Customer Reviews

Let's Go Ireland 12th Edition

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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it is useful as a travel guide as much for giving you the lay of the land and strategies for planning your own travel through maps and descriptions as for specific recommendations, some of which are spot on and some of which are not. one really helpful feature (in 2004 edition, anyway, and I think still included) that I've not found in other guidebooks is the material on bus and rail journey times and connections for most towns. as with any guidebook it's only a sketch of what you'll find when in country but the practical information is good, and a needed addition to the more limited view of Frommer's/Fodor's and the like which assume you'll have a car and a good size budget.

In preparation for a 2 week trip to Ireland I purchased nearly every travel book I found, but while traveling, this was the one I used most. It seemed to fit my needs best as a budget traveler and had a lot of useful information on places to go and places to stay (i used it together with the Hostels Ireland book to compare reviews of hostels to make sure I was finding the best places possible).

The only problem I seemed to have with it was the organization and also the lack of visuals in the book, it's just packed with so much information and so many city profiles that it could become overwhelming at times trying to figure out where to go.
My advice would be using perhaps the Eyewitness Guide to help you plan for the trip (where to go, what to see) then find the places in this book and tag or dogear the sections somehow so you can find it later.
So, great book to open up if you're in the city, standing on a street corner trying to figure out what to do and where to go, not so good if you're sitting at home in your kitchen mapping out your travel itinerary.

I will probably stick with the Lets Go series for any future trips I take abroad.

I spent a month in Ireland this winter, and this book was the best tool for planning the perfect trip!