I’m interested in touring western Ireland this October and am looking for alternatives to a Rick Steves tour. Their itinerary stops at a few places where we visited on a prior visit to Ireland, so it’s not a fit for us. I’m looking for a tour operator, not a private driver.
An earlier post recommended Essential Ireland Tour. It’s operated by a former RS employee but they’ve been unresponsive to my inquiries about their cancellation policy.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts!
Gate 1 travel
CIE tours
You may find it almost impossible to find an itinerary with no repeats. Tours tend to go to the most popular locations.
Rabbies and Paddiwagon (scroll down for the several day tours) both do small group tours of Ireland and both good reviews by people who have been on them - but you would need to get to Ireland first.
I have the same question. The way my calendar works, I'm only able to fit in the RS Heart of Ireland 7-day tour, but am looking for an alternative tour company to make a trip into Northern Ireland, which is not in the shorter RS tour. I see that Rabbie's has a 5-day tour that will work for us, but would appreciate feedback who has experience with them as a company. The have good reviews on their website, but it would be helpful to have a RS traveler weigh-in. I do know that I will need to do some of the bookings of hotels myself, and meals are not included, nor are some of the attractions, but that's fine, I can work with that. I'm more interested in the quality of the tours, the guides, the stops made, time allowed in villages, cities, etc. Any advice or recommendations is appreciated. TIA!
In 2010, I used an organization now called Ireland Walk Hike Bike (https://irelandwalkhikebike.com/) to help organize a self-guided hike I did of the 100-mile-long Dingle Way (https://www.dingleway.com/trail-maps/index.php). Ireland Walk Hike Bike appears to do guided hiking, cycling, driving and custom tours, if any of those fit your needs.
