Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [305]
Air France (www.airfrance.ie) Paris CDG.
Continental ( 1890 925 252; www.continental.com) Newark.
Delta Air Lines ( 1800 768 080; www.delta.com) New York JFK.
Ryanair ( 0818 303 030; www.ryanair.com) London Stansted and Gatwick, Glasgow and numerous secondary and obscure European airports such as Frankfurt-Hahn.
US Airways (www.usairways.com) Philadelphia.
BUS
Bus Éireann ( 061-474 311; www.buseireann.ie; 8am-5pm May-Sep, Mon-Fri Oct-Apr) has a ticket office near the arrivals area in the terminal. If it’s closed you can buy tickets from the machine by the driver. Destinations served by direct buses include Cork (€15, 2½ hours, hourly), Ennis (€7, 50 minutes, hourly), Galway (€13, 1¾ hours, hourly) and Limerick (€7, 30 to 55 minutes, two per hour). Some frequencies are reduced on Sundays.
Citylink (www.citylink.ie) has five daily services to/from Galway (from €16, 1¼ hours).
TAXI
A taxi to the centre of Limerick or Ennis costs about €35 if booked at the taxi desk inside the airport. You may pay more at the outside rank. The taxi desk opens with first flights.
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BUNRATTY
Conveniently located beside the N18 motorway and with plenty of bus-sized parking, Bunratty (Bun Raite) – home to government schemes for hawking tourism hard – draws more tourists than any other place in the region. The namesake castle has stood over the area for centuries. In recent decades it’s been spiffed up and surrounded by attractions. A theme park recreates a clichéd Irish village of old (where’s the horseshit, lash and disease we ask?) and each year more and more shops crowd the access roads – many selling authentic Irish goods just out of the container from China. There are some rather pricey group-dining options that are big with the bus crowd.
Buses and groups lay siege to Bunratty from April to October. With all the hoopla, it’s easy to overlook the actual village, which is at the back of the theme park. It is a pretty place and has numerous leafy spots to stay and eat. It’s good if you want something close to Shannon Airport, only 5km west.
There’s a small visitor information office ( 364 321; 9am-5.30pm Mon-Fri Oct–Mid-May, daily mid-May–Sep) in Bunratty Village Mills, a strip mall near the castle. There are also ATMs and exchange services.
Bunratty Castle & Folk Park
There’s a joint-entry-fee ticket to this castle & folk park ( 061-360 788; www.shannonheritage.com; adult/child €16/10). You can get separate entrance tickets to the park when the castle is closed; all prices are slightly reduced in the low season.
A gift shop guarding the entrance has an especially garish selection of green schlock including a ‘Top of the Morning’ alarm clock. (A sign inside the park reads ‘Exit to Car Park through shop’.)
BUNRATTY CASTLE
Square and hulking Bunratty Castle ( 9am-4pm) is only the latest of several constructions to occupy its location beside the River Ratty. Vikings founded a settlement here in the 10th century, and other occupants included the Norman Thomas de Clare in the 1270s. The present structure was put up in the early 1400s by the energetic MacNamara family, falling shortly thereafter to the O’Briens, kings of Thomond, in whose possession it remained until the 17th century. Admiral Penn, father of William Penn, who was the Quaker founder of the US state of Pennsylvania and the city of Philadelphia, lived here for a short time.
A complete restoration was carried out more recently, and today the castle is full of fine 14th- to 17th-century furniture, paintings and wall hangings. Most aren’t original to the place, but are similar to objects you would have found in the day (sadly, they include no pots of boiling oil).
BUNRATTY FOLK PARK
The folk park ( 9am-6pm Jun-Aug, 9am-5.30pm Sep-May, last admission 45min before closing) adjoins the castle. It is a reconstructed traditional Irish village with cottages, a forge and working blacksmith, weavers and pie-makers. There’s a complete village street with a post office, pub and small cafe.
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