A long time coming, I intend to visit Ireland this year. With that in mind, I would like to seek some tips and/or advice from you all.
What would be the economical way to fly there and back? Would a package deal be the cheapest?
I would prefer to visit a more rural part of Ireland, hopefully an area where Irish is spoken primarily. Would it be more expensive to visit those areas?
Any advice you could give from your own experiences would be greatly appreciated!

Hey, that's GREAT! I went to Ireland when I first started learning Gaelic back in 2007. I knew that it was gonna be a once in a lifetime thing, so I tried to get the most out of my 2 weeks there.

I'm not a world traveller or anything like that, so I don't really know much about finding cheap flights, but I saved a ton of money by buying my plane tickets way in advance.

I stayed in a very rural place where virtually everybody spoke Irish. In fact, the only English that I heard when I was in Ireland was at the airport. I deliberately didn't rent a car and go touring around. I just lived there like an average person and tried to use as much Irish as possible – even though I was only a beginner back then. My landlady was elderly and almost never spoke in English, which was great for me because I was there to learn Irish.

I stayed there for 2 weeks of lessons with these folks:
http://www.oidhreacht.ie

There are bigger schools with lots of people, but I chose this one because:
* I decided early on that I wanted to learn Munster Irish
* I wanted to go to a small rural place where EVERYBODY was speaking Irish; I knew that this would probably be my only chance to ever see Ireland, so I wanted to go to a nice, quiet place where I could start learning the language in a very small classroom setting.
* At the time, I didn't know anything about Ireland and the school helped me find a little place to live that was right next to the school and the grocery store.
* The school took everybody sight-seeing almost every day and my landlady made us breakfast every morning so once I actually got there, I hardly spent any money at all

I would NOT do a package thing. They're going to try to sell you on castles and such, with very little to do with Gaelic Ireland.

If I were you, I'd spend some time thinking about what you want to do in Ireland. Do you want to spend time learning the language? Do you want to explore the areas your family came from? Once you have an idea what you want to do, we can probably guide you as to how to do that.

Redwolf

How much time do you have? Id still visit some of the citys if you had the time, gives you a better picture of Ireland.

But DONT do a package deal or tour, they try to cram in as much as possible to get value for money, you just end up getting whisked around from sight to sight and never get to see real Ireland.

I recommend http://www.oidhreacht.ie as well from personal experience, I find the courses very enjoyable. And they are set in an area where nearly everyone speaks Irish.

Not sure what you mean by castles having little to do with Gaelic Ireland though Redwolf, they were built during the historical period we refer to as Gaelic Ireland, many were built and inhabited not only by Gaelicized Anglo-Norman Family's but Also by Gaelic spets themselves. They are from a period when Gaelic Language, Customs and Laws held sway across most the land.

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Bíonn rudaí maithe mall

True but the tours that specialize in castles and best known sites are not for someone attempting to learn Irish, Depending on the amount of time available, I'd recommend a Gaeltacht course or touring a Gaeltacht area rather than the usual package deal

I think places like Kilmainham jail do tours in Irish, but you probably want to book it and have the numbers.
Its a great and oft overlooked place to visit in Dublin .

I did the Oidreach course during the summer. During the first part of the day we did Classes , then we would go on walks or tours through Irish and then events later in the evening in Irish. Saw lots of historical sights, the Baskets etc, . Thoroughly enjoyed it. of course it helped that the weather was over 30C.

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Bíonn rudaí maithe mall

Kilmainham Gaol is definitely worth a visit. Glasnevin Cemetary is another fascinating place to visit in Dublin, and I believe they do tours in Irish as well, but only on certain days.

If you're in Dublin for a few days, a day trip to Glendalough is also very worth doing.

Redwolf

Here's an idea for you:

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=2814

Thanks, all. I appreciate the new info and the points I didn't consider. My reason for visiting Ireland is mainly just to see the country and for the experience. If I could find myself immersed in the language, all the better.
I am not sure how long one can stay on a passport, though. Time for more research.....

Thomas, you should be able to come for 30 days, visa free.

What month are you thinking?

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