Ireland in August - how important is it to book ahead?

[mangoamango]

DH, myself and 8 yr old DS are planning a trip to Ireland this summer. So far, we have booked a ferry crossing for the 3 of us with the car and started a list of places to visit.

Our vague plan is to spend a few days going from Rosslare to Cork then to Kinsale to pick up the wild atlantic road, seeing how far we can get up the west coast before it is time to head back to Rosslare for our return crossing. In all we have 16 days.

When we first looked into where we wanted to go, we found a lot of resources and comments that led us to believe we wouldn't need to book very much ahead, hence the 'see how far we can get' approach. However, over the weekend, I was looking at hotel booking sites and many of them are showing as having very limited availability for the time that we will be there so now I'm thinking that we might need to rethink slightly.

So what does the collective brain of Mumsnet think? are we crazy for thinking this is viable?

Also, does anyone have any "must see" recommendations?

TIA

Well it is the busiest time of year so yes I think I’d book. Especially if you want particular places.

I would book ahead. Over 30% of hotel spaces are being used to house refugees and so capacity is very much lowered.

August is high season, we currently have a severe lack of accommodation due to a number of issues - e.g. a housing crisis and c.84,000 refugees intake.

I would advise website Failte Ireland which has lots of information about places to see and trails to follow but I would ensure you have accommodation sorted. Prices are absolutely through the roof also - I am heading to Portugal for two weeks which is cheaper than a family gathering in Wexford for bank holiday weekend!

I would suggest you book your accommodation and detail your location and then people could advise.

Pack your raincoats!

you need to book if you don’t want to end up paying through the nose to stay in very average places. Ireland is expensive and a very popular summer tourism destination! Yes, you are insane to think it’s viable.

Hit up Cork city, West Cork, Dingle, Galway City, Connemara, Westport - and try to make it to Donegal if you can get that far.

Ireland is a huge tourist destination and particularly attractive around where you will be. As pp said lots of hotels are now being used to house refugees so there’s increasing demand on the hotels that are left.

Also it’s peak wedding season here and we love a big wedding bash. Hotels can be booked up months ahead with maybe 200/300 people in attendance.

hope you get sorted and have a fantastic time. ☘️

Hotels might cost double the amount if you leave it to the last minute.

I cannot emphasise enough how important it is to book ahead.

We live here, but every summer it’s the same story where DH makes vague plans to take the kids away to someone like Clare or Cork for the weekend and then is SHOCKED when hotels are either booked out or are price gouging.

Imagine you are going to Cornwall in august and think what you would do about pre booking

and do that

Please book ahead! But look up quirky little air bnbs on route. Stay off the beaten track and with your own car you’ll never be far from civilization but you’ll have a great experience. Take your time too, don’t be like the Muricans who do the WAW in a week. The entire Beara Peninsula could take 10 days exploring and Is exceptionally beautiful with loads to do and see for all ages.

Definitely book ahead!! As pp have said there's a shortage of hotels and it's a very popular area.

My suggestion is forget hotels and look for bed and breakfast. Probably €60-100 per night Usually in private house. Host will provide great breakfast and ideas of where to see locally. Buy loaf of bread/rolls ham cheese Tayto’s etc and do a picnic lunch then just need to get dinner somewhere. We have family in Ireland but always tried to go somewhere away from family for few days when kids were younger and had great time doing this

Definitely book ahead, everywhere books up here in the summer. I actually struggled to get somewhere for a weekend away in July a few weeks ago and wanted to go away at short notice last summer and couldn’t find anywhere suitable.

Agree with all the above. Book early for best prices! And you will usually get best prices booking directly rather than via an OTA like Booking.com. You will often get an extra 10% off booking code if you register to receive emails/newsletters (and you can unsubscribe straight after.) I would also recommend booking breakfast-inclusive as you will get a mighty feed.

And if you want help with an itinerary, I can help!

Book ahead! We went to Kinsale and did WAW last year, and were on our way back to Rosslare via some old friends for a few days, when ther kids got covid. We decided not to stay with them, and honestly struggled to find anywhere to stay at short notice literally anywhere. We were told it was Ukrainian refugee situation had booked virtually all hotels, on top of August trade. We then ended up bringing our ferry forward two days as couldn’t find anywhere for last night.

Book, book, book!

Thanks all for your replies.

To the person who mentionned Cornwall, I see the message that you are trying to get accross but I am exactly the kind of person who would plan to wing it on a trip there "because it is a touristy place so surely there must be lots of options". Also because I loving going on holidays but hate planning them and like to have lots of spontaneity.

Anyway, DH and I spent a couple of hours with the guidebooks and google maps yesterday evening and have plotted out an itinerary with plenty of wiggle room so now "all" I need to do is look at options in and around the places we want to visit. We've descided to leave ourselves plenty of time to explore Beara, Burren and Connemara so we won't have the time to go further north than Westport but I'm sure we're going to love it and we'll save Galway and the north for another trip.

Thanks again to all

I’d include Galway on the trip, you are there already - it’s a small city and you could use it as your base for Connemara.

You have to book what you can before you go! August in the SW of Ireland is very expensive and limited availability. As others have said B&B’s would be your best option.

Hotels are outrageous at the moment and are more expensive in August.

My American cousins booked for
the first 2 weeks of August to go to Kerry, they can’t even get a campsite, I warned them but they wouldn’t listen. Currently listening to them complain about cost and no availability but as I say they wouldn’t listen.

Saying all that it is beautiful 🤩

oops, typo, that should have been Donegal will be for another trip. We're planning to spend a few nights in Galway as a base for visiting the surrounding area

That makes sense then, Galway a great base, nice place to wander around streets and soak up atmosphere also, nice pubs etc, especially in the sun.

You may need to purchase a tent as back up!