The Ireland Run
Most Americans pay too much to get to Ireland, then see the wrong half of it.
One email a week. The best fares from US airports into Dublin, Shannon and Belfast, and what to actually do when you land, from someone who lives here.
Join The Ireland Run$14.99 for the year · refunded if it does not pay for itself
Two things go wrong on the way to Ireland
You overpay, because you do not know what cheap looks like
The same seat from the east coast can be over a thousand dollars in July and under five hundred in May. Most people check once, see a number with no context, and book it. Fares to Ireland swing harder by season than almost any route you will fly.
Then you do the trip everyone else does
Dublin, the Cliffs of Moher, the Ring of Kerry, home. It is a good trip. It is also the coach route, you will queue for most of it, and you will come back having seen the version of Ireland that is printed on the tea towels.
Nobody solves both. The flight clubs send you a fare and disappear. The travel blogs plan your two weeks and never mention what it costs. So you end up doing the expensive version of the obvious trip.
What makes this different
It is written from Ireland. Not by somebody who spent five days here on a press trip. I live in Northern Ireland, I drive these roads with two kids in the back, and I have been writing about them at Tales of Irish Travel for long enough to know which bits are worth your holiday and which bits are a car park with a view.
And it points you north. Everyone lands in Dublin and turns left. The north and Donegal are cheaper, emptier, and hold most of what people came for: the Causeway, the most northerly point in Ireland, Armada wrecks, beaches with nobody on them, and a walled city that does Halloween better than anywhere on earth.
What lands on a Tuesday
This week's fares
Six to ten routes from the main US gateways into Dublin, Shannon and Belfast, with the months the price actually applies to, and a screenshot of the price calendar so you can see it is genuinely a deal and not just a number.Where to stay
Two or three real places with a reason each, in whatever part of the country the fares are pointing at. Not forty hotels sorted by price.One thing worth doing
A walk, a festival, a forest, a wreck. This is the part I am actually qualified for.Where to go from that airport
Landing in Belfast is a completely different trip to landing in Dublin. Every issue points you at a route that works from where you are actually flying into.
Two promises
Commission never decides a pick.
I take nothing on flights, ever. Those links go straight to the airline. Some hotel and tour links do earn a commission and I say so in every issue, but if the cheapest option pays me nothing, that is still the one you get.
If it does not pay for itself, you get your money back.
Email me any time in your first year and I will refund you. No form, no questions, no conditions. It is $14.99 and I would rather have the trust.
Some weeks there is no deal
Transatlantic fares to Ireland are seasonal, and anyone promising you a bargain every single week is padding. When there is nothing worth flagging I will say so plainly and send you something useful instead. What a week in Donegal actually costs. Which month is quietest at the Giant's Causeway. What the hire car companies do not tell you about crossing the border.
You are paying for judgement, not volume.
Join now and this price never goes up for you, for as long as you stay. However much it costs later, you keep this.
Join The Ireland RunFull refund if it does not save you more than it costs
Questions
How do I know the fares are real?
Every fare comes with a screenshot of the price calendar, so you can see it sitting in a row of much higher prices rather than taking my word for it. I check Tuesday morning and I date every issue. Airline pricing moves hourly, so treat them as a steer rather than a quote.
Which airports do you cover?
The main US gateways into Dublin, Shannon and Belfast. Being narrow is the point. I am not trying to cover everywhere to everywhere, which is why I can watch these routes properly.
Do you make money from the links?
Not on flights. Those go straight to the airline with nothing attached. Some hotel and tour links earn a commission, disclosed in every issue, and it never changes which option comes first.
Is this only about Northern Ireland?
No. Fares cover Dublin and Shannon too and plenty of issues will send you south and west. But the north and Donegal are where I live and where I can tell you things you will not read anywhere else, so they turn up more than their fair share.
What if I do not travel this year?
Then you have spent $14.99 on a year of knowing what it costs, which is genuinely useful when you are deciding whether to go at all. And if you feel it was not worth it, ask for the refund.
Is this for people tracing Irish family?
A lot of readers are, and I write about the emigration history as well as the roads. But you do not need Irish ancestry to want a cheaper flight and a better week.
Can I cancel?
Any time, and you keep the issues for the year you paid for. Cancelling does mean giving up the locked founding price if you come back later.
Who is writing this
I am Diana. I live in Northern Ireland and I write Tales of Irish Travel, where all the long guides live. I am not a travel agent and this is not a booking site. It is one person watching a small number of routes properly and telling you what she would do.
$14.99 a year, locked for founding members