The Best and Worst months to visit Ireland
As a person who lives year round in Ireland, I can tell you there's no terrible time to visit Ireland. There's always stuff to do. There's always people to meet. There's always pints
have. But there are times that I feel are better and probably times that are not quite as good so I'm going to give you a list of the best and the worst times to visit Ireland in my opinion. But even in the worst times, I'm going to give you reasons why you might still want to come here. You can also watch the full video where I break down all the below here
January and February definitely the worst in my opinion. New year, fresh start and all that. It's great, but January in particular can be pretty bleak here. It's dark. It's cold. A lot of places are shut. Most people are coming off the festive period so they've either overindulged, they've over spent. So they are in hibernation mode. February, you start to see a bit of a spark of life. The daffodils start to pop up. But January in particular of the January and February period can be can be dark and bleak and people are on a bit of a downer that month and they're looking forward to it to be over. The tourist towns in particular are shut. There's very very few people around.
So, why would you want to visit in these months? Mainly because it's cheaper.
There's more accommodation options because there's not many people visiting. The big hotels are all still open. We have a new bank holiday now as well at the start of February so that kind of kicks off the season a tiny bit. What you'll find, too, is that the cities are still open. They're still going. People are obviously living working in these places and all the big towns. If you're sitting in a quiet pub having a pint or two and there's some locals there, you'll have a lot better chance to get to know them and chat to them and find out what you should do. Everyone's a bit more relaxed if you are in those places, particularly Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford, big towns, you will find plenty of places that are open and plenty of space.
My number two is November. not the best time to visit. It's a weird month. It's getting darker. It's getting colder. People are holding back. So, the pubs are kind of quiet, businesses are quiet, the tourist season has ended. A lot of the tourist companies have now shut up shop for the season so you won't get out to those remote places that you want to go to. Traveling around can be tough. The weather can be quite unpredictable at this time of year. If you want to go to any of the islands or far out to the west coast, you just start starting to get a bit more difficult.
Why it's better than January and February is that we just haven't hit that post festive
season. The blues haven't kicked in. So, everyone is still in pretty good form and people are starting to kind of know that that family's coming back, friends are going to be arriving back next month and you're starting to see maybe the office parties kicking in. People are out in the street a small bit, certainly at the towards the tail end of November. It does begin to pick up. It's also cheaper. So maybe it's a good time to come to relax, sit down in a pub, a quiet pub, get to meet some people if that's what you want, if you want less of that hustle and bustle of the tourist season. It is dark, cold, wintry, and quieter than the months either side of it. But it's not as bleak as January, February. So it's one of those months that you can decide. Maybe it's a nice calm, relaxing visit that you want, and that's perfect month for it.
Number three on the list is March and April. I want to put these months together. Strange in between months. You know, summer's coming, but it doesn't feel like summer. In fact, March sometimes can be pretty horrendous weather-wise. We've had some massive snowstorms in March.
But we are out now of the kind of winter season going into spring, moving towards summer so people are starting to get a bit excited. Paddy's Day, obviously, March 17th, that's kind of kicks off our our spirit again. Everyone starts to get out and about. People on the streets because it's mainly street parades. The nights are getting a bit longer, the hour changes and all that, so March and April people are starting to pick up everyone's in good good spirits tourist season hadn't hasn't quite kicked off yet so it's not ideal for that sort of stuff. The coastal towns will start to open slowly but again you might go there you might find a lot of them are still shut for another month or so. It's a nice kind of calm time to come. The schools are still in, so they won't be traveling around. There will be space to visit places and not feel like you're under pressure. There certainly won't be many tourists at that time of year either. It is also a good opportunity to come on a lower budget.
Number four is December. December is a great month. Yeah, the shortest day of the year, (December 21st - the winter solstice) happens. If anyone can get a ticket for Newgrange. (very hard to come by), go for it!
It's a great month. It's a fun month. There's a lot happening. A lot of people are arriving back. A lot of families, a lot of friends meeting. So the general energy around the place is brilliant. It's great fun. a lot of the Christmas lights, the Christmas markets.
Everyone is going for it. They're having the craic. It's a nice energy to be a part of.
But it might be hard to break into the Irish groups in that month. It might be hard to socialize with the groups cause they're just there for the friends, family they haven't seen all year.
Everyone knows January is coming so they're just going for it. They're just having a craic. Right up to New Year's. Obviously weather wise you'll have December weather, winter weather. It'll be dark. So, if you have young kids and all that, maybe this isn't the best time because there will be far less to do. You want to be able to get out and about on the beaches and walks and all that sort of stuff if you have kids. But, if you're just going couple or a person on their own, it can be a great time of year to come and and to get get stuck into the December fun.
Number five is September and October. I love September & October. I think they're two great months. First of all, it gets quieter, but you're you're still on the tail end of the tourist season. It gets quieter because all the schools go back. It's generally dry in September, so that's great. And the tourist towns are still pretty open and they're still welcoming people in and the tourists are all are all still around the place, but a lot of the Irish have gone back home and starting to get into their school routines and that sort of stuff. Some people hang off till September to maybe go away for a few days or or have a visit out west.
I'm going to bunch September and October together because you kind of flow from September into October. But at the end of October, we have Samhain, which is Halloween. For those of you who don't know, Samhain is the original Haloween. Yes, Haloween began in Ireland. There's a huge amount of festivals around Samhain. The Irish spirit definitely comes out at this time of year with those kind of festivals. I'd really recommend sticking around checking them out. Have a search online for the original Jacko'lanterns. They weren't pumpkins, that was an American thing. They were turnips. Absolutely terrifying.
It should also be a bit cheaper and there should be more availability because the bulk of tourists have left at this point.
So, number six, and this is my second last one on the list, July and August. They're kind of the obvious months to come. Tourist season, everything wide open, everyone ready and geared up for for all the tourists that are coming in. It's generally sunny, particularly this summer, it's been very warm so it's great craic. Everyone's around the place. Everyone knows this is tourist season, so everyone's ready for that. All the cities are busy, all the coastal towns are busy. So, if you're first time visiting Ireland and you really want that full tourist experience, absolutely time of year to go. Trad sessions, particularly in the in the tourist towns. Everywhere you go, there's just stuff happening. So, you can't really go wrong in those two months, except for a few things.
It is packed. So, the accommodation is very expensive. It's not cheap at that time of year. Accommodation is very hard to come by. You are going to be squeezed into the tourist sites wherever you want to go to see, be it down by the Blaskets or up in Dublin or or Galway or wherever it is. You're going to get stuck on the road. There's just tourists everywhere.
But it can be brilliant and that's a part of your tribe if you're here as a tourist however, it can be it can be a bit overwhelming. Even the locals find it overwhelming because the pubs are just so busy. We tend to hold back earlier or we go later just to avoid those peak seasons.
If you're okay with that and you just want to spend what you want to have the trip of a lifetime then yeah absolutely go for it. But I wouldn't leave everything till the last minute because things do book out. So just keep those things in mind.
Come late August though, I will say you're now starting to go towards the end of the tourist season, so people are starting to get tired. People in services have had a long season, so you might not get quite the same standard of service that you would have gotten in the earlier part of the tourist season, but it'll never be terrible. It can just feel like the energy has dropped. I think you'll still have a brilliant time, no doubt about it. And I love going out in the summertime. I tend to do day trips out around the place but I go out early to try and get into the car parks early because by lunchtime it's just chaos. Then I tend to disappear in the afternoon.
In my opinion, the best two months to visit are May and June for a number of reasons. It feels like summer's here. We're now kicking off. You're starting to see some shorts. People are starting to get excited. Some of the schools are still in, which is brilliant because it means the place isn't packed. We're not in peak tourist season but the weather is definitely starting to pick up. It's nice. Everything's open. Everyone's ready. You're in the early stages of the tourist season, so the energy is good. All the staff are ready. They're ready for the season that's coming on. So, it's like it's a brilliant time to really get great service. Still have probably more options accommodation-wise than you would have if you in July or August. Everyone's in good form. We love nice weather here because it means we can really get out and about and we love to socialize as a people in general. So, being out and about and seeing people and just that energy of that time of year.
You'll have space, that's the main thing. You'll have space for yourselves to do things and you'll have space to chat to people. You'll be able to really spend time, proper time with locals, with other people, even with other tourists who are here. You're not being packed into a pub, you're not being packed into a restaurant, packed into a bus. So, May, June are my top months for visiting Ireland.
Best of luck with your trip to Ireland and be sure to check out our Yank and Paddy youtube page for lots of tips.
Slán
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