August in Ireland?

Yes and no: yes because August has the best weather (on average, you never know with Ireland) and long days. No because it is peak season. What are you gonna do? If you were choosing between the end of August and the first or second week in September, then you'd be tempted to consider the days right after Labor Day weekend because of fewer American tourists (Ireland doesn't celebrate that holiday but it makes US airports less crowded if you can avoid that weekend).

Sharon, The weather in September can be very nice. Average temp. will run from middle to low 60's. Average rainfall in September and August are basically the same. Sunset at the end of September is about 7:15. The number of tourists falls off dramatically after August but all the major sights are still open and all in all it is a great time to go. Personally I would avoid August unless it was the only time available.

Sharon,

The last time we were in Ireland, we were 3 couples and we flew from London into Cork airport which is small, picked up our 2 rental cars and drove out to a cottage which housed all of us. We had a ball for 1 week, driving about...it was July, and the weather was delightful. The only thing we encountered was the "midge" which arrived about 5pm every night and kept us inside for an hour or so....then we took a beer or wine outside and watched the water while 1 couple at a time cooked dinner.

The potatoes were absolutely stupendously good and we had them every night...with just a little butter.We watched Irish TV and we ladies did a little shopping and on our last day...went to kiss the blarney stone!

What fun we had!! We had all been to Dublin before this trip and my husband and I had been to Northern Ireland as well. I hope you have half the fun we had on that trip.....you will remember it forever!

Mollie

Thanks for the suggestions! September sounds like a better time to visit!

The 1st part of August is busy, towards the end of August, the tourism really drops off. As you get into September, the weather typically changes to fall-like weather.

The downside is the service industry is tired and at the end of their season, the upside is that there are less crowds and nice weather.

I loved my trip to Dublin. It was chilly for me (I'm from Florida after all) so I bought an Irish sweater to wear back.

Tricia, when will you wear the sweater back at home? I'm from Illinois and find the wool sweaters way too hot even here, unless I'm going to be outside for a long time in the winter.

Sharon, I spent 12 days on the western coast of Ireland last August and did not find it crowded at all. We flew into Shannon then drove up to Clifden via Kong. Other places we visited were the Burren (staying in Ballyvaughan), Aran Islands, Cliffs of Moher, and Killarney, Great Blasket Island and Dingle. Driving through Galway was hell, but otherwise, we did not run into crowded conditions anywhere. We had a fair amount of rain, but I understand it was a very rainy summer in the British Isles last year. When we were there in August one other year we had very little rain. The temperature was fairly cool -- great for hiking. I wore a fleece with a waterproof jacket most days.

Thanks for all of the suggestions--we just booked a flight to Shannon for early September. We paid $887. for airfare--of course it's more that we'd like to pay but we've been watching fares for several weeks and this was the best fare with the least amount of stops--1 at JFK. We're looking forward to some good hiking, beautiful scenery and great music!