Ireland Tours from Dublin

What people love about Ireland Tours from Dublin

• SergeyTraveled in October

  4

  The tour was not very well planned and organized and if not for the skills and personality of the tour guide/driver Bob Reid, it might turn out to an unpleasant experience. The weather also cooperated, happily. No rain, 60F in the middle of October. The group consisted of 18 Americans. Mostly of middle-to-elder age but there were 3 kids (10-13), very nicely behaving. Few people had disabilities. My advice - never pay in advance for their airport transfer. They charge you twice the rate and you have to wait and to fight for the voucher. In addition, they increase your insurance premium for this. On the way in, we had to wait for an hour (some ppl more) in the early morning hours in the airport (after 7 hours flight) until they collect all the ppl to fill out a big bus and then it took a good hour and half to fight morning traffic. On the way out, they never sent a voucher, so I had to call their office and they finally e-mailed it to the hotel. The starting hotel was in 4-th traffic zone from the downtown Dublin. It is not a very big city, but it means that you had to walk for 50 min or pay $25 for taxi to get to its centrum. Hop-in hop-out busses do not help (first you try hard to find them, and they are only available in a limited spot in the downtown - no timetables, marked stops or anything). CIE promised to turn corresponding vouchers into free transportation to the centrum. Never happened. And we walked there and back. 19,000 steps in one day. Thank you CIE for our fitness program! How about to return the money? 1st day you have a variety of tours to choose from. But you have a 6-hours jetlag and did not sleep even for an hour on your first night. Nevertheless, we went to GPO museum (stands for General Post Office) where the Irish revolution started. Recommend very much. It gives you much more insight on history and culture of the modern Ireland than any of the beer or whisky museums. 2nd day. Panoramic tour was OK (but we already walked around half of entire city by foot the day before). The guide was of high qualification and the visit to the castle was memorable. The evening entertainment was also superb - the music and dances and teambuilding... Some whiskey also helped. Unfortunately, I cannot say this for the remainder of the free lunches and dinners of the trip - all of them were very lousy. The thing I never understood why we, 18 Americans, fully vaccinated and limited to communication only within our small group were required to wear masks during all long hours on the bus. Does it make any sense? Day 3. Blarney castle. Spectacular view but the castle is very filthy and small-sized inside. To climb it just to kiss a rock in an awkward position for an extra fee? But it was fun to watch idiots doing this. Unfortunately, it took time from the overall sightseeing - there is an incredible arboretum around the castle with many rare and very old trees, nicely kept in a great shape - maybe the best park I have seen in my life. I wish I never climb this damn castle and better spend the time just walking around in awe. Hotel transfers were actually well-organized, You just put your luggage outside the door in the morning and they bring it to your next destination (there was a delay with this at the last hotel, very inconvenient). Also, it was terrible to wake up every day at 6:30, having breakfast at 7:00 and leaving on the bus at 8:00. Do not forget about everyday packing/unpacking. And you call this a vacation? Breakfasts are boring and absolutely the same everywhere, no difference throughout the country - eggs, sausages and beans. Day 4. Ring of Kerry - circling a peninsula with spectacular views. Skellig experience is some sort of scam, because you never can reach the island, simply technically - too dangerous. The museum gives you a decent view into it, but you could just use an internet video with the same success. Killarney at night was a blast - real tourist city with lots of shops and bars. Border collies!!! This one was really something! The dogs, their work with sheep, the owner, the demonstration... The crown jewel of the entire trip. Day 5 - cliffs. Magnificent, almost like a piece of Grand Canyon. Very worth visiting. Nice visitor center too. Very overcrowded with international tourists. Day 6. Galway - nothing to remember. Long travel and some shopping in a small town. Completely forgettable. Day 7. The last hotel in Dublin was situated in downtown, so it was the perfect location for bar visits and for shopping. I recommend to take an extra day in Dublin as I did, to enjoy this city in fullest (first 2 days you are just tired, disoriented and asleep). The last thing - last day we were obliged to have a COVID test for $50 per person. The test was well organized but very painful (as compared with the tests in America) - they put their swab from your nose to your eye, literally. And all of us had certificates of full vaccination. I understood that this was not initiative of American Government but rather the Irish Eir Lingus airfare company - their way to make some extra money. Then, with vaccination certificates and negative COVID tests we had to sit the entire flight in masks. The good thing was only that they have US pre-screening in Dublin (passport and customs), so we did not have to beat the crowds back in Chicago, and left the flight just like regular passengers.

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• AshleyTraveled in April

  5

  The tour was great. Exceeded expectations

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• Traveled in September

  5

  Great all around! Enjoyed the hikes, bike rides, kayaking, and everything else. Do think we may have needed a bit more down time, though. It was a bit tiring being on the go all of the time.

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