It’s time to start planning your next summer vacation, but where will you go this year? My family (including kids ages 8, 11 and 12) requested “mountain climbing,” “another country,” “wild animals” and “castles and ruins” and I wanted to go to the beach. Our final choice? Ireland.
Our trip to Ireland turned out to be a wonderful family adventure. The people are so friendly, the sights are magnificent, there’s so much history, money is easy to manage, and costs are reasonable. The only difficulty? Driving on the left side of the very narrow roads!
Our itinerary was jam-packed. We landed in Shannon and headed north for a few days. We visited Craggaunowen, Bunratty Castle & Folk Park, the Cliffs of Moher, the Birds of Prey Center and Aillwee Cave, The Burren and the Caherconnell Stone Fort. Next we headed south to the Dingle Peninsula for a quick visit to Inch Beach (gorgeous!) then on to Killarney National Park and Muckross House. After an overnight in Blarney, we visited the Jameson whiskey distillery and Cahir Castle. Kilkenny Castle and Glendalough filled the next day. In Dublin, we viewed the Book of Kells at Trinity College Library, roamed Grafton Street, and visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Our last full day was spent north of Dublin visiting the stone age sites of Knowth and Newgrange.
There were a few sites that really stood out as perfect for families with kids. First, Bunratty Castle & Folk Park was outstanding. Bunratty Castle is huge and fascinating to explore, with very steep, twisting stone staircases leading up to tiny rooms, some with medieval furnishings. It has a typical minstrel’s gallery, and incredibly steep, tiny steps leading down from the great hall to a truly terrifying dungeon still fitted with iron bars and chains. My tweens loved how gruesome it was.
Bunratty Castle is set in a large “Folk Park”, with typical buildings and town settings from earlier centuries, including schools, churches, markets, a 19th century manor home, simple farmhouses, animal pens, and gardens throughout. It also has a fantastic playground with climbing structures, bungie seats, and – best of all – a zip line. We spent the evening at the Traditional Irish Night, with dinner, singing and Irish dancing, which we absolutely loved. The food was fantastic (with menu options for picky kids) and the traditional songs and dances were wonderful.
Our day in the Burren area of Ireland was also a favorite with the kids. We visited the massive Cliffs of Moher, explored Aillwee Cave, and enjoyed the show at the Birds of Prey Center. The big hit of the day was the sheepdog demonstration at the Caherconnell Stone Fort. A young farmer described the whole process of training sheepdogs and ran the dogs through their paces, both with verbal commands and then only whistles. He even let the kids call out the commands. Plus, there is a wonderful café at the Fort, perfect for a quick and delicious lunch.
Another favorite was Cahir Castle in Cahir, County Tipperary. The castle is right in the middle of a bustling town but is an oasis of history and quiet. There are excellent museum displays and lots of rooms and towers to explore.
One of the most impressive sites was Brú na Bóinne, a World Heritage Site an hour north of Dublin. The site includes Newgrange and Knowth, two of the largest megalithic structures in Europe and both hundreds of years older than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramid of Egypt. The tour includes an overview of each site and plenty of time to explore. Don’t miss the tour inside Newgrange (think twice though if you’re seriously claustrophobic).
Some tips:
- Get a rental car with automatic transmission. It takes a day or two to get comfortable driving on the left side of the road but it would be much harder having to manage a left-handed manual transmission too. If you get a GPS, be prepared for it to direct you to the tiniest country roads imaginable (one lane wide with towering hedges). If you can, reset it to choose major routes or, if this isn’t a choice on yours (it wasn’t available on ours), turn it off and follow route signs.
- The weather is cooler in Ireland, even in the summer. Bring jackets, jeans, rain coats and umbrellas for the light but frequent rain.
- Try to stay in Bed & Breakfasts. It’s generally less expensive and the breakfasts are hearty. We enjoyed the Gorteen Farmhouse B&B in Tulla, a working farm complete with a horse and cows, and the Maranatha Country House in Blarney was especially lovely. Booking.com was great for finding and booking B&Bs.
- Stop at a few playgrounds. The kids will love the break.
- No matter what the reviews say for your voltage converter, DO NOT try to use a hair dryer with it. I fried our $45 voltage converter and even blew a fuse at the B&B (so embarrassing) by trying to use my 110V hair dryer. Just ask the B&B owner for a 220V hair dryer if there isn’t one already in your room. Also – very handy – you do not need voltage converters to charge your phones and iPads, just a plug adapter. The transformers supplied with those devices automatically convert 220V to 110V.
