Anyone who has traveled in near home with the kids knows how hard it can be to research the area, plan interesting activities for the family, and at the same time, relax and enjoy your vacation, too. But when you plan your family vacation to Ireland with a travel professional, it can be worry-free.

Traveling with a family requires a different type of vacation. I have thought a lot about family travel and specialize in creating departures that account for up to three generations of needs. Ireland comes to mind as stress-free family vacation destinations.

There’s no doubt about it – the Irish love children, and your will find lots of child-friendly hotels and activities available in Ireland. The Irish are very family-oriented. Did you know? You can generally bring a child into a pub at any age. Here is the actual law: If you are under 14 (18 in Northern Ireland) you cannot normally go into a pub or other licensed premises where alcohol is sold and consumed during opening hours unless you are the landlord’s child or live on the premises. However, a publican can apply for a children’s certificate that will allow children under 14 to be taken into a pub by an adult. Children would normally have to leave by 9pm. Most pubs have these licenses, and are gathering spots for the local Irish community, not alcohol-fueled. Pubs are great places for a quick meal or for tea or coffee or sodas.

If your ancestry is Irish , nothing can be more rewarding than sharing your cultural heritage with your children or grandchildren. Planning a special multi-generation adventure will build on your relationship with your sons and daughters, and their children, with activities that will interest the young and the young at heart.

Find out if your family is among the many millions of Irish-Americans whose ancestors emigrated directly from Ireland or via Liverpool to North America during the Great Famine (1845-50)? Did they sail on the trusted Jeanie Johnston, on one of the infamous coffin ships or on one of the several hundred other cargo/passenger vessels that sailed from Ireland before, during or immediately after the potato famine? Your genealogy can be researched for you before you go, if you are sketchy on the facts. Details: http://www.lynotttours.com/i-gen.htm. When you walk into an Irish pub, you will find the place where your grandfather or great grandfather sat around and listened to

the local musicians. You are walking through the door of history. You will find

a friendly and family atmosphere that you can’t create anywhere else. In

Ireland, find the pub where the your family name is proudly painted

on the outside. But, even if you hail from other parts of the world, your family will enjoy their time in Ireland.

But what will you eat? Fortunately, the days when Irish vegetables are cooked for an entire

week are long gone. Most people are very impressed at the quality of new Irish

cooking. About the only thing that is not readily available is peanut butter. Bring your own.

Lynott Tours arranges everything for your family travel packages, so there is nothing for you to do but enjoy yourself. Here are just some suggestions for your family travel packages in Ireland:

Irish Melody Escorted Tour

It is difficult to find a coach tour that will take children, but we take children as young as 5 on this tour, because we have activities for them. Fun adventures include boat trips, bicycling, horseback riding and traditional music. Your children will meet other children on this tour. Sit back, relax, and leave the driving to our driver/guides. Our Irish Melody is a family tour, so we are well accustomed to handling kids and short attention spans. The most you are on the coach is 3 hours, but

there is usually a coffee stop or sightseeing stop en route. If you have just six or more persons, Lynott Tours can customize a trip for you, in a minicoach just for your family.

Self Drive Ireland

Select from B&B’s, working farms with animals to entertain the young folks, even a castle stay. Is a hotel with a pool a “must have”? Lynott Tours knows them all. Go wherever you please with a open prepaid voucher program, or we will pre-plan your itinerary for you. Know that the properties where you’ll stay have been inspected and are up to your standards, and ours. The choices are endless.

Rent a cottage or a castle in Ireland. When you’d like to be on your own, in a village of 8-10 identical cottages with other vacationers from around the world. Walk to the local store, cook your own meals for that finicky eater, and have your own home away from home for a week or more. Be the lord of the manor, or part of the village life atmosphere. A car is at your disposal, or Lynott Tours can arrange a driver

Grandparent Travel to Ireland. Do you relish the idea of having your children and their children all together at one time? A family trip to Ireland is the answer, with something to delight every member of the family, from school-age children to grandparents. Plan your own, special itinerary with the help of Lynott Tours, or choose from one of our well planned, well tested plans. We can work with any budget, planning memories that will last a lifetime and beyond.

Contact the family travel specialists in Ireland, Lynott Tours 1 (800) 221-2474 or email: ireland@lynotttours.com.

The world famous Ring of Kerry is one of the highlights of any vacation in Ireland. It is a 180km (110 miles) circuit of the Iveragh Peninsula, passing through the intimate towns of Kenmare, Sneem, Waterville, Cahersiveen and Killorglin. The winding, twisting, secondary route is littered with panoramic views, breath-taking scenery and heaps of major attractions. Popular stop-offs include the Gap of Dunloe, Cahersiveen Heritage Centre, Derrynane House, Skellig Experience, Staigue Fort, Moll’s Gap, Ladies View, Torc Waterfall, Muckross House and Ross Castle. Strewn around these sights are pristine beaches, rugged promontories, medieval ruins and cosy, little pubs.

The route can be easily done in a day but you could also drift around in a number of days or even lose yourself for a week amongst the magnificent mountains and gushing glens. However, most people opt for a comprehensive day trip. Because the roads are so narrow, the tour companies must drive their buses in an anti-clockwise direction, travelling via Killorglin first. If you are in a car you can go either way, though both directions offer challenges, anti-clockwise you can get stuck behind a bus which can be tedious but the other way you may meet one on a blind bend, which can be rather hell-raising! However, having your own car has the added bonus of being able to stop wherever you please (which invariably you will wish to do, again and again and again…) and you get to whisk off the beaten trail onto the tip of the peninsula where the Skellig ring is too narrow for coaches or the Ballaghbeama Gap which cuts across the central highlands.

Russell Shortt is a travel consultant with Exploring Ireland, the leading specialists in customised, private escorted tours, escorted coach tours and independent self drive tours of Ireland. Article source: http://www.exploringireland.net

In my early teens, our extended family vacationed in Ireland. The second day there, we visited Glendalough National Park in County Wicklow. We were tired from the flight and I didn’t understand why it was so important to go there. Little did I know that it would be one of the best days of my life.

Wicklow Gap

It was a 45-minute drive through the West Wicklow Mountains, rising to the Wicklow Gap at elevation 1,500 feet, before dropping into the Glendalough Valley. My father is accustomed to speeding over New York highways and was challenged by driving on the left-hand side of the mountain roads, which were narrow, winding and lined by stone walls. Every time someone shouted, “Look!” in response to the spectacular scenery, we had to quickly add, “But not you, Dad!” And whenever he had to turn, the whole car had to agree on which lane he should turn into and where he had to look for oncoming traffic. Getting there really is half the fun!

Source: MotoWhere? http://www.motowhere.com/maps/route/Wicklow-Gap

Welcome to Glendalough

When we arrived in the Glendalough National Park, my father lay down to recover from the drive and we went into the Visitor Centre to figure out why we’d bothered to go to the park. We learned that the name Glendalough means “Glen of Two Lakes,” and that glaciers carved out the spectacularly beautiful glen.

Source: Wicklow Mountains National Park http://www.wicklownationalpark.ie/pages/glendalough.php

Monastic City

From the Welcome Center, it was an easy walk to the Monastic City, which houses a series of churches, monastic settlements and cemeteries, originally founded by St. Kevin in the late sixth century. The oldest collection of buildings is clustered around St. Kevin’s Church and the 100-foot tall Round Tower. They are in extraordinary condition for stone buildings constructed more than a thousand years ago. We also saw St. Kevin’s Cross, which confers luck on anyone who can fit his or her arms around it. We had fun trying. It was fascinating to read tombstones from the 1700s.
Source: Georgia College & State University

http://www.faculty.de.gcsu.edu/~dvess/ids/medieval/glendalough/glendalough.shtml

Lower Lake

Right after the Monastic City is the Lower Lake. According to an amazing history and virtual tour of Glendalough http://www.faculty.de.gcsu.edu/~dvess/ids/medieval/glendalough/glen5.htm by Dr. Deborah Vess of Georgia College & State University, the Lower Lake is where the monks, most famously St. Kevin, spent a lot of time in self-examination. Biographers talk about St. Kevin fighting a “monster” here; Dr. Vess thinks that this was a metaphor for his inner self.

Upper Lake and Trails

From there, the trek up to the Upper Lake is manageable for most people. The trails continue higher into the mountains, and the long hike is worth it for the incredible views toward the top. My cousins and I encouraged the rest of our family by yelling, “Top or bust!” A few members of my family decided to try one of the harder trails; we didn’t know until afterward that we had actually gone off the trail. When we found the path again, and met up with our family, we saw a beautiful waterfall and a sign that warned about “dangerous cliffs ahead” and told us that we needed boots, a compass and a map to go any further. This encouraged us to turn back, but we’ll be prepared for next time! After my entire family completed the breathtaking walk, we now have a new motto: “Wicklow, baby, that’s how we roll!”

Source: Walking in Ireland http://www.walkinginireland.org/glendalough/

The Rose of Tralee is an international festival which is celebrated in Irish communities all over the world. It provenance begins with a love song written in the nineteenth century by William Mulchinock. William was a wealthy merchant who fell in love with a maid, Mary O’Connor, who worked for his family. William fell in lve with Mary at first sight but their difference in social classes discouraged the love affair. However, William followed his heart and decided to propose but before he had the chance, he had to flee the country having been accused wrongfully of murder. He promised Mary that he would return for her and she swore that she would wait for him. William made his way to India where he worked as a war correspondent, while there he made some influential contacts who helped him clear his name. After six years William returned to Tralee, he stopped at the Kings Rock Tavern for a drink before going to find Mary. The landlord began drawing the curtains to mark the passing of a funeral, on asking who was being buried, William told that it was the beautiful Mary O’Connor of Brogue Lane, Tralee. The Rose of Tralee festival is now held every year at the end of August to choose a young woman who will be crowned the Rose. The winning Rose is the lady most deemed to suit the attributes laid out in the song : -

The pale moon was rising above the green mountains,
The sun was declining beneath the blue sea,
When I strayed with my love by the pure crystal fountain,
That stands in the beautiful Vale of Tralee.

She was lovely and fair as the rose of the summer,
Yet ’twas not her beauty alone that won me.
Oh no, ’twas the truth in her eyes ever dawning
That made me love Mary, the Rose of Tralee.

Russell Shortt is a travel consultant with Exploring Ireland, the leading specialists in customised, private escorted tours, escorted coach tours and independent self drive tours of Ireland. Article source: http://www.exploringireland.net