Ireland (North and South)

[Bushbaby]

Am living in Clonsilla, Dublin in the Republic of Ireland.

Any other Irish Saffers about?

[Disprin]

Are you still in Ireland? We want to go to Skerries in May & I'm trying to find out if we need visas? We're in England now with indefinite stay. Do you maybe know?

[Bushbaby]

Are you still in Ireland? We want to go to Skerries in May & I'm trying to find out if we need visas? We're in England now with indefinite stay. Do you maybe know?

Am still in Ireland. No visa required. Why Skerries? It is beautiful out there but far out from the city.

[Disprin]

Secret 30'th birthday gift for hubby. Someone from work goes there quite often & says it's stunning. She said you can get the train in to Dublin? I want to rent bikes & just get out there. Not really the party type. Will probably go in to Dublin for a day or so. Might rent a car as well to see surrounding areas. Any nice ideas??

[Icecub]

Secret 30'th birthday gift for hubby. Someone from work goes there quite often & says it's stunning. She said you can get the train in to Dublin? I want to rent bikes & just get out there. Not really the party type. Will probably go in to Dublin for a day or so. Might rent a car as well to see surrounding areas. Any nice ideas??

Hi Disprin...

Cork, Kinsale, Waterford are all beautiful places...Kerry is gorgeous....I hope hubby enjoys his gift... :p

Waterford for their glassware - simply stunning and visit the Blarney Castle and be sure to kiss the stone :thumbs:

Dublin, visit the Guinness Brewery....:thumbs:

Not too sure on anything else...as we went via ferry in our own car...

[Bushbaby]

Secret 30'th birthday gift for hubby. Someone from work goes there quite often & says it's stunning. She said you can get the train in to Dublin? I want to rent bikes & just get out there. Not really the party type. Will probably go in to Dublin for a day or so. Might rent a car as well to see surrounding areas. Any nice ideas??

From Skerries you can visit Malahide Castle, Newbridge House, Swords Castle (a ruin) and even pop up the road to Newgrange (Neolithic tomb).

Also, if you swing south of the City on the M50 you can visit Dun Laoghaire (lovely seaside town), the Wicklow Mountains (has a great walking route there - the Wicklow Way), Glendalough (abandoned monastic settlement), Powerscourt Estate (beautiful manor with gardens - and the Avoca Restaurant is a must).

Also, in Kildare you can visit the National Stud - if you like horses, and get all mushy around foals this is a good place to go - they also have a Japanese Garden nearby that is worth seeing. Near prosperous in Kildare there is also a maze that is supposed to be quite good fun.

In the south of Dublin city you can visit the Airfield Farm (in Dundrum) - it is an old manor house preserved with its gardens and farmland - they have a petting zoo, a fine collection of vintage cars, and a lovely little restaurant. It is on the LUAS line so if you don't want to drive in the city you can simply use the LUAS instead.

There is plenty of info on the city itself so will not bore you with details, but all of the above are nice diversions if you decide you want to do something outside of Dublin itself.

Another suggestion is that you pay a visit to Howth - not only does it have lovely restaurants, they offer boat rides out to Ireland's Eye (a small island) and there is a lovely cliff walk around Howth - you can either go up to Howth Head or walk around to Sutton - in dry weather it is lovely.

Similarly you can visit Bray and walk the cliff path from Bray to Greystones and then take the Dart back into Dublin.

You can also visit the Phoenix Park on the northside of the city - it is a huge park with a 800 strong herd of fallow deer. The botanic gardens in Glasnevin are also worth a detour.