Ireland. Hotels & Pubs

[dtor]

I'll be in Ireland for 8 days around the end of September. I'll be arriving and departing Cork via ferry from/to France. I've never been to Ireland, but I've been doing a lot of reading. My plan is a clockwise circle trip from Cork, with Derry as the northern most point, which plan could be drastically amended on the fly. Belfast and Dublin are out this trip. As a registered philistine, I'm not much interested in castles and abbeys (ride-bys are OK), but I'm very interested in little out of the way villages with a hotel and pub where I might be the only American. Any hard info on such places is very welcome. TIA.

[Ant]

but I'm very interested in little out of the way villages with a hotel and pub where I might be the only American. Any hard info on such places is very welcome. TIA.

I haven't been to Ireland (it is on my ever growing to do list... honest!) so I'd take this advice with a pinch of salt but I would imagine it is similar to Scotland and Wales (as well as England to a lesser extent). Just stay off the major roads and you won't be able to avoid out of the way villages. And every village has a pub (it is the law ). Hotels might be harder to find but you'll usually be able to hunt down a B&B (Bed & Breakfast) without much trouble.

[Baron Samedi]

Beware road surface quality in Eire.

[Púca]

If you're heading north along the west coast, stop off in Clifden in Co. Galway.  It's a lovely fishing town.  From there, head to Westport in Co. Mayo - it's one of my favourite scenic rides.  Roads are narrow and passing can be tricky, so you'll enjoy it if you're not in a big hurry.  You'll find that that philosophy applies to a lot of things over here.  It can be good or bad, depending on circumstances    In any event, it's the main reason I moved home.  Anything for the quiet life  

As Ant said, you'll find plenty of small towns with pubs.  Any towns that didn't have pubs were demolished years ago by outraged locals.  I razed 4 myself.  Right now, the tourism trade has really fallen off, probably due to the weak dollar and the crappy weather.  I saw a hotel in Westport advertising 15 euro per night B&B just 2 days ago.  Can't beat that for a bargain.

Feel free to shoot me a pm if you have any specific questions, and for the love of god, bring your rain-gear.

[spinalator]

There are castles, ruins and cathedrals in every little village so you are going to see them whether you like it or not!  

Hit Galway, western Co. Mayo, go thru County Kerry if you can it is gorgeous, Make sure you go thru Donegal, and there are some cool things in sligo county as well. Ok that is half the country so just do what you can...

[FJR-UK]

Don't be in a hurry to get in and out of Cork. It is one of the nicer Irish towns I've visited.

Unfortunately, all of my favorite places are in Dublin or Howth, so no help there.

I stayed in Killarney when we did the Ring of Kerry, which was one of the highlights of the trip. But, even if the roads are good, beware: cows and sheep graze freely and (especially when it's raining) the apexes can get a little slick. I found if I wanted to do any sightseeing, I had to stop the bike.  

As others have said, you can't go wrong, really.

[dtor]

There are castles, ruins and cathedrals in every little village so you are going to see them whether you like it or not!  

Like I said, drive-bys are good.

[dtor]

Don't be in a hurry to get in and out of Cork. It is one of the nicer Irish towns I've visited.

Right. I'm getting that same impression the more I read about it. And, I prefer Murphy's to Guiness  

[awlittle]

I spent several summers in Port Nablaugh (sp?), County Donegal many moons ago.  Very pretty, very nice people.  To the South along the coast is the Bloody Forelands (sp? again) where Gaelic is still heavily used.  You may succeed in being the only American in town.  Stick to the coast and get off the highways and you can't go wrong.

[Kev]

I've posted some vids from West and midlands, will give you some idea what you may encounter also see irishbikerforum.com

www.bebo.com/kev_FC07

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=kevFC07 (Dublin and Meath)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Fl3vySPG18 (North County Clare, near Galway city)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzYLg2xBpPk&feature=related (Same Day traveling from Clone, Co. Roscommon to Cavan, heading for Home in Meath/Drogheda)

Also have footage from Mayo, Sligo etc. Etc.

[notarian]

dtor,

Did 8 days around Ireland last August and had a terrific time staying in small hotels and various pubs along he way. You'll find them easy enough without sticking to recommendations.

However, there are 2 places that stand out during my trip. Killarney in county Kerry is a tourist mecca (especially for Yanks), but one that must be taken in. The ride around the Ring of Kerry is very, very good as is all of the surrounding areas. I can recommend the Foley Hotel and their restaurant in downtown Killarney. They have private security parking too.

A must visit is Cong, county Mayo north of Galway. It's beautiful and so are the roads and lakes all around it.

To the far north, Dunfanaghy, Northern County Donagal, Ireland is a small, friendly, quaint village I can recommend staying at.

See http://www.sport-touring.net/forums/index.php/topic,28256.0.html for the ride report.

Whatever you do and wherever you go, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Note

[Smurfslayer]

If you are going to be near Cork and even if you don't dig castles, I highly recommend staying at www.blackwatercastle.com.  I had a couple of days free this year and stayed there.

We had the whole castle to ourselves ( TOWMBO & me ).  Biker discount, garage facility too as I understand it.  

If you have time and are going to swing by Dublin, take a ride through the Wicklow gap.  VERY picturesque.

Oh, and it's not just the cows & sheep that graze freely, watch out for farm implements of all shapes and sizes.    

If yer goin' to Belfast, ya might as well head over to Ballymoney to Joey's bar.  That'd be Joey as in Joey Dunlop.  It is only a few hundred yards from the Joey Dunlop Memorial Garden.  And if you don't, we will have to red card you...

http://www.bighammer.net/images/831_HPIM1274_058.JPG  

I've made 2 trips to Ireland; take a look at www.bighammer.net/ireland.html.  '07 trip is below the '08 trip.  Plenty to see and do there, no language barrier for the most part.  Great beer in every town...

Although... ironically the only "traditional" pub I got to go to, they were blasting American Country & Western music and singing along.    It sounded better the more Guinness I had.  

   

[kickapoojim]

Since you are doing County Cork for awhile you might want to visit the Creedon's Hotel in Inchigeelah.   Joe Creedon is a terrific host and a distant relative of my family (not that that figures in but you might mention it.  We are the Parr family that visited in March 2008).   It's a little bitty hotel without TV and limited Internet access but it has a bar and Joe sings once in awhile.  Maybe Friday nights across your table as he did for us.  

There's a bulletin board of sorts with pictures of a Kennedy family visit.  They aren't related but they stopped in  Did I mention there is a bar?

It will probably be the cheapest hotel that you find in Ireland and it's clean and    comfortable.      

I just read the post about country and western music being sung in a  "traditional Irish pub".  Well, Joe sung Danny Boy first of all even though our guide told him that it was written by an Englishman.  Sung it anyway and did a damned good job.

[dtor]

Just back from my trip to Ireland. The trip included getting to and from Roscoff,France from Heidelberg, where my bike stays. No rain at all for the entire trip. I had 8 straight days of warm and sunny weather in Ireland, which, I'm told, means I have a shamrock up my ass. The Irish were dancing in the streets. I only made it as far north as Connemara, which was fine because I had a great time exploring Kerry, Cork, Galway, and Clare.

The roads are wonderfully yesteryear. The surfaces, however, suck and beat me up on the Monster. Speed limits are a very sensible 100 kph pretty much everywhere, and I found that in some areas I couldn't come close to that due to the surface and the country lane nature of the road. All in all, a nice departure from roads in the US and Western Europe.

The food. Thanks go out to the Chinese who have made Ireland their home.

The people were great, and I fit right in everywhere, particularly in pubs, but then again, I'm a professional, which they somehow picked up on. Yes, Guinness in Ireland is better.

Great music everywhere, and for free. I'm not a big Irish music fan, but the great chops and real passion by the players made for some mesmerizing moments. I never imagined 2 guys, one on 4 string banjo, the other on electric bouzouki, each a good singer, could bring down the house. Crowded little pubs make for a great venue for Irish tunes.

I hope to return.