Saving the Green in Ireland

Ireland-bound budget travelers have a variety of opportunities for do-it-yourself, low-cost tours this year, including bus/rail and bike packages offered by a network of youth hostels and a backpacker bus service that circles the country.

An Oige, the Irish Youth Hostel Assn., has 44 locations. Travelers may have to share multi-bed rooms, but in some cases may find themselves in historic buildings that offer a taste of Irish culture.

For example, one An Oige youth hostel is located in the 16th century Foulksrath Castle, in County Killarney. Another County Killarney hostel called Aghadoe House is a mansion on 70 acres of woodlands.

For travelers with their own transportation (bicycles can be hired at the hostels in Killarney, Limerick, Cork, Rosslare, Eastport, Dublin and Belfast), An Oige offers Go-As-You-Please packages with vouchers for accommodations, a handbook and a map of Ireland. The seven-night version is $87.45; the 14-night, $160 and the 21-night, $232.

No transportation? Rambler packages are available with vouchers for accommodations, plus a Rail/Bus Explorer ticket. The eight-day rail/bus passes are valid for travel within a 15-day period. The 15-day passes can be used over a 30-day period.

A Rambler package, with seven nights’ accommodations and eight days of rail and bus travel is $230; a 14-night package is $302.

Cycling enthusiasts can purchase packages with seven nights’ hostel accommodations, plus bike rental for a week, for $120. For 14 nights’ hostel accommodations and bike rental, the package is $224. A pump and repair kit are included.

If you start your cycling in a different region of the country from your arrival point, there are also rail/cycling holidays that include a return rail ticket (plus bike transfer on the train) to and from one destination in Ireland, with hostel accommodations and bike rental. The one-week version is $186, two weeks is $290, three weeks is $359 and four weeks is $496.

Travelers can book all of these options through travel service offices that operate out of the An Oige hostels in Dublin (tel: 011-353-1-830-4555), Cork, Limerick, Killarney and Rosslare.

An Oige’s Dublin International Youth Hostel, 61 Mountjoy St., is a five-minute walk from the city center. The building was once a convent, and its chapel (with stained-glass windows) is now a restaurant. The confessional booth now houses the pay telephone. There are 420 beds in rooms ranging from twins to multi-bed dormitories. During the high season (June to September) beds cost $14 per night. During other months, it charges $12 per bed. Breakfast is included in rates.

Other hostels in the An Oige network charge from $7.15 to $10.35 year-round. Rates are about 20% less for travelers under 18.

Another option for budget travelers is the backpacker bus service, Slow Coach, now in its second year in Ireland.

The company’s 24-passenger vehicles follow a circular route around the country, and drop and pick up passengers at popular hostels en route. The itinerary links Dublin to Newgrange Mound, Mullingar, Athlone, Galway, Dingle, Killarney, Schull, Cork, Cashel, Kilkenny and back to Dublin with a connection to Dun Laoghaire. Tickets cost $141, and are good for two months. The service operates year-round. During the summer,buses pass each pickup point at least four times a week.

Tickets are sold at some of the hostels en route, at USIT (Irish Student Travel Service) offices throughout the country, at affiliated youth hostels in London, England, and at the Slow Coach office in Dublin, 1st Floor, 6 S. William St.; telephone 011-353-1-679-2684.