Our tour, including tickets to the game where Notre Dame play Navy in Ireland’s Aviva Stadium on September 1st 2012 is filling up fast!
For American Football lovers worldwide this is a unique opportunity to see two of College Football’s giants play on Irish soil. The “Emerald Isle Classic” as it has been billed has attracted unprecedented interest.
To coincide with the game we put on a great tour of Ireland that allows those visiting us see the true character of Ireland. However this tour is filling up fast.
If you want to join us, I recommend booking soon!

Click here for more info: Notre Dame vs Ireland 2012 Tour

I just came across an article from USA-Today from May 21st where they name Ireland in the Top 5 Bargain Destinations for Summer 2010.

Ireland is the only European destination to make the list and is included in the Top 5 along with California & Myrtle Beach in the USA, Quebec City in Canada and the Bahamas.

There is exceptional value available for Ireland Vacations this year, with hotel prices at the lowest they have been for many years. This combined with the 20% fall in the cost of a Euro in US$ since its peak earlier this year makes Ireland especially good value for visitors from the USA. For example, our basic, go-as-you-please package now starts at $349 compared to an average $499 last year.

We can testify to the resonance this is having with US tourists here at myguideIreland. With the volcanic eruptions in Iceland now in the past, enquiries for 2010 vacations and the exceptional value available, enquiries are growing strongly. Our advice? Book as soon as possble before the most popular areas get booked out!!

The shuttle bus service for the Croke Park Stadium Tour is to be relaunched on Tuesday April 13th and will run for the Summer Season until Spetember.

The service evolves from the very successful introductory service last year; and the 2010 Shuttle Bus will include an extended service to the new Glasnevin Museum.

The service will take tourists from the centre of Dublin city to two landmark venues deeply embedded in Irish history. Starting out from Trinity College, the bus will stop at three ‘pick-ups’ along the way –  at Trinity College, Suffolk Street and Parnell Square before reaching the Croke Park and then onto the new Glasnevin  Museum.

The extension of the shuttle service to Glasnevin will allow tourists and the public greater access to two of Dublin’s “must see” attractions. The Croke Park venue hosts the Stadium Tour and the GAA Museum, both of which are a fantastic celebration of the history and heritage of Ireland’s native sports. Glasnevin Trust Museum located at the famous Cemetery site is also host to a fully interactive exhibition highlighting the lives of those buried within the walls of the famous cemetery and historical details of the workings of a Victorian Cemetery.

“Last year the shuttle bus service to Croke Park was a resounding success as it facilitated access for a large number of visitors to one of Ireland’s premier and most celebrated venues. We are delighted to bring back the service for the forthcoming year, whilst also welcoming the extension of the route to the Glasnevin Trust Museum. The premise behind the shuttle bus is again to provide a quick, direct and inexpensive trip to both of the popular venues for tourists and the public alike. We hope the extension will encourage even more people to take advantage of the service this year” said Mark Dorman, GAA Museum Director.

The service from Dublin City Centre to both Croke Park and Glasnevin will run daily from Tuesday to Saturday each week. While there are currently no plans to arrange pickups at Dublin Hotels, the extension of the service to hotels near the shuttle route or near the start and end points has not been ruled out.

If one wishes to stay in the area there are also a number of accommodation options available, just checkout our page on Hotels Near Croke Park

From Yesterday, St. Patrick’s Day, all senior tourists (aged 66 or more) are entitled to travel on the Irish Rail Network completely free of charge.

The scheme, known as the “Golden Trekker” applies to train travel in Ireland on the Iarnród Éireann (Irish rail) network.

Golden Trekker Tickets take the form of a four-day Trekker ticket, or a sequence of four-day tracker tickets for longer stays, providing senior visitors with unrestricted rail travel within the republic of Ireland.  Each four-day Trekker ticket is worth at least €100 ($140) per person.

The scheme makes Ireland vacations even more affordable for seniors. Any of our selfdrive Ireland vacation packages can be purchased excluding the rental car and you can get around using your free rail pass and take a bus or taxi to your hotel.
Alternatively choose from our list of hotels near Irish train stations to make that vacation even more convenient.

To get your Golden trekker ticket you must contact your local Tourism Ireland representatives:

For visitors from the USA the process is:

Call Tourism Ireland on 800 SHAMROCK (1-800-7426-7625) at least 48 hours prior to your arrival in Ireland, and provide the following information:

- First and last name
- Date of birth
- Passport Number
- Date you wish your Golden Trekker Pass to commence (each pass is valid for four days. If you intend to travel for longer periods, you have to apply for more than one pass.)
- Country of residence
- Email address and/or Postal address
- Origin of first rail journey

Once you have provided this information, your Tourism Ireland agent will process your application for a Golden Trekker, and a confirmation will be delivered to you in time for your trip to Ireland.

 For visitors from other countries visit www.discoverireland.com for details.

Hotels in Ireland are now among the cheapest throughout Europe with only Hungary, Poland & the Czech Republic having lower average rates. According to the Hotels.com Hotel Price Index, the average price of an Irish hotel room fell by 21% in 2009 with the cost per night falling from €101 to €80, the steepest decline in Western Europe.

The index also shows that Killarney hotels are the most expensive rooms in the country while the cheapest are in County Waterford. The largest percentage fall was in Galway where prices were highest in 2008 but fell by 24% in 2009.

The changes by town/city are set out in the following table:

You can download the full report at hotels.com:
http://www.hotels.com/press/hotels.com-hotel-price-index-ireland-2009-h2.pdf

In an effort to remove confusion for the passenger and allow for the additioanl boarding gate capacity that will come on stream in Terminal 2, all boarding gates at Dublin Airport will be renumbered on Wednesday next February 3 2010.

The alpha-numerical system based on the pier location will be abandoned for a more logical numeric sequence following consultation with airlines.

From start of business Wednesday morning for the first wave of departures the following will apply:

• Pier D boarding gates will start from a 100 number range i.e. D60 will become 101
  
• Pier A boarding gates will start from a 200 number range i.e.  A1 will become 201
  
• Pier B boarding gates will start from a 300 number range i.e.  B22 will become 301

In time, when Pier E is fully operational all boarding gates there will start from a 400 number range.

It is not clear if the new terminal will continue starting at 500 or if it will operate it’s own independent system.

An airport spokesperson stated in a comment, “We believe that this change in gate numbering will provide a more intuitive way finding solution with logical pier/gate sequencing for passengers and is being introduced to improve the customer journey through Dublin Airport .”

It is with great pride, here at myguideIreland, that we welcome the announcement that Cork City has  been listed alongside well known cities in the USA, Canada, UAE and Japan in a new Lonely Planet  guide for the top places to visit in 2010.

The “Best in Travel 2010″ published earlier this week lists Cork as the only city in Britain or Ireland among the best places to go and best things to do in the year ahead.
Cork was listed as a “top city” alongside Abu Dhabi in the UAE, Charleston  in South Carolina, USA, Cuenca in Ecuador, Istanbul in Turkey , Kyoto in Japan, Lecce in Italy, Sarajevo, Singapore and Vancouver in Canada.

The guide describes  Cork as being now “at the top of its game: sophisticated, vibrant and diverse”.

Tourism figures in Cork have strongly welcomed the inclusion of the city as being “a major boost”. This achievement brings Cork out from the shadow of Dublin as the city destination when tourists plan travel to Ireland and may be start of a movement that will see other commentators take notice and give Cork the recognistion it deserves.

We have just launched an initiative that sees the US Dollar jump in value by 10% when you book a vacation to Ireland;

At myguideIreland, we always pride ourselves on putting our Guests first and are always looking for ways to offer better value without compromising the service we deliver. As you are well aware, the dollar has recently hit annual lows against the Euro and many of our Guests and potential Guests have expressed their concern. With myguideIreland, you don’t have to worry.

Behind the scenes, over the last six months, our Finance Director has been applying great foresight in currency management so we are now in a position to provide our vacation products at a great value exchange rate. Resisiting the temptation to profit from this currency hedging, we are now offering an exchange rate of just $1.35 per Euro to any US Guest booking a vacation to Ireland. This “turns back the clock” to May of this year before the recent sharp declines in the Dollar’s value.

We buy all our accommodation, rental cars, activities, tours etc in Euros so why pay $1.50 when you can book & pay now and get Euro priced products for just $1.35. We can only guarantee the exchange rate until Novemebr 14th at which point we will revert to the prevailing retail bank rate.

Here at myguideIreland we take great pride in providing a professional and personal service to our Guests when they travel to Ireland.  We hear about great experiences almost daily from our Guests and we just wanted to share (ok maybe show off) one of our latest responses to a wonderful Ireland vacation provided by one of our most experienced Ireland guides,  Genevieve .

Genevieve – Diana and I returned last Friday from our trip to Ireland (already filled out my survey from myguideIreland on line) and I wanted to send you a quick thank you note.
We had a wonderful time and the weather was perfect (which I will give you full credit for!). All of the travel details worked out from getting the car to the B&Bs and Ballyseede Castle.  Ballyseede was a wonderful experience, I am really glad we stayed there two nights. We stayed in the Coghill room and it was amazing. We ate at the bar the first night and then in the dining room for dinner our second night – all of the food including the breakfasts was delicious.

We stayed at White House B&B in Blarney – excellent and the best overall B&B; Dromcloc House near Bantry – beautiful location and very nice folks; Purple Heather near Killarney which was nice but we probably wouldn’t stay there again and Roncalli House in Galway which was very nice (tiniest bathroom but it worked!).
We visited Waterford Crystal, Blarney Castle, Kinsale, Bantry, Healy Pass in Beara Peninsula, Killarney with a trap ride through the Gap of Dunloe and a boat trip to Ross Castle (perfectly wonderful!), Dingle Peninsula which was amazing, Cliffs of Moher and Galway.
Your advice and support was outstanding and I am heartily recommending myguideIreland to all of my friends and family – don’t know how our trip could have gone any better. Thank you again for helping make our 30th anniversary everything I hoped it would be.
Please pass this note along to your coworkers who also helped us.
Dennis Slevin

Ashford Castle in Cong, County Mayo, will celebrate 70 years as a hotel in May of this year.

The majestic Ashford Castle, set on 350 acres, is located in the beautiful west of Ireland north of Galway and dates back to 1228.
Situated on the confluence of Lough Corrib and the River Cong, and once a summer home of the Guinness family, Ashford Castle has captivated visitors since being converted to a hotel in May 1939.

While the Equestrian Centre is over-rated, the 350 acre estate is renowned for having Ireland’s first Falconry School offering a rare opportunity to handle birds of prey and the grounds provide ample opportunity to wander and relax.

Dining at Ashford Castle is an unparalleled culinary experience. The George ‘V’ Room offers elegant dining amid period decor with a world-class menu.  For a more traditional and casual dining experience, Cullen’s Cottage is located within the grounds less than a 2 minute walk from the Castle’s main entrance.