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Hi,

The OH has said she would love to go to southern Ireland and as we are a bit stuck for what to do in summer as the boys are doing there own thing I thought it may be an idea?

I know that we may not get a tan like last year in France! but lovely beaches, folk singing pubs and lovely scenery sound pretty good.

Any recommendations for areas to stay,recommended sites, places to visit, costs etc etc would be greatly received.

I can,nt   recomend  any  sites,  but we  stayed  in  Kilarney,  and  drove  around  the  ring  of  Kerry,  absolutely  stunning. If  you stay  anywhere  near  a  small  town  or  village  you will  hear  lots  of  Irish  music,  nearly  every  bar  has  live  irish music. Its  a  brilliant  country.

Hope you have deep pockets, don't know what price and type of sites you like, but it seems that the cheapest sites in Ireland (the Republic that is, not Northern Ireland) come in at EUR20 per night and more in the touristy areas like Kerry. Food and drink is a lot more expensive too. That said, it is lovely, especially the Ring of Kerry and the Dingle area. May and June are reckoned to be the best for weather I think, and it tends to be a bit better in the East, so you cold also try the Wicklow coast and mountains where there are also some lovely spots.

Anne

Hi there!
We toured Southern Ireland at the end of July/August 2007. We didn't camp all the time (we did some pubs/ B&Bs too) but we did stay here at this campsite in Caherciveen in the Ring of Kerry - it is a lovely town and I would definitley recomend the site and the area in general http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/sites/reviews.asp?revid=6042.

Weather was mixed, we had some lovely hot sunny days but also a couple of pretty wet ones too. And yes, as some has already commented, we found that Ireland can be expensive. The prices for the campsite are listed on the website.

But we had a great time, Ireland is beautiful and loads to explore.

The city of Galway is nice (try mcdonaghs for amazing fish n chips) and the Galway bay area has some lovely beaches (in particular <FONT color=#333333 size=2>Gurteen Beach & Dogs Bay). It is also ideally located for a day trip to the beautiful Aran Islands. <FONT color=#333333 size=2>Dun Aengus is a fort situated on the edge of a 100 m cliff overlooking the Atlantic on the biggest island, Inishmore. You can hire bikes and there is also a great pub with folk singers - well worth a visit. The Connemara is also nearby, a beautiful area if you like the outdoors, scenery etc.

From there we went down the West Coast, via Moran's Oyster Cottage just outside Galway (it is a brilliant and very picturesque seafood restaurant/pub). We saw the Cliffs of Moher (Ireland's most visited tourist attraction) which were a bit of a disappointment really - access to walking etc is restricted and we found it too commercial, but suppose it is worth a quick stop off. The Burren National Park in County Clare is also an interesting landscape to see.

We vistied the Dingle Peninsular and the Ring of Kerry from where you can get boat trips to the Skellig Islands. Then we went round to Cork (the English Market is really excellent if you like your food, the restaurant does typical Irish food and is brilliant!). We stayed in the little fishing village of Kinsale, just outside the city of Cork.

Then made our way up the East coast to Dublin. Hook Lighthouse in Wexford is worth a small detour, it is one of the oldest operational lighthouse in the world and you can take a tour inside.

If you want any more info let me know, but you can google the places I've metnioned to find out more.

As Mrs Bonce says, it is expensive. The Eagle Point Caravan site is Eur28 a night. If you stay in the North you would be getting just as good campsites, but with familiar currency and a similar cost of living. There is big demand though, and many sites book out early.

Well.....looking at the ferry prices for car+van I could go Portsmouth Santander instead!!! approx £600 wanted on most crossings to Ireland!! I looked at Poole Cherbourg and thats £360 for the same dates, which is cheaper than the last time I looked the other year, now what do I do!!!!!

Ireland...probably not

France...maybe but Vendee again not med coast to save fuel cost

Uk mainland...looking favourite!!!! but only if the sun shines!!

I can see me still searching in July!!

Just for info too....the Stena sailing from Fleetwood to Larne has been axed, Fleetwood is only 25mins away from me and would have been great!!

I think were now thinking (sounds uncertain!!) that it will be mainland Uk so eldest lad can get to us when he comes back from his teenage tour of the Algarve!!, somewhere cheap (friends and us are skint this year because of said teenagers) so maybe a CL site, has to have space for drunk ball games, EHU, showers a plus, pub nearby, things to visit (OH likes castles, cathedrals olde towns etc) beach nearish to site, cheap per night!, views, no midges, no rain, plenty sun, maybe a river onsite!!!

Too much to ask????

£600; where are you looking and for how many people? We didn't pay anywhere near that price for a ferry crossing. Two of us crossed from Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire with our car (but no caravan) and it was way less than £200 - that was in 2007 but I've just had a look on  http://www.stenaline.co.uk and prices are much less than £600 even for peak summer...

Not sure I can reccomend any specific sites which fulfil all of your criteria but Northumberland is nice and the Yorkshire Coast around Whitby/ Robin Hoods Bay seem to have many of the things you mention.