Hello! My husband and I are planning an 8 day trip to Ireland in March '16. Our current itinerary has us in Dublin for 3 days followed by 1 day visiting Glendalough, Kilkenny and Cashel before heading to Dingle for 2-3 days. Based on the current plan we will be in Dingle over the Easter holiday (Sunday and Monday). Does anyone know what kind of closures to expect during this time?
Thank you for the help!
Posted by
London, United Kingdom
135 posts
Easter 2016 in Ireland is the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising and a very significant event nationally. As a result there will be many celebrations and commemorations in the Republic, particularly in Dublin of course. If I were you I would check out the Irish Tourist Board website to see if they have any advice on likely congestion. You may also find that many other international visitors are coming to Ireland for that period, so accommodation may be more difficult to book - the further from Dublin, the better!
Posted by
OP
Chania, Greece
28 posts
Thank you for the information Mark! We are planning to be in the Dingle area over the weekend itself. I will definitely check the tourism boards.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16895 posts
Primary Dingle activities include walking the town and driving the peninsula loop. With your own car, you'll have plenty of freedom to do that. One "entry" site on the loop is the Blasket Center, which generally opens for the season at Easter; this year they opened April 2, but chances are at least even that it will be a week earlier next year. I would not expect any problem to find dinner and a pub open; I'm thinking of an Easter that I spent in Yorkshire (different country, I know), including a regular, Sunday evening pub quiz with the locals.
Posted by
OP
Chania, Greece
28 posts
Thank you for the link and the information! We're excited to visit Ireland :)
Posted by
Seattle
191 posts
Good Friday is "dry" so pubs are closed as well as some restaurants. Dingle shops will probably have more closures over the weekend because Easter is a big deal.
The funniest thing to watch is people stocking up on alcohol Thursday night for the one dry day :)