3-Day Blarney Castle, Kilkenny & Irish Whiskey Tour Inc Admission

Three days packed with information, beautiful vistas, and fun. Smaller bus was good for the tight bog roads. Stephanie the Guide was knowledgeable, personable as well as an excellent driver.

I'm going to agree with Shannon's review that this particular tour needs to relook at the timing and scheduling. The below review is just my experience for this particular tour and this particular group of people onboard. We had one couple who didn't want to talk to us at all or engage in any small talk and was unusually grumpy the entire time. Sometimes you have other group members that are just negative. While it didn't impact my own fun, it was very noticed by everyone else on board. Day 1 was fun, but squeezing in lunch with the Blarney Castle and a visit to the Woollen Mill in 1 hour was cutting it very close. We didn't stop to eat until close to 2pm and only had enough time for a light snack. I wish we made it to Kinsale in enough time to look around, but after a full day on the bus, having a wonderful dinner at our hotel was comforting (we chose the Blue Haven Hotel, highly recommend it). Pros of Day 1: Midleton Distillery Experience was fun, we had a fabulous tour guide and he kept those under the drinking age entertained as well! Rock of Cashel was a nice stop as well. The video/movie inside was helpful to understand the area. The Woollen Mills shop is massive and we ended up getting a number of items. Very excellent first day. Day 2 was the low point of the tour due to the extremely bumpy and windy roads and two people got sick. My husband and I also both got very motion sick, although we managed to power through it. We've been through the Yorkshire Dales area before so we're accustom to getting a bit queasy. Thankfully the driver understood this and made appropriate stops to let folks get some fresh air and a rest. While I understand there is a balance between seeing the Irish countryside and smooth roads, I would have preferred smoother roads. There were a few times in the back our bodies were lifted out of the seat due to bumps and whatnot, and as someone who recently had back surgery, this was a painful experience for me. Also due to numerous motion sickness stops, we missed out on everything in Waterford due to timing - the museums and the tours had ended for the day. We ended up going to a bookstore for the hour which had a very nice selection and 4 stories tall! My teens were impressed by the manga selection and Pokemon cards in there as well. Pros of Day 2: Copper Coast stop was fabulous as was stopping by the beach. My teens really really liked both and with the bookstore stop, consider it the highlight of the day. Even though we missed the tour of the Titanic museum (a number of people booked in advance), the materials in the shop were great and everyone walked out with something. Also there is a really nice sweet shop in Cobh across the street from the Titanic museum - something for everyone there, even old fashioned sweets. Day 3 we were given till 11am to explore Kilkenny. We did a tour of the St. Mary’s Medieval Mile Museum (highly recommend) and Kilkenny Castle. Both locations had 'find it' activities for our teens. We drove and stopped in the National Park and Sally's Gap before returning to Dublin. We had issues again at lunch, the place we stopped at, while it was very nice, it was completely packed and our group size was told we'd have to wait 30 min for a seat and we were only given 45 min for lunch. The smaller couples who busted off the van first got seats right away and then made comments we were 'late' getting back even though they heard the cafe tell us the wait time. Pros of Day 3: Self chosen tours in Kilkenny. 8-11am was plenty of time to explore. We REALLY liked Glendalough and the National Park and we definitely could have spent more time walking around area. Rain and windy cold made it a bit dreary at first. Overall, it was a good tour, but with timing issues. Much of this is fuelled by the other passengers on the tour and group majority. We had one person on the bus who seemed really unhappy almost all the time and he complained about the food overall in Ireland (for example he hated the sandwiches available for lunch, I'm not sure if he was expecting American Jimmy Johns or something). I would try and find lunch locations closer to lunch time (not 2pm). I could have done with less time at the Rock of Cashel to add time to see Kinsale on the 1st day. Day 2 could have been improved by utilising a different route from Kinsale to the Copper Coast (skipping the loopy and bumpy roads) to reduce motion sickness and make it to Waterford before the main attractions close. Day 3 I would have preferred to spend more time at the National Park.

I really enjoyed our trip overall but there are some things that definitely need improvement. It felt very “unscheduled” I guess, compared to my Scotland trip I took with Rabbies. Things weren’t booked in advance. Our guide didnt really talk a whole lot about history but rather reputation or gave personal opinions. He felt a bit disjointed. An example: When it came to Blarney, we got there and were told we had an hour in the location. We were then told the line would be 45min to an hour to see the stone, explained the cost “is a bit much for a stone that soldiers used to pee on,” and also that we had to eat lunch…all within that hour. So we didn’t get to see the stone because by the time we ate, we didn’t have time to go. The scenery was still gorgeous and the hotel locations were top notch. I will always recommend this company but maybe this specific tour needs updating.