The weather may sometimes give you the impression that you're swimming through an airborne ocean, but the truly luminous greens, luxuriant wildflowers, and afternoons spent holed up in riotous pubs will more than console you for the webbed feet you'll need to grow.

If you go to Ireland in July or August, you can expect reasonably warm weather, longer days and a lively menu of festivals. However, this is peak season, which presents some challenges if you're wanting a bit of solitude.

Spring and autumn can also be delightful seasons, with smaller crowds of tourists. Winter weather can be downright inhospitable, but Ireland (the west coast in particular) does look beautiful in the rain, and there's nearly always a pub nearby to duck into. However, in many Irish towns restaurants and B&Bs close down around October and don't reopen until Easter. With a few advance phone calls you can avoid getting stranded somewhere with no place to sleep or eat.

How to Get In

Visa

Irish embassies and consulates issue visas overseas on behalf of the Department of Foreign Affairs, while the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform issues visas to applicants who are in Ireland . Visa information and contact numbers within Ireland are available through the link at www.justice.ie (see "Visa Information and Decisions")

In some cases, applications are referred by Irish embassies and consulates overseas to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform for decision, as that Department is responsible for deciding on the admission of visa-required persons to the State.

In January 2006 the Government established the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service within the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and this agency is responsible for processing all visa applications made within Ireland . The public office is located at 13/14 Burgh Quay, Dublin 2. See www.justice.ie for other contact details.

By plane

(The Republic of) Ireland is served by two large international airports, Dublin and Shannon . Dublin is connected to several cities in the US , Canada , the UK and continental Europe . Shannon , close to the cities of Limerick and Ennis, also has flights to the US , Canada , the UK and Europe .

There are connections from Cork airport in the south to Irish, UK and European cities. Smaller regional airports that operate domestic and UK services are Donegal,Kerry, Knock, Waterford and Galway . There are airports in Northern Ireland in Derry ( Londonderry ), Belfast International and Belfast City (George Best).

Discount airline Ryanair is a good source of cheap flights to Ireland , particularly from the UK , while the national carrier Aer Lingus often has cheap deals available from continental Europe and the US , particularly in the winter. Comprehensive listings of airlines flying directly into Ireland , along with destinations and timetables, can be found on the Dublin , Shannon and Cork airport websites. A regional service is also provided by Aer ?rann which flies internally within Ireland and externally mainly to and from the United Kingdom .

By train

The only cross-border train is the Enterprise service from Belfast Central to Dublin Connolly. A Rail-Sail Scheme is also present with Stena Line, Irish Ferries, Iarnrod Eireann and UK Train Companies like Virgin Trains mainly operating from UK cities to across the Irish Rail Network via the Dublin-Holyhead routes.

By bus

Cross border services are operated by Ulsterbus and Bus ?ireann.

Eurolines operate services to Great Britain and beyond in conjunction with Bus Eireann and National Express ( Great Britain ). Bus ?ireann also operates frequent services to and from Eastern Europe , in particular Poland , Lithuania , Latvia and Estonia .

By boat

Ireland is served by numerous services to Great Britain and France :

* Swansea-Cork Ferries [2] provide a daily service from the United Kingdom between Swansea in South Wales and Cork .

* Irish Ferries [3] travel from Holyhead, North Wales to Dublin and from Pembroke, South Wales to Rosslare.

* Stena Line [4] connects Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire (about 8 km south of Dublin ) and Fishguard, South Wales to Rosslare.

* Irish Ferries and Brittany Ferries [5] provide services from France (e.g. Roscoff) to Rosslare and Cork . Irish Ferries is sometimes significantly cheaper than Brittany Ferries, so compare prices.

Other operators to Ireland include:

* Irish Sea Express-Liverpool to Dublin

* P&O Irish Sea - North West England to Dublin and Belfast

* Steam Packet Sea Cat-Operate services between the North West of England (Mainly Liverpool) to Dublin , Belfast and the Isle of Man

* Norse Merchant Ferries-operate Freight and Passenger services to Dublin from the North West of England

From the UK and Northern Ireland

Due to Ireland 's long relationship with Britain , citizens of Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom do not require passports to enter the Republic. As a consequence, there is no passport controls at border crossing points. In fact, the border is rarely signposted and it is often difficult to tell when you have crossed from the Republic into Northern Ireland and vice-versa. Occasionally, the police (Garda) set up random checkpoints at border crossing points and may stop and question drivers exiting and entering, but are usually friendly and will normally wave tourists through without any trouble.

Get around

By car

There are many car hire companies in Ireland and you can pick up in the cities or at the airports, though it may cost more to pick up at an airport.

It is highly recommended that you call ahead to book a taxi. The hotel, hostel, or bed and breakfast you are staying in will usually call the cab company they work closely with for your convenience. Taxis should be reasonably easy to pick up on the streets in Dublin and Cork but may be harder to find crusing the streets in smaller cities and towns so it is often best to telephone for one. It is recommended to call the cab company in advance if possible and give them a time to be picked up, no matter if its 4 hours in advance or 30 minutes in advance. Work with the same cab company your hotel does and let them know your final destination if there is more than one stop. You will also need to give them a contact phone number over the phone, so if calling from a pay phone, be prepared for them to deny your claim for a taxi cab. The average waiting time may be anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes depending on demand and time of day.

Driving and road rules are similar to the UK - e.g. drive on the left and yield to the right on roundabouts. The legal blood-alcohol limit is low so it may be best to abstain. Drivers often 'thank' each other by flashing their hazard lights or waving - this is purely a convention. Irish road signs are nominally bilingual, with place names displayed in Irish Gaelic in italic font, with the corresponding English name in capitals immediately below. In the "Gaeltacht" areas in the far west, some road signs are written in Irish Gaelic language only. As in the UK there are three types of road:

N-roads (National Primary, main arterial routes indicated by white/yellow on green signs) R-roads (Regional roads, secondary routes in rural areas, indicated by black on white signs) M-roads (Motorways)

Ireland has a small but steadily growing motorway network which centres on Dublin . The main motorways are:

* M50 The ring road around Dublin

* M1 Dublin - Dundalk (part of the N1 cross border route to Belfast )

* The M4 and M7 respectively form the Dublin ends of the N4 and N7 routes to Galway and Limerick

Note that unlike their UK counterparts, Irish motorways are toll roads, and payment plazas exist at 20 mile intervals. As of 2006, the standard toll for a motor vehicle is 1 Euro.

Until relatively recently, the road network in Ireland was very poorly maintained and road signage sparse. Things have changed markedly on the major arterial N-roads which have seen major renovation work with help from cheques form Brussels . The road surfaces can be very poor on the lesser used N- and R- numbered routes.

By plane

Aer ?rann and Aer Lingus operate domestic flights out of Dublin , Donegal and Cork to various regional destinations. Ryanair also operates flights from Dublin to Cork to rival Irish Rail.

By train

Most trains in Ireland operate to and from Dublin . Enormous expenditure on modernising the state-owned Irish Rail system is ongoing, including the introduction of many new trains. The frequency and speed of services is being considerably increased, especially on the Dublin-Cork line. If you book on-line for Intercity travel, be aware that there may be a cheaper fare option available to you at the office in the station itself. Not all special rates, e.g. for families, are available on line.

Note that there are two main stations in Dublin - Connolly Station (for trains to Belfast , Sligo and Rosslare) and Heuston Station (for trains to Cork , Limerick , Tralee , Kilarney, Galway , Westport , Kilkenny and Waterford .)

In the Dublin city area the DART coastal railway travels from Howth peninsula in the North to Bray and Greystones in Co. Wicklow via Dun Laoghaire and Dublin city centre. An interchange with main line services is available at Dublin Connolly.

By tram

Dublin has a new tram system, known as Luas (the Irish word for speed.) There are two lines. One operates from Dublin city centre (Connolly Station) to a large suburb south-west of the City (Tallaght); and the other south-east (to Sandyford) from St Stephen's Green. Tickets must be puchased from machines before boarding the tram.

The Luas tram provides a very useful link between Dublin 's Connolly and Heuston railway stations.

By bus

Dublin has an extensive, city-wide bus service operated by Dublin Bus (or, in Irish, Bus Atha Cliath.) Season tickets and all day tickets are also available.

Bus ?ireann operate an extensive intercity network plus local services in major towns. Citylink provides frequent service from Galway to Shannon , Dublin , and Dublin Airport . Busnestor runs the Galway to Dublin and Athlone to Dublin routes. Aircoach connects Dublin with Cork and Belfast . Bus Eireann's website provides various options for buying online bus tickets which offer a good discount compare to buying them at the station or on the bus.

By boat

* Shannon cruises are a leisurely way of travelling from one town to another.

* There are many canals in Ireland , and it is possible to travel by barge on some of them.

By bicycle

Ireland is beautiful for biking, but have a good touring bike with solid tires as road conditions are not always excellent. Biking along the south and west coasts you can be prepared for variable terrain, lots of hills and often into the wind. There are plenty of campgrounds along the way for long distance cyclists.

The planned Eurovelo cycle route in Ireland will connect Belfast to Dublin via Galway , and Dublin to Rosslare via Galway and Cork . Visit their website for updates on the status of the path.

Dublin has some marked bicycle lanes and a few non-road cycle tracks. Traffic is fairly busy, but a cyclist confident with road cycling in other countries should have no special difficulties (except maybe for getting used to riding on the left). Cyclists have no special right of way over cars, particularly when using shared use paths by the side of a road, but share and get equal priority when in the traffic lane. Helmets are not legally required, but widely available for those who wish to use them.

How to buy

Ireland is part of the Eurozone, so like in many other European Union countries the currency here is the euro (symbol: €). Stand Alone Cash machines (ATM's)are widely available in every city and town in the country and Laser cards as well as credit cards are accepted in 90% of outlets.

What to Eat

Food is expensive in Ireland , although quality has generally improved enormously in the last ten years. Most small towns will have a supermarket and many have a weekly farmers' market. The cheapest option for eating out is either fast food or pubs. Many pubs offer a carvery lunch consisting of roasted meat, vegetables and the ubiquitous potatoes, which is usually good value. Selection for vegetarians is limited outside the main cities. Modern Irish cuisine emphasises fresh local ingredients, simply prepared and presented (sometimes with some Mediterranean-style twists). Meat (especially lamb), seafood and dairy produce can be of a very high quality. Try some soda bread, made with buttermilk and leavened with bicarbonate of soda rather than yeast. It is heavy, tasty and almost a meal in itself! In recent years many good quality, not too expensive restaurants have been set up.

The small town of Kinsale near Cork has become internationally famous for its many excellent restaurants, especially fish restaurants.

What to Drink

One of Ireland 's most famous exports is stout, a dark, dry beer. The strong taste can be initially off-putting but perseverance is well-rewarded! The most famous variety is Guinness, brewed in Dublin and available throughout the country. Murphy's and Beamish's stout are brewed in Cork and available mainly in the south of the country. Murphy's is slightly sweeter and creamier-tasting than Guinness, while Beamish has a strong, almost burnt taste. Several micro-breweries are now producing their own interesting varieties of stout, including O'Hara's in Carlow, the Porter House in Dublin and the Franciscan Well Brewery in Cork . Ales such as Smithwick's are also popular, particularly in rural areas. The other competitor for national drink of Ireland is tea. The Irish drink more tea per capita than any other people in the world. Cork , Dublin and Galway abound with slick, stylish coffee bars, but if you visit any Irish home you will probably be offered a cup of tea (usually served with milk, unless you explicitly state otherwise!). Coffee is also widely drunk in Ireland . (If you don't drink tea,you drink coffee!)

Stay Safe

The police force is known as An Garda S?och?na (or just "Garda"), and police officers as Garda (singular) and Garda? (plural, pronounced Gar-dee), though informally the English term Guard(s) is usual. The term Police is rarely used, but is of course understood. Regardless of what you call them, they are generally unarmed, courteous and approachable.

Crime is relatively low by most European standards but not very different. Late night streets in cities can be dangerous, as anywhere. If you need the Garda?, an ambulance or the fire brigade, the emergency number is 999 from landlines and 112 from mobile(cell)phones.

Stay Healthy

Smoking