Finding B&B's while on the road

The Irish Tourist Board used to print a book of B&Bs but I am not sure if they still do this as the internet has changed things over the years.

You can try this website: https://www.ireland.com/en-us/accommodation/bed-and-breakfast/all/ for finding B&Bs in your particular area. I also use the TripAdvisor app.

We will be in Galway in April. Our first choice was already booked and we had to adjust our dates a bit to get into our second choice. In the less populated areas I think you will have an easier time finding nice places to stay.

Since you have a rough idea of the areas you will be visiting, you could do a little research ahead of time and make a list of some B&Bs that appeal to you. Tourist offices are often helpful with reservations. That being said, their hours of operation could be limited in the shoulder season.

We used Trip Advisor to find B&Bs--the night before we wanted to stay we settled in at a pub with wifi and did a search. The main advantage of this is that, unlike using a list, you can read the reviews of folks who have stayed at the B&B in question. Once we settled on a place we emailed the host to inquire about the accommodations and their availability. We found some lovely places that way.

My suggestions is to check with the Tourist Information office (TI) in the town you have arrived in and want to stay. If it is late at night however, you may be out of luck. They usually have a list of B&B's that have a vacancy. Also, some small towns may not have a TI office.

This site allows you to search for B&B's by location and other criteria such as activities, amenities, etc. I don't know if there is a phone app for it, but I did book several B&B's through this site, and they were all good.

https://www.bandbireland.com/

A lot of small operations, including B&Bs, are on booking.com. Perhaps not the very least expensive ones, however.

In the internet age, I would not want to arrive in town without a reservation. Everyone else will have booked in advance because it is just so easy. I ended up without a reservation one night last year (booked for the wrong month), and the very kind B&B proprietor who wasn't expecting me until the next month called first the tourist office (no luck) then two places she though might have an opening. Fortunately, the second one did. Ireland in May is probably not as difficult as Cornwall in August, and you will have a car, but that Bank Holiday weekend would terrify me.

When we visited Ireland, we used Rick’s guide to look for a B&B along with previous nights Internet research since we only had a general idea where we’d be stopping. The later you stop in the evening the harder it will be to find an available, good, B&B. On one occasion in Galway, we got the last room after checking a few B&Bs.

Thanks all for taking the time to reply. Good info.

After spending an uncomfortable night sleeping in the rental car in a shopping mall parking lot because we arrived in an English town late on a Friday, my 12-year-old daughter started pointing out B&B signs in the early afternoon to ensure we found something before dark. I would highly recommend pre-booking rooms for the Bank Holiday weekend, even if it's only making phone calls (or using booking.com) the day before.

I would advise to check with the local Tourism Information Office in the various towns you plan to visit. Tourism offices are usually very centrally located in towns and they would be more than willing and happy to help you decide on where to stay as well as book it for you.

Richard,

Those are all good suggestions, but not really necessary. There are so many B&Bs (some 2,000+) in tiny Ireland that - especially in the off season - you can simply show up in a town and knock on doors with the ITB sign out front. You may have to knock on two - maybe three - doors to find available rooms, but no more. And while doing so, you're meeting new people, albeit briefly. In April and May, tourist traffic should be quite low.

Friends and I have taken nine bicycle trips (nearly 200 overnights in all) all over the island over the years and, except for our first and last nights, have never made reservations. Once in a while, we'd call that morning when we knew our day's destination, but 99% of the time, we'd wing it. All our trips have also been in the high season - July-September. Only once in all that time did we have any difficulty, showing up on Westport, Co. Mayo (a popular commercial town) on a Friday. We had to make about a dozen calls to get a room, but we did. For your Bank holiday weekend, however, it'd be wise to reserve ahead. And in all the towns, cities and villages we've stayed in and passed through, we found just one that had no B&Bs at all (in Co. Clare as I recall). It was simply too small of a place.

And given that B&B quality in Ireland is universally exceptionally high (thanks to the ITB), you can't go wrong. Enjoy the serendipity!