Spring in Ireland

The Real Deal: Round-trip airfare, seven nights' accommodations, sightseeing tours, many meals, and local transportation from $1,599 per person.

When: Depart Mar. 10, 2007; add $25 for departure on Apr. 21; $125 for May 12, 26; June 2, 9, 16, 30; July 14, 28; Aug. 4, 11; Sept. 1, 8, 15.

Gateways: Boston, New York City; add $130 for Chicago; $180 for Atlanta, Los Angeles; additional cities available.

The Fine Print: Airport/hotel transfers, hotel taxes, five dinners, breakfast daily, entrance fees, and fuel surcharges are included. Additional airport taxes total $120 per person. A document-processing fee of $9 per person is additional. Only one suitcase is allowed, plus a carry-on bag. No children under 8-years-old allowed. Based on double occupancy; the single supplement is $375. For general guidelines on evaluating deals, click here.

Book By: No deadline; based on availability.

Contact: Sceptre Tours, 800/221-0924, sceptretours.com.

Why it's a Deal: In comparison, the lowest round-trip fares we've found to Dublin on Mar. 10 are $617 per person from New York City (multiple airlines) and $520 per person from Chicago (American). For $160-173 a day more, Sceptre Tours covers seven nights' lodgings, many meals, transportation, guided tours, and entrance fees, and provides the convenience of handling the trip logistics. The lodgings are unusally upscale for an escorted tour package of this price.

Trip Details: The escorted tour includes round-trip airfare on Aer Lingus and a seven-night stay. When you arrive in Dublin, you'll spend your first night on the Emerald Isle at the Burlington, a 300-room hotel that is part of the Jurys chain and is roughly a five-minute walk from Dublin's central St. Stephen's Green park. You'll take a guided tour of the capital city, with stops at Trinity College and St. Patrick's Cathedral. In the evening, you'll visit the nearby fishing town of Howth for dinner and traditional music.

The next day, you'll visit an 18th-century estate in the middle of the country, learn about the famine that depopulated Ireland, and visit one of the Catholic Church's most revered sites in Ireland, the Shrine at Knock. You'll stay the night at the Downhill House, a 60-room upscale property in a small town in County Mayo.

Next, you'll tour the whitewashed cottages of windy Connemara and stay at the upscale Connemara Coast hotel. The following day, you'll visit Galway, Ireland's most youthful and bohemian port city, to tour its main cathedral. Outside of town, you'll take a walking tour of a sheep farm, which has opened itself to tourists to explain how sheep are shorn and how thatched cottages hold up during storms. Onward you'll go to Ireland's most impressive natural sight, the Cliffs of Moher, rising 700-odd feet from the pounding Atlantic waves. You'll end the day at the touristy but evocative Bunratty Castle, where you will enjoy a banquet dinner in which the waitstaff dress as medieval characters.

The following day you'll visit Blarney Castle, where you will be invited to hang upside down and kiss the Blarney Stone to receive the gift of eloquence. You'll visit the town of Killarney. Stops at a woolen mill's shop and local village are included. You'll stay at the touristy but comfortable Killarney Towers.

Next on the itinerary is the Ring of Kerry, a road that winds the Iveragh Peninsula and presents Ireland's most untamed and picturesque scenery, which Hollywood has tried to capture in various films. You'll spend the night in the 113-room Dooley's hotel in the town of Waterford.

On the last full day, you'll visit the Waterford Crystal factory for a guided tour. You'll spend your last night in Dublin, returning to the Burlington Hotel.

Every month is a wet month in Ireland, but if you don't mind bringing an umbrella to handle the intermittent mist, you'll do fine. March, April, and May are months with fewer tourists because of children's school schedules. High temperatures average 60-70 Fahrenheit. Check the current forecast (as well as the exchange rate and time) at BudgetTravelOnline.com.

For more information about Ireland before you go, visit the official Irish tourism board website.

More on Ireland

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