Skip Temple Bar after one look
It is the postcard and the markup. Drink in a neighborhood pub — anywhere the musician is in the corner, not on a stage with a cover charge. Dublin has dozens. Ask a local where they go on a Tuesday.
Travel guideLast updated August 16, 2026
Ireland Travel Guide: Essentials, Local Tips & Mobile Data
Dublin, the west and the weather: money, driving, pubs, the best months, traveler tips, and mobile data via eSIM.
Ireland is a conversation with weather. Green hills, a cliff that drops into the Atlantic, a pub where someone is actually playing, and a city — Dublin — that is warmer than its reputation once you leave Temple Bar. The west is why people come back: Galway, the Burren, Kerry, a bog road with no one on it.
Drive on the left, take the narrow roads slowly, and do not try to circle the whole island in a week. A Dublin-and-west split, or a slow Kerry loop, will beat a highlight reel of coach parks.
The pub is not a nightlife option. It is the living room. Order at the bar, do not tip like you are in New York, and stay for the third song. Rain will arrive. That is when the pub was invented.
Eat a proper breakfast, walk the coast when it clears, and let a conversation with a stranger go longer than is efficient. Efficiency is not the point here.
Essentials
Ireland Travel Essentials
- Currency
- Euro (EUR). Cards are widely accepted, including in most pubs.
- Languages
- English; Irish (Gaeilge) on signs and in Gaeltacht areas. You will hear it. You do not need to speak it.
- Plug Type
- Type G, 230V — the same as the UK. Bring an adapter.
- Emergency Number
- 112 or 999
- Best Time to Visit
- May to September for longer days and slightly drier odds. It can rain in any month. Pack a layer, not an umbrella strategy.
- Tipping
- 10–12% in restaurants if service is not included. At the bar, you do not tip on every pint; you can offer one back or round up a card tab.
- Timezone
- IST in summer (UTC+1), GMT in winter — the same clock as the UK.
- Tap Water
- Safe to drink.
- Getting Around
- Dublin has buses and a Luas tram; Leap or contactless works. The rest of the country wants a car, or patience with buses. Trains exist and do not cover the west well.
- Internet & Coverage
- Good 4G in towns; gaps on the west coast, in mountains and along some cliff roads. Pub Wi-Fi is a national backup.
Traveler tips
Tips from fellow travelers
Real advice from people who have been to Ireland, curated by our team with links to the original sources.
The Cliffs of Moher are a morning, the Burren is a day
Coach tours hit the cliffs at the same hour. Go early or late, then spend the real time on the Burren, in Doolin, or on the coast road that is not a car park. The Atlantic is long. You do not have to see it from the one famous fence.
Hire a small car and assume the road is a lane
Hedges, tractors, and oncoming buses on a strip of tarmac: that is the west. A compact car, patience, and pull-ins. Driving is half the holiday if you let it be, and a stress machine if you booked an SUV.
Book popular houses and island boats
Kylemore, the Skellig boats, and the better B&Bs in summer go early. The rest of Ireland you can still wander. Have a plan for the one or two things that sell out, and let the weather write the other days.
A full Irish is a food group
Breakfast will keep you until late afternoon, which is useful when lunch is a pub that does not serve food until 12:30 and the rain has opinions. Eat it. Walk it off on a cliff.
FAQ
Ireland travel questions, answered
eSIM plans
Stay connected in Ireland
Maps on a hedge-lined road, a bus time in a village, and a pub that does not list an address a robot can find: you want data. An eSIM is online at Dublin Airport before you reach the rental-car desk.
If you are also crossing to Northern Ireland, check the plan. Some UK and Ireland plans cover both; country-only ones do not always agree with the border.
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