Dean Garrison

The hotels, car rental and planned activities were great. On the other hand, we received a very long document before our trip that just listed *all* of the options of things to do at each place - there was no priority or added information about timing, booking in advance, or attempts to tailor recommendations to our preferences. This document was generally not useful and we ended up having to use a travel book to figure out what to do in each place.

We planned our hiking trip in Ireland using KimKim and the local representative, Dean from Ireland Walk Hike Bike, arranged a terrific self-guided trip for us in the Southwest of Ireland. Every day was memorable. We particularly appreciated their responsiveness when there were questions. Twice we needed to change plans and they responded in minutes, updating our itinerary info and GPS. Loved the accommodations they arranged at Ashling Hotel, the Old Weir Lodge and Tower View B&B and the people at all of them. Had wonderful drivers too. Cannot recommend highly enough!

Hotel Reviews

Old Weir Lodge

Killarney

Felt so welcomed by the O’Donoghue family at the Old Weir Lodge! Small hotel/Inn with the feel of a B&B. Felt so welcomed. It was a plus that father and son run the boat tour we took in the park as well. Excellent breakfast and service. Highly recommend!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Tower View

Dingle

Loved the Tower View B&B! Aiden, Helen and the staff made us feel so welcome. Very friendly and welcoming. Breakfasts were terrific. A big part of why we had such a wonderful trip to Southwestern Ireland!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Ashling Hotel Dublin

Dublin

Terrific hotel. Great location, particularly if you are taking the train, as the station is across the street. Most restaurants an easy 15-20 minute walk, but some close as well. Three blocks from one of the largest parks in Europe. Also close to Guinness brewery if you are going there. Very good breakfast and super friendly host, who spontaneously started leading us in traditional Irish song! Loved it!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

FALCONRY KERRY

Ireland

Had some time on our last day in Killarney before getting our train and this was a perfect way to spend the morning. Highly recommend!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

We had a really great itinerary. Our local guide, Joe O'Donnell was very knowledgeable in both historical and current sights to see. He filled us in as we travelled on current, recent, and ancient events in Ireland. He also had a knack for finding good establishments for eating. It was very interactive and Joe always made sure we were happy with the activities we engaged in.

Dean with KimKim laid out the perfect vacation for us. He asked us what we wanted to do, and then made it happen. Our guide Joe was personable and just an all around great guy. Knowledgeable about the areas and history, and got us where we needed to be on time. Will defiinitely use KimKim again.

Really great suggestions for our driving trip and great locations for all of our hotels. Thank you to Dean for helping create a great trip! The restaurant recommendations were all very good too!

We booked a self-guided driving tour of the coast of Ireland. Dean put together a great itinerary for us and the whole experience was amazing.

This trip was specifically planned to exclude places we'd been before and INCLUDE some small towns where our respective families came from, two generations back.

That said, thoughts about this trip:

1) We took it in February. The plus side was that there were much fewer crowds, and a lot more locals to chat with in the pubs, restaurants, hotels, etc. The minus side is that a number of attractions were closed, partially closed, or just a lot less fun/interesting in the cold, wet, rainy weather. But we chose that, and we knew what we were getting.
2) If flying from the US, definitely fly home from either Dublin or Shannon airports, and not Belfast or anywhere else. Dublin and Shannon have US Customs pre-authorization. You go through the process on that end, which I think is nice, so when you arrive in the US, exhausted from a long flight, you don't have to deal with Customs there.
3) There was very little here that we wouldn't recommend. If we had to pick something, we found Armagh City to be both much less friendly and much less accommodating to special dietary needs than most of the other places we went. We also can't comment much on Dublin, as we didn't venture into the city but only stayed overnight after a late arrival, and overnight prior to an early departure.
4) The Western side of the country is amazing. The Ring of Kerry, the Dingle Peninsula, Randles & Rose and Wyatt hotels, Killarney, Tralee, Westport. Galway was also amazing, but as we're more rural people, it was slightly less to our liking, although still great. The Hardiman hotel's beds weren't really comfortable, and while the people were very friendly, there's no on-site parking, so you have to park 3 blocks away and pay for it (make sure you get the voucher so it's merely a cost and not an expensive one).
5) If you do travel into Northern Ireland, remember that the prices are now in pounds rather than euros, and the speed limits are now in MPH rather than KPH.

All in all, the team was fantastic and checked in regularly to see how we were doing.

Fantastic experience for our first trip to Ireland- the accommodations were excellent, all of the suggested locations, excursions, and travel itinerary were outstanding- Dean listened to what we were looking to do, and really came through with excellent recommendations that made for a memorable vacation and lifetime memories- Thanks again - highly recommended ! We will book our 2024 trip soon- this time to Italy

Wonderful trip to Ireland! The local team was great with checking in once in country. The itinerary provided offered wonderful selections of things to do and places to visit to fill our time. All restaurants and stops suggested were wonderful. The hotels lacked in some areas, but overall nice stays. We loved driving through the south end of the island and visiting the beautiful naturescapes of Ireland. Would definitely use again for future trips!