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Pre-booking tickets/admission to popular sites

We are final planning stages for our grand 25 day tour around Ireland (July into August). I am working on our list of sites/attractions that we need to (because they sell out) and are advisable to (if we want to go at our selected time to keep to our schedule) pre book/purchase. We are touring the entire Island from Dublin all the way around to Northern Ireland and back to Dublin. Our route is mostly coastal. Most of us have been numerous times before but it's been awhile and none of us remember having to prebook anything including the nights lodging. So this is a different trip for us.

Already booked: Skellig Michael, Aran Islands Transportation;
Planning on booking: Book of Kells, New Grange, Kilmainham Gaol;
Purchase first thing in AM day of : Carrick on Reed Rope Bridge.

My general questions are: What sites/boats do you need to book? What sites/boats are go ahead and prebook for peace of mind? Sites you wished you had prebooked because a giant tour bus just dropped off 5 dozen people just before you got to the ticket line? I realize this is a very open ended question and I have not shared our specific itinerary with the forum. I am really looking for your "Top 10 Places to Prebook in Ireland" list based on your personal experience. Thanks in advance.

Posted by
1172 posts

We pre-booked Book of Kells and Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin. Kilmainham is a must to pre-book as it sells out and we saw many people disappointed at the door. For the Book of Kells, it saved us about 45 minutes of waiting in line.

We pre-booked the Hawk walk at Ashford Castle which was the highlight of our trip. Highly recommend if you are headed that way. We did not pre-book any weather dependent activities as we wanted to play it by ear. This means that we missed the Aran Islands as it was a downpour the day we were planning on going.

Posted by
1 posts

Do you mind sharing the contact for Skellig Micheal? We will be there the first week of July and the contact info (email and cell #s) in Best of Ireland 2018 is not working for us.

Posted by
51 posts

Do you mind sharing the contact for Skellig Micheal? We will be there the first week of July and the contact info (email and cell #s) in Best of Ireland 2018 is not working for us.

We are staying at The Moorings in Portmagee and booked our Skellig Michael trip thru them so I don't have any direct contact info in my travel folder.

Posted by
51 posts

We pre-booked the Hawk walk at Ashford Castle which was the highlight of our trip. Highly recommend if you are headed that way. We did not pre-book any weather dependent activities as we wanted to play it by ear. This means that we missed the Aran Islands as it was a downpour the day we were planning on going.

This is exactly the advice we are looking for. Thank you. The Hawk Walk looks like fun.
We are staying the night on the Aran Islands so we are hoping for a good crossing!