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Vacationing in Ireland with two little ones

Posted by on

Hi seasoned travelers,

My husband & I will be travelling to Ireland with a daughter and her 4 + 1-1/2 year olds in August. We anticipate
having at least 10 days there. We'll know for sure in a couple of weeks when she gets her vacation schedule.

I'm thinking that we should rent a small house or stay at a BnB which is kid friendly, for 3 or 4 nights in 3 different areas
of Ireland. We're planning on renting a vehicle & sightseeing early in the morning before the Tourist buses & Tourists
descend on the popular sites. We could then return to our rental & spend time walking around the town or sightseeing
in the area.

Does this sound feasible to you who have traveled with children? Also, I'd like suggestions as to where we should stay
to get the most our of our once-in-a-lifetime trip, e.g. a place in Southern area also in the West & then North ( not North
Ireland).

I'd appreciate any suggestions also of kid-friendly touristy things to do, if there's such a thing. I'm sure that they'll be happy
at a beach and if we stop at playgrounds.

Thank you
Diane

Posted by
138 posts

I’d recommend Bunratty Castle and Folk Park for a “touristy” place for kids. It’s has lots of places for kids to romp, including a kid friendly petting zoo with a park with swings, etc. There are several places to eat there that are child friendly too.

Posted by
4 posts

Thank you so much, I've looked it up & it looks like a great place to visit to get a sense of how
the Irish lived centuries ago.

Posted by
20 posts

We went this past summer though my kids are bigger, were 16,14,12 at time. All of kind of “ young” for their age so very much still into family activities ( yay) . We saw Bunratty. Definitely good for a few hours. Certainly lot to walk around and see and definitely geared to families. We stayed in on my two places Glen Lo Abbey ( Galway) and Adare Manor in Adare. Both though clearly not “ kid” places were great for us. I will say super accommodating and we saw children in both. Both gorgeous grounds to explore and bike on. Adare was exceptional at the family activities. A highlight was the falconry , not sure of age minimum. Birds are very trained I assume younger kids can do but I’m sure concierge can assist. We visited Ashford castle too one day. A nice drive from Galway. Did horseback riding as a family, no experience needed, again not sure minimum child age for that but was lovely on the grounds there. In Galway there is Salt Hill area. Has adorable aquarium, not big, but my kids enjoyed it and then a bite to eat a cute cafe near by. We loved strolling along their long promenade. There was mini golf which we did, there was also amusement rides, those were geared to younger, my kids would be too big. I definitely loved Galway. Such a friendly cute city. We also enjoyed the food a lot, all the menus were marked, I’m told it’s the law? For allergens, like everything, not like here in states. I’m GF and one child is vegetarian, it was so easy to eat there and so much farm fresh food. The idea of morning is a good one, later day gets busy. It stays light out so late which was awesome too though. Keep in mind the suv are not as large as ours here. It was tight in ours and it was largest automatic model. Also book that early, automatic plus an suv for space not as easy to find, we did find it though. Hope you enjoy trip.

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