My friends and I are planning on going to Ireland and renting a cottage in Central Southern Ireland that we could spend each day going to see different sites. It would be most fun to be near a small village that was in walking distance to the local pub where we can come back to and sit next to a nice fire and have some pub grub and a few pints. We are planning on staying at least a week. We will be flying in to Shannon. Has anyone tried this?
Posted by
Abruzzo Mountains
1088 posts
I'm doing exactly that this July. We have a fantastic thatch-roof cottage rented for a week in County Kerry. Walking distance to a pub, don't plan to drive further than 90 minutes away from the cottage any one day. So I'd say it's a great idea, but I can't pass on any specific experiences yet. The advice on this forum is pretty consistent - slow down and enjoy rather than drive all the time - so I think you'll probably get a lot of support for this plan. Hope you find someplace you love.
Posted by
Vermont USA
359 posts
Hi, yes that's how we do it ourselves. After flying all over the place on our first visit seeing a bunch of so called "must sees" on one night stays and hardly connecting to anything we slowed down on our next two week stay by picking two rentals in good locations for one week each. Wow did that work so well.
First the cottage home rental opened up spectacular locations at a price FAR under a nightly B&B or hotel cost. We had tons of room, privacy, comfort and a living in Ireland feel. It didn't limit us at all....it freed us. No ridiculous packing/unpacking...checking in, getting sorta settled then moving on again. Plus by picking good locations we used it as a hub to explore and roam with tons of time to linger, get to know some locals and local spots. It's so fun to spend a day out at a fun sight and have plenty of time to stop at something we find, go to a new pub or an old favorite and then kick back at HOME.
Anyway I could ramble on and on. It's enabled us to relax and really deeply connect with all the magic Ireland offers. For us it is THE way to do it. You don't miss anything of importance and gain everything that is.
We use Shamrock Cottages to find our sites. On various trips we have stayed among others at Lambs Head in Caherdaniel with an insane ocean view, at Ballinskelllig at a house with a living room view of Skellig Michael, a quiet country farm house in Castlemaine w sheep in a perfect location for seeing Dingle and the ROK, a spot in Donegal below Sligo on a hill overlooking the ocean and in a great old converted blacksmiths forge in Tinahely right next to the amazing Dyin Cow Pub. Plus some others that were so wonderful.
Have fun.....it's awesome !!!!
Posted by
Germany
192 posts
We are staying with Kerry Coastal Cottages in May this year on Valentia Island.
They have cottages for rent on the southern Ring of Kerry (Derrynane,Waterville,Caherciveen,Portmagee,Kells...)
Its our second time we stay with them on Valentia Island and we enjoyed it very much.
Just have a look
This one is in walking distance to the local pub in Ballinskelligs (nice beach)
But there are many other nice cottages (see the first link)