Best of Ireland tour, Dingle dinners

I only remember one group dinner in Dingle. Check with RS tour company because every tour can be a little different.

Edit: Sorry, going thru my pictures, I take that back. We had a buffet dinner provided by the hotel we were staying at one night and walked to town for a group dinner at a restaurant one night. I guess I blocked that one because I was the last to order, they had run out of my choice and I was the last to be served having to finally ask where my dinner was but the wine was good….Oh, how pictures can bring memories back! Our night on our own we went to The Chart House which was wonderful and I’m so sorry to hear that they’ve retired and closed!

And I agree with others, RS needs to make their itinerary clearer especially with Dingle where reservations for the more popular restaurants are necessary now.

The itinerary on this website says, for day 6: "Tonight, we'll return to Dingle for as much dancing and singing with new friends as we can handle." To me, that suggests dinner on your own (or you could just dance and sing on an empty stomach). But my datebook for that day on the tour two years ago names a restaurant (Land to Sea) and a time (5:00), so it seems like we had a group dinner that day.

So I guess I'm not helping you much, maybe best to consult the RS office about this, which might encourage them to write the itinerary a little more clearly.

Good question Kathleen. I was wondering the same thing. We are going on the RS BOI this August.

Thank you for your replies. I have sent off an email to RS headquarters to see. Some of the scrapbooks I looked at made me think there was a second group dinner, but nothing definite. The wording on the tour itinerary is vague, and maybe it varies by tour?

In October, 2018 we had two group dinners for the first 2 nights in Dingle. The 3rd and last night we were on our own for dinner. The 2nd group dinner may have been paid for by our tour guide's discretionary funds. The music scene in Dingle is fabulous.

We did this tour in September 2023. We had one dinner on our own on our free day. We also had two group dinners. One of the dinners was at the hotel we were all staying. After that dinner we had some excellent local performers entertain us. The other dinner was at Brenner’s in town. The food was excellent at both dinners. We went to the local church venue in town after the dinner at Brenner’s where we had a concert of more folk musicians. It was fabulous. On your free day if the weather looks like it’s going to be good, I would highly suggest taking the boat to the Great Blasket Island. You will need to reserve a day ahead. That will take up most of your free day getting out there and back. Pack a picnic lunch. There are no facilities on the island so use the one on the boat before you disembark to the island. You will be ferried from the boat by zodiac to a landing on the island which is a little bit slippery.

Thank you Mary. It does now look like it varies by tour.

We did this tour in 2022 and had 2 group dinners in Dingle. We took in some of the pub scene but Covid was still a problem. We’d leave if a place got crowded and sometimes listened outside the pub.

Just returned from the 14 day BOI. Our guide deviated from the general itinerary and many nights we hadn’t expected a group dinner and had made reservations, there was indeed a group dinner and reservations needed to be canceled. Our guide indicated it was her discretion. Unfortunately, one night in Belfast, we had made a reservation well in advance at a Michelin Star restaurant only to discover a group dinner was planned. We missed a prepaid dinner because of a deviation-and we had checked with the RS office in advance. Overall, reservations were easy to come by, and I would wait to see when your particular tour’s scheduled dinners are before booking on your own.

"Our guide deviated from the general itinerary and many nights we hadn’t expected a group dinner and had made reservations, there was indeed a group dinner and reservations needed to be canceled. Our guide indicated it was her discretion."

Yes, our guide did the same. I even asked her at the start of the tour prior to making reservations only to find out my dinner reservations conflicted with a group activity. It was frustrating.

If the restaurant and dinner was something special that you had reservations for you are under no obligation to attend a tour group dinner. We went on two back to back tours that had some overlap. So we skipped a couple of the things on one tour and went out on our own. Our tour guide even helped arrange some other tickets for the Forum since we weren’t using the ones she had for the Coliseum. But by letting her and our Buddy know all was good.

Oh, I’m sorry but I hope if the reservations for dinner were at one of the great restaurants in Dingle that you kept them. After 11 tours, there have been quite a number of group dinners that I wish I had opted out of in favor of a nicer restaurant.

We did keep our reservation in Dingle. However, this forced us to miss a musical event that others in the group later stated was the highlight of the trip. So you see the reason for my frustration.

I’m not sure if you’re referring to the music in the church or the music in the music shop but either way I remember both to be in the evening after dinner and it’s very unfortunate that the tour guide didn’t let you know a head of time in order to adjust the time of your dinner reservations so you could attend. It’s no secret that reservations are mandatory at the better restaurants in Dingle nowadays. So yes, I feel your frustration and I’m sorry.