B&B's in Ireland/Scotland

We have never bought B&B vouchers nor have we made reservations. When we decided that we wanted to stop we would just watch for B&B signs. We have never ever had a problem finding one, and this was in June and July. They will offer to show you the room, then you can decide if you want to stay there or not.

My husband and I are planning our first trip to Ireland this June. The advice we got from our friends who travel to Europe every summer, is that since we know what dates we're going to be in each city, we should book lodging in advance. We are spending just two nights in each so the thought is we won't want to spend time looking for a place to stay. (though I understand the TAs are wonderfully helpful securing lodging) I can tell you this-we have received "sorry we're full" responses from several of our first choices. I'd say if you have specific places in mind, book ahead.

We usually choose the places (towns etc) we want to stay and book accommodation accordingly. A couple of times we haven't done that we have wasted time looking for the tourist office and then waiting for someone to serve us and then basically just taking what is on offer - and then finding that place - all a bit of a pain. However, I am sure you can find things at the last minute. June can be pretty busy but not as busy as July or August. We were in Scotland June last year and suspect we would have had difficulty finding accomm in some of the places we stayed in. I guess it is a trade-off - spontaneity against knowing you have a nice place in a town you think you want to stay in. Have never done the voucher thing - we just research over internet and travel sites.

True, June is a busy month but there are so many B&B's out there you wouldn't have trouble finding one. The one commit from the post above stating spontaneity vs a nice place to stay. Well, we have always had wonderful B&B's to stay, so that commit should be thrown out the window. You need to consider that you think you will stay in a certain town/village for two nights, but then decide that you have seen everything and want to move one, or the other way you might want to stay in a certain area longer then planned. If you are driving you might not know what village/town you will be in depending how much/or little time you spend in each place. If you are traveling by train/bus then you probably would want to make reservations. If you are driving there really wouldn't be a need to make a reservation for every single night, the first and last nights probably would help having reservations but the rest of the nights there really isn't a need. It wouldn't take long to find a B&B.

We once did Scotland and only used the so-called 4&5-star B&B's. You can get the guide book anywhere they give out tourist information stuff. We called the B&B for the next night either one day ahead or sometimes only a few hours prior to arrival. It always worked out pretty well and we stayed at the most lovely places for something like $25 per person per night inkl. full breakfast. Most of those buildings were impressive mansions, some even under heritage protection.

As far as Dublin is concerned: The BEST B&B in Europe is "Ann's Guesthouse" in the beautiful Dublin suburb of Howth. The house is in the middle of this beautiful harbor with spectacular view. Uma and Jonathan, landlady and landlord are the greatest hosts! And one of Dublin's best restaurants is right next door...

Thanks so much for all the tips. We have made a few reservations - found what sounds like a wonderful B&B near Clifden, Ireland where they raise Connemara ponies! I am wondering how warm/cool it will be there in June - trying to pack LIGHT! Now all we have to do is remember to stay on the correct side of the road.