You love food, you love to travel and you love festivals? Well, you are about to love of what is happening every single year in a small, but famous fisher town called Dingle in the beginning of October. Get ready for a weekend of amazing delicious food from all over the country and the world.
Where is Dingle? And how do I get there? What does accommodation cost and what is it actually really about? All those questions and more will be answered in the following.
Yepp, that's me. Are you worried now? You don't have to be. Only wanted to say "Hi".
WHERE IS DINGLE: Dingle is in the west of Ireland. The Slea Head Drive and the Connor Pass are just crossing that cute little town which is actually having over 50 pubs. Pub crawl during Christmas is fun, but you have to be a strong drinker to keep up! Still fun though and surely good for not feeling the cold.
Other than that there is an aquarium, supermarkets, some bed&breakfasts, a lot of boat trips to pay Fungie the dolphin a visit, who has been there since 1983, happy people all year around and amazing tasteful food. Maybe a couple of pints made the food even better, but I promise you, I tried it without any drop of alcohol in my blood and have to confess, it is still amazing.
Historically Dingle has been a town that suffered a lot through wars, smuggling, and a cholera plague in the 18th century. For many years the Dingle port has been the main harbour for trading and exporting fish and importing wines from the European continent. In case you wanted to meet sellers from across the world and expand your business, that port would have been the anchor of all your wishes to become true.
Okay, but to get a bit more detailed about where exactly Dingle is located you can check out the map below. Click at the photo and it redirects you straight to Google maps to take a closer look of the town and the surrounding area. Dingle bay is having an old watch tower that was used to navigate ships safely to the harbour, enemies were seen from far and even further away, good for cycling and connects plenty of smaller villages that are rich on history as well and have some nice beaches to spend your day swimming in the sea, sunbathing or renting horses for a ride.
HOW TO GET THERE There are multiple ways of how to get there. Be it by renting a car, train, bus or plane. Just assuming you are coming from another country you'll arrive at the airport of Dublin.
1# BY PLANE
Good news, you can get a flight to Kerry Airport, but that's often much more expensive than arriving in Dublin and to take from there the next flight to Kerry. Regular tickets cost 47 Euros and less than 1 hour flight. You can rent a car at the Airport, getting a Taxi or a bus that is bringing you to Tralee. Next to the train station is the bus stop that is for the route to Dingle. Of course, there are maybe cheaper options, but they'll need much longer.
2# BY TRAIN
By train from Dublin, you'll need up to 4 hours until reaching the last stop, Tralee train station. From there you have to take the bus to Dingle. That's very convenient, because no Taxi is needed.
Dublin Heuston to Tralee book here. Small tip, after you purchased your ticket online you get the ticket inside of the ticket machines. The reservation number that you got by e-mail has to be used to get your actual ticket. Yes, I know, could be done easier, but every country has its smaller issues.
3# BY BUS
Or, third option you can take a bus from Dublin to Tralee and hop on the next one to Dingle.
Be aware, it is maybe the cheapest option, but I had very often the problem that there was no toilet, or defect, at a non-stop 5 hours drive.
Dublin Coach is your bus to get from Dublin to Tralee.
After that you have to hop on the Bus Eírann again,
4# RENT A CAR
Nothing further to say. Rent a car, a van, a bus at Dublin airport and you are on your way to Dingle. Don't forget that everyone is driving at the left and not the right side of the street. The same goes for the steering wheel. It is on the right side, not the left.
For some it can be a tiny bit stressful, but you get used to it very fast. The very convenient thing about renting a car is, that you are having freedom to go wherever you want. No need to wait for the next bus to come, the train to be delayed or the plane to arrive.
Car rentals from different companies, just check here.
ACCOMMODATION
There are plenty of bed&breakfast in Dingle. Only problem could be that it'll be rent out very fast, because everyone in Ireland knows about Dingle's Streetfood Festival.
Just check on Google Trips and after some nice research you'll get what you were looking for. From expensive all-inclusive Hotel to bed&breakfast or family friendly cottages.
Other pages that are easy to use are booking.com or hostelworld.com.
WHAT IS IT EXACTLY ABOUT & HOW DOES IT WORK?
Well, that's the most important part and the hot topic of that post. It is about food, culture, fun and more food. In the beginning you'll buy a small book, full of vouchers that has a total worth of 20 Euros.
In the very moment you walk through the streets of the festival you will come across a lot of stands that have traditional Irish food. From sweet to salty, fatty and juicy, breakfast, lunch or dinner like, everything can be found. Be it fish, meat, vegetarian or vegan. You get it.
Go to your first stand, ask for a small dish, give them one of the vouchers that have been in that small book and after that you can enjoy whatever you chose to eat.
But not only Irish food can be found. Since history bonded Spain and Ireland, the same for other countries, those culinary dishes like tacos can be found as well. Even Asian food and drinks, like Sake and plum wine was present. Sweet chocolate fudge cake or lavender punch to jam, honey, cheese, cake and more. You think you go hungry to bed? You are wrong. Don't do it like me who decided to try almost everything... I was rolling back home!
You like to plan a trip to Ireland, but don't know how everything works?
Don't worry. Just send me a mail, and we'll arrange something so that you worry less about your trip turning into a disaster. Relax, I am here to help.
I hope you enjoyed reading the article and that it has been helpful. Don't forget to share this post on Pinterest or visit me on any other Social Media pages.
Give me a shout, in case you need some more advice and leave a comment below to let me know! I am always happy to help out. :)
Thank you so much and see you in the future,
Sina
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