Ireland Travel Tips

After our two-week road trip around Ireland, we learned many things that we hope are helpful to others. We have compiled this list of 40 tips for your use. Hopefully you find these helpful – please share! Included are links to specific products or services that we used along the way; note that these may be referral links through which we may receive an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. Here are our 40 tips in no particular order!

• If you are renting a car and have a credit card, call your credit card company and request a letter stating that they cover the collision damage waiver insurance.  You will need to print this letter and take the physical copy with you.  We still had to pay the supplemental insurance but it was not as much.  Also, note that they will typically put a $5,000 hold on your credit card so you may want to do what we did and take two credit cards in case you hit your credit limit. We did go ahead and pay extra for an automatic transmission as we figured it would be hard to drive on the opposite side of the road AND use the left hand to shift gears.   

• Book hotels in Belfast early as there not enough hotels for the visitors they are receiving. We stayed in an AirBnb, but I still suggest booking early. We love renting Airbnb’s!  I highly suggest them!  We love meeting the locals, some have free breakfast, some have free parking and some are just so unique!  We had two fantastic stays in an Airbnb on this trip – one was a log cabin and one was a traditional Irish cottage.  My suggestions for Airbnb stays – always give a review and leave the space tidy.  I do that and the owners always give me good reviews. 

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• Make sure to carry warm PJ’s if you are going in the colder months. That was an omission that we wished we had in a few places. It could be downright cold at night!

• To combat jetlag when leaving the United States and taking a red-eye flight, we ate 4 meals the day we left, slept just a little on the airplane once they turned off the lights, then we slept 13 hours the night we arrived.  This has been our best tactic yet. 

• Best tip I have if you are driving!!! Make sure to request the postal code for a location.  If you are staying in an Airbnb, hotel, etc., simply request the postal code which is usually a combination of 7 letters and numbers.  You can put this postal code into Google Maps on your phone and it will take you to the correct location.  We didn’t have a postal code once and it took us an hour out of the way, down little winding roads.  

• If you are driving on a two-lane road that is wider than other roads and a driver shows intent to pass, just slide to the left a little and they will pass while you are both in the same lane.   

• Great rental car with lots of trunk space – Skoda Octavia.  It drives similar to a Toyota Camry.  The car rental prices are reasonable but the gas prices are high ($6 a gallon when we went). We filled up three times to circumnavigate the island at around $100/fill-up. 

• In the winter months particularly, take something to cover your ears such as the hood of a wind-proof jacket, head-wrap, etc.  

• We could probably give about ten tips on food. You must try Irish stew and shepherd’s pie at least once while you are there.  Fish and chips were great everywhere we went. The Belfast Bap was a treat. Try a scone as well.  We liked the fruit scones best, heated with butter. Scones are similar to biscuits and their biscuits are similar to our cookies. Chips in Ireland are French fries.  The portion sizes of the chips are huge and definitely shareable.  

• One-lane roads are common especially on country roads so take caution. You just might round the bend to an oncoming driver or a herd of sheep just hanging out along the road.

•  Take water-proof hiking boots, not the cute little Ugg boots like I wanted to take!!!! I can’t recommend this enough!  I water-proofed our hiking boots with a can of spray from Amazon – Crep Protect.   

•  Wool socks worked great as well.  I bought a 5 pair pack of wool socks off Amazon for under $10.  

•  Umbrellas are somewhat useless in Ireland in my opinion.  The only days we found any use for them were when it snowed, otherwise the wind would just rip umbrellas to pieces.  

•  In winter months particularly, be prepared to wear layers and let the top layer be rain proof or at least wind proof.   Check the weather before you leave. You will thank me!  

•  You will experience significant weather changes if you are as “lucky” as we were. Seriously, in one hour, we had rain, sleet, snow and sun! 

•  If you plan on visiting Northern Ireland and Ireland, know that they are separate countries and use different currencies and measurements.  That 100 KPH speed limit in Ireland changes quickly to 60 MPH just as soon as you cross the border into Northern Ireland, so be careful to not confuse the two!

•  With the wind, it’s a good idea to have a windbreaker, Vaseline for your lips and possibly sunblock for your face. 

•  Check the dates and times of the places you will be visiting, especially if you are going during off season like we did.  Note that some places have timed entrances so it’s best to get your tickets in advance for those places, such as Guinness Storehouse, Kilmainham Gaol, Cliffs of Moher, etc. (this is not a full list). 

•  Do not just visit Dublin. Choose at least two other cities to visit and enjoy the scenery between the cities.  

•  You may need some cash but not much.  Paying to park and some attractions such as Kerry Cliffs are often cash only.  Even if not, their card reader may be down so always be prepared with at least a little cash. It is best to keep some change on you so buy something in a convenient store and request your change in coins if all you have are large bills. If you wind up with too much, just use all cash on your last day.   

•  You will want to carry a travel adapter compatible with the UK. We’ve loved this travel adapter kit from Amazon – under $15.

•  If you are carrying a hair dryer, note that US hairdryers operate on 110 volts and the Ireland supply is 230 volts.  My hairdryer has a little switch that I can choose either 110 or 230 but I can only use it on low while out of the country.  If you take a hairdryer from home that doesn’t switch, it will either not work or burn up.  I learned this the hard way!   

• Use packing cubes.  We bought ours off Amazon. We each have a set of cubes.  Buy different color cubes per person. We were skeptical, but seriously, it makes your life easier.  

•  Withdraw your cash from an ATM, not a currency exchange. We have used debit cards in many countries, just make sure that they don’t have foreign transaction fees. Avoid ATMs labeled Euronet – they have high fees charged by the ATM owner. The best ATMs to use that are least likely to charge local fees are those located at local banks.

•  If you use a credit card and are given the option, choose to pay in local currency instead of USD (I learned this one the hard way as well, so learn from my mistakes).  Take a credit card with no foreign transaction fees.   

•  I don’t drink coffee but Ashley wants me to say that their coffee in Ireland is much stronger so she was grateful to get home to her normal Starbucks caramel coffee. 

•  You can purchase economical lunches on the go at Lidl, local cafes, etc.  There are typically nice delis in the convenient stores  as well – especially the Spar and Circle K’s. 

•  Cell data was mostly accessible on the entire island. 

•  We did not have to pay for restrooms in Ireland like we did in Europe.  That irritates me so I was glad! $1-$3 each to go to the restroom is somewhat nuts! Thanks Ireland for not making me get irritated at this! (may not be a tip but a gratitude) 

•  We found in our research that tipping is not customary but that’s up to you. 

•  They don’t add tax so the price you see is the price you pay. 

•  Ask locals!  This is a note mostly for the men (you know I’m right!).  The locals were nice and friendly.  I don’t think we spoke to even one rude person in two weeks.  

•  They have Uber but their taxis are competitive in price.  Download FreeNow to hail taxis in the city. 

•  If you will be driving, download offline maps before you leave the United States. It will minimize your use of data service on your phone.

•  We found it nice to have some movies downloaded to our cell phones. Just a reminder: you are in another country so should you choose to watch your Netflix account or Amazon Prime, just know that content is restricted by country.  You may not be able to see all the shows and movies like you can when you are in the United States.  We downloaded some episodes from our favorite shows to watch while we were there but we had to put out phone on airplane mode and disconnect WiFi to watch the shows on our phones while we were in Ireland.  

•  You can make free calls to the United States if you are on WiFi and put your phone in airplane mode or use WhatsApp. 

• Going to the Cliffs of Moher, Slieveleague Cliffs and Kerry Cliffs are well worth the drive, but they are remotely located. It’s easy to think that you can just hop over and see something else close, but there’s just not much nearby. Make sure that you budget your time appropriately, be patient and enjoy the scenery. If you see a sign and want to explore, do it! One day we saw a sign for this chocolate factory and it was awesome – lots of free samples and great chocolate to purchase for later. Be open to spontaneity and go satisfy your curiosity. It will be worth it!

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• The Ireland countryside is beautiful but it can also be pretty sparse. There were times that we got hungry in the car with nowhere in sight. Our solution was to have snacks in the car. Stop by those grocery stores (love Aldi, Lidl, and Tesco) to have a variety to choose from and to save some cash! In fact, on the day we visited the Cliffs of Moher it was lunchtime when we left from there, but nothing was nearby. Our variety of snacks made for a nice lunch on the road.