Visiting Ireland

The Cruisers

The Cruisers

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Hi
We are thinking of going to Ireland next year.
We have never been before and would appreciate some help and advice.
We are coming from the south coast of England. We have an 8.1 meter MH.
We are looking for a ferry crossing
Wonderful views
We don’t walk far so parking near a place of interest or a bus stop would be good.
Do they have aires there or is it mainly sites?
Is it expensive to eat out?
Any other hints and tips very welcome
Thanks
 
The cost of living is about the same except for any booze. It a lot more expensive so stock up.
No need for sites there are loads of off grid parking especially all the small harbours.
Park4Night works lin Ireland as does mylpg.eu.
 
Stealaway said:
The cost of living is about the same except for any booze. It a lot more expensive so stock up.
No need for sites there are loads of off grid parking especially all the small harbours.
Park4Night works lin Ireland as does mylpg.eu.
Click to expand...
Thank you will check them out.
 
From south coast you are probably looking at crossings from South Wales, Pembroke (Irish Ferries) or Fishguard (Stena) into Rosslare.

8.1m is a fair length so may not be that suited to some of the single track type windy roads of the various edge routes of the Wild Atlantic Way (WAW). Width is as important as many of their two way roads are quite narrow. In my PVC it was OK, but two wider vehicles would need to be very brave.

You will get into some places with that length, but many harbours and similar could be tight, just for being able turn, even if that is juggling back and forth. But I suspect that is something you are already familiar with.

I used Park4Nights for most stopovers with occasional reference to TMI (Total Motorhomes Ireland) which was a subscription mainly for pub type stops.
 
If you go round the Dingle peninsular or Ring of Kerry, Achill Island etc go the same way round as the coaches (clockwise last time we went). If they gat through, so can you.

Don't rush and leave any preconceptions at home. It's a fabulous place with lovely people. Enjoy.
 
We where over in August in our 6.5m coach built Kontiki lovely place found lots of places to park up for the night, we did the Northern part of the Atlantic way from Sligo , Dublin can be expensive especially the Temple bar area, people North and South very friendly and helpful. Enjoy
 
Recently found out wifes grandad was born in Co Mayo. Birth certificate obtained. Watch this space. Chengen thing on its way out for us. Mind you the ferry costs are punishing. Make it a long stay to justify that. Last time (first time) we visited we found the economic differences between Southern Ireland and NI quite stark, and that was before brexit. Not sure if this is the same today, but back then the south was much poorer. Friendly though.
Its a muxed fuddle tiz Ireland.
 
The Cruisers said:
Hi
We are thinking of going to Ireland next year.
We have never been before and would appreciate some help and advice.
We are coming from the south coast of England. We have an 8.1 meter MH.
We are looking for a ferry crossing
Wonderful views
We don’t walk far so parking near a place of interest or a bus stop would be good.
Do they have aires there or is it mainly sites?
Is it expensive to eat out?
Any other hints and tips very welcome
Thanks
Click to expand...
Go for it & enjoy. Our preference is always the west & as Galway people living in Clare, we believe those two counties give all you could ask for. Cork, Kerry & Mayo are good also. So travel into Rosslare & out of Dublin. Best time given climate change probably May or September. Mind you people don't come to Ireland just for the weather. 🚌🇮🇪
 
Slightly different subject but anyone know the rules for taking a dog into Northern Ireland from Cairnryan? I have been told that currently they can cross without paperwork or an AHC. Is that right? Once there you can get an EU dog passport. Is that right too?

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Dave and Jan said:
Slightly different subject but anyone know the rules for taking a dog into Northern Ireland from Cairnryan? I have been told that currently they can cross without paperwork or an AHC. Is that right? Once there you can get an EU dog passport. Is that right too?
Click to expand...
correct
 
JoeP Harrison said:
Go for it & enjoy. Our preference is always the west & as Galway people living in Clare, we believe those two counties give all you could ask for. Cork, Kerry & Mayo are good also. So travel into Rosslare & out of Dublin. Best time given climate change probably May or September. Mind you people don't come to Ireland just for the weather. 🚌🇮🇪
Click to expand...
Oh yes. It's only rained twice this week. Once for three days and then for four! :rofl:
 
I grew up in the north but now live in England, I have never been to the very south west corner of Ireland, so we decided to take the motohome this summer for a couple of weeks. Being relatively new to motorhome ownership and with two young kids we still rely quite a bit on pre booking sites so we can plan in advance the what’s and where’s of the time!

Your original post doesn’t say how long you’re going for!? I think if it’s a couple of weeks you could spend it easily across the south coast of Ireland over as far as dingle.

We saw plenty of big MH around and as others have said coaches etc can make it round ring of Kerry etc so you can manage in the MH also, you just have to take your time sometimes. You will definitely have to travel down some fairly narrow roads. Ours is 7m plus a bike rack, so closer to 7.5m and we didn’t really struggle anywhere. But there were a few times where I really didn’t want to be in anything bigger!

Being that we normally stay on sites in England, comparatively some of the sites in Ireland on the really popular areas (ring of Kerry) were fairly expensive. Although this was our first summer trip and we haven’t tried to book anywhere in England in summer. It seems to be quite common to have to pay additionally to use the on site showers in the south. Eating out didn’t really strike as being much more expensive than England (depending on where you eat in England of course) and the food was always really good.

Diesel in general was a bit cheaper, bigger towns and cities generally had the cheaper options for fuel. The supermarkets are definitely more expensive for general shopping.

There did seem to be quite a few new height restrictions around in towns to stop Motorhomes parking up and staying, which even made just day trips out a bit of a pain, tramore and Galway stand out as being particularly difficult to get parked up at all in a motorhome.
 
Ferry's all are expensive so shop around and look for discounts and best days to travel. Campsites -- in half a dozen trips i have only used a couple of campsites as some are very expensive but check the review sites out. We don't have bikes so walk/amble everywhere and have always found somewhere to park close to where we are visiting. Only used public transport twice train to Dublin (you will find somewhere close on the train route) and the open top tour of Belfast which is the way to see Belfast and you can get it outside the Titanic Museum. Won't recommend places as all of Ireland is stunning.And as last post said take your mac.
Couple of blogs and short video's of 2 of my trips , Best forum for Ireland is https://motorhomecraic.com/ which is back up and running as it did have a few problems.

rebbyvid.blogspot.com

Ireland 2017

Ireland 2017 First stop, a couple of nights at Howth great stop with train into Dublin for the day (20+ vans here tonight Saturday...
rebbyvid.blogspot.com rebbyvid.blogspot.com

rebbyvid.blogspot.com

A month in Ireland September 2019

Tues 3 rd September Set off at lunchtime for the 20.15 Irish ferry from Holyhead to Dublin, had a good run down with a stop for a coffee...
rebbyvid.blogspot.com rebbyvid.blogspot.com

short video of the Ireland 2017 trip part 1

rebbyvid.blogspot.com rebbyvid.blogspot.com

Short video of Ireland 2017 part 2

rebbyvid.blogspot.com rebbyvid.blogspot.com

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The Cruisers said:
Hi
We are thinking of going to Ireland next year.
We have never been before and would appreciate some help and advice.
We are coming from the south coast of England. We have an 8.1 meter MH.
We are looking for a ferry crossing
Wonderful views
We don’t walk far so parking near a place of interest or a bus stop would be good.
Do they have aires there or is it mainly sites?
Is it expensive to eat out?
Any other hints and tips very welcome
Thanks
Click to expand...
We were there in Oct/Sept just gone and had no problems in our moho, which is 9.5m long with the motorbike rack. We did the Dingle Peninsula and Ring of Kerry - all was well! There are so many lovely places it's hard to pick one out, but our route (if you'd like to follow it on a map) was Holyhead to Dublin by Ferry (580 quid return!), then Dublin (to get the EU pet passport), Roscommon, Galway, Bunratty Castle, Limerick, Killarney, Dingle, Kilorglin, Waterville, Sneem, Killarney again, Cork, Kinsale, Clonakilty, Wexford, then back to Dublin. It was stunning. We did about 1/3 on sites, 2/3 wild-camping. Highlights, if I had to pick them, were Galway, Killarney, Sneem, Cork and Kinsale. But really, all of the places had their own charm and the driving between them was a real pleasure. Dublin was the only dodgy spot, very busy, very hard to park and very expensive. We thought we'd fallen lucky and found a parallel parking spot on Merchant's Quay right next to the river, but it turned out to be opposite the methadone clinic and in no time we had druggies climbing on the back of the van trying to get into our bike saddlebags, etc. As luck would have it, just after they descended, an unmarked cop car pulled up with four young, armed, policemen who dispersed them and advised us to move on, saying we'd picked probably the worst place in the whole city to park! The cop, pleasant as can be (but surprisingly effing and blinding quite casually to us oldies) advised us to go up and park in Phoenix Park overnight, which was lovely, and felt very safe. Phoenix Park houses the US Ambassador's residence and the Irish Premier's residence, so I imagine is quite well-surveilled and keeps away any ne'er-do-wells. Really, we couldn't fault the trip, though - the people were lovely, the food, the scenery, everything. It was great. You'll love it.
 
BeeHappy said:
Galway stand out as being particularly difficult to get parked up at all in a motorhome.
Click to expand...

The big carpark by the Cathedral is on P4Night and was well worth £12 to be so central. Superloo in nearby park too.
Couldn't believe the Friday rush gridlock though, so different from my favoured 'Hidden Heartlands', which are so relatively close.
Clive Mott said:
back then the south was much poorer
Click to expand...
It's changed, of course rural/urban difference are as significant as other places. So don't expect anything to be cheap.
btw The Republic had a 36Billion euro surplus last year, the UK has a 100Billion plus deficit, and I subjectively felt you could notice a difference in the level of public services.
Mick Kennedy said:
we had druggies climbing on the back of the van
Click to expand...
The local papers were full of the problems of post pandemic 'feral kids' in Dublin, and a US visitor was put into a coma after wandering into the wrong area. So just a suggestion to keep your wits about you in Dublin, easy to be in 'holiday mode'. In the heartlands that feels a very very long way away.
 
DucatoMan2 said:
The big carpark by the Cathedral is on P4Night and was well worth £12 to be so central. Superloo in nearby park too.
Couldn't believe the Friday rush gridlock though, so different from my favoured 'Hidden Heartlands', which are so relatively close.
Click to expand...

Ah, seems I haven’t subscribed for p4night so only had the free view version. The cathedral parking wasn’t apparent for us! I guess any locations where the details are not available are the places to head to… or I subscribe!
 
The train station, too, in Galway is very central and only six quid a day
 
Dave and Jan said:
Slightly different subject but anyone know the rules for taking a dog into Northern Ireland from Cairnryan? I have been told that currently they can cross without paperwork or an AHC. Is that right? Once there you can get an EU dog passport. Is that right too?
Click to expand...
Yes the first bit is correct, no paperwork required to take a dog into NI via either Larne or Belfast. I think you have to be an NI resident to get an EU Pet passport in NI. But there are no checks at the NI/ROI border, and you can go to a vet in ROI to get an EU Pet Passport, no residence required. You will need evidence of a rabies booster injection, or they can give a booster and add it to the EU PP.

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Try Glen of Aherlow, south of Tipperary...........very scenic and Nagles at Doolin, great sea views, ferries to the Arran Islands, Cliffs of Moher and Gus O'Connors famous pub in the village.
 
Stealaway said:
The cost of living is about the same except for any booze. It a lot more expensive so stock up.
No need for sites there are loads of off grid parking especially all the small harbours.
Park4Night works lin Ireland as does mylpg.eu.
Click to expand...
Thanks will check it out
 
DucatoMan2 said:
The big carpark by the Cathedral is on P4Night and was well worth £12 to be so central. Superloo in nearby park too.
Couldn't believe the Friday rush gridlock though, so different from my favoured 'Hidden Heartlands', which are so relatively close.
Click to expand...
copied from another forum regarding Galway car parks

Apcoa have taken over the running of a few big council owned car parks so they are now technically private car parks so the by laws don’t apply. Apcoa have said they have no issue with MH’s parking overnight the only proviso is if your MH takes up 2 car spaces then you need 2 tickets (I think it’s €6.50 for 24hrs) one of them is a large car park beside the railway station that is right on Eyre Sq & if you arrive in the evening it should be almost empty.
and another lighthearted answer to a quote from the same thread
Quote on 4th sept 2023

Just back from Galway and it's getting worse there. We parked in the Cathedral Carpark that is run by Apoca. We had only parked up and a caretaker from the Church came over to us and we are not welcome here. He said there is a new parish priest and he is not in favour of motorhomes parking in the Cathedral grounds. I asked him is this a new thing as I have stayed here last year. He said it is and they have put up a No Motorhome sign at the entrance. My van is a converted Citroen Rely and there was ford transit van the same size as mine parked in front of me and he was ok with that parked there. So we went for a walk around Galway and came back an hour later and moved out to Spiddal and had a lovely night.

Your answer should have been ," are you telling me SUR that as a member
of the ethnic minority travelling community ,I'm not allude to pray in this Big Church." " I'll be back with all my relations, for the Fockin novina and than we'll see what's what's "
And then watch the heathen b*****d run for cover.

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Dave and Jan said:
Slightly different subject but anyone know the rules for taking a dog into Northern Ireland from Cairnryan? I have been told that currently they can cross without paperwork or an AHC. Is that right? Once there you can get an EU dog passport. Is that right too?
Click to expand...
We are in Ireland now
 
autorouter said:
Yes the first bit is correct, no paperwork required to take a dog into NI via either Larne or Belfast. I think you have to be an NI resident to get an EU Pet passport in NI. But there are no checks at the NI/ROI border, and you can go to a vet in ROI to get an EU Pet Passport, no residence required. You will need evidence of a rabies booster injection, or they can give a booster and add it to the EU PP
Click to expand...
Be aware that the Windsor Framework came into effect this month, although no evidence of changes / checks on pets, there is legislation that places restrictions on pet travel, so although travel from Scotland to NI may be trouble free as is cross border travel within Ireland you may require a pet passport travelling from the EU back to GB.
 
HarryML7 said:
you may require a pet passport travelling from the EU back to GB.
Click to expand...
Is this right? What kind of Pet Passport is required? Obviously not an EU Pet Passport, because that's only for travelling from outside the EU into the EU.
 
We are in Ireland now with our dog having crossed at Cairnryan. Having done the crossing twice now it's really easy with no paperwork for us or our dog. Get a pet passport whilst in Ireland it would be silly not to. I contacted vets in Belfast before we came last year but all had different ideas. We saw a friend's local vet in Southern Ireland and obtained a p/p for €50.We used our home address in England. Take with you proof of all vaccinations and rabies jab. We have travelled to mainland Europe since with no trouble. Your dog will have a better passport than you.
 
autorouter said:
Is this right? What kind of Pet Passport is required? Obviously not an EU Pet Passport, because that's only for travelling from outside the EU into the EU.
Click to expand...

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