Choosing The Best Holiday In Ireland

How do you choose your holiday destination?  Been there before? Friends recommended it? It looks like a good deal?  We all have our own reasons for choosing where we spend our holidays but do you ever think that if you always take the same approach you’ll never try anywhere new?  If you’ve had an Irish holiday before you’ll already know why Ireland is a great holiday destination – for a family holiday, a group getaway or a couple’s escape break.  If you’ve not taken a holiday in Ireland before….read on because we think you’ve been missing out.

Why Ireland?

The island of Ireland is a world away, but on your doorstep. It’s a place where you can choose whether you ‘go euro’ or ‘stay in sterling’. And it’s a place where the people and traditions are different enough for a great new experience but not so different that you feel unwelcome. In fact, whilst the weather may not be guaranteed the welcome definitely is – warm, friendly and inclusive.

Irish City Breaks

Ireland is ideal for city breaks with Belfast, Dublin, Galway and Kilkennny. All have their very own character and social life. Kilkenny is a beautiful medieval city with character buildings and many historical places of interest side by side with shops, cafes and restaurants. Belfast is a commercial city but with having fun at it’s heart. Home to the famous Harland and Wolff ship builders (the birth place of Titanic) and to hundreds of fantastic boutiques and clubs.  Dublin needs to introduction, whilst many of us think of this bustling city as the place for party groups and hen parties; there’s lots to see and do for families and couples seeking a quite weekend break.  Staying in or near Ireland’s cities is easy, there’s a great choice of hotels, B&Bs and if you want to enjoy the city by day, but have a quiet life in the evenings there are lots of pretty self catering cottages in Antrim, Dublin County and Kilkenny.

Adventure Holidays

But what if you’re looking for adventure and excitement.  Despite Ireland’s laid back atmosphere and reputation for taking a relaxed view on life this island is a great place for an activity holiday.  Ireland’s landscape and countryside are well suited to getting out, about and active.  It goes without saying that a walking holiday in Ireland will be great. There are the world famous walks of the Ring of Kerry and the Wicklow Way or you can climb the Mourne Mountains or scramble the Sheeps Head Peninsula.  If you’re looking for something a bit different many of Ireland’s beaches are tops for surfing, sailing and kayaking. And for the more adventurous there’s paragliding in the Hills of Kerry or caving in Clare. If activity holidays are your thing you probably need to think about camping or staying in an Irish holiday cottage.  That way you can come and go as you please, relax after hard days ‘activity’ and not worry about drying out your clothes, getting a steaming hot shower or preparing a heart energy breakfast.

Beach Cottages in Ireland

For many of us a holiday is about doing nothing and relaxing in the sun. Well, while any Northern European country can’t give you guaranteed sun Ireland does have some great weather and fantastic beaches to go with it.  Families and groups will find many lovely blue flag beaches along the west, south and east coast of Ireland.  The list is long but our recommendations are to take to the sand on Brittas Bay, White Strand Beach, and the beaches of Portrush or Rossnowlagh.  Most are family friendly and are life guard manned and we’d suggest that you pack some walking shoes as well as a picnic because many of the Irish beaches are surrounded by stunning cliff walks and beautiful mountain scenery.  Your accommodation choice ranges from larger hotels, guest houses and caravan/camping sites. But you’ll just as easy find your Irish Holiday Home with a self catering beach cottage or sea front town house.

Hopefully this will give you a taste of what’s great about a holiday in Ireland. Getting there is easy with many international and smaller airports dotted across the island, great ferry links from the UK and Europe or for the really adventurous you can train and ferry.  If you’ve decided to stay in an Irish self catering cottage then we’d suggest taking your own car and a ferry across to the island. This way the journey is also part of the holiday….you’ll see and experience the wonder of Ireland just getting there!.

View Holiday Cottages in Ireland