Vacations to Ireland have recently dropped in price since the 2008-2009 financial crisis, making it one of this year’s top budget destinations in Europe. Tourists are some of the very few that can benefit from the economic turmoil, enjoying a seven percent improvement in exchange rates this year—making everything from airfare, hotel lodging, and food more affordable.
Lodging prices and airfare are significantly less expensive than any major city in Western Europe. Restaurant meals, transportation and entertainment venues have proved to be a lot more affordable in Dublin now as compared to its 2009 prices.
Travelers tend to flock to the capital during the warmest months of July and August, but tourists will then be faced with peak-season prices. The peak-season prices can be easily avoided by traveling in early June or September, which are similarly warm weathered months.
Traveling in June can also have its benefits because it is packed with events like Bloom in the Park, a massive garden show; Taste of Dublin, and Bloomsday; a celebration of Ireland's literary patron saint—James Joyce.
The Cap Cod Times reported that from June 1-15, and again from September 1-30, a payment of $829 (in June) to $839 (in September) for the Emerald Package of Sceptre Tours, that long-established company's most popular travel program, will buy you round-trip mid-week airfare on Aer Lingus between the U.S. and Dublin or Shannon, a night upon arrival in a four-star hotel in Dublin or Shannon, a car (stick-shift) with unlimited mileage for a week, and five nights of accommodations with a full Irish breakfast daily in your choice of farmhouse bed-and-breakfasts all throughout Ireland. You can lengthen the number of nights of your stay for only a little more. And government fees and taxes add an additional $180 or so.
In an even further effort to boost tourism, the tax imposed on Dublin International Airport travelers will be cut from $13 to $4. Anyone who has yet to take a trip to one of Western Europe’s classic vacation spots, it would be in their best interest to do so now.
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Read More:
Ireland’s tourism figures are on the up as North Americans keep on coming
Queen Victoria fell in love with Ireland and visited four times
Irish government measures to boost tourism in Ireland
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4 Comments
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.joycean | Jun 25, 2011, 07:41 AM EDT
Correction: Sept-Oct 2010
joycean | Jun 25, 2011, 07:32 AM EDT
My husband and I were in Ireland in Sept-Oct 2011. It was not a bargain. We have traveled all over Europe recently, and Ireland was by far the most expensive and worst destination. For one thing, be careful of car rentals. Before we left, my husband found that his credit cards did not cover rental-car collision insurance in the ROI, although it is covered just about anywhere else in the world. When he gave his credit card in Dublin,without asking, the agent attemped to put a $3000 hold on the card, which meant we would have had to pay for any damage out-of-pocket. My husband had to request the optional rental company insurance, it was not offerred. Ireland's back roads are still horribly dangerous.The food is awful.You have a choice of American fast food restaurants like MacDonald's,or, in pubs, Irish stew or sheppard's pie,two dishes that can be made ahead and diluted. I became very ill from the food, and could not keep any food in my stomach, no matter where we ate. Of course, the weather was terrible.
dublin1 | Jun 14, 2011, 12:10 PM EDT
Not only are restaurants (early bird meal offers) accommodations (back at 2002 rates) and transport and tours (Hop On Hop Off Dublin Bus Tours now 48 hour tickets for the price of 24 hours) but most shops have special offers not to be missed. Dublin - there has never been a better time to visit. Brian (Dublin Visitors - http://www.dublin1.webs.com)
DLW12183 | Jun 13, 2011, 09:19 AM EDT
You sure have not looked at the air fare from the US. Is 2 to 2 1/2 times what I paid in September 2009. I canceled a trip for our 6 family members as $7,000 from Indianapolis was too high. Sorry Ireland-we really wanted to be there this summer.