A group of stranded American elderly tourists have paid tribute to the kindness of Irish strangers.

The Americans were supposed to fly out of Ireland last Saturday but were stuck in Ireland after the volcano eruption in Iceland.

Doris Hill from North Carolina told the Irish Times that they were blown away by the way the Irish helped them all out.

“When we heard the flights were cancelled we were like ‘what do we do? How do we get around? Where do we stay? Our reservation is up.”

She said their hotel, The Mespil, reduced the cost of their rooms to just $53 a night including the hotel's huge breakfast buffet.

“Then the hotel decided that we were eating too many salads, because we didn’t have that many euros left, so they said they would fix us dinner for just €8 every night,” Hill told the Times. “I thought, oh, we are so special.”

Even better, two tour guides wangled a bus from Cronins "for just the cost of fuel," and brought the group out for free tours.

The guides, Sally and Bernard Creegan and Peter Flood, brought the group out on several tours.

They brought the group on free trips to Glendalough, the Jameson Distillery, St Patrick’s Cathedral and Malahide Castle. Any time there was a charge, the guides explained why the group was stuck there and the entry fees were waived.

“We’re just flying the flag for Fáilte Ireland,” Flood told the Times. “You hear so much negative stuff about rip-off Ireland but this is the reality.”

Bernard Creegan said: “We were talking to two people this morning and they said ‘we don’t want to go home now, we’re enjoying it so much’.”