6-Day South of Ireland Tour from Dublin

Posted By : M4432HQbevh
The sights we visited were awesome but needed more time to enjoy them. We didn't follow the itinerary on the website at all. Our driver, John, seemed to have his own agenda. Didn't give much narrative about history or geography. Accommodations were below average. I would not recommend this tour.
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Posted On : 2023-09-08 05:19:17

Posted By : Trek815147
1. Pick Up Time: 09:00am (15mins early)-posted on the email
All the 14 tourists were at the meeting point around 8:30, but the bus came at 9:15.
2. The company changed the bus from a new one to an older ,smaller bus with
flat tire marks after the second day of our tour.(The bus number is 191-KY-2298 with
photo attached.)
The second bus put us in a very dangerous and uncomfortable situation for a long day
tour. Our bus was the smallest one WITH only 18 seats or so in every bus parking lot among other buses of other companies or even Paddywagon.(with photo attached)

3. The actual itinerary of the tour lead by John was highly illogical and significantly deviated from the itinerary displayed on the website of Paddywagon.(with doc. attached)
We were taken directly from the east to the west on the first day, then from the west to the east on the third day, and once again from the east to the west on the fourth day. The constant back-and-forth travel in haste and long hours driving not only made the journey dangerous and stressful for the driver and passengers, but also left us with minimal time to appreciate the scenic beauty of Ireland and even resulted in skipping several planned destinations. Instead of a relaxing tour, we felt as though we were being rushed and subjected to undue stress.

4. On the second night, five tourists were designated to another lower conditioned hotel since Kingdom Lodge (The other 9 tourists stayed here.)vacancies were available .
Furthermore, On the third night, we were accommodated at the Travel Lodge in Waterford which was on unpleasant condition, and moreover three tourists were not listed and had to wait for available rooms. After our insistence on not staying there, we were all moved to Granville hotel.

The end result is we were not pleased with the treatment. We didn’t get what we paid for in a leisurely way.
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Posted On : 2023-08-11 07:38:10

Posted By : Janette_S
Driver Dan was great and very relaxed answering all questions. Fortunately the weather was fantastic and as the group was small everything was easy and manageable
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Posted On : 2023-06-14 04:37:34

Posted By : Patty_S
The tour went out of order from what was advertised, and we ended up spending a lot more time on the bus, and not enjoying the beautiful scenery and towns.
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Posted On : 2023-06-02 15:33:47

Posted By : J7340BHseano
Our driver guide Vincent was an excellent fella with a great sense of humour who really knew his stuff and was flexible and able to incorporate extras in the tour. He could have given us more information about the each days itinerary but to be fair, he had to be flexible because there were unforeseen circumstances (like roads closed around Dingle due to a marathon). The 6 day tour was combined with a 4 day tour and a one day Galway tour so we went in reverse to the advertised itinerary... Some days there was lots of driving/sitting on the bus... Highlights were Cliffs of Moher and the coastal drive around Dingle. Kilkenny was our favourite city because it was calm and not as busy as the others ....the Kilkenny castle and grounds is a green refuge in the city. We went to bed early and missed the late night pub music that started after 9pm but some of our fellow tourists enjoyed this. We did our own thing and got up early most mornings to walk around before breakfast, including in Killarney where we walked to Ross Castle, only 2km or so from city centre.
Accommodation was a mix of very nice BnBs in Galway and Annascaul (2 nights) to a big hotel in Waterford and a not so great hostel in Killarney. Overall it was great value and good craic....
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Posted On : 2022-09-07 04:21:01

Posted By : gabrieleb871
Coverage of the spectacular scenery of Southern Ireland was wonderful. However, Paddywagon organisation and communication seem to be greatly lacking.

1) 9 am pickup time was listed in our booking confirmation. Four months later received an identical confirmation email with a change in pickup time to 8 am but this was not specifically highlighted. Luckily I noticed an 8 am pickup time in an online itinerary and phoned to confirm. Someone else in our group missed the first day because of this miscommunication.

2) On boarding the bus we were told that our itinerary was reversed and our driver, Vinny, was never very forthcoming as to the day's plan. One day was spent on a six hour drive without an opportunity for a lunch break!

3) There was not much of the promised history and description of the areas we visited. Itinerary seems to be totally up to the whim of the driver

3) Accommodations in general were definitely below expectations but especially so in Killarney, where we spent two nights in Paddy's Palace, which is really a hostel with some rooms converted to ensuite doubles. Very rundown facilities, lacking in basics like water glasses in bathroom. This was also the case in Anascaul, where when requesting water glasses for the bathroom we were advised not to drink the water because it came from storage tanks and we had to buy expensive bottled water at the bar. I tried to obtain reviews about accommodations before our trip but found none.

4) As our tour was ending we were told we would be dropped off at a place different from our pickup point. This should have been indicated on the itinerary and after protest on my part Vinny did take us back to where we were picked up.

Would definitely recommend exploring options with other tour companies even if it means a higher cost.
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Posted On : 2022-07-27 04:44:33

Posted By : kvb1021
My immediate family of 7 took a private tour of the Wild Atlantic Way in June. Our driver, Darren Ferguson, was a perfect fit. We followed an itinerary, but Darren took us to spectacular places off the beaten path along our way. He was patient with us and kind, always in an upbeat mood. We stayed in B & B's that gave us great perspective on the unique vibe and culture of the different counties and towns. The highlight was staying overnight at Kinnitty Castle, our last stop before returning to Dublin. It was amazing! We had a billing issue, but that was resolved to our satisfaction upon our return. I will recommend Paddywagons to all my friends. Great experience and good value.
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Posted On : 2022-07-18 15:09:48

Posted By : Tim R
Great tour! Our guide Danny was a legend, and just generally a good bloke. Also got some great tips about where to go after the tour. Highly recommended 👍
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Posted On : 2022-07-08 08:45:26

Posted By : chickne
We usually travel independently, but public transport was not efficient for seeing a lot in a few days. This is the first bus tour we’ve done, and it was a great experience. Our driver/guide Danny had so much interesting information on such a range of topics ( history, politics, mythology, living in Ireland, Irish language and accents and more) AND hilarious stories—I think we laughed more in these 6 days than the last two years. Danny was kind and helpful, and gave honest recommendations for restaurants, entertainment, etc. We saw many beautiful places and appreciated how Danny adjusted the schedule so if the sun was shining we spent a little longer there. Some of our favourite stops were Galway and Cliffs of Moher. We stayed in a twin rooms and they were all good.
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Posted On : 2022-06-29 06:48:44

Posted By : joanmg353
DO NOT USE THIS TOUR COMPANY!
After over 2 YEARS, we are still trying to get our refund from them for a tour in summer 2020. They aren't in the office, they can't issue a refund from home (not true), and many other excuses received over 2 years.
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Posted On : 2022-06-19 12:48:19