Lodging in Ireland-how far ahead to book?

For June 2011, we booked some 3-4 months in advance, and others “on the fly,” through a tourist information office a few towns up the road from our destination. We were on bicycles, so didn’t know where we’d end up some evenings, but had some destinations planned for a certain date, so it all worked out. But that was over 8 years ago, maybe different now.

Our trip in September 2018, by car this time, we booked everything ahead of time, at least 2 months beforehand. We were traveling from Galway, clockwise to the north, then to Belfast and on to Dublin. But July has more demand than September, so if you have your heart set on a place, 4 months out might not be too early. Have a great trip!

We’re traveling at the same time and have booked all our hotels and BandBs. For many, we could not book on the website because dates have not been released, so we did it via email. For one (maybe the one in Derry?) they took our reservation but can’t confirm the rate because rates aren’t set for that period yet. We can cancel if we don’t like the rates, but I’m sure we’ll keep it unless they raise their rates really dramatically from summer 2019. We did encounter places that refused to book until six months out. One place wouldn’t even book until three months out. We passed on those places as we prefer to have planning finished earlier. On the flip side, our preferred hotel in Dublin is already sold out of our preferred room type (but not all room types).

Dates that haven’t been released look sold out on most websites. You can book now but might need to contact hotels directly rather than rely on their websites to book.

If you have your plans set and you want to stay in particular BnB there is no harm in booking. I booked ours 7-8 months in advance. But, for me part of the fun is staying in quaint places. If it’s just a place to lay your head then you might be able to book just before you leave. I was able to book all but one of mine that far out, the other asked me to email a month later. None of them took deposits, two I did on websites so I held them with a credit card. But, most wanted cash on departure.

We were in Ireland last summer in late August. I booked the October beforehand and was sure glad I did: our trip ended up coinciding with the Pope's visit and all of the sudden prices went up and options went out the window. My take on booking in Ireland: there seems to be plenty of housing options, but the later you book the more you pay.

We were super happy with every single one of our various lodgings, but for the hostel in Dublin. We should have splurged and simply stayed in a nice hotel upon arrival. We had a private room in a hostel, but the lack of a/c made it quite hard to sleep even in our jet lagged state.

Make sure to visit Newgrange and you need to get tickets ahead of time. Truly amazing to go right at 9 a.m. with a small early morning group.

We wish we had spent more time on the Dingle Peninsula. We actually stayed in a really amazing old home in Cloghane w/in walking distance of a beach and then we made the trip over Conor's Pass to visit the next day. We wish we had not bothered with the RS guide book recs that day, but simply followed the Dingle route around and stopped where the fairies beckoned.

We had pondered visiting Giant's Causeway, if on your list. At Newgrange, we discussed it at length with a couple who had made the trip. It sounded completely mobbed by tourists. They regretted going. Glad we did not spend the time going there.

The museum cafe food was amazing and we often enjoyed lunch and tea right at the local castle/museum/art gallery we were visiting. The local grocery stores are worth a visit too. We carried a food bag and were so glad we did. We were happy to pack our own picnics, and coming from a place that prides itself on organic and local, we were stunned by the quality and price of food in Ireland. I ate much lox, and I haven't eaten much since last summer!

Thanks for all of the quick replies!
I think we'll definitely book our lodging ahead of time, but it sounds like there's no need to panic about it right now in September:)
Hearing about the experiences of others is very helpful; I appreciate your tips!

Barbara we spent the month of May in Ireland (Republic and NI). I began looking at places about 9 months ahead, a combo of b&b’s, Airbnb, and weekly cottage rentals. I bookmarked places that looked like good candidates, but some would not take reservations that far in advance. I had first and second choices for each location and over New Year’s weekend I booked them all at once—in only one location did I have to go to my second choice, a b&b in Kilkenny. I’m following a similar strategy for a trip to England in 2020. We loved Ireland and I’m sure you will too

For our 2014 trip, we had an added complication of being a large party with the need for three rooms, so we booked 7 or 8 months in advance for our September-early October stay. We stayed at B&Bs except for Dublin, where we got a three-BR apartment for a great price.

For the last four days, Mom and I stayed on to travel without my sibs and in-laws, and we played that by ear since it was already October and we only needed one room. I would go online the night before and figure out where we would be the next evening and try and book a place then or the next morning. It worked great!

For both segments of the trip, we relied on TripAdvisor rankings, and they never lead us astray.

We stayed a couple weeks this July in Dublin and Galway. I always start booking accommodations as soon as our flights are booked, so this time that was November. Even then our several Dublin airbnb choices were being booked up quickly. So, that was done before the end of the year. For Galway I booked our second choice B & B immediately in November then waited for dates at our first choice to open. (RS favorite, too!) In fact, I emailed a week or two before they said they would be available and was successful. So, don’t be shy!

And since you are flying out of Dublin I will just mention that the hotel where we stayed at the airport the last night was an amazing deal. Check out the Dublin Airport Premier Inn. It was less than $100 and was absolutely the best! Even the restaurant was outstanding. I had been looking for just an inexpensive place to crash on the last night and discovered this gem!

Pretty much no matter which country you plan to visit, if you’re visiting a popular tourist destination during the mid-May through early September timeframe, it probably best to make reservations early. For us, 3-4 months beforehand is not unusual.

Thanks so much for all of the helpful feedback!

Nancy, I really appreciate the tip on Dublin Airport Premier Inn. We’ve got an early morning flight out of Dublin, so I’m definitely going to keep that in mind!

We also stayed at the Dublin Airport Premier Inn, actually on two nights, the first before my siblings and spouses flew home and the second before my mom and I flew home. Definitely recommended!

The only other hotel we stayed in the entire trip was the Pembroke Hotel in Kilkenny, which was wonderful. We were only planning on being in the town from late afternoon until noon or so the next day and were mostly going to shop at the artisans store across from the castle, so being right around the corner from the castle was great. Also, the fact they had off-street parking and let us keep our car there even though we checked out before shopping was very useful. I booked a room the night before and got a decent discount. There was a terrific restaurant right across the street for dinner, and a cute little tea shop for a small bite before we got on the road at noon the next day. (We had a very fun local encounter there when I helped the young mother sitting next to us clean up when her toddler spilled his milk everywhere. We started chatting and found out she and her husband were dairy farmers just outside of town. Mom grew up on a dairy farm, so they bonded.)

It's been our experience that if you book before the turn of the year, some B&Bs are likely to "lose" your reservation when they change their reservation books over to the new year. On a six night trip, we had this happen TWICE, when we had booked in November for an April trip AND confirmed by email. A printed email doesn't do you much good when you arrive with seven people to find you have no rooms.

I was in Ireland this past July and we booked our hotels in 4 locations in the early May timeframe (1 double room). Not sure if we just got lucky, but we had no problems finding excellent hotel options in our price range (under $200 per night) for July. I concur with others that you have time to book.

In Dingle, we stayed at Dingle Brenners hotel for 2 nights and can highly recommend. Spacious room, good breakfast, excellent location. Parking was included- it was a bit of a walk down stairs from the parking lot. The attached bar had was lively and had great music. Dingle was our favorite location and I wish we had spent at least another night.

We have stayed a couple of times in Dun Laoghaire (Dun Leary) which is just outside of Dublin. Two places to check out are the Ophira and Windsor Lodge B&Bs. Dun Laoghaire is connected by bus to the airport (50 minute ride). Also, the DART commuter train goes from Dun Laoghaire directly to the center of Dublin.

Thanks for the recommendations! I'll add them to my list of preferred places:)

We decided our big trip for 2020 would be to Ireland, for 3 weeks, so we got busy in early November and started looking at an itinerary and various places to stay. We will end up at the Holiday Inn Express, south of the airport, for the last 2 nights. We will turn in the car and take the shuttle back to the hotel. Easy. The location is good. Easy to take the city bus into downtown Dublin, shuttle to airport the morning we leave. But over a period of 10 days, I looked at the hotel site about 3 times to look at the various room types and each time the rate went up and up, on the hotel web site, Expedia and other booking sites. It started out at $140/N non-refundable. I ended up paying $170/N non-refundable for the same room type and days of the week. More, of course, for the refundable rate which were going up also. Should I have waited some period of time, not looked at any site for that hotel, to see if the rates went down for the same room type? Would it have filled up for the dates we wanted? I have no clue. I did check rates for the same days of the week in early and mid July. They remained at $130-140/night for the same room type, non-refundable.