Publin comes to town, paving the way for cheap drinks in Dublin’s Fair City. We interview founder John Geraghty about how he came up with the site and his favourite pubs.

One thing I have always begrudged Dublin is how expensive pints can be here. If €4.50 is roughly average for a pint in Dublin, you’ll find that’s the top end (£3.75) for most typical pubs in London. London!

Enter Publin. More than just a catchy name, this genius website is attempting to catalogue all the pubs in Dublin by price scale and features, as well as offering reviews and photos, a series of brilliantly-crafted, do-it-yourself pub crawls and recession-friendly specials offered by the pubs themselves.

If you follow Publin’s Facebook page and Twitter feed, you’ll get the heads up on these specials as they come in, making it quite easy to plan a night out on the cheap.

Here at IrishJaunt, we have been loving Publin since it appeared late last year. So, we decided to chat with the mastermind behind it all, John Geraghty, about Publin, being a pub crawl guide and the perfect pint of Guinness.

For starters, can you tell us a little bit about the people behind Publin?
Well, at present, Publin is just one person. My name is John Geraghty, I’m 26 and….I love pubs! I was a pub crawl tour guide for two years and I also visit them in a personal capacity from time to time. I came up with the idea for Publin around a year and a half ago and finally launched it last December. It’s an opportunity for me personally to work on something I really love and I also get a lot of satisfaction from helping people have a good night out while getting value for money.

Publin mastermind John Geraghty

What gave you the idea to start Publin?
I can’t recall an exact time that I came up with the idea or why, it just came to me over a period of time. It’s a fairly obvious idea for a website, especially in Dublin, and I guess I’m the only one that has put the time into keeping an updated price list for the whole city. When I was working as a tour guide I was always conscious of how expensive a city Dublin was for tourists coming here and I’m quite a frugal person myself. So, I decided to put something together to show people the options open to them in terms of price without sacrificing the quality of their holiday.

Using Publin, you could easily end up saving €15 on your night out. That’s the price of a nice meal. It was something that I knew I myself would use, so naturally I had a bit of passion for what I was doing and I knew there would be a market for it, which there is.

How many pubs do you currently have listed on the site?
We have around 210 pubs listed, 165 of those having a full price list, and we also have a list of more than 500 drinks specials covering all of those pubs.

Are you expecting lots more?
We are indeed! There’s plenty more in the city centre to list, but we’re also starting to creep out into more suburban areas close to the city. A lot of people don’t go into town when they have a good pub or bar so close to home, so we’re going to start trying to list those, too. I just have to be confident that we can keep track of our existing pubs before moving on to others. Once we have a strict rota in place, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that we can at least double the amount of pubs we have listed.

There is space for people to “join” Publin. What does membership involve?
At the moment, membership allows you to rate and comment upon pubs, as well as mark them as a favourite for quick reference. In the future we’re going to make membership a bit more interactive, so you can create your own pub crawls and interact with other members on a forum and messaging system.

You’ve got a great selection of pub crawls on the site. Who puts these together and how?
I’m never one to sit still on a night out. I love changing venues and getting a taste for what is going on around the city. I don’t like to confine myself to one place unless I have to. With that in mind, I started creating geographically based and themed pub crawls. The geographically based ones are quite easy to do – they’re usually a long stretch of road like ‘the Baggot mile’, or a loop around Trinity College I call ‘the Trinity Ring’.

The themed ones are far more fun to come up with, as they require a bit of research. A few examples are the Harry Potter crawl, film crawl, James Joyce crawl, and the cheap craft beer crawl. The film pub crawl lists pubs where scenes from famous movies were filmed. These being Educating Rita, Michael Collins, The Commitments, A Fistful of Dollars, and many more. If there’s a hot topic in the news, I try to make a crawl based on that. The list keeps growing and it’s a lot of fun to play around with.

Mulligans of Poolbeg Street: the best pint of Guinness? Photo: William Murphy

Isn’t it a great perk to have to go out drinking for your job?
Too right it is! Any time I’m out for drinks with friends, I have a chance to do ‘research’. I can take down the prices, take a few photos or tweet something live from the venue. If you’re so willing to work after hours, it’s not really a job! I like to get a good spread of pubs too, so I never go to the same place too much. The down side is that everyone expects me to choose the next venue. I’m not that decisive!

I noticed you have iPhone and Android apps in the works. What can we expect from these?
I’m really looking forward to having the apps out and working. Not just for users, but for myself too! The apps will have a list of bars with individual pages for each showing their prices, a full drinks list consisting of over 160 pubs, a deal list, a Twitter feed (very important, because here we list deals that are for one night only), and a comprehensive map that will tell you where your nearest pubs are. I should say that these, at first, will only be beta apps and that more comprehensive and pretty ones will be on the way in a few months’ time. As we’re still a small website and we don’t have huge resources, we’re doing this alone, and so the product will be functional but can only get better. I’m learning Android and iOS app development, so we’ll have it mastered in no time.

What should we look out for on the Publin website in the coming months?
We’ll have new sections, new pubs, and increased details of pubs. We’ll be able to tell you where has wifi, pool tables, dart boards, function rooms, fire places, craft beers, gluten-free beers, beer gardens and much more. We already have lists for pool tables, beer gardens and others, but we’ll be making them far more comprehensive. Our list of deals stands at over 500 at the moment, but I’ll be expecting that to grow in a big way before the summer hits. In short- expand, expand, expand!

You list a lot of pubs offering drinks specials, both on Publin.ie and on your social media channels. Isn’t there a law against happy hours in Ireland? How do these work?
So far as I’m aware ,you’re right in saying that happy hours aren’t allowed, but most specials offered by pubs are over the course of the night and only on specific drinks. There’s no free-for-alls where prices are slashed 70% for only 60 minutes. It’s a lot more reserved that than. Most deals would be 2-for-1 cocktails on Thursday nights, a mixer and a spirit for €5 or selected pints for €3.50. Nobody goes mad with their deals and they’re mostly quite responsible. In many countries paying €3.50 for a pint would be considered expensive, so I don’t think we’re going off the rails here!

It’s the pubs’ responsibility to set prices that they think will get customers through the door, and we’re just providing that information. There’s nothing that we list that could be considered outrageous and, even though most of what we do is to show value, we would think twice about listing anything that we considered dangerous or irresponsible.

O'Donoghue's of Suffolk Street: a Publin favourite. Photo: Chris Friese

Do you have any personal favourite pubs?
Most pubs that I have a fondness for are because I’ve got good memories associated with them, but here’s a few that I’m very fond of. The Cobblestone in Smithfield, Dice Bar Smithfield, O’Donoghue’s on Suffolk Street, Black Sheep on Capel Street, Mulligans of Poolbeg Street, the George Bernard Shaw on Wexford Street and Bowes Lounge.

Which pubs would you recommend for visitors wanting to get a really authentic Dublin pub-going experience?
I think these would be a good starting point and you would be most likely to meet Irish people and tourists alike here: Cobblestone Smithfield, Kehoe’s off Grafton Street, O’Donoghue’s on Baggot Street, The Long Hall on George’s Street, Against the Grain on Wexford Street (to taste some real Irish craft beers) and O’Neill’s on Suffolk Street. I think that’s a good start, and if you’re still standing after those, come back to me and I’ll give you some more.

Do you think there really is such a thing as the best pint of Guinness in the city and, if so, where is it?
I’ve heard all sorts of rumours about Guinness giving the best kegs to a certain few pubs around the city, and I’d well believe those rumours. Conventional wisdom suggests the best pints can be found in the Long Hall on George’s Street, Mulligan’s on Poolbeg Street, Toner’s on Baggot Street (they have a sign outside saying that a member of the Dubliners band proclaimed it the best pint of Guinness in Dublin).

We’ve started a Guinness rating system on the site, so hopefully we’ll be able to put the argument to rest once and for all.  I maintain that the best Guinness I’ve ever had was at the bottom of a mountain in Letterfrack, Co. Galway. So smooth and just generally perfect. I don’t know much about the brewing process, but after drinking it for a few years you tend to know after the first sip whether it’s a good one or not. You’ll just have to judge for yourself!

Thanks again, John! We’ll be onto you for a pub crawl tour soon enough!

It’s St. Patrick’s Day! Well…almost. But here at IrishJaunt, it takes very little to put us into celebratory mode and just thinking about all those well-deserved pints of Guinness this weekend has got me feeling pretty festive.

To that end, I decided to have some fun.

So, I started scouring Flickr for the best St. Patrick’s Day photos from around the world. I ran across some interesting pictures but, as I went, I began seeing a strange and unnerving trend. It seems there is a dark world out there where people dress up their pets for Paddy’s Day and post them all over the interweb. It was all much too disturbing not to share, so I offer here some of the worst St. Patrick’s Day photos of animals for you all to see and… enjoy? Fear? Laugh at?

Whatever. I hope you have a drink in your hand for these. Sláinte!

St. Patrick’s Day wasn’t always so manic. Believe it or not, at one time, it was quite a reserved holiday when mammies went to church and everyone else stayed in bed. In fact, from the time that the Irish Bank Holiday Act of 1903 made Paddy’s Day an official public holiday up until the 1970s, drinking was outlawed.

Photo: LenDog64

Imagine that. St. Patrick’s Day with no drink.

Anyway, the holiday really properly took off first in America when a bunch of paddies marched through the streets of New York on March 17, 1762. In the 1960s, Chicago started dying the river green. In the 1970s, the St. Patrick’s Day drinking ban was repealed in Ireland, and in the 1990s, the first proper St. Patrick’s Day Festival was held in Dublin.

St. Patrick’s Day may be manic, but we here at IrishJaunt are not. We believe in keeping our sanity while still hopefully enjoying ourselves and we’ve got a few tips on how you can avoid coming home missing a limb (or a liver) but still enjoying St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in Ireland this 2012 to the fullest.

St. Patrick’s Day Survival Tips

*Early bird. The parade in Dublin for the official St. Patrick’s Festival is always mobbed. Many start queuing up early in the morning to get a good standing point.

*Plan your route. You need a plan for the whole day, starting from where you’re standing for the parade to which pubs or activities you plan to hit later.

*Pick a prime spot. The beginnings and ends of the parade routes are generally the least crowded. Here’s a handy map of the Dublin parade route.

*Avoid the city centre pubs. Whether you’re celebrating in Dublin or the countryside, you’ll want to avoid pubs in major town centres. These will all be packed. Instead, opt for lesser known pubs, locals and neighbourhood or country pubs. They’ll still be packed, but you might have a hope of getting in the door.

*Don’t overdrink. I wish this went without saying, but it doesn’t. Don’t start drinking too early. Pace yourself. Order half pints. Do a round of water or fizzy drinks. Hydrate and, for feck’s sake, eat something.
While you’re at it, pack in snacks. I am serious! Bring some fruit, cereal bars or even crisps! Anything to soak up some of that alcohol.

Photo: William Murphy

*Getting a seat: Getting a seat in a pub on St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland requires special powers. You probably won’t get one. It is highly unlikely. In fact, if you even get in the door of the pub, I will be surprised. However, there is one golden rule – if you get a seat, keep it. Do not move. Don’t even go to the toilets because you may never see it again.

*Bring a small number of reinforcements. Keeping your group small means you’ll be able to squeeze into those three-seater pub tables no one wants because they’re there with four hundred of their frat boy friends from Arkansas.

*Respect your barman. This should probably go at the top of the list. You don’t need to tip him. He’ll probably roll his eyes if you do. But give him respect. Speak to him in human tones. Order gentlemanly drinks – not shots of Irish Car Bomb. Have small bills and change. And don’t order four hundred drinks at once.

*Get cash. There is not going to be a single ATM in Ireland with money in it on St. Patrick’s Day. Stock up on loads of cash beforehand. Keep it in your shoe or somewhere safe (preferably not one of those bum bags) and avoid using credit and debit cards to pay for drinks at the bar.

*Go to a cultural event. The St. Patrick’s Festival organisers go out of their way to make Paddy’s Day more than just drinking. This year, the programme of events includes a whole slew of cultural goings-on, including walking tours, céilí (Irish dance parties), orchestral performances, architectural tours, boat races and lots of kids activities.

Finding love amidst the manic backdrop of Dublin City can sometimes feel like an uphill battle, but this Valentine’s Day, the Temple Bar Cultural Trust is teaming up with dozens of local businesses around the city to help you fall in love with Dublin…and just maybe find love yourself.

On February 14 from noon to midnight, spots around the city will open their doors to romance for the aptly named event, A Date with Dublin. The programme of events will include everything from photography exhibits to speed dating and choral music performances.

If you’re celebrating Valentine’s Day with a partner, the two of you can participate in a truly unique art exhibition curated by the Gallery of Photography. Vintage-style partners’ portraits  will be taken from 1-4pm and then displayed on a screen in Meeting House Square later in the evening. Places are limited, so contact info@galleryofphotography.ie to reserve your free spot.

There are also a number of film and theatre screenings going on throughout the evening that couples or friends might want to partake in together. Films to be shown in Meeting House Square the evening of, for example, include Casablanca and Once.

While many of the events are open to all for a celebration of love in all its forms, some are aimed at people looking for romance. Our friends over at the Gutter Bookshop are hosting an event just for awkward culture vultures looking for love: bookworm speed dating! Get to know other literary-minded singles in a fast five minutes each and maybe come away with the new Mr. or Mrs. You (or if not, a great story and perhaps some new friends!). It’s on from 6:30-8pm for free and there’s no need to book in advance.

ETA: The Gutter folks have just informed me that this speed dating event is actually a book match event, so you won’t be meeting people – you’ll be meeting their experts who will match you up with your perfect book!

If you’re currently out of couplehood or looking to give Valentine’s the aul’ two fingers, one option is the truly unique “Love Sucks” at Project Arts Centre. A king of live-action art game created by the artists from Make and Do, two different games will have you meeting new people through smartphone ice breaker activities and silly antics of faux seduction.

For more info and a full programme of events, visit the Temple Bar Cultural Trust’s website.

Over the past two decades, the Chinese community in Ireland has grown from a small group of IBCs (Irish-born Chinese) to a huge and diverse community of people, both of Chinese heritage and Chinese migrants. Many Chinese people arrived during the Celtic Tiger period in search of education and business opportunities, and have remained in Ireland, making their own unique mark on Irish society and culture.

Photo: William Murphy

Nowhere is this unique mix more celebrated and vibrant than during the Dublin Chinese New Year Festival. Held each January/February over the Chinese New Year period, the Dublin CNY Festival is now in its fifth year and will ring in the arrival of the Year of the Dragon in 2012 from January 20-February 3 with a packed schedule of events that includes a Chinese market, traditional dragon dances, craft fairs, lectures and seminars, Chinese opera performances, a film festival and even a table tennis competition.

Also known as “Spring Festival”, Chinese New Year celebrates the lunar new year and is the main annual Chinese holiday (something like Christmas in the West). Typically celebrated with family and friends over the course of a month, Chinese New Year is a colourful celebration filled with exotic dances, unique foods and time-honoured traditions.

Among the main events at the Dublin Chinese New Year Festival this year, the free Asia Market Chinese New Year Carnival is the place to be if you’re new to the event or just want to get a feel for what it’s all about. Taking place Sunday January 22 (Chinese New Year’s Eve) in Meeting House Square in Temple Bar, the carnival will include a traditional dragon dance, martial arts performances and workshops, karaoke, costumes and a welcoming speech by the Lord Mayor of Dublin. There will also be plenty of stalls where you can pick up a few traditional Chinese crafts, like chopsticks and fans, as well as sampling some delicious Chinese fare.

Other events of note include the Film Festival, which will be held this weekend (20th-23rd Jan) at various cinemas across Dublin (click here for listings).

For more information on the Dublin Chinese New Year, including listings, be sure to visit the Dublin Chinese New Year Festival website.

Additionally, if you’re looking to sample some authentic Chinese food in Dublin, there are a number of excellent options along Parnell Street and Capel Street, both of which have begun to form an unofficial Dublin Chinatown. Particularly excellent is Charming Noodles (105 Parnell St.; +353 (0)1 872 9340 ; web review), which does (surprise!) fresh, tasty and authentic noodle dishes, from soups to fried noodles.

Finally, we’ll leave you with this lovely little taster video:

Ireland is a country known for its beer, but microbrews and ales fall far down on most Irish drinkers’ lists. There are, however, some great craft brews to be found in Ireland, if you know where to look. One such place is the Franciscan Well Brewery in Cork City.

Rebel Red and Shandon Stout. Photo: IrishJaunt

The brewpub has an interesting story. Seated out at the east end of Cork along the North Mall, the building originally housed a 13th century Franciscan monastery whose well was purported to have healing waters (hence the brewery’s name). In the 1940s, the building was used to bottle Guinness locally in Cork, and in 1998, it was taken over by the Franciscan Well’s owner, Liam McNeill.

Franciscan Well brews five core beers onsite at the brewpub:

Friarweisse - a 4.7% German-style wheat beer with clove and banana aromas
Blarney Blonde – a 4.2% “Kolsch” lager with a light, fruity flavour
Rebel Red - a 4.3% Irish red ale with lovely malt overtones
Rebel Lager – a 4.2% Czech-style hoppy lager
Shandon Stout – a 4.3% Cork-style dry, chocolatey stout

Though you can find Franciscan Well’s beers at various pubs around Ireland (for example, at The Gingerman in Dublin), the best way to experience their brews is at the actual brewpub in Cork. Inside, you are greeted by three 30-gallon copper tanks behind the cherry wood bar, while the pub spreads to the back with lovingly worn wooden tables and booths, meeting up with one of the largest heated beer gardens in Cork, where the namesake well still trickles.

Franciscan Well's cosy brewpub. Photo: IrishJaunt

On Thursday evenings, the Franciscan Well serves up pizzas from a wood-fire oven (although, sadly, no menu is available at other times), and they offer free WiFi throughout the pub and a more-than-decent overhead music selection (important in a brewpub) that, on the evening we were there, ranged from Tom Waits to Arcade Fire.

This sweet little brewpub is located at 14 North Mall, tucked away in a small stone passage off of Cork’s River Lee. And as the saying goes, nothing’s far in Cark.

Franciscan Well Brewery
14 North Mall
Cork City
+353 (0)21 4393 434
franciscanwellbrewery.com

Another year, another set of resolutions, another travel wish list. I know the drill. I do it myself every year. But 2012 is going to be different. This year, you are going to make time to travel, even if it’s just in your own back garden.

Today being January 12 and all, we thought we’d bring you our picks for the top 12 destinations in Ireland in 2012. We came up with this list based on monthly goings-on around the country, as well as beautiful places you might not have heard of before and other unique corners of Ireland for a getaway. There are also a few musts on the list, so if you haven’t had a chance to see those yet, be sure to set aside some time and a few quid.

January – Dublin

Photo: Elizabeth Barnett

You could really visit Dublin at any time of year, but we’ve chosen January for a couple of reasons. First of all, the Temple Bar Tradfest, which has become one of the most prestigious and accessible traditional music festivals in Ireland, is on from the 25-29 of the month. Likewise, visiting in January means escaping all the tourist rabble and enjoying some of the city’s finest pubs in peace.

February – Aran Islands

Photo: Mark Heard

I know what you’re thinking. The Aran Islands… in February?? Well, if you are as crazy as we are or just want to get as far away from Valentine’s Day as you can, these scenic islands off the coast of Galway offer a great escape. More importantly, though, we chose February because Tedfest 6 will be on from the 23-26 of the month, and what better way to truly escape reality than listening to a bunch of faux priests sing Johnny Cash songs on a fictional island?

March – Co. Clare

Photo: IrishJaunt

If you’re hopeful about spring, Co. Clare is the place to be in March. Even Ireland’s most jaded recession mongers can’t help feel in awe of the beauty at the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren coast. Plus, if you’re up for a little trad music, the Corofin Traditional Festival is held over the first week in March and offers a chance to get up close and personal with some of the country’s best trad players.

April – Belfast

Photo: Damien du Toit

Belfast is constantly making Irish lists of great getaways, and as the northern city gains ground as a destination, so it gains popularity. Which means, if you want to see it before it becomes overrun, now’s the time. One better, this April marks 100 years since the sinking of the Titanic, and so to commemorate that event with undeniable irony, Belfast is hosting a slew of Titanic-related events, including the Titanic Belfast Festival, which will include light shows, musical performances and events, as well as the opening of Titanic Belfast, an exhibition experience about the doomed ship, which was of course, built in Belfast.

May – Killary Harbour

Photo: IrishJaunt

If you’ve never experienced the incredible view of Killary Harbour (Ireland’s only fjord!) from atop the Western Way path, you’ve missed one of Ireland’s most spectacular panoramas. May is the perfect time to head this way, as the weather usually lightens up around Leaving Cert time, and the May Bank Holiday weekend sees the opening of the Connemara Mussel Festival right here on the Renvyle Peninsula. Sleepzone Connemara makes for a cheap and cheerful place to stay with perfect views of the harbour, and while you’re here, be sure to pay a visit to Kylemore Abbey, one of the prettiest structures in Ireland.

June – Slieve League

Photo: Flickr user globalreachent

Although the weather in Donegal is never particularly predictable, June offers the best chance of sunny skies over Slieve League – arguably Ireland’s most dramatic sea cliffs. Be sure to pop in to the Sliabh League Cultural Centre for lunch and a peek at the art and archaeology of the area.

July – Coastal Wexford

Photo: Flickr user mozzercork

The Sunny Southeast is at its brightest in July, a perfect time to hit the sands of Curracloe Strand, one of Ireland’s longest and prettiest sand beaches (and, incidentally, the filming location for the D-Day scenes in Saving Private Ryan). From the 5-8 July, the Kilmore Quay Seafood Festival offers something for everyone (even non-seafood eaters) with a lineup of angling competitions, musical performances, kids’ events, coastal walks and, of course, seafood tastings.

August – Carlow

Photo: Keith Dowling

County Carlow doesn’t make too many top destination lists, but exploring the 16 different scenic spots along the Carlow Garden Trail as it winds its way through the lush county makes for a perfect August activity. Aim for the first weekend in August to partake in the annual Carlow Garden Festival, which features nature galore through guided walks, demonstrations, gardening lectures, craft fairs and more.

September – Giant’s Causeway

Photo: Flickr user TS Drown

The strange stone columns that make up one of the most unique and popular attractions on the island of Ireland – Giant’s Causeway in Co. Antrim – have long been without an official visitor centre, but that is all set to change this summer with the opening of an £18.5 million state-of-the-art visitor centre that a UNESCO World Heritage Site of this calibre deserves.

October – West Cork

Photo: IrishJaunt

While West Cork is abuzz all summer with visitors, October offers a different perspective on this upmarket holiday haven, providing not only the best chance to see some actual autumn colour, but also a bit of charitable exercise during the Irish Heart Foundation Walking Weekend (6-7 Oct), which sets off from Baltimore, and a yummy reward at the Kinsale Gourmet Festival (12-14 Oct). While you’re in the area, don’t miss the scenic village of Glandore.

November – Enniskillen

Photo: Courtesy Image

When the winter blues are about to set in, it’s time to set off for Enniskillen in Co. Fermanagh, where the Belle Isle Cookery School offers a range of winter cooking classes in November. Courses range from one-day sessions on how to throw a great dinner party to two-day “Game and Winter Wonders” classes, in which you’ll learn how to cook all types of wild fowl and meat. To really splash out, book a room in the 17th century Belle Isle Castle.

December – Galway City

Photo: Courtesy Image

Galway’s great at anytime of year, but the City of Tribes will particularly draw you in during the holidays with all of that Christmasy cheer. The annual Galway Continental Christmas Market, held in Eyre Square, puts a sweet, hippie bent on Christmas with artisanal foods and crafts made by Galwegians alongside more typical Christmas market fare, such as German-style sausages and lagers.

Getting around Ireland sans a car is not the simplest of things. Yes, there are a number of options, but there are not plenty of cheap and quick options. Let’s say, for example, you want to go from Dublin to Cork – a very heavily trafficked route, to be sure, and one that many people – both locals and visitors alike – are bound to undertake at some point.

By Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail), the journey is a little less than 3 hours. Sounds good until you realise that a return ticket costs a whopping €47 (and only goes up from there)! Bus Éireann, by contrast, charges only €20.90 for a return journey between Dublin and Cork, but takes a full four and a half hours to get there.

Enter Aircoach.

Photo: Darren Hall

Despite it’s rather specific name, Aircoach offers services well beyond the airport (although they have those too for a decent enough price). For our hypothetical Dublin-Cork journey, Aircoach charges a mere €22 return and does the journey in 3 hours 45 minutes.

Now, I have my reservations about bus journeys, mainly because I find them cramped and bumpy and all other manner of ill comforts. So, I was a bit hesitant about booking Aircoach from Dublin to Cork over Christmas. But, in these trying times, we of course wanted to save a few quid, so this seemed like our best option.

The trip down from Dublin to Cork was, admittedly, a bit of a trial. The coach was smaller than I expected and had no toilet, which left us with coffee bladders for the first half of the ride. Luckily, there is a “comfort break” on this journey, with a stop at a large petrol station in Urlingford (exactly 2 hours from Dublin) where toilets, cheap coffees and breakfast rolls abound. There are also two very friendly donkeys that stick their heads over the wall near the smoking area looking for treats.

The trip back from Cork to Dublin was considerably better. It was a different coach model with much bigger seats, foot rests and, yes! a toilet! This return coach also boasted leather seats and more leg room and was generally a lot more comfortable (comfort break was the same on the way back).

One thing I have to laud Aircoach for is the existence of free wifi on board. What a huge leap! I’m not sure why other transport services find it so difficult to get this service going, but this was a wonderful service that allowed us to read the news, email and keep in touch with the family we were heading to see. (Connection was a bit spotty on the return route, for some reason).

So, the question is, would I recommend Aircoach? Yes and no. If you are looking for a semi-comfortable, slightly quicker and much cheaper way of getting from Dublin to Cork, this is a great option (CityLink, meanwhile, provides similar services to/from Galway and Limerick). If money is not such a problem but comfort is, take the train. Bus Éireann? I can’t honestly see a reason to use it unless you’re going to a small town or village that is otherwise unserved by public transport.

Anyone that’s ever spent any time in the sweet little City of Tribes will tell you that it’s not getting to Galway that’s the problem, it’s getting out of Galway that is. If you know Galway well, the following words may be wasted on you (if you aren’t currently wasted already, forgive the pun), but if you’re new to the city, read on.

Standing stoutly on Ireland’s west coast looking bravely out into the rather unfriendly Atlantic Ocean, Galway is surprisingly soft. From the gentle curvature of its stone alleyways to the worn wood in its best pubs, Galway is a place where proverbs seem to become reality (time stands still, dreams are born, nothing is as it seems) and everyone is actually friendly.

Sure, Galway’s known for its hippies and artists and they are part of what makes the city so disgustingly charming, but it is also a sophisticate’s place, with a whole slew of European cafes and shops dotting its main streets and making it a very easy town in which to forget your woes in comfort.

If it’s your first time to Galway, here are a few of my favourite places around the city for eating, drinking, sleeping and seeing.

Seeing

Galway is really more about relaxing and finding yourself than it is about heavy sightseeing, but there are a number of historic sights around the place, such as the Spanish Arch, an extension of the old city walls built in the 1580s; Galway Cathedral, which, with its massive stone interior and sparkling stained glass, is among the youngest of Europe’s cathedrals; Eyre Square (pronounced “air”), the city’s main square and park; and the Salthill Promenade, an open length of footpath stretching north from the city centre that offers a great place to take in the sea air (or be blown down by it!).

What you really want to do, though, is use Galway as a base for exploring the surrounding countryside. To the north, Connemara is a desolate space of purple mountains and Irish speakers that has inspired some of the country’s iconic literature. To the south, the lunar karst landscape of The Burren and the dramatic Cliffs of Moher, all of which should be on any first-time visitor’s itinerary.

If you’re comfortable, consider hiring a car to set your own pace and spend some time (or even take an overnight somewhere like Clifden). Here’s a handy guide to driving in Ireland and you can follow our scenic driving loop through Connemara.

Alternately, a number of tour companies offer day trips by coach to these destinations, including the Galway Tour Company and Fáilte Tours. Be aware, though, that you might be run a bit ragged by the end and probably won’t get as much time to soak in the beauty of these places as you would if travelling on your own.

Eating

If you only eat one thing in Galway, make it McDonagh’s. Half take-away chipper and half nicer sit-down restaurant, McDonagh’s caters to all with its perfectly perfect fish ‘n’ chips – arguably the best you’ll have in Ireland. You’ll choose your fish from among cod, plaice, whiting and salmon (almost all freshly caught by local fishermen) and then an array of sides, including the hand-cut chips (I doubt I need to sell you much beyond the above photo).

For something slightly more upmarket, Martine’s Wine Bar has a thoughtful menu of European style dishes that range from pastas and steaks to fresh fish.

Drinking

There are a lot of great places to drink in Galway (’tis a university city, after all), but I am going to tell you about the traditional pubs because those are the ones I personally love and can recommend. Pictured above, Galway’s famous blue pub is Tigh Neachtains and you can’t miss it on any stroll down Quay Street. Inside you’ll find well poured pints of Guinness and lots of wooden nooks and crannies.

Music lovers should make for the Crane Bar, which requires a short walk west across the River Corrib to Sea Road. Downstairs they host regular traditional Irish music sessions, while true unplugged treasures (from professional trad to folk, blues and country) abound on the small stage upstairs. Tig Coili – that bright red pub you passed while you were shopping – does excellent trad sessions (don’t be surprised to hear some of Co. Galway’s most famous and infamous players here), or for a plain ole pint of good Guinness, there’s nowhere better than the simplicity of Freeney’s on High Street.

Sleeping

For a city of its size, Galway has a surprising number of accommodations including many budget options. I often opt to book into the Sleepzone Galway City, a hostel-meets-hotel where rooms are cheap, clean and fairly central. If you want to be right in the action, you should check out Barnacles Galway, a party-hardy hostel located right on pedestrianised Quay Street, or for something a little more comfy, the newly renovated Forster Court Hotel offers a gracefully upmarket option just behind Eyre Square.

Getting there & away

Coming from Dublin or Cork, there are a number of private coaches, such as the CityLink, which tend to offer the best value and comfort for your money and include services like toilets and free WiFi on board. Trains are a much comfier option but prices can be much higher and transfers between Cork and Galway, for example, require a change.

If flying into Shannon Airport in the West of Ireland, you can also catch the CityLink or, alternately, Ireland’s slow-but-somewhat-sure national bus service, Bus Éireann.

It’s nearly Christmas and we here at IrishJaunt simply can’t wait. While you may be out murdering yourself over Christmas shopping, which we all know is Irish code for “pints”, we hope you’ll take time to consider the true meaning of Christmas: family, love and friendship.

To that end, we’re bringing you a photo blog today that captures the special beauty of Ireland at Christmas.

Nollaig Shona Dhuit! Merry Christmas!