Worldwide Car Rentals, Irish Hotels and Irish Car Rentals

Tour Clare is a travel site for the Irish travelling abroad and for those who are visiting Ireland and the rest of Europe.

Here you will find Irish Hotels and B&B's as well as Irish and Worldwide Car Rentals. We have tried to write a bit about each Irish county and provide pages for you on activities you can find there, especially those promoting a sustainable Ireland.

Many Irish hotels have now added hotel spas (known as leisure centres) with little or no increase in cost. Spas, full Irish breakfast and craic-laden pubs make Irish hotels an excellent value.

Tour Clare is also a resource for those interested in maintaining a Green Ireland. For Eight years now we have highlighted and encouraged Irish Ecotourism and a Sustainable Ireland.

All right then, we admit it. We are chuffed when it comes to staying in Irish hotels (could you tell). The Irish are excellent innkeepers and will do whatever is possible to help make your stay comfortable.

Our hotel specials have great prices, easy booking and a brilliant range of hotels. It's everything you might need to make the missus happy. We suggest you reserve your room well in advance (especially if there is a local festival where you need lodging).

Whether you are travelling throughout Ireland or getting out of Dublin for a bank holiday, another easy way to locate convenient hotels is on our Irish Counties page. The easy interactive map makes finding a hotel or guesthouse as simple as finding a Guinness in an Irish pub. By moving your cursor over the counties on the map, you can also root out the best room rates (can't do that for a Guinness).

If it's an Irish guesthouse you're looking for, we have a page for our Premier guesthouses and other Irish B&B's we recommend.

Most Irish hotels and guesthouses include the famous Irish breakfast with the room rate. These breakfasts are substantial, including eggs, a variety of meats, coffee or tea, toast, cereal, mushrooms, pastries and whatever the specialty of the house might be.

Most important of all, the Irish are keen on making your stay an overall grand experience. This feature, alone, can make the daily room rate quite a bargain indeed.

We recommend spending the night in a nearby hotel before and after flying into and out of Shannon Airport or Dublin Airport.

Irish Tours

Ireland Uncovered Tour - Discover Your Celtic Soul
(Please email us for rates and a complete itinerary)

Discover Ireland's enchanted Celtic spirit as we escort you to the sights and sounds of urban cosmopolitan Dublin, the vibrant City of the Tribes, Galway, and onto its beautiful surrounds in Connemara.

We continue on to the mythical County Clare and the Cliffs of Moher, before arriving in the bustling town of Tralee, where we'll see the scenic Ring of Kerry.

We'll then return to the Capital, via the "Treaty City" of Limerick for a panoramic tour, where you will depart the Emerald Isle for your return home.

Vagabond Tours offers Land Rover tours from 3 to 11 day in length. Even if you've seen Ireland before, you've never seen Ireland like this, lads. These fill up fast so sign up early.

Car Rentals in Ireland

Car rentals in Ireland are not nearly as costly as they are in many other parts of Europe.

For the best prices in Irish car hire and great service, you can book through Thrifty Car Rental. For over five years many of our customers who use Thrifty have told us they have had a brilliant experience.

We think you'll be well taken care of at Thrifty. In addition, Thrifty is pursuing a "Green" policy with their company and we like them for that.

With a goal of keeping Ireland green, Thrifty Car Rentals, Ireland recently stated, "No part of the business is safe from our goal to become carbon neutral."

Car Hire in Europe and the rest of the World

CarTrawler's easy-to-use booking engine for car hire offers secure booking for car rentals around the world. CarTrawler makes it easy to rent a car anywhere you might want to go.

With 50 years of experience in car hire, it is one of the oldest and most respected car-rental companies in Europe.

When travelling to a foreign country, using CarTrawler is also the most convenient way to find the car you need because they can give you access to over 450 suppliers in over 9,000 locations.

Please note: many companies have reduced their fleet sizes this year. We strongly urge you t book early.

Our best suggestion when travelling anywhere is to rent a car well in advance of your travel date.

If you are visiting Ireland, we feel renting a car on your holiday is the only reasonable way to visit all the castles, abbeys and other bits of antiquity you might want to explore.

Stay in a hotel with a good pub if you want to drink. This is just good common sense, of course. If you want to hear trad music in a local pub, take a taxi and ask the publican if he can provide you with one for the return to your hotel.

Check with your insurance carrier before your holiday to see what excess coverage (if any) you will need on your car hire. Many times it will be completely covered and you will know in advance so you won't be sold any insurance you don't need.

Read a little about the local laws and blood alcohol levels that constitute DUI.

In Western Ireland, alone, there are over 3,000 earthen and stone forts, 130 megalithic tombs, 300 castles, 250 ancient churches, seven cathedrals, 12 monasteries, 20 stone crosses.

This is not to mention 15 round towers, delights to behold, and a panoply lesser monuments.

In fact, County Clare, where this site originated, is practically in ruins with all the castles abbeys, and other bits and pieces of antiquity lying around.

On a clear day, you might want to visit the Burren, one of the most beautiful and haunting geological wonders in Europe.

If you have a specific request for lodging, car hire or need other information on Ireland, please feel free to email us.

We adhere to the good advice of our now departed friend, Pony O'Niell, who was fond of saying to tourists, "Don't try to find Ireland, lad. Let Ireland find you."

Because this was loosely translated from his native tongue, Irish, it could also have meant, "Don't bruise your knee on a barstool that's not in your way."

While not certain of what meaning the Pony actually had in mind, these words always sound grand to us after we've had a pint or two of Guinness.

We hope you'll have a lovely visit to Ireland but be careful when stepping behind those rock walls.