Here is my situation: I have a ticket (flying NY to Dublin then to Barcelona) for Jan 12. The boyfriend (now ex) I was going to visit in Barcelona broke up with me a few days ago (great timing jerk!)! Despite my heartbreak I still want to go on my trip, but alter it so that I stay in Ireland for about a month and then head off to Spain for about another month. He and I were supposed to be splitting everything money wise, so I am on a tight budget. I am a member of couchsurfing so I am sending out requests like crazy. Does anyone have any ideas about how to spend an inexpensive time in Ireland or even ways to make some money? I have WWOOFed before in other countries, just found out about workaway anyone had positive experiences? It is getting down to the wire to rework this whole trip but I have hope it can happen.
Thanks so very much to any help!

I'm not really up on the free accommodation options, but smaller towns tend to be much cheaper than the cities, so try to spend more time outside of urban centres. I was there in 2004, and hostels were typically 30% cheaper in small towns, which adds up to a lot of money.

Other than that, it's the standards. Avoid drinking much (though if there's live music, particularly in a small town pub, it will almost certainly be worth the cost to go. Those are some of my best memories of Ireland.) Eat food from grocery stores, don't buy souvenirs. All the usual stuff.

All that said, it's not a cheap country, so be prepared. However, I don't know how much cheaper it would have been with a partner anyway.

I was just in Ireland a couple months ago, and like 2wanderers, I don't have too much experience with ultra-cheap travel, but I'll still echo the statement on smaller towns.

Dublin has all this hype around it lately, and to be honest, I was fairly disappointed with it, partly for that reason. And also partly because it's insanely expensive, and not really all that nice.

When I got to Galway and Killarney (which are still relatively big) everything was much cheaper and actually quite a bit nicer. I imagine smaller towns are even cheaper and probably very enjoyable.

So my only real advice is to minimize your time in Dublin, and you are more likely to discover the real magic of Ireland in the smaller towns, while keeping costs way down as well.

Thanks for the ideas! Mary-Kate

Hey Mary Kate,

What is your give budget for your month in Ireland?
Im here now but travelling to oz in few months due to recession here,,

I live in Bray which is near diblin-expensive,,

Hostels are pretty expensive too,, I think you need to try a few pubs for pub work for a month with corresponding free digs,, Could be god craic if you got a lively spot but you would need to contact the right peps..

Just a thought but it may be worth checking out northern ireland too for a while, its cheaper than the republic (though don't know about accomodation) and as far as I know the pound fell against the dollar recently.

ps agree with other posters about Dublin being more expensive (I think latest surveys put price difference around 15% with the rest of the country).lots of nice smaller places on west coast but problem is no youth hostels and bad transport links.


1
http://www.rte.ie/business/2009/0108/cso2.html

My budget is...as cheap as I possibly can, because after a month here I go to Spain for a month. I am on my second day in Dublin and luckly I am a member of couchsurfing.com (check it out) so I have some places to stay. Thanks for the ideas...really northern Ireland is cheapers than the republic?

Also I have been thinking of going into a pub and asking for work, but like you said, I have to find the right one. Thanks again. MK

Ireland's a good country for hitch-hiking and camping, those are both good ways to save some money

Camping is cheap and fun but the weather here is pretty terrible (as if your in dublin I'm sure you know) at the min and january/febuary is always a cold enough month.

Don't really know how the sterling:dollar compares to euro:dollar but sterling slumped again this week so I would presume its very good, northern ireland is cheaper certainly considerably cheaper than the Republic for food and drink (even when the sterling was stronger this was the case) but I don't know if accomodation in hotels and youth hostels is any better. It would be worth it to go up for a few days anyway and see the sights even if it wasn't cheaper

Ive recently just been to Derry and have to say I found prices there in line with a lot of england - in fact i didnt find it much cheaper than at home (i live in a big town on south coast.) But the north is def worth checking out for sure Belfast and Derry are great cities to visit with loads of history. And then you have the infamous Giants Causeway. A month should be grand for a good tour of both north and south and its so easy to get around - its less than 4 hours on a bus from Dublin to Derry (cost me $27 return).

Mich