Ireland Cost Breakdown
In March of 2024, we went on a 8 day, 7 night road trip around Ireland. As always we were conscious about our what we spent, but also wanted to experience a lot of what Ireland is. Below we will lay out our total cost, the cost for certain categories, our opinions, where we stayed, what we ate, and a few other things to help you plan your own trip to Ireland.
If you want to see the total for the trip, skip down to the bottom. We have broken down and highlighted the categories, and as with all of our trips, we start with our airfare.
Airfare: $636.30
We found round trip, economy class plane tickets that cost us $318.15 apiece, $636.30 for the two of us. We book flights based on the price and destination, and $319 for a round trip ticket is about as good as it gets out of the Midwest. We also had two long layovers, one in Copenhagen and one in Oslo. This was a positive for us because we were able to spend a night in each and see the cities. Based on those visits we would be delighted to visit those countries again, as prices present themselves.
Transportation: FREE? ($220.01, or about $700, see below)
We booked our car, a Dacia Sandero, with credit card points so we didn’t actually pay money for it, but the same thing would have cost from $430 - $540, or €400 - €500. Insurance, which we address below, cost us $220.01, and it is very important to note that you have to purchase a specific insurance in Ireland for a rental car.
This can be confusing as the agency will probably try to upsell you on insurance, as rental agencies are wont to do, but you do actually have to buy CDW according to the law. Collision Damage Waiver insurance covers damage to the rental car while it is in your possession, as well as theft and a few other things. You are required to purchase this because:
Many credit card companies offer insurance for rental cars when you use their card, but most credit cards have dropped Ireland from the list of countries in which they offer rental car protection. If you usually use the provided insurance from your card when using it for this type of purchase, it will almost certainly not work in Ireland, and it actually does not matter anyway, because the rental agency will not let you have the car without purchasing the CDW.
Driving in Ireland is not only done on the opposite side of the road as most of the rest of the world, but also on the opposite side of the car, so a large portion of the renters will be unfamiliar with the driving structure, even as experienced drivers.
Most rental cars, and cars in general in Ireland, are manual transmission. It may cost a little more to rent an automatic because they are less common, and many renters will be unfamiliar with manual transmissions.
Many of the roads in Ireland are one lane country tracks without a shoulder, causing more damage to vehicles from them hitting walls, other vehicles, trees and bushes, etc. than in many other modern countries. The speed limits on many of these roads can be ludicrous, well above what a safe driver could actually achieve, creating a kind of natural speed limit enforced by the confines of the road.
Some agencies will be upfront about the cost of CDW, and some will include the price in their quotes while others add it as a surprise cost, even as late as at the counter when you are picking up the keys. It is up to you to determine whether you are comparing apples to oranges when picking your vehicle, but forewarned is forearmed.
Food Cost: $284.51
We ate primarily out of grocery stores, stretching our food budget with bread, Irish butter, and cheese. The different grocery stores in Ireland like Tesco and Lidl were fun to try out, though they are mostly the same as supermarkets in the USA. Aldi is a more familiar option with most US shoppers, and all these of course had plenty of different brands and types of food for us to supplement our diet on the cheap, so we could afford to eat out occasionally free of guilt. We had coffee every day, of course, and we did eat out several times, including a daily stop at different pubs to have a pint. When in Rome… drink like an Irishman.
Fuel Cost: $200
In one of those quirks of statistical probability, we did actually spend exactly $200. The Dacia Sandero, while it would be rightfully lambasted on an episode of Top Gear, was an efficient car in terms of gasoline consumption. We drove roughly 1,800 kilometers, or 1,100 miles, from Dublin to Athlone, then south to Cork and Kinsale, and then on the Wild Atlantic Way to its terminus in Donegal. From that point we meandered east into Northern Ireland and thence south to Belfast and finally, again, to Dublin, completing our circuit.
Our trip took us around the entire country, and through all but a half dozen of the 32 counties on the island. More specifically we landed in Dublin and then took the M4 west to Athlone, then south on the N62 and M8 to Cork. After that, we stayed mostly on the Wild Atlantic Way after Kinsale, straying off the path to look into anything that piqued our interest, but always finding our way back to it again.
We have already written an article about the Wild Atlantic Way, so we will not go into great detail here. Suffice to say that the WAW is a wonderful drive around the south, west, and north coasts of Ireland, with plenty of opportunity to get off the official route and poke about in whatever county takes your fancy.
Experience Cost: $138.16
Of course there are expenses for some of the things we chose to do. The Guinness Experience, entry to the Rock of Cashel, entry to Blarney Castle, and a tour of Old Bushmills Distillery were the largest costs. Many of our activities cost very little or nothing at all, such as hiking Carrauntoohil, walking the Cliffs of Moher, and strolling in downtown Galway. We have included parking costs in this category, because we stopped and paid for parking only in places we wanted to experience.
Lodging Cost: $590.55
We paid for one night with points, saving approximately $130. We stayed in hotels, Airbnbs, and hostels, and only had one bad experience, unfortunately at an Airbnb that was not as advertised, causing us to spend a bit more for a hotel near the airport on our last night. We did not include any of the costs for our layovers in Copenhagen or Oslo, as this is a cost breakdown for a trip to Ireland.
Total Cost $2134.92
There are a few other little things, like presents or wool socks, that do not fit into these categories. We spent that money and included it in the total, and we did not make any outlandish or large purchases on this trip, so it is a fair representation of what you can expect to spend for a similar one.
We hope this helps you plan your trip to Ireland, or any other trip, wherever that may be. If you have any questions, send us a message and we would love to get back to you!
Happy travels!
