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Lonely Planet Discover Ireland
Describes points of interest and itineraries for each region of Ireland, and recommends hotels, restaurants, and entertainment.
- GenresTravelNonfictionIreland
432 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2010
11 people are currently reading
66 people want to read
About the author
Lonely Planet
3,676 books886 followersOUR STORY
A beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket and a sense of adventure. In 1972 that’s all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime – across Europe and Asia overland to Australia. It took several months, and at the end – broke but inspired – they sat at their kitchen table writing and stapling together their first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap. Within a week they’d sold 1500 copies and Lonely Planet was born. One hundred million guidebooks later, Lonely Planet is the world’s leading travel guide publisher with content to almost every destination on the planet.
A beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket and a sense of adventure. In 1972 that’s all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime – across Europe and Asia overland to Australia. It took several months, and at the end – broke but inspired – they sat at their kitchen table writing and stapling together their first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap. Within a week they’d sold 1500 copies and Lonely Planet was born. One hundred million guidebooks later, Lonely Planet is the world’s leading travel guide publisher with content to almost every destination on the planet.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 25, 2011
A nice tourist guide to Ireland. Lonely Planet produces a nice set of such works, and this surely lives up to the quality standards of other pieces in this series. Glossy pages, lots of photos and maps. Pages 32 and after provide a series of itineraries for trips throughout Ireland. What to do, where to eat, where to stay. . . . This volume has suggestions galore along those lines.
Overall, as noted, a good addition to the Lonely Planet series. . . .
Overall, as noted, a good addition to the Lonely Planet series. . . .
January 10, 2024
The setup of this book is much better than the typical Lonely Planet books. There are more pictures and itineraries and fewer useless where to stay recs that are quickly outdated. I prefer to check online for where to stay and eat, but use guidebooks to get ideas for what there is to do and where, and this was good for that.
July 13, 2013
A very easy to read guide with lots of inside information that you probably won't get from other travel books. I intend to take this with me on my trip to Ireland.
July 1, 2017
This is my personal favourite of the Ireland travel guides I have read so far.
A little bit opinionated, featuring a few more obscure attractions, this book is important to read in addition other travel books on Ireland.
A little bit opinionated, featuring a few more obscure attractions, this book is important to read in addition other travel books on Ireland.
December 30, 2010
I got this book through the Amazon Vine program. I was excited to get it because we have been planning a trip to Ireland. Overall this looks like a useful book.
This book starts out with 25 top sites in Ireland and a couple itineraries. Then it goes through different sections of the country. All in all it is a very complete guidebook and gives a good general overview of Ireland. I enjoyed the "Best Of" sections, the highlights written by local people who live in Ireland, and the suggested itineraries. I thought the book was missing a large fold-out map of the country; I also thought that the way things were organized by city was a bit confusing...I would have preferred them to be organized by highlight/site to see. But, it works okay this way too.
Each country section starts out with the top sites in that area and give short itineraries to see those specific areas. Following that there are a couple pages on "the best of" in the region (best walks, best eats, etc.) Then it goes through the area by county and city. For each city you are given the standard guidebook info on places to sleep, eat, and transportation. There are maps of the featured cities in each region and maps of each region. The parts of the country covered are:
Dublin
Eastern Ireland
Kilkenny and the Southeast
Southwest Ireland
Galway and the West
Northwest Ireland
Northern Ireland
One thing that is different from other guide books in this book is that the first one or two highlights for each region are actually done by an expert in that area from Ireland. For example in Northern Ireland the first highlight is "The Coastal Causeway Route". There is a two page spread on this highlight and it is done by Jason Powell of Causeway Coasts and Glens Tourism. The the next highlight "The Bogside, Derry" is another two page spread written by Tom Kelly, Kevin Hasson, and William Kelly who are all Bogside Artists. It is kind of neat to hear about these highlights from a local person's perspective.
After we go through all the sections of the country there are two more main sections to the book. The first is Ireland in Focus which features very brief sections on: family travel, food and drink, history, Irish symbols, literature, national psyche, sports, the Irish people, the pub, and traditional music. The second section is the Directory and Transport section: this feature is exactly what it sounds like...more detailed info on transportation and on getting around the country in general.
Overall a great general guidebook to Ireland. It is missing a large map and the organization by city can get a bit cumbersome if you are more interested in just seeing specific attractions. The best of sections and highlight sections are what really shine in this book. The pictures are very nice too. If you are interested in a really specific section of Ireland you should probably get a guide book specializing in that section; this is a great book for a full country overview.
This book starts out with 25 top sites in Ireland and a couple itineraries. Then it goes through different sections of the country. All in all it is a very complete guidebook and gives a good general overview of Ireland. I enjoyed the "Best Of" sections, the highlights written by local people who live in Ireland, and the suggested itineraries. I thought the book was missing a large fold-out map of the country; I also thought that the way things were organized by city was a bit confusing...I would have preferred them to be organized by highlight/site to see. But, it works okay this way too.
Each country section starts out with the top sites in that area and give short itineraries to see those specific areas. Following that there are a couple pages on "the best of" in the region (best walks, best eats, etc.) Then it goes through the area by county and city. For each city you are given the standard guidebook info on places to sleep, eat, and transportation. There are maps of the featured cities in each region and maps of each region. The parts of the country covered are:
Dublin
Eastern Ireland
Kilkenny and the Southeast
Southwest Ireland
Galway and the West
Northwest Ireland
Northern Ireland
One thing that is different from other guide books in this book is that the first one or two highlights for each region are actually done by an expert in that area from Ireland. For example in Northern Ireland the first highlight is "The Coastal Causeway Route". There is a two page spread on this highlight and it is done by Jason Powell of Causeway Coasts and Glens Tourism. The the next highlight "The Bogside, Derry" is another two page spread written by Tom Kelly, Kevin Hasson, and William Kelly who are all Bogside Artists. It is kind of neat to hear about these highlights from a local person's perspective.
After we go through all the sections of the country there are two more main sections to the book. The first is Ireland in Focus which features very brief sections on: family travel, food and drink, history, Irish symbols, literature, national psyche, sports, the Irish people, the pub, and traditional music. The second section is the Directory and Transport section: this feature is exactly what it sounds like...more detailed info on transportation and on getting around the country in general.
Overall a great general guidebook to Ireland. It is missing a large map and the organization by city can get a bit cumbersome if you are more interested in just seeing specific attractions. The best of sections and highlight sections are what really shine in this book. The pictures are very nice too. If you are interested in a really specific section of Ireland you should probably get a guide book specializing in that section; this is a great book for a full country overview.
March 22, 2011
My travel book of choice has usually been Frommer's, however, I am vbery excited about Lonely Planet's full color Discover Ireland guide book. While it contains the usual top sights to see, history and orientation of each major venue, there are many added pages of information such as Dangers and Annoyances (many of them in Dublin drink related). The chapters start with touring Dublin and move on in a clockwise circle to Eastern Ireland, Kilkenny and the Southeast, the Southwest, Galway and the West, the Northwest and finally Northern Ireland. In addition to general sights, each section has a "best of", Things you need to know (for example: how far in advance to book hotel accommodations, each county in a nutshell, when and where places will be the busiest plus several online resources and travel modes.)
Opening and closing times for many attractions are listed as well as pricing for accommodations and some select eateries. I was pleased to find some of my favorites from past trips still mentioned. Among those I can personally recommend: the Farmgate in Midleton, Co. Cork; McDonagh's in Galway City (honest, they serve the world's BEST fish and chips!); Edward Langton's in Kilkenny (one not on the list: the cafeteria at the Kilkenny Design Centre).
Another item not mentioned in the book but worth pursuing if time permits is the self-guided walking tour of many of the cities and villages. Maps can be purchased at several shops for pennies and give lots of information on each area's sights. I've personally done walking tours of Kinsale, Kilkenny, Galway, Dungarvan and Skibbereen.
Maps abound on nearly every page as do fantastic color photos. Each area is highlighted in a special color to make accessing the information easy.
This is a high quality book with heavy pages and a wealth of information. No matter what your taste: gourmet food, ancient ruins, traditional music, pub crawling, coastal splendor, recent Irish history-it's all listed right here. If your taste runs to Irish revolutionary history, I suggest you check out the online links for Dublin, Clonakilty, Sam's Cross, Bealnablath, Rosscarbery.
However, for the first time visitor, there's enough information in Discover Ireland to keep you very busy and very happy.
Two thumbs up for this one.
Opening and closing times for many attractions are listed as well as pricing for accommodations and some select eateries. I was pleased to find some of my favorites from past trips still mentioned. Among those I can personally recommend: the Farmgate in Midleton, Co. Cork; McDonagh's in Galway City (honest, they serve the world's BEST fish and chips!); Edward Langton's in Kilkenny (one not on the list: the cafeteria at the Kilkenny Design Centre).
Another item not mentioned in the book but worth pursuing if time permits is the self-guided walking tour of many of the cities and villages. Maps can be purchased at several shops for pennies and give lots of information on each area's sights. I've personally done walking tours of Kinsale, Kilkenny, Galway, Dungarvan and Skibbereen.
Maps abound on nearly every page as do fantastic color photos. Each area is highlighted in a special color to make accessing the information easy.
This is a high quality book with heavy pages and a wealth of information. No matter what your taste: gourmet food, ancient ruins, traditional music, pub crawling, coastal splendor, recent Irish history-it's all listed right here. If your taste runs to Irish revolutionary history, I suggest you check out the online links for Dublin, Clonakilty, Sam's Cross, Bealnablath, Rosscarbery.
However, for the first time visitor, there's enough information in Discover Ireland to keep you very busy and very happy.
Two thumbs up for this one.
April 24, 2012
We are using this 2012 edition to plan our 2012 trip to Ireland this summer. With this book, we feel completely informed, prepared, and empowered to plan our vacation on our own. Reasons we love this version:
-Full Color pages, pictures, charts, etc.
-Specific details on costs of food
-"25 top things to do in Ireland" was the perfect starting point for planning our 5 day trip
-Up-to-date websites and phone numbers
-the book is subdivided into different parts of the island, each with it's own blown up, full color map marked with "must-see" spots
Once we have actually been to Ireland and really used the book in the field, we will update this review, if needed.
-Full Color pages, pictures, charts, etc.
-Specific details on costs of food
-"25 top things to do in Ireland" was the perfect starting point for planning our 5 day trip
-Up-to-date websites and phone numbers
-the book is subdivided into different parts of the island, each with it's own blown up, full color map marked with "must-see" spots
Once we have actually been to Ireland and really used the book in the field, we will update this review, if needed.
August 20, 2014
The Lonely Planet Discover Guides are intended to be used as an enhancement to their travel guides and I for one, think they are worth the additional cost. The photos are all in color and there are plenty of them, giving the reader a much better perspective of the places they are thinking of visiting. I first read the Lonely Planet Ireland book but as I had never been there before, I still had a hazy idea of what I might see. The Discover Ireland book expanded my knowledge and provided me with a better idea of what I'd see and helped me decide where to go. The more in depth information in LP Ireland helped me narrow down places to stay, eat and planning for sight seeing. I love this book!
December 2, 2013
I wish the author had left the tour bashing alone. I don't particularly like tour groups either, but for some of us it is the only feasible option (thanks Avis *glares*). So now I'm going to feel even more self conscious and rude! Thanks! It's sad that this is the first thing I think about when I remember this book.
Otherwise a great book, I'm glad for the tips and some ideas for sightseeing in Dublin and Belfast.
Otherwise a great book, I'm glad for the tips and some ideas for sightseeing in Dublin and Belfast.
July 1, 2014
This isn't the Lonely Planet Guide to start with...it's more of a sampler/picture book that compliments the existing guides. It's nowhere near as detailed or deep as the actual Ireland guide. However, if you DO have that guide, and don't want to shell out for a complete update, the discover guide offers a few fresh bits of info without too much duplication, and the colour pictures & diagrams add some extra pizazz. Bits of local advice round out this suitable addition to your travel library.
May 2, 2012
I picked this book up because it had lots of pictures and an overview of the "best" things in each area of the country, to help me plan my trip. It's a good resource to start the planning. It's also heavy and there are not a lot of details that would actually be helpful in the country, so I'll be leaving it at home when I actually travel.
March 18, 2017
A gift book that I am enjoying more now after my trip to Ireland because I am not a planner. Makes me want to go back even more!
May 15, 2014
Great book but not enough info on Northern Ireland.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews