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Eight ways to make a pricey Irish holiday more affordable

With a week away potentially costing an astronomical €4,000, these tips should help you have a less wallet-busting vacation

Irish vacation: if you live in Dublin and have friends in Co Kerry, a holiday house swap could let you visit some incredible beaches. Photograph: Arpad Benedek/iStock/Getty

Sylvia Thompson's face
Sylvia Thompson
Fri Jul 15 2022 - 05:00

Holidaying in Ireland is more expensive than ever: a vacation home for a family of five can easily cost €2,000 a week to rent, while a double room in Dublin can range from about €200 a night at a three-star hotel to €600 a night at a five-star hotel. Eating out and, if you’re travelling from abroad, renting a car can easily add another couple of hundred euro a day. All in all, a week away could cost a family of two adults and three children an astronomical €4,000. So how to make a holiday in Ireland more affordable? Here are eight tips.

Don’t rent a car, borrow one

If you’re travelling home from abroad to see relatives and friends, ask around to see if anyone can loan you their car while you’re here. Many Irish families have two vehicles, and can add you to their insurance for less than the cost of a couple of days’ car hire. Alternatively, plan a holiday around a few destinations where you won’t need a car and can travel by public transport. Sometimes the most enjoyable holidays are the ones on which you discover an area on foot or by bicycle.

If you can borrow a vehicle, the insurance will probably cost less than a couple of days’ car hire. Photograph: Dave G Kelly/Getty

And how about borrowing a holiday home, too?

Check with family and friends who have their own holiday home if it might be free for a week or even a few days. Holiday homes that are not normally rented out lie empty between visits, and the families who own them might not think of asking friends and relatives if they’d like to use them. But save yourself the embarrassment of coming across as a bit of cheapskate by offering to pay a reasonable amount for your stay. Leave the place really clean when you leave, and buy a thoughtful gift, and you might even be offered the house again.

Or do a house-swap

If you live in Dublin your home could be a great holiday base for friends who live in rural Ireland, and vice versa. Sometimes it takes only a bit of planning (and maybe an offer of pet-minding) for this idea to take off. It might be a bit late this year for more formal house-swapping, through a member-based agency, but the likes of homelink.ie could be a good place to start for next year.

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Try a new kind of holiday

If the price of rooms makes a hotel a nonrunner, check out hostels and campsites for cheaper options that can also offer a whole new kind of holiday. Many hostels now have family rooms that make them a good budget choice, and some campsites have yurts and shepherds’ huts that can be a whole heap of fun to stay in, creating memories that a bog-standard hotel room is unlikely to.

Look out for cancellations

But if you’re still keen on hotel accommodation and are flexible about dates, consider checking for last-minute cancellations. The travel writer Fionn Davenport says his best tip for affordable holidays in Ireland is to speak directly with a hotel. “You’ll get a better rate over the phone at the last minute than the online prices,” he says. Also, if you’re flexible with dates, consider going away midweek, when you should be able to snag some of the best hotel offers.

Take the road less travelled

Consider going to lesser-visited parts of the island, where holiday accommodation can be more reasonably priced. “You don’t always have to do the outer rim of the west of Ireland, as there will always be a premium on going to the seaside,” says Davenport. He suggests visiting the parts of the country now promoted as Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands, which include Leitrim, Westmeath and Roscommon.

If you’re eating out, skip dessert and instead buy ice creams from a shop for everyone afterwards. Photograph: iStock/Getty

Eat smartly

There are lots of ways to save on food. First, if you’re self-catering, have a big breakfast, then make tasty salads and sandwiches to eat for lunch when you’re out and about. Also, take full water bottles and flasks of tea or coffee with you, so you don’t have to spend as much in cafes and shops. And when you’re eating out, skip dessert and instead buy ice creams from a shop for everyone afterwards. If you’re on a city break, look out, too, for early-bird or pretheatre menus, which can offer great value.

Make it a real staycation

Finally, consider staying at home for a staycation in the original sense of the word, taking day trips to places you have always wanted to go to but never got around to. If you live in Dublin, take the Dart to Howth, Malahide or Greystones for an enjoyable visit to one of these picturesque seaside spots. Day trips to the Phoenix Park, Marlay Park, Cabinteely Park or St Anne’s Park can also be memorable. If you’re in Cork, make a day trip to Kinsale or Cobh. If you’re in Galway, go to Limerick for the day, or vice versa. Check heritageireland.ie for details of 70 sites to visit across Ireland, many of which are free; even those that do charge are free to visit on the first Wednesday of every month — so pencil August 3rd into your diary and see where might be a great place to spend it.