Accommodation

Republic of Ireland has 26 counties and Northern Ireland 6.

No matter where you go there is a great variety of choices from youth hostels to 5 star accommodation. Your choice is probably going to be influenced by the transportation available to you, by the places you intend to visit and by the amount you intend to spend on accommodation.

In my experience there is two kinds of basic approach to lodging. On the one hand some people like to get into the country and then start thinking about where to stay. On the other hand there are those who prefer to have some nights booked in advance. Either approach works in Ireland as there is lots of rooms to rent all around the country.

However if you decide to start looking for lodging yourself when you are in the country I need to draw your attention to be careful in the summer months, during the weekends or if there is a special event in the area you are targeting such as a concert or a football game or golf event etc. You may end up driving around a lot to find something. If you haven't got a car then you could walk your feet off until you find something. Also demand tends to drive up prices as most hotels have a range of prices. You could end up paying a lot more than you had anticipated. Perhaps the best idea in a case like that is to turn to an agent at the airport or close to the ferry or train station as they have access to a great number of hotels. Of course you could also carry a list of hotels and BB-s in your suitcase if you want to make the inquiry. I would also like to point out that most of the time to further away you are from the centre of a bigger town the better your chances are to find something at a reasonable price. If you decide to call yourself or drive around for lodging do not forget that it is worthwhile to make sure you get the best rate. Most hotels tend to try to up sell their rooms. It means that even if they have something cheaper they will try to sell you something more dear as it brings in a better income. So do not be afraid to bargain a little bit and ask if they have something at a better rate.

Even if you decide to make a booking in advance there are a few things you want to watch out for. Once again you have a few choices: you can go directly to a hotel and make the booking yourself or you could go to a travel agent or an online booking site. Regardless of your budget my advice is to shop around a little bit as you could potentially save up hundreds of Euros by making the right choice. Very often price of accommodation   is not the only thing that matters. For instance if you do not have a car and  if there is no shuttle from the airport it can be difficult to reach some of the hotels that are not close to the centre around Dublin. Or if your aim is to play golf you should go to some of the golf resorts rather than having to catch a taxi from the center of a bigger town.

Where you make your reservation can save you up large amounts of money. Hotels do advertise their prices on the web but very often you can get a much better rate by going through some online booking agency as they are able to negotiate a special rate for their costumers. My advice is to check out of the price of the hotel on the web and then see what rates are advertised for the same hotel on different web sites on the internet.

To make your search even easier I have included a search engine that compares about 30 travel agencies and hotel chains on the web in order to determine who has the best price in Ireland in a given town for the hotels.

www.hotelscombined.com

 

 

 

View Larger Map
 Probably one of the easiest ways to find accommodation is to enlarge the map and click on the area you would like to stay. The dots indicate the location of the hotels. Right click on the mouse after you enlarge the map and zoom in to see the area better. Change the text of hotels to bed and breakfast or youth hostels and it will give you some results. If you find something interesting you can contact them directly or you can check what the comparison engine on the bottom of the page suggests as the best price.