Hello- My family and I (3pp) are headed to Ireland this late summer. We are staying 2 days in Galway (area), 2-3 days in Kenmare area and 1 day in the cork area. I'm looking for somewhere different and unique to stay ideally with free parking.
Thanks
Since you haven't yet received any replies regarding "different and unique", I can at least recommend a Kenmare BnB that we found to be exceptionally clean, welcoming, and well-located. The Ashfield B&B is a a short drive (as well as short walk) to downtown Kenmare. The hostess, Mary, is among the best we've ever experienced; and her breakfasts were superb.
More info here: https://ashfieldkenmare.com/ (read the reviews; they paint an accurate picture.)
I have been trying to get a B&B reservation in Cork City for Sep 21-23 2022 without success. I was going through B&BIreland.
The landscape for getting B&B rooms these days has dramatically changed, making it much more difficult and competitive than in the past. The reasons: temporary and permanent closures due to Covid, retirement and ageing out; conversion of some traditional B&Bs into AirBnBs; 30,000 Ukrainian refugees being housed in hotels and some B&Bs; and perhaps most noticeably, the dominance today of the Internet, which makes booking rooms many months in advance easier than ever before.
I've bicycled all over Ireland many times over the years, though not since 2007 when there were about 2,500 B&Bs in the Republic and the North, all of which were published in the annual B&B Guidebook put out by the Irish Tourist Board. We'd show up in whatever town we chose to stay in that night, knock on a couple of doors or make a phone call or two from the ubiquitous phone booths and have a room within minutes. Not so anymore and maybe never again. Based on the multiple resources I used in planning this summer's trip, there may be only about 1,000 B&Bs operating in Ireland today. The print version of the most recent B&B Guidebook lists about 700.
To be on the safe side for my month-long bike trip this July and August, I took the hints (above) from contacts there and reserved rooms for every night. It took a full month this spring and hours on the computer each day to send and receive hundreds of e-mails, plus make a few phone calls, to nearly every B&B I could find along my route. About one-third never replied. But I now have a place to sleep every night in my desired towns and villages around the coastal perimeter of the island.
Keep plugging away though and ask for referrals to other B&Bs if your first choices are full. I had a few successes doing just that.
Do you think this may change by October? My brother wants to travel at will - drive without a definite reservation, if we want to move on or stay another day. How tough will it be to find a places in Dingle, Kerry, Killarney etc in Mid October w/o reservations made now? Thanks!
I'll recommend Prague House B&B in Galway. Simple rooms, great breakfast, parking on site BUT they aren't answering their usual email (maybe I'm in the spam list). They are open judging from online reviews, but calling seems needed. They are west of the river, but close to everything. Their refusal to use booking sites means they may have last minute openings. We've stayed twice and are trying to stay next May.
