Chauffeurdrive/own car and driver vacations in Ireland

An Irish rainbow through my car windshield (windscreen as we call it).

Did you know that in order to see a rainbow you have to have the sun at your back, and the rain between you and the rainbow? Yes....that is true. If you want to photograph one then you have to be quick as they disappear as soon as the shower of rain eases. My car was in motion as this photo was taken....hence the windshield wiper in the picture.

Two sheep grazing at the side of a country road.....hard to believe that these two could be sisters?..... yes.... and they more than likely were.

Two of my clients searching old graveyard headstones for traces of their ancestors. I do get quiet a lot of this type of activity.

Before you come to Ireland, try to do some proper research into where you want to see, and also try to find out how much time you might need to get to each area. You also have to figure out how much time you will need to explore the area when you do get there. I get the most ridiculous enquiries from people asking me to take them to areas at opposite sides of the country, and back again, all in the one day. Ireland may look small on the map, but it is not that small, and it does take a lot longer to get around when you are travelling on narrow winding country roads. If you are driving yourself, then you will need even more time. Do not flatter yourself, you will need a lot more time to get around by yourself than if you were travelling with me. I meet people all the time who are driving rental cars and they are stressed out from trying to find their way, from driving on the wrong side, and from getting lost. They also have a lot of accidents, and i am not scaremongering. Just check the car rental prices and that will give you an idea of what is going on. It does not take much of an accident for you to lose your deposit , and that makes for an expensive holiday.
Try not to cram too much into your itinerary. Be sensible and settle on a plan that ensures you are not spending all day in your car. Try to base yourself in an area central to lots of special attractions. Dublin is great for places like the Portal tombs at Newgrange, for Wicklow and Glendalough, Avoca, Powerscourt, and of course time in that great city itself. You have to visit Guinness' s, the book of Kells, Dublin Castle, Christchurch Cathedral, St Patrick's Cathedral, the Phoenix Park and many other wonderful sights. You could allocate maybe three days there. You can go west then to Galway, and from there, tour Connemara, the Aran Islands and the Cliffs of Moher. Here you can allocate maybe another three days. You can go North or South from there. In the south you could base yourself in Killarney and from there cover the Ring of Kerry, the Dingle peninsula and the Gap of Dunloe. This would take another three to four days. You can go South from there and spend two or three nights in Kinsale. From there you can visit Blarney, Cork city and the town of Cobh, from where the vast majority of our emigrants sailed to the USA. Going North you have Mayo, Sligo, Donegal, all beautiful areas, but areas that again need three to four days to see properly. If somebody tells you that you can do all of this in a much shorter time then they do not know what they are talking about. If you do it their way then you would be better off to just buy a video of these areas and sit down at home and watch it. All you will be doing is looking out your car window because you will not have time to stop and smell the roses. If you only have a few days then select one or tow of the areas i have mentioned and ignore the others and just come back again sometime and see the rest. Try to do it all and you are just fooling yourself. It certainly would not be what i would call a holiday. Bus tours cover what i would consider to be ridiculous distances in a day and journeys which leave their customers wrecked by evening. These itineraries look great on paper, and of course they sell tours, but when you put them into practice, they are exhausting. I have toured like that and i know what i am talking about. My holidays are much more laid back and you will have plenty of down time to relax and enjoy your holiday. A holiday should be just that....a holiday.... a time to relax and refresh your system....a time to remember.
It just might be better to at least ask me to plan something for you, and give you a price, and just see if you can afford a proper holiday that you can really enjoy. You might be pleasantly surprised because you just might find that you can afford it. It costs you nothing to enquire.