Ireland Offers a Variety of Bargains

Young travelers touring Europe on Eurailpasses or Eurail Youthpasses will find reaching Ireland very reasonable because deck-class ferry transportation from France is included for pass holders. You only have to pay the port taxes.

If you’re a student and you carry an International Student Identity Card, you are entitled to more discounts while traveling within Ireland. To be eligible to receive discounts on shopping and entertainment, you need to pick up a free countdown card at a Union of Students in Ireland office.

The union staff also can help with advice on what are the most economical ways to travel the country. For example, for an extra 6 Irish (about $10 U.S.), the union office will add a Travel Save Stamp to your ISIC card.

The stamp gets you a 50% discount on all mainline Irish rail single adult tickets of more than 3, all Irish single provincial bus journeys within the Republic of Ireland of more than 3, round-trip adult fares to the Aran Islands by ship and on normal adult fares via Northern Ireland Railways.

The Travel Save Stamp also entitles holders to a 33% discount on special weekend return fares on Irish rail mainline trains and Irish bus provincial buses.

Union of Students offices are at 7 Anglesea St. (off Dame Street), Dublin; at the Central Building, O’Connell Street, Limerick, and in Waterford at 33 O’Connell St.

The union also has offices in London, Paris, Nice and in the New York Student Center at William Sloane House YMCA, 356 West 34th St., New York 10001, phone (212) 239-4247.

For Independent Travelers

Union of Students offices also operate “Go-As-You-Please” packages for independent travelers.

For example, through the union you could arrange a one-week cycling holiday that allows you to choose from a selection of routes and travel at your own pace. The 126 ($212 U.S.) package includes vouchers for seven nights of B&B; accommodations in a network of guest houses and farms.

Union of Students offers similar packages for non-cyclists. The one-week Rambler Holidays includes an eight-day bus/train transportation pass and vouchers for seven nights of accommodations in farms, towns and country homes. The cost is 147.

The Irish Youth Hostel Assn., An Oige, also offers “Go-As-You-Please” packages. These are low-priced dormitory accommodations.

An eight-day bus/train pass, plus vouchers for eight nights at any of An Oige’s 50 youth hostels costs 90. A package including a 15-day bus/train pass and 13 vouchers for hostel accommodations costs 115.

You can get more details from An Oige, 39 Mountjoy Square, Dublin 1, Ireland.

Renting a Bike

When planning a route for travel in Ireland, don’t expect to cover distances as quickly as you would at home. Give yourself plenty of time to work your way along the winding roads, or you will feel pushed.

You can rent bicycles throughout Ireland. Rent-A-Bike, which has offices in Dublin, Rosslare and Limerick, allows you to rent a bike at one shop and return it to another. Rates are 3 a day, 19 a week. Students and youth hostel members can get a 10% discount.

The Irish Tourist Board publishes a special information brochure for young visitors, “Learning and Leisure Holidays.” This year’s edition includes travel tips and information on exchanges, home stays, courses, paid and volunteer employment, activity holidays and transportation tickets.

Copies are available from the Irish Tourist Board, 757 3rd Ave., 19th Floor, New York 10017, phone (212) 418-0800.

YHANI, the Youth Hostel Assn. of Northern Ireland, also provides young visitors with “Go-As-You-Please” cycling holidays. Its seven-day Antrim Coast program includes a bicycle with panniers, lock and repair kit, vouchers for hostel accommodations and rail transportation from Belfast to the coastal starting point.

The vouchers can be used at Ballygally, Moneyvart, Ballycastle and Whitepark Bay youth hostels. All are within easy cycling distance of each other. You can start any day and set your own route and pace. The price for travelers over 18 years is 50.

For details contact YHANI at 56 Bradbury Place, Belfast BT7 1RU, Northern Ireland.

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Special Teenage Rover tickets are available for second-class rail travel in Holland. They cost 40 guilders ($22 U.S.) and are valid for any four days for 10 days. You must be under 19 on your first day of travel.

Visitors between 6 and 25 are eligible for Junior Tourrail Cards for rail travel in Belgium. The card can be used any five days for 17 days. The prices, until May 28, are 1,800 Belgian francs ($55 U.S.) for first-class travel and 1,200 francs ($37 U.S.) for second-class.

In Austria, travelers from 6 to 26 are eligible for the special Austria Ticket that is valid for second-class travel on rail, bus (except municipal buses) and scheduled steamboat services on Lake St. Wolfgang and the Danube River. The nine-day ticket costs 950 schillings ($85 U.S.), the 16-day pass 1,350 schillings ($121 U.S.).