I need to go somewhere this summer,
it’s plain, so I’ve suggested to The Boss that
we go to Ireland for awhile. I would like some
flute lessons and to be around musicians.
And we would need to find a less expensive
way to get a roof over our heads. Not the Hilton.
However we are very rough and ready,
need very little. So does anybody
have suggestions?
Depending on where you are going, they have a pretty good hostel system and adults can stay (you don’t have to be a card-carrying college student). There was a really nice one in the Boyne valley north of Dublin, the Slane Farm Hostel.
http://www.ireland-ac.com/meath/hostel-accommodation-meath.htm
It had just been refurbished when I was there in 2001.
But there are others throughout the country if you’re up for a little less posh but still nice accommodations.
If you want to stay put for a while in one location, rent a house, a caravan or something like that. More often than not you can find simple accomodation locally.
My experince has been that, outside of Dublin, the B&B’s are cheap & plentiful. They were about 25-30 euros per night, on average, and some were 20! Even at the height of tourist season, we never had problems finding any accomdation–and this was with needing three rooms (there were five of us traveling together).
http://www.castlesireland.com/bantry-house.html
I stayed here once. 2 nights and over $600 US later I realized that I had made a currency conversion mistake and that they charge per person not per room 
Oops.
So this would not be the place for a cheap month of lodging! But it was nice. We even got “free” full bars of homemade soap.
Well here were my two favorite places in Ireland, I stayed in about 20 hostels allover, North and South. Coincidentally, these two places are found in my favorite parts of the country! Go figure!
-
Dingle - http://www.iol.ie/~btaggart/pages/btagbro.htm
Balintaggert House, this place was pretty great. 18th Century restored hunting lodge. 20 minutes from Dingle (don’t walk there at night, roads around Dingle are narrow… and that’s by Irish standards, believe me, me and my girlfriend tried it, I’m lucky to be around) Dingle was my fave place in the South, make it out to St. Bren’s point and go to the pub/inn/restaurent there, great chowder and most westerly pub on the island! -
Ballintoy - http://sheepisland.hypermart.net/index.html
This place is in the north (I love Northern Ireland!) Right around the Causeway and Carrick-a-reed rope bridge. Beautiful view and it IS a hostel. The town was great, really relaxing.
There are other places, but those would top my list.
go to Doolin, co Clare. Theres a camp site down by the Quay about 1/2 mile from Oconnors pub.
Yup, that sounds about right! (I’m from near Bantry).
If you’re interested in Chamber Music, there’s a festival held in and around Bantry House every July - for full details, see http://www.westcorkmusic.ie/index.htm
Last summer, they had a trad music festival as well - Martin Hayes is the artistic director - which looks like it will be continuing this year (although the index page’s proclamation of ‘Irish music in its pur_ist_ form’ [italics mine] could be a little off-putting… 
)
Yes, Mr. White is, of all things, a classical trombonist. I didn’t even know there was such a thing - I thought they only made those for marching bands 
I sure loved your area of the country. We travelled around Cork and Kerry. The highlands were particularly beautiful… well, so was the coast. Hmm. And really pretty much everything in between It’d be nice to go back someday… maybe then I’ll be able to actually AFFORD Bantry House.
thanks everybody. I hope we’ll go.
Must run it by The Boss, as mentioned.
But this info makes me very happy. Thanks again,
Jim---- I’m guessing you are looking to rent something for several weeks in one place? If you are stateside, call the ITB in NYC and ask for the “Self Catering Accomodation Guide”, which they will send you. These are equivalent to what we might call in the U.S. “housekeeping units”.
It lists numerous places for rent by the week/month with small pictures and rates. Especially off season, the longer term rentals aren’t bad at all by our often overpriced US standards.
Irish Tourist Board/Bord Failte
345 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10154
Tel 212 418 0800
As Peter pointed out, you can probably find something by word of mouth once you’re there. The above guide is nice, though, for getting an idea of what things go for in various areas.
They’re also on-line here:
http://www.ireland.travel.ie/accommodation/
I just did a search for self catering accommodations in the Galway area and got back 158 results, with prices, photos and contact info. You can specify needs (such as washer and dryer, microwave, etc.) as well as get pretty specific with your desired location.
Redwolf
Just to say I used that search to look at my own area and see what it would throw up in the way of farmhouse accomodation, it only yielded the by far most expensive option in the area, which is fine, nice place good food but not maybe what you’d be looking for and not really representative of what’s available.
Hi
I wouldn’t suggest you spend the whole month there - but Valentia Island is one of the most beautiful places on earth. If you’re there for the first weekend of August, then there is the Irish Music Festival at Caherciveen just opposite on the mainland. Its not the best music festival in the world - but the sessions are great.
Valentia is a small, quiet, basically untouristy Island, just about half a mile from the mainland of Kerry. You can stay in the Royal Pier Hostel very reasonably.
Of course I’ve always wanted to go to the Willie Clancy summer school for some serious music http://www.setdancingnews.net/wcss/
Paul
for some reason or other I 'd think you be better off for serious music if you come outside the WIllie week
You could also try www.gulliver.ie
This has some serious flaws, but it should be possible to check out some prices and areas. Just be prepared to change your search parameters a couple of times before you get an answer.
Deirdre