The ideal time to visit Ireland: RIGHT NOW

By: The Yank | Published Tuesday, June 22, 2010, 7:30 AM | Updated Friday, September 9, 2011, 9:43 PM

What follows is an upaid ad for the Irish Tourist Board:

If you can drop everything you have on your plate at the moment and grab a flight to Ireland for the upcoming week, you couldn't pick a better time. The weather is fantastic and it's supposed to remain so through the weekend (at least). It's warm and sunny and, this is the best part, this is the longest day of the year.

If you live somewhere near the 40^o line of latitude (New York, Chicago, San Francisco) you're used to the sun setting around 8:30pm at the time of year. Here it sets around 10pm. If you're lucky enough to be in the west of Ireland that means it's daylight til after 11pm. All those hours of sunshine are a boon to any tourist, so long as you're energetic.

And, of course, the dollar has strengthened against the euro, which has helped make Ireland seem a little less costly to any American visitors these days. On top of that, many prices have fallen thanks to the pretty severe deflation we've experienced over the past 12-18 months.

So you have good weather, long days and, well, more affordable goods and services. Like I said, you could hardly pick a better time to come visit.