Family trip Ireland Aug 2018 - Tips needed and Questions

Hi, It looks like a good itinerary planned.

1 - You can plan on getting Euros from an ATM at the airport and throughout the country. Maybe tougher in certain places, but plenty of ATMs in cities and larger towns. It is good to have some cash handy for some places which don't take credit cards, small purchases, etc, but most places will take a credit card. I recommend letting your bank know you are travelling out of the country.

2- We stayed at AirBnB's mostly and found the space helpful. We always picked up some fresh fruit and bread at local markets when getting to a new location to have for breakfast the next morning, and tended to grab scones and pastries at the closest bakery in the morning for everyone to enjoy as they pleased. I found food prices to be generally more reasonable than east coast US. At the corner markets, smaller grocery stores - often Centra or Spar - there is also a good selection of "fresh" prepared food, for like 5 euros each. We picked up some salads and things like that 1-2 nights for dinner. I even saw a line of food, such as Kinsale Fish Pie, so it made dinner more exciting than a typical Whole Foods/supermrket-type dinner. No complaints.

3 - As I said, we loved finding the closest bakery and picking out scones, pastries, etc. In Galway (maybe in other places too), there was a Gourmet Tart Company with a few locations, one three days from out apt., which was excellent. In addition to the scones and pastries, they had a small refrigerated section with yogurt and granola, small quiches, things like that, which we would buy and bring home. In Kinsale, there were a lot of great breakfast places and cafes which you will easily find. You can't go wrong there. In Dublin, we had a big Irish breakfast at O'Neills Pub near the Molly Malone Statue. It opened early on a Sunday morning and was great and a lot of fun for a group.

4 - Kinsale and Galway were our favorite places for eating, shopping, and walking. In Kinsale, we had our splurge meal at Fishy Fishy. It is a top restaurant, really delicious and pleasant, perfect for an anniversary dinner with the family. All the Irish know it, since the chef has a cooking show on Irish TV. In Galway, we had a great meal at Hooked. It is a little off the beaten path in the west end of Galway, away from the Latin Quarter in a real neighborhood away from the crowds. The food was outstanding and very reasonable. I highly recommend it.

If you have other questions or want other suggestions, I am happy to chime in further.

Thank you! What a great bit of advice; much appreciated.
We are excited, the hubby and I went to Ireland on our honeymoon and loved it, but that was a long time ago and no kids in tow.
It is quite fun that we will be there again on our 20th anniversary. That night we get to leave the kids with my mom and go out for a date in Kinsale.
I really appreciate your tips!

Re euros - it is nice to have a bit of cash handy (say 50 euros or so) in case of issues with the ATM's at the airport. Then just head to the nearest bank affiliated ATM and get what you need. For a group of your size I'd recommend starting out with 400 - 500 euros and replenish as needed.
For a top notch meal (or high tea) don't miss the Shelbourne in Dublin: https://www.shelbournedining.ie

Thanks! Loving this community and all your suggestions.

Depending on your interests, the family might enjoy the sheep dog demonstration at Kissane Sheep Farm. (On the Ring, between Killarney and Kenmare, near Mol's Gap, on N71). http://www.kissanesheepfarm.com/index.html The scenery is terrific and the dogs are brilliant. (There are similar demonstrations elsewhere in Ireland. The Search feature above will probably lead you to others that might be more convenient.) If you plan to visit Kissane, check the Calendar on the website; the schedule is a bit erratic from day to day.

We too had a lovely meal at Fishy Fishy (I'm not a seafood lover, but it was delicious!). Kinsale has (or at least had when we were there) a bit of a reputation for being a "foodie" town so you should feel right at home.

Like you we primarily used Airbnbs. We stayed in a stone cottage on the Ring of Kerry (Cahersiveen) that was just wonderful! At the local SuperValu we bought breakfast supplies--eggs (which you can purchase by the egg--they were kept in a large, unrefrigerated bin), butter, bread, milk, tiny jars of jam and yogurts (there were some flavors I haven't seen here at home--rhubarb was my favorite) We also found that a number of our Airbnb hosts provided things like milk, bread and coffee (and, in one case, a welcoming bottle of wine). We even stayed at an Airbnb in Galway that had a gourmet kitchen and access to all the food in the fridge, freezer and pantry.

How much cash to take? There are two schools of thought, and lots and lots and lots of threads with people restating the two views over and over, often quite vehemently.

1) Bring about €100 in cash with you from the US, so you don't have to find any on arrival.
2) Bring €0 in cash, and just use local ATM's to get cash if needed, including in the arrival airport.

What almost everyone agrees on is that, if you are bringing cash, there's no need to bring more than about €100 worth. Local ATM's used with your debit card will give a far better rate than you can get in the US.

If you do want to bring some euros but don't have any from a prior trip, see if you know anyone who's been to a euro country recently. They can sell you some, at a better rate than you will get from a bank. If you don't know anyone, perhaps you can find a Rick Steves Travel Group in your area, and ask if anyone coming to the meeting can sell you some euros: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/travel-meetings

For more money tips, read all the links on Rick's money page, and you'll be an expert: https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/money

My main concern is that there is no affiliate bank for Bank of America in Ireland. It’s so weird, but I would pay lots of fees to take out cash in Ireland.

For some reason, this "no BoA affiliate" thing gets people upset. If you have a BoA account, you pay 3% for using an ATM card abroad - regardless of which ATM you use. If you don't use a BoA affiliate bank ATM, you also pay $5; if you do find a BoA affiliate ATM, you don't pay the extra $5.

For $5, compared with the total cost of a trip and the 3% you're paying anyway, I wouldn't worry about having to use an ATM in Ireland. If fees do worry you, you'll want to get an second account for travel that doesn't have fees for foreign use, such as TD Bank, Charles Schwab, or a credit union. If you're staying with BoA, just accept that ATM use abroad has fees - and that these fees are still lower than any other method of getting euros, such as buying them in the US.

Our bank is a credit union and I'm also worried about finding an ATM that works for us. After talking to our credit union for an $11 fee we are going to have them issue us a "travel card". We will load it with the amount of money we think we might need and then that card can be used at both ATM's to withdraw euro and also just like a visa card.

If we come home with extra on the card, we can take it back into the bank and have it redeposited into our account and/or just simply use it up upon return home. We will also have a mastercard on us and be using it as much as possible for both the good exchange rate and air travel points.

Your questions are great! We are also Oregonians with family in the fine dining business and "foodies"! I did some googling on Yelp in the main communities where we will stay. I wanted to be able to have quick good options for fast cheaper lunches with our kids that are tasty and we have one student who is gluten free.

I am taking some instant steel cut oats, honey sticks, instant coffee, sugar, etc... for the first few days until we get the lay of the land with groceries; don't want hangry kids every morning. We are also packing a lightweight cooler bag for picnic lunches. I am expecting to spend about 80-100 euro each night for dinner for our family of 4. I hope not to spend this much each night, but this is a large family trip and we won't always have say where we eat, hence the cheaper locations for lunch or cheese/fruit/bread/yogurt/salami at other meals.

Hope your time is super!

I know, it's not that big of a deal about BofA, but it just seems stupid. :D
Thanks for all the tips.

Would love more tips on places to go/see and restaurants. I'm loving all the feedback!

When we go, we are keeping it low key. Two days in Dublin. No tickets booked for anything. We will just see what the kids want to see, except for the Book of Kells and Trinity (a must). Also, will take in evensong at the cathedral. Maybe Kilmain Gaol (sp?). Then leaving Dublin: Rock of Cashel and Pennyfeather Cafe on way to Dingle. Several days in Dingle. Will sit on the beach, hit a pub, enjoy music, and drive to the Killarney for bike rental one day to see the park and Muckross Castle. Then on to Galway, Cliffs of Moher along the way. Will enjoy Galway and keep it low key. Then headed back closer to Dublin for last few days of trip. Likely to see Kylemore Abbey leaving Galway, skipping Asheford Castle. (However, falconry school looks amazing.) Then it is up to Giant's Causeway and the Valley of Boyne before heading home. 11 days total. Mixed age group w/two teens in tow.

Yes, we have a group who prefer to be low key as well. I thought falconry looked amazing too. I think my kids would love that.
I'm considering that, but I assume we need to book that ahead?

Inishmore (largest of the Aran Islands) is a fun day trip from Galway. You can drive or take the shuttle from Galway to Rossaveel where you catch the ferry. Once on the island there are plenty of tour vans available so your mom won't have to do too much walking. They also rent bikes there if the kids would like to explore a bit. Hiking up to Dun Aengus (ruins of an Iron Age fort) might also be fun for the kids. There is a thatched roof cafe at the base of the hiking path that is fairly no-frills but has wonderful food!

You don't mention where on the Ring of Kerry you are staying. We were in the Cahersiveen/Waterville area and found lots to see: ring forts and ruins of a castle that you can explore; a small white strand beach; Valentia Island (be sure to stop at the Skellig Experience) and the fabulous Cliffs of Kerry.

In Kinsale we really enjoyed wandering around Charles Fort. Your mom might enjoy a trip to Cobh, the port of departure for many of those emigrating from Ireland.

I don't know how your kids feel about museums but we really loved the Museum of Archaeology in Dublin--the display on the bog people was fascinating. There were lots of school tours going through when we were there and it seemed to be their favorite exhibit. Kids are kids everywhere!