Customer Reviews

Frommer's Ireland 2009 (Frommer's Complete Guides)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this book to plan a 14 day driving tour of Ireland with my in-laws. I found this book to be very informative and have almost too much information. My mother in law knew of some little known pottery artist and his studio was in this book. I will note that some of the hotels / eateries listed as inexpensive are considered mid-range to expensive in other books. I have enjoyed all the Frommer's guides I've used; they are easy to use to look up specific locations, have some great itineraries and are comprehensive. I use Frommer's guides' books as a supplement to other guide books. Another item I noticed is there are two comprehensive museum / castle cards one can purchase to tour Ireland that covers most of the main sites. Neither card was mentioned in this book but could save a couple around 50 to 100 euros. The Rick Steve's guide book mentioned them and identified if a sight accepted the heritage card etc. I would recommend purchasing this book help plan for your next trip to Ireland, however I would also purchase Rick Steve's Ireland. I personally feel two guide books makes planning much easier.

Best guide to Ireland I've used so far. I found it was more honest and less PR sounding than many guides, which can sound like they're written by a tourist board. Quality of writing excellent, information exhaustive and comprehensive. Does a good job of listing a range of what's available for differnt budgets too, in terms of hotels and so forth, which I found particularly useful given how expensive visiting Ireland (and Europe in general) has become!

I used Frommer's and Fodor's both for my recent Ireland trip. I think Frommer's had better detail about sights, for example: more accurate times when the sites were open. I usually check the book out of the library and if I really like it then I buy it. I probably used Frommer's more on my vacation.

I bought two books before my trip, this one and the Eyewitness Guide. I found the Eyewitness Guide the best book to read before I left and on the trip I referred to my Frommer's time and time again. It's just a bigger, more comprehensive book. We traveled over 1800k in the two weeks we were there and visited just about every corner of the country and found the Frommer recommendations helpful and accurate.

Look out...I agree with the other review that Frommer's guides are usually great on the specifics and in the past I've had great experiences with them. So much so that the only guide I bought immediately for Ireland was Frommer's. But the Ireland guide steered us wrong a few times. We were only there for a week and we ran into 3 inconvenient errors in the book. For example, it stated the Dublin Writer's Museum closed at 5pm...well, it does but last admission is at 4:15 pm and they won't let you in no matter how much you beg after that time (although they were very nice about it). We also ran into an incorrect closing time for the Burren Center, which we had gone a bit out of our way for (5pm instead of 6 pm). And another bummer was going to the Craggaunowen Bronze Age Project in County Clare and finding it closed as of Sept. 2nd, not as of October, like the book said. So buyer beware...still an all-around decent book, but double check hours of operation if you are running tight and in September, be very careful of things being closed for the season already even if the book says they are open. If hours for an establishment are listed as changing in September or October, double check since the book might be wrong. Have fun...Ireland is all good even if things don't work out as planned...

This book is excellent, packed with information. However, I had the feeling that it did not have the personal touch that Rick Steeves' book had, even though it had much more information. I think Frommer used to visit all the places himself, and updated his information based on his own experiences; but now, I think he is old, and relies on a team of researchers. So, there is much information, not so much personal experience touch anymore that I saw in Frommer books I bought on Italy many years ago. I would buy both books, and read the Rick Steeves book BEFORE going to Ireland, and use the Frommer book as a reference for additional information for places of interest. See my review on Rick Steeves book.

Frommer's guides are so helpful when traveling, so I looked for their Ireland book on Amazon right away when we were planning our trip. We had already booked our stay at the Knockranny Lodge in Westport, and were looking for the best restaurants and sightseeing advice. This book has it! Frommer's even includes a tear-out map of Ireland/Dublin so you can put it in your pocket and walk around Dublin without carrying around the heavier Frommer's book. The Dublin street layouts were helpful in finding the Guiness Factory and Thomas Reed's pub.

I bought this to assist with planning our 12 day trip to Ireland and it was very useful. We drove all over Ireland so having a guide that highlighted the "places to go" in each county was priceless.

Anytime I travel, I purchase a Frommers Guide. They always have the inside scoop on the best local places to go and see.

We purchased several guides for Ireland and this one seems to be the best one for planning a trip and learning more about the country. Frommer's did a good job on this one.