calvo2

hello friends i'm organizing a small group (6adults) to visit Ireland in either June'08 or July 08.what is the recommended time for making plane and bed and breakfasts reservations? is March too late?

pjdscott

Even though the Irish school holidays begin in early June, it is still possible to visit **without** booking B&Bs! Assuming you need 3 rooms, it would still be possible to do some of your accommodation on spec. Alternatively you could book some and leave others to chance!

Unless you're visiting a town or city during festivals:

http://www.hidden-dublin.com/music/music07.html

then booking in March for June/July will be adequate notice for most places!

Peter

IrishEyes

I suggest booking flights at least 3 to 4 months in advance. Because you say you want to stay at B&Bs you will most likely need three rooms. Since most B&Bs have between 3 to 6 rooms you should consider making your reservations as soon as you have your flights and your itinerary. It is much easier for two people to find B&Bs on the fly. But when your group will take up half or even a whole B&B you need to be organized earlier.

There will be more tourists in July than in June. If you do not care about your accommodations i.e. location to towns, room size, niceness, and such things you can make reservations later or even leave it to chance as suggested. Good places will book out first and you will get the leftovers. If you have trouble finding B&Bs any tourist office in Ireland will find you a place to lay your head for a fee. It might not be your first (or even tenth) choice but would suffice. You ALWAYS need reservations in Dublin.

I have traveled to Ireland with such groups before and know the limitations and challenges.

The first Monday in June is a bank holiday. That will be a very busy weekend.

calvo2

many thanks for your help

celticb

Hi Calvo
I run a nice selfcatering holiday village in Killarney which is the main tourist centre in south west Ireland. We can offer weekly or short stay rentals (minimum stay 3 days).Killarney is also the best base for seeing the south west.Have a look at our website www.killarneycottages.com .If you prefer hotel or B&B accomodation in the area I am quite happy to give you my reccomendations.

nytraveler

Since there are 6 of you - and presumably you'll need 3 rooms - which is a lot for many B&Bs - I would start reserving them as soon as you have your dates set.

JOHNOD

Not to brag but I booked my flights on Continental out of Newark to Shannon for late June early July as soon as they became available. I paid $658.00 including tx. The same flight is now over $1000.00. Unless the think the oil market is going to tank book your flights now. Also as flights fill up the airline is less inclined to lower prices. The same goes for rental cars. I booked my car and prepaid. The same rental for eight days is almost $20.00 more, that as a result of the dollar lower against the Euro.

If you arive in a location and are unable to find a B&B an Irish Tourist Board office, if available will usually find you a spot. In the past I have knocked on the door of a B&B I knew was full and Landlord will usually call around on the "Old boy network" and find who has an opening, might not work is you need more that one room. Have fun

Viajero2

For a late Aug trip to Ireland we booked in April. Continental out of Newark to Dublin back from Shannon was about $550/pp. A RT to/from Dublin or Shannon would have been cheaper, but we wanted to avoid backtracking and were willing to pay more for that convenience.

In your specific case where you have a group, I strongly recommend you narrow down your logistics; i.e. preferred flights, B&B's, transportation and keep an eye on the costs fluctuations. Set a price you are willing to pay. When your flight prices hit the mark, is time to book regardless of the month of the year.

In the case of the B&B's, do the research and draft an itinerary. Then, figure from there your lodging needs. Make a list of about 2-3 lodging alternatives in the towns/cities you'll be staying and e-mail for availability. Word of mouth is your ally when it comes to B&B's in Ireland. Copy & paste from boards like this and you should be doing well. When it comes to summer travel to Europe, prices are set the prior November. June/July isn't really that far when it comes to planning a group vacation in Ireland.

if you need a B&B rec for Cashel we stayed at Hattie's B&B, walking distance to the Rock of Cashel. We explore South Ireland from Kenmare (WONDERFUL town!), where we rented a 4-bedroom/3 bathroom rental unit from Kenmare Holiday Rentals for $770/week (Sat-Sat).

IrishEyes

Never heard of Hattie's B&B in Cashel. Is it new? Did a search and turned up nothing. Does it have a website?

Viajero2

This is the website for Wattie's B&B:

http://www.wattiesbandb.ie/

(sorry, "W" instead of "H"....&lt