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Irish Adventure
Superior & First Class Hotels: 8 or 9 Day Coach Tour
Tour
Highlights:
Abbey Tavern Dinner & Irish Show
Book of Kells
Cliffs of Moher
Monastic Glendalough
Dunbrody Famine Ship
Foynes Flying Boat
Museum
Walking Tours of Viking Waterford & Medieval Derry
Giant’s Causeway
Day 1: Dublin Tour & Book of Kells
Arrive at Dublin Airport
and proceed through immigration and pick up your baggage. Go to the CIE Tours
desk in the Arrivals Hall where personnel will arrange a group transfer to
your hotel, located near Trinity
College, between 7:00
am and 12:00 noon. If you arrive later than noon, you will need to transfer
to the hotel at your own expense. At 2:00 pm join a local guide for a half-day
guided tour of Dublin
to see elegant Georgian squares with colourful
doorways, O’Connell Street
and the evocative statues of the Famine Memorial. Visit Trinity
College’s campus
and the Old Library to view the illuminated manuscript
of the Book of Kells. Back at your hotel,
enjoy a welcome
drink and a briefing on
your tour. You are free to dine independently this evening.
Day 2: 6th Century Glendalough & Waterford Walk
This morning leave Dublin
to see the delightful scenery of the Wicklow Mountains on the way to Glendalough. Learn about St. Kevin’s 6th
century monastery in the Glendalough Visitor Centre
and walk through the site to see its round tower, church ruins and Celtic
crosses. Continue your drive south to Dunbrody
where a walk through a reconstructed Famine Ship will demonstrate
the harsh conditions that emigrants endured during the 19th
century. Drive to Waterford
and check in to your city centre hotel. Before dinner take a brief walking tour
around the narrow streets of the historic city centre with a local guide.
(B,D)
Day 3: Titanic Walk & Blarney
Travel along the south coast via Dungarvan to the port town of Cobh, the last scheduled stop of the
Titanic. A walking
tour will reveal many of the places associated with emigrants
as they left Ireland
to head to the New Worlds. Drive through the outskirts of Cork city to get to the Blarney Woollen Mills, which stocks an excellent
range of Irish goods all under one roof. While Blarney Castle
is not included in your tour, you will have time to kiss the “Stone of
Eloquence” on your own. Then journey west through rugged countryside to
Killarney, widely celebrated for its setting overlooking lakes and mountains.
Settle in to your centrally-located hotel or walk around the town. (B,D)
Day 4: Ring of Kerry & Skellig Experience
Enjoy the highlights of Ireland’s
natural scenery on the Ring of Kerry route. The road winds between the Macgillycuddy’s Reeks Mountains
on one side and the Atlantic coastline on the other. Start by viewing the Essence of Kerry audio
visual show at the Gap of Dunloe and
then drive through Killorglin and Cahirciveen to cross by bridge to Valencia Island.
Visit the Skellig Experience to learn about
the rocky islands off the end of the peninsula where monks lived in early
Christian times. Today the islands form a protected bird sanctuary. Stop in
the colourful village of Sneem and also at
Moll’s Gap to view the Three Lakes of Killarney. Enjoy some free time
in Killarney before dining in your hotel. (B,D)
Day 5: Flying Boat Museum &
Cliffs of Moher
Drive north through Listowel to Foynes to visit the
Flying Boat
Museum, which recalls the early days of air travel, during the
1930’s and early 1940’s, when Pan Am Clippers from the United States
and Europe landed here. Travel through the outskirts of Limerick and have a
look around Bunratty Village before heading to the
coast of County
Clare. View the Cliffs of Moher rising to heights of almost 700 feet
above the churning Atlantic swells and walk along the top of the cliffs to
O’Brien’s Tower for great views. Drive through the Burren and around the shores of Galway Bay.
Take a short orientation tour around central Galway
before checking in to your hotel. (B,D)
Day 6: Yeats’ Grave & Derry
Walk
Head north to visit the pilgrimage
town of Knock,
one of the world’s leading shrines. See the church where villagers saw
a vision of the Virgin Mary in 1879. Travel through County
Sligo and
stop to view W.
B. Yeats’ grave in Drumcliffe
Churchyard, in the shadow of Ben
Bulben Mountain. Follow the shoreline of Donegal Bay
to Donegal town and past the lovely Blue
Stack Mountains
to Derry. On arrival in Derry
take a brief drive around the city, including the Bogside
area, before meeting a local guide for a walking tour of the medieval
walls, which date from 1613 AD and encircle the old city centre. (B,D)
Day 7: Giant’s Causeway &
Abbey Tavern
Today explore the north coastline,
stopping for photos at the sprawling ruins of Dunluce Castle. Visit the Giant’s Causeway,
enormous hexagonal columns formed by volcanic activity over 60 million years
ago. Continue south to experience wonderful views of mountains, valleys and
bays along the “Nine Glens of Antrim.” Take a drive around Belfast to see Victorian
buildings, the Harland & Wolff shipyards where the Titanic was built, and
the Falls Road and Shankill residential areas.
Continue south to check in to another hotel in Dublin. This evening drive to the popular Abbey Tavern
for a hearty dinner and an evening of entertaining traditional Irish songs
and step-dancing. (B,D)
Day 8: Leisure Day in Dublin or Depart for
Home
For clients booked on our 8-day tour,
complimentary group transfers are provided to Dublin Airport
to arrive at 6:00 am, 9:00 am or 12:00 noon. If you have booked our 9-day
tour you may plan out your day in Dublin as you wish, using your independent Dublin open-top bus
tour pass to get around (valid for 24 hours) and visit to
Guinness or Jameson for a tour and a complimentary drink. In the evening you
are free to choose from the many restaurants near your hotel and in the Temple Bar area. (B)
Day 9: Depart Ireland
Today take a taxi transfer to Dublin Airport allowing plenty of time to
reach the airport and for check-in formalities. You will then have time to
shop at the duty free shops before boarding your flight home. (B)
Tour
runs 1 March - 6 December
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Tour Dates
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Price
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Tour runs every Monday 1
March > 29 March
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$1500
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Tour runs every Monday
& Wednesday 31 March – 27 October
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31 March >26 April
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$1865
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28 April > 26
May
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$2075
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31 May > 27 September
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$2125
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29 Sept > 27 October
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$1960
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1 Nov > 6 Dec
(Mondays only)
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$1645
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Rates
are in Australian dollars per person twin share basis.
Single
supplement add $600
To
extend this tour to 9 days add $195 p.p. twin share add an additional $80 to
single supplement
YOUR
TOUR INCLUDES
• Transfers
on arrival and departure
• Sightseeing
by luxury coach throughout
• Dublin open-top bus tour
• Visit and a
drink at Guinness Storehouse or Old Jameson Distillery (9-day tour only)
• Services of
a professional Irish driver/guide
• Superior
& first class hotels with private bath/shower for 7 or 8 nights
• 7 or 8 full
Irish breakfasts (B)
• 6 dinners
(D) including
- Traditional Irish evening with dinner and
entertainment at the Abbey Tavern
- 5 table d’hôte dinners
• Welcome
get-together drink
• Tour of Dublin with a local
guide
•
“Titanic” walking tour of Cobh
• Walking
tours of Waterford and Derry
with local guides
• Panoramic
drive around Belfast
• Dublin bus tour pass
with a visit to Guinness or Jameson (9 day option)
• Visits and
admissions to Book of Kells at Trinity College, Glendalough Visitor Centre, Dunbrody
Famine Ship, Blarney Woollen Mills, Essence of
Kerry AV show, Skellig Experience, Foynes Flying Boat Museum, Cliffs of Moher,
Knock Shrine, W. B. Yeats’ Grave and Giant’s Causeway
• Deluxe
flight bag, ticket wallet, luggage tags & strap
• All local
taxes, hotel service charges & porterage for
one suitcase per person
YOUR HOTELS
Stay
at the following (or similar):
Mont Clare Hotel, Dublin (1 night)
Dooley’s
Hotel, Waterford (1 night)
International
Hotel, Killarney (2 nights)
Westwood
Hotel, Galway (1 night)
Everglades
Hotel, Derry
(1 night)
Burlington Hotel, Dublin (1 or 2 nights)
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