Is Waterford Crystal worth the trip?

When you're in Dingle, you could go to Dingle Crystal, Sean Daly, proprietor, and perhaps also arrange to visit his workshop on the outskirts of town, to watch him work. He trained in Waterford. He's much more creative with his designs than a lot of what you might see, and also a very nice fellow.

The Waterford Crystal factory closed several years ago and what is open now is only a showroom and a tourist display on the actual crystal making. I spoke to a woman this weekend who used to work at Waterford and said it is now outsourced....China? When we visited Ireland in 2001 we visited the original factory and it was fascinating but what is there now is a "watered" down version.

Rock of Cashel is well worth the trip. If you can get there earlier or later to avoid any tourist bus crunch. Super impressive and can be very moving unless you are battling the screaming hordes piling off the buses :).

Also Ring of Kerry is awesome - especially the south side...but try the short and very doable Ring of Skellig off of it. Insanely beautiful views....great views of Skellig Michael, unless it's fog/rain, great Abby ruins and McCarthy 's castle on Ballyinskellig beach, the picturesque Glen and up and over a stunning hill to Portmagee and Valencia Island. Breathtaking. If time is of the essence skip the top, north part of Ring of Kerry and do the Skellig Ring instead !

Most Waterford is now made in Slovenia, at least that's where my Christmas ornaments are made. When we were in Ireland in 1992 it was really interesting and the chandelier display in the showroom was phenomenal. But we enjoyed Ambassador Crystal a couple miles down the road much more, a bunch of biker looking guys working in a garage who were former Waterford blowers and cutters. They spent time showing us the process. I think they're long retired. You may find a few cottage crystal companies like that.

Hi K, agree that Dingle Crystal is worth a visit. I thought the factory tour was interesting. There are no sales at the factory but the showroom in town has a good selection. I bought a beautiful candle holder (it's called a beehive rose bowl). Very nice.

When I was there (last month), it was possible to buy work at the factory.

We enjoyed the Waterford tour. The quality of the work is amazing. Our guide was knowledgeable and interesting. The “factory” is small but actually functioning. The showroom is pretty neat. Note that Waterford Crystal is owned by Fiskars (the orange-handled scissors company). Most of the craftsmen are from the Czech Republic.

The Rock of Cashel is definitely worth your time in my opinion.

We enjoyed our visit to Waterford Crystal in April of this year. Yes, most of the crystal is now made outside of Ireland but they do have a small working factory where you can see the process of how they make the beautiful crystal and after the tour, you visit their showroom, which still has the beautiful chandeliers as well as many other items you can purchase. The town of Waterford is interesting too, with its Viking history.

Thank you all!

I think we will forego Waterford this trip so we get get South and West quicker. I think I have our itinerary finalized for the most part. I will make a separate post asking for insight on our plans.

But in short, we are going to Dublin for 2 days (2 nights); travel down to Rock of Cashel, Middleton, Stay overnight somewhere in either Cork or Cove; Leave early and travel from there to Kinsale over Moll's Gap to Killarney to Dingle--Stay overnight in Dingle; tour Dingle until Afternoon; Drive and Stay in Ennis or Adare; Cliffs of Moher/Doolin up to Connemara---2 or three nights in Connemara (Aran Islands, ponies on the beach and Kylemore Abbey); then back to Dublin via Tullamore and New Grange; overnight then fly back home.

I second (or third) the trip to Dingle Crystal. Sean's work is gorgeous and the tour of the factory is quick---it's just one large room with a showroom to the side. He buys his crystal blanks from another former Waterford employee in Waterford County. So it is crystal made from Waterford County silica then cut in Dingle. I believe his son works at the shop with him. To see him take a blank piece, make a few grease pencil guidelines on it and then have it rough cut in 5 minutes is incredible. Sean's daughter Bella runs the shop in Dingle. For 20 euros they will ship whatever you buy back home-well worth it to us with our light packing. We use our Dingle Crystal glasses everyday!

Since you will be in Connemara, you can stop in at Celtic Crystal in Moycullen. http://www.celticcrystalireland.com/default.aspx?treeid=9

It is a family owned business, and if Mary Munally is in the shop, she is happy to tell you the history of the designs, or you can learn about the history and see a glass cutting demonstration in their visitor center. They have a small “seconds” area where you can pick up pieces that might be leftover or discontinued or have a small defect that you would never notice. We stop in every time we are in the area.