they no longer distill Jameson there, so it is more of an Experience Center. All Jameson is now produced in Cork County, about 2 hours South of Dublin. However, it is still a great experience and learning opportunity. (spoiler alert: we visited The Cork County Distillery later that week)

If you wish to visit the famous Guiness Brewery, make sure you go online and book a tour well in advance. We did not know this, so we were not able to get in, which was dissapointing as we were on a tight scehdule with so many places to see. By the way, if you are from anyplace other than Ireland, you will be amazed how much better their Guiness tastes than in other places around the World. I don't know why it is different, but it is very noticeable.

Since we were turned away from Guiness, we headed back towards the nearest train station, only to stumble upon a hidden gem. On the backside of Guiness, there is a Distillery that has just reopened for the first time in decades. Roe and Co Irish Whiskey was a huge manufacturer in thehday day of Irish Whiskey before the Irish Rebellion and the American Prohibition forced most Irish Distilleries out of business. The tour and experience was educational and great fun, with great cocktails and even better neat whiskey. Try both, you won't be dissapointed.

That evening we found another little local restaurant with amazing food and a great atmosphere. We just happened across "Grand Central Dublin" near the train line and we are so glad that we stopped in!

Time to see some of the Countryside! We rented a car from the Airport and headed out. That was a crazy experience in itself! We paid about $75 euros for a manual (stick shift) transmission car. The cars with automatics were nearly $300 euros per day! Luckily my first car was manual and it's like riding a bike... with a few challenges. I'm now on the opposite side of the car, shifting with my opposite hand, while on the opposite side of the road, getting used to which lane to be in, while encountering two-laned round-a-bouts, speeds posted in kilometers per hour, and I'm the only one who didn't know what I was doing. Fortunately my beautiful navigator did a great job using the phone app while I drove. I would have been unable to do both. By the way, Navigation apps such as Google Maps and Waze do work over there.

Our first night outside of Dublin, we spent at an AirBNB Castle, yes, I said Castle! It is in Galway County, about 4 hours drive from Dublin, and about 45 minutes from the Cliffs of Moher, which I will tell you about next. The CastleHacket House was built in 1703 and has quite a history that is well-documented on it's website. We stayed in an upstairs room that overlooked a beautiful pasture of free-range cows, sheep, and goats. Words cannot explain how beautiful it is, so see the photos below.

That evening we ate at a local restaurant and I had the best tasting burger of my life. The waitress explained that 90% of their food was sourced within 10 miles, which explains why that beef was so tasty! After dinner we enjoyed a bottle of wine and some cheese at a picnic table out back and enjoyed the beauty of the pasture.

The Cliffs of Moher were such as incredible experience! Our timing could not have been better, because a light rain let up as soon as we arrived, and as we were leaving 3 hours later, the rain approached again along with a heavy fog that limited the views of the Cliffs to less than 100 feet in any direction.

The very best views were of course the most dangerous! How dangerous? The Cliffs claimed 66 lives from 1993 to 2017. 27% of those lost lives were visitors. Don't let that scare you though, because if you stay on the marked path, it is very safe as has plenty of walls and rails to protect you. However, the dangrously beautiful views can be seen if you turn right (while facing the Sea), and proceed beyond the end of the protected trail. Proceed at your own risk. There are plenty of signs to discourage you, but the path does continue after you climb over a small gate (pictured below). Here there are no more rails or fences, so be sure you have good footwear and again, proceed at your own risk!

Next stop: Blarney Castle! Although this famous spot can be considered a heavily congested tourist trap, I am so glad that we stopped anyway. How many people can say that they have kissed The Blarney Stone? We had to wait almost 90 minutes to get through the line to the top of the Castle, but it was worth the wait. By the way, even though the Stone has a 90 foot drop to the ground below, it is quite safe and the staff takes many precautions. There is a great just below it, railings to hold while you are kissing it, and a staff member holds your waist the entire time (you can crop them out later), also the stone is sprayed with alcohol spray and wiped between each guest. Spoiler alert: Kissing the Blarney Stone does not impart good luck as is the rumor, it is actually supposed to grant to the "gift of eloquence".

From Blarney Castle, we drove to our next AirBNB in a condo overlooking the sea in a small town called Youghal. We chose this place because of the beautiful views of the Celtic Sea from our balcony and it's proximity to the Jameson Distillery in Cork County.

The Cork County Jameson Distillery tour was incredidible! It was very informative, with some amazing sights and history, and of course was followed by a tasting at the end. We had a great time and will be back if we ever find ourselves back in Ireland.

From there we took a scenic drive out to Tippery, in Cashel County, and visited The Rock of Cashel. It is a 12th Century Castle and Gothic Cathedral. The views inside and out were incredible and the admission price was about $20 euros. Side note: along the scenic drive, we spontaneously stopped at a tiny small town pub for a pint of Guiness and again made instant friends. We highly reccomend that you do the same.

All good trips come to an end, and our last day was spent exploring the small town Youghal. We had a traditional Irish breakfast at a Mom and Pop cafe (a must!) and then found a Tattoo Studio and Wine Bar called "Team M" where we got matching 4 leaf clover tattoos! Don't worry, we checked with the locals, and they said to go for it!

That night we drove back to Dublin and stayed near the airport to catch our early morning flight back to America. Let us know if you have any questions about Ireland below in the comments. Also, if you do not already have a travel agent, we highly enourage you to contact Tina (she's the beautiful women pictured above) at www.avoyatravel.com/experts/tina-olson/