See Ireland on your own schedule

Let CIE tours be your travel guide

There are many advantages to taking a guided tour, especially if you want to maximize your travel time. But there is another way that is becoming just as popular when vacationing in Ireland: Independent travel. CIE Tours has been providing visitors with their personalized guide to Ireland for the past 76-plus years, so you know they have the contacts to make this a once-in-a-lifetime travel experience.

If you want to drive through the countryside and take in all the beautiful sights without being on a time schedule, then you’ll want to check out the “Go-As-You-Please Ireland” packages that can be found at cietours.com. In October, you can stay for six days for  only $76 per person. The package includes a rental car with unlimited mileage, pickup and drop-off in Shannon or Dublin, and your choice of more than 1,700 Bed & Breakfast accommodations that accept the provided open vouchers.

This travel package also includes a daily full Irish breakfast and rooms with private bath/shower. The town & country home guide offers 1,400 B & B listings and there are 300 more farmhouse locations to choose from.
Just mark your Ireland map and plan to visit the major attractions at your own pace, including the Waterford Crystal Factory, where you will receive a 10 percent discount in their retail shop.

Millions have come from all parts of the world to visit Blarney, about five miles northwest of Cork, Ireland, to kiss the “Blarney Stone.” Approximately 300,000 per year actually perform the physical task of kissing the bluestone built into the Blarney Castle, which is said to give you the gift of gab, or flattering, eloquent speech.

There are many stories about the origin of the “Blarney Stone,” but the accepted version says that in gratitude to the Irish for their help in the battle of Bannockburn in 1314, when the Scottish turned back the English, Robert the Bruce gave the stone to Cormac McCarthy, the King of Munster. In 1446, King Dermot McCarthy installed the stone in the expanded Blarney Castle.

While Dermot McCarthy ruled the castle, he was required to hand it over to Queen Elizabeth I as a sign of his loyalty. McCarthy always agreed to do so, but every time the Queen sent someone to claim it, he offered an eloquent excuse. McCarthy was so good at making these excuses, it became known as “Blarney talk.”
Of course, Blarney is just one of the staples of the travel itineraries offered at cietours.com. The Bunratty Castle, the Cliffs of Moher, the Merry Ploughboy Pub, the Skellig Experience, a personal guide through Dublin and countless other sights are all there for the choosing.

Kissing The Blarney Stone