Hi~~
I visited Ireland back in 2000. At that time, we (my three single friends and I) made no reservations for overnight stays since we were told that Ireland bed and breakfasts were easy to book on the spot. That turned out to be very true. We traveled for 10 days at the end of May through Dublin, Kerry, Galway and Cork and a few others and had the driver drop us off at his best recommendation and we were able to get three single rooms at each location.

The question...Is it still like this in Ireland or have things changed?? Also, rooms were about 25.00 (at the time Ireland dollars) per night. Anyone know the average now?? I will only be needing one room for two people this time and it will be for the end of May 2010.

It's been several years since we visited Ireland, so I can't speak to the question of finding rooms on the spot; perhaps some of our more recent Ireland visitors will respond to that question.

As for prices - I would suggest you check out a few B&B websites to get a sense of current rates. Googling "B&B Ireland", I found this site with extensive listings, and prices in both US dollars and British pounds.

You might also want to take a look at our hotel and B&B reviews on our main Slow Travel pages for recommended B&Bs.

Happy traveling.

TourMama

Thanks! I took a look at the website. That is where I have a problem, there are sooo many places to choose from, I have a hard time deciding and get confused.

We have always found that it was easy to get rooms in B&Bs on the spot or sometimes by calling earlier in the day. We've done this as recently as May 2007 and it even worked when we were traveling with a group of eight people when in two weeks we only had to stay in different B&Bs twice to accommodate all of the group.

We've found that it's much better in Ireland to avoid booking too far in advance so we're able to stay flexible and don't have to rush to make it to whatever destination we might have reserved for the night (a mistake we made in a big way on our first trip there).

Prices are definitely higher; I think we were paying closer to 35-40 Euros per night in 2007.

Enjoy!

We spent 3 weeks last April-Mid May touring Ireland by car and only had reservations for our first two nites in Dublin and our last 2 nites in Derry City. We did stay with friends in Buncrana Co Donegal for a few nights.

We went through Killkenny, Cork City, Kinsale, Bantry Bay, Killarney, Dingle, County Clare, Galway City, Clifden, Killybegs, The Antrim Coast and Belfast without a hitch. We did have one really bad bed in County Clare but other than that everything was great.

We would start about 11am (check-out time for most B&Bs/hotels), drive until about 3-4pm and stop at a place that would suit us.

Expect to pay about 35-40 Euro per person in the south and about 20-30 Sterling in the North. Practically everything in Ulster is cheaper than the south and the prices tend to drop the farther north you go (save Dublin).

I used to be a meticulous travel planner (up until this trip) but it was actually kind of fun and liberating to just wing it. I would make reservations in Dublin or in any town holding a festival.

Bring or rent a GPS (saved us from many a lost road and many rows). I wouldn't spend more than 2-3 days in Dublin and would make sure to see Co Donegal, County Kerry esp Dingle, the Connemarra, Derry City and the Antrim Coast. Plan on horrible weather (part of the fun and it makes the nice days so much better).

We just got back from 2 weeks in Buncrana over Christmas and New Years as well. That was a real Slow Travel holiday as we didn't have a car and even if we did we couldn't drive anywhere because of the ice and snow. Still managed to have a great time