Ireland With Kids

ireland-scenery

Ireland is a magical place to visit since this is, after all, the country of leprechauns and pots of gold. The people are friendly and children are universally welcomed. Even though I now live in Seattle, I grew up in Ireland and I still consider it my home. My parents and siblings and my husband’s parents and siblings still live there so we visit Ireland regularly. With this travel Ireland guide you’ll be able to plan a fun family vacation in the Emerald Isle.

Practically, what’s it like to visit Ireland with children? Outside the cities (well, Dublin really), the towns are small and walkable, in fact, everything is smaller and greener. You would never visit Ireland for a sun vacation, but it has wild open beaches which are great for beach-combing, walking and, believe it or not, surfing. There are more tumbledown castles and fairy forts than you can possibly ever visit. That, and the many round towers mean that before you go you’ll just have to read a little about Irish history and the role Vikings played in that history (see my list of children’s books about Ireland below). There’s also hiking, cycling, walking and plenty of music – and you’ll probably find there’s a lot more to Irish cooking than corned beef and cabbage.

Sleeping
Typically, when we visit Ireland, we stay with family. However, a remarkable number of our trips to Ireland have been to attend siblings’ weddings so we have stayed at a few hotels too. Including:

The excellent Renvyle House Hotel in Connemara, Co. Galway.

Trident Hotel, Kinsale and Actons Kinsale. These three-star hotels are on the road out of downtown Kinsale towards the harbor – it’s a great location. Some of the rooms at the Trident have excellent water views. Although both hotels have restaurants which have good reviews, I’d skip the hotel food and wander through the charming town where there are plenty of really excellent restaurants.

Barberstown Castle. Looking for a quiet, restful place to stay with plenty of golfing amenities nearby and a little history thrown in for good measure? Check out Barberstown Castle. Sections of the original building – built in the 13th century – form part of the hotel buildings. A definite win if you’re traveling with a young “Knights and Castles” fan.

Jury’s Inns are one of the few hotel chains in the British Isles to have family rooms (two queen beds) as standard.

On my last trip to Ireland I stayed at the wonderful Kippure Estate in Blessington. The accommodation is one and two bed-room apartments which are simply furnished but very spacious. The view from the front of the building is a picture-postcard blend of the many shades of green in the Irish countryside.

When we spent eight weeks in Ireland in 2000, we rented the larger of the Tibradden Farm Cottages. These refurbished buildings are beautifully maintained and in a glorious location. On a clear day (stating this even though it’s obvious, but this is Ireland we’re talking about), if you take a short hike from the cottages uphill, you’ll find yourself looking out on Dublin and Dublin Bay laid out before you. It’s a view you can’t get in many other places in this low-lying city.

You’ll find Bed-and-Breakfast accommodation in most Irish towns. Look for reviews and ratings on the Discover Ireland (Irish Tourist Board) website.

Eating (and Drinking, because, after all, this is Ireland)
The recent recession has brought sweeping changes in Ireland, apparently the Celtic Tiger is now a Celtic Kitty. That said, eating out is still expensive. To keep your budget in check especially for breakfast and lunch food for families, here are some useful ideas:
- Pub lunches are usually hearty and good value
- The main supermarket chains are Dunnes Stores and Tesco (Ireland), you’ll find one or the other – or both – in most towns. The German low-cost chains Aldi and Lidl are also in Ireland now.
- Look out for Spar shops. These convenience stores (like 7-Elevens) are usually well-stocked with fresh and packaged foods.

My favorite place for Eggs Benedict in Dublin is the Elephant and Castle in Temple Bar. That’s because I used to live around the corner. If you know of somewhere better, leave a comment.

For a fun family dinner out with traditional music in the Dublin area, check out Johnny Fox’s. It’s loud, it’s twee, it’s touristy, but it’s rip-roaringly good fun. Try and get a table close to some Irish people – they’ll belt out all the words to all the songs they know.

Posts about Ireland

Galway City Pubs
A selection of photos of the colorful pubs and street scenes in Galway city, Ireland. These photos are presented as a part of the Photo Friday series hosted by DeliciousBaby.com. Like what you've read? Subscribe for updates via RSS, E...
Hosteling with kids
In the past couple of years as we've been preparing for our family world trip, we've been trying out bits and pieces of our planned travel style from traveling with backpacks using public transit to, most recently, staying in hostels. We've done ...
Lunch At Morans At The Weir
You'd have to be a very dippy travel writer to have lunch at a great little restaurant and completely forget to take a single photo of the excellent seafood served. Very dippy. So I guess I am. Or maybe it was because when we detoured to stop at Mo...
Galway City Museum
When I heard that there was a new museum focusing on the history of Galway City, I was eager to visit. The location of the museum, which you get to by walking through Spanish Arch - part of the original city walls built in the 1550s - could not be ...
Serving Your Own Guinness
In case you haven't guessed it by reading my posts on our trip to Ireland, the Emerald Isle can be a quirky place which you need a sense of humor to enjoy. Today's example: we were a group of six adults and seven children (three to thirteen) look...
Scenes From Connemara
Clifden in the rain. Renvyle House Hotel from across the bay. The world's end: facing west on Omey Island. Related Posts Ireland With Kids First Stop Clifden Recess Connemara Giant Connemara National Park Crowdsourcing In Connem...
Dinner At Renvyle House Hotel
Appetizers: Goat Cheese and Seafood Chowder. Main Courses: Irish Lamb and Grilled Turbot Dessert: Irish Cheese Plate and Raspberry Pie Related Posts Ireland With Kids Renvyle House Hotel Connemara First Stop Clifden Connemara N...
Connemara Secrets
I'm a sucker for stories of strong women in history particularly if the story involves a strong woman who was able to succeed in a man's world long before the rights and privileges afforded to most women today (in the developed world at least) were...
Renvyle House Hotel Connemara
I was blown in the door of the Renvyle House Hotel by gale force winds and almost immediately tripped over two preschoolers playing tag in the lobby. I had to step quickly out of the way and only took a brief look at the surroundings before check...
Recess Connemara Giant
When we stopped in Recess on the first day of our trip, we parked right by this sign. Of course we had to check out the actual item. In particular, my kids thought this was excellent: Personally, I thought this one was better: Alth...
Irish Pub Food
Lunch at E.J. Kings in Clifden, Connemara in Ireland. You may have thought that Irish food was all about over-cooked vegetables and mashed potatoes. Well, it's not. I found this type of meal, with fresh salad, homemade bread and smoked salmon, a ...
First Stop Clifden
We'd been told about the new motorway from Dublin to Galway, but I don't think either of us actually believed that it would only take us two hours to cross Ireland from East to West. In fact, it was an extremely pleasant drive, and yes, we were n...
Photo Friday: European Airspace Opens
Last Thursday, just a day after European airspace re-opened, we were taking a leisurely walk on the beach at Bettystown (30 minutes north of Dublin airport) when we spotted jet-trails in the sky above us. It was a welcome sign that things were re...
From Expat To Tourist To Expat Again
I don't think I've ever been so happy to get on an airplane as When we boarded our flight to Chicago this past Saturday. Thanks to the eruption of the Icelandic volcano with the unpronounceable name, our two-week trip to Ireland had become three ...
Connemara National Park
This is the trail map for the Diamond Hill hike in Connemara, Ireland, one of the most unusual hikes we've ever done. The trailhead is at the entrance to the Connemara National Park visitor center in Letterfrack, Galway. The hike, with an elevati...
Crowdsourcing In Connemara
I spotted the sign above in the restroom at the Connemara National Park visitor center in Letterfrack, Ireland. The hand-written sign was obviously placed by the center management. The multiple translations added to the sign in many different han...
Easter 1916 Celebrations In Dublin
This post should be sub-titled "I'm an American, I don't care" because that was the mood that CAM, in his best jet-lagged, grumpy, cynical teenager mode, was projecting as we stood in the crowd before the General Post Office in Dublin waiting for...
Road Trip Ireland Part III - Into The West
In this final post in this series on visiting Ireland I'll be describing the places we plan to visit during our upcoming trip. We haven't been to Ireland since 2005 (I can't complain, we've met up with our extended family in Portugal, Cyprus and ...
How To Speak With An Irish Accent
Consider this preparation for a great St. Patrick's Day. Watch the video. Trust me, you'll never utter the words "with potatoes" without a smile again. Happy Photo Friday! Related Posts Road Trip Ireland Part I - The South Coast An overvie...
Road Trip Ireland Part II - Dublin To Belfast
For today's post I'm going to focus on the part of Ireland where I grew up: the Boyne Valley. As I've said before, Ireland is positively littered with structures built in earlier times from early Christian churches to castles of all types, sorts an...
Road Trip Ireland Part I - The South Coast
I've been asked about visiting Ireland with kids twice in the past week or so. So, given that and the fact that St. Patrick's Day is coming up, I thought I'd be patriotic and devote a few posts to visiting Ireland. Let's say you're arriving in S...
Ireland With Kids: A Destination Page
I don't usually think of Ireland as a travel destination - to me, it's home. That said, we've had friends visit Ireland with us and we've enjoyed showing them around since Ireland is a fun place to visit. So, I'm happy to announce a destination pag...
An Eventful Visit To The Giant's Causeway
I was clearing out some bookshelves recently and I came across this little book. It's part of a set of Irish Legends re-told for young children. The Finn MacCool story reminded me of the time we visited the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland with...
Photo Friday: Wicklow Way
MT's mention of the Wicklow Way in her recent post made me realize that I really don't write about Ireland enough on this blog. So today I thought I'd redress that a little by sharing some photos of the scenery along this 127km trail which winds th...
trip plan: ireland
This post is first in a series where I provide details of the trips I have taken with my family as examples for you to follow. If you have trip suggestions (destinations) for family travel for which you'd like a see a trip plan, leave a comment and I'l...
Ireland, Leprechauns and Rainbows
I was trying to put some order on our digital photo collection over the weekend when I came across this photo. It was taken on a beach near Kenmare, Ireland in September 2005. Those are my boys looking about the size of a pair of leprechauns in the p...

	Connemara Connemara Secrets Clifden Connemara National Park Galway Galway City Museum
	Food Dinner At Renvyle House Hotel Irish Pub Food Morans Kilcolgan
	Photo Friday – Ireland Scenes From Connemara Recess Connemara Giant Crowdsourcing In Connemara Galway Restaurants Fat Freddys
	The Giant’s Causeway Visiting Dublin Wicklow Way