{"id":607852,"date":"2026-07-28T07:56:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T07:56:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/607852\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T07:56:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T07:56:20","slug":"looking-for-a-last-minute-staycation-with-some-homes-charging-e4000-a-week-dont-expect-a-bargain-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/607852\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking for a last-minute staycation? With some homes charging \u20ac4,000 a week, don\u2019t expect a bargain \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

There has been growing interest in domestic holidays in Ireland<\/a> this year. Data from Google<\/a> shows \u201choliday in Ireland\u201d is being searched more often than at the same point last year, with the trend remaining consistent throughout the summer months, F\u00e1ilte Ireland<\/a> says.<\/p>\n

In addition, the tourism agency\u2019s website DiscoverIreland.ie<\/a> is attracting increased traffic across a number of areas compared with last summer, including content on beaches, walking and hiking experiences, and events taking place across the country.<\/p>\n

Domestic tourism has, no doubt, been helped by the recent spate of hot weather. But concerns have been voiced among holidaymakers about price inflation, and anyone looking for a last-minute deal on a staycation for August will face limited availability and some eye-watering prices.<\/p>\n

A look at what\u2019s on offer on booking.com<\/a> in west Cork for the first week of August shows that \u2013 as of this week \u2013 there is no available accommodation for two adults and two children in Kinsale, Clonakilty, Baltimore or Skibbereen.<\/p>\n

There were some options for Bantry, with six nights in the four-star Maritime hotel costing \u20ac1,698 (for a bedroom suite that includes a double bed and a sofa bed). A six-night stay for a five-bedroom house, managed by a private host, located on Wolfe Tone Square in the town will cost \u20ac4,080. <\/p>\n

Hotel availability is also limited for families in Killarney, Co Kerry. Aghadoe Heights Hotel & Spa and the Great Southern Killarney \u2013 both five-star hotels \u2013 did have some options for families, with two superior rooms in the former costing \u20ac5,788 for six nights and \u20ac5,736 for two superior twin rooms in the latter. <\/p>\n

Over on Airbnb there are some other options, with a \u201cmodern\u201d four-bedroom house costing \u20ac4,648 for the same period and another three-bedroom house in Glenbeigh (about 40 minutes from Killarney) priced at \u20ac2,817.<\/p>\n

There are either small or no differences in costs when comparing the first week of August with that of October, suggesting little hope of making significant savings by avoiding peak season.<\/p>\n

\"Baltimore,Baltimore, in west Cork, had no accommodation for two adults and two children in the first week in August when we looked on booking.com <\/p>\n

Over in Westport, Co Mayo, options are again limited this late in the day. The Knockranny House Hotel & Spa (four-star hotel) could cater for two adults and two children with a superior king room and suite available for \u20ac4,324 for six nights.<\/p>\n

A four-bedroom house just outside the town also had availability for \u20ac2,976 with a two-bedroom cottage in Castlebar (20 minutes from Westport) set at \u20ac1,110. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Share your staycation experience: is holidaying in Ireland value for money?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

In Co Waterford, there were no suitable properties found for two adults and two children for the first week of August in either Tramore and Dunmore East on booking.com<\/a>. In Dungarvan, an apartment offering a king, twin and sofa bed was available for \u20ac1,820. A four-bedroom \u201cbrand new bungalow with sea views\u201d was also on offer for \u20ac3,600 for six nights. <\/p>\n

Bundoran in Co Donegal boasted the best prices and options for a family of the five tourist towns surveyed, with a family room (two double beds) in the Great Northern Hotel (four-star) available for \u20ac1,760.<\/p>\n

A two-bedroom apartment in the town was also available for \u20ac1,665, as was a three-bedroom house at \u20ac1,580. A large double room with two double beds at Blue Water House guest house was set at \u20ac1,602. <\/p>\n

Travel and tourism commentator Eoghan Corry said generally those looking to holiday at home \u201ccan get the best prices by booking early\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, there is a couple of patterns to the market which are the same this year. South of Galway, on the west coast, is always much more expensive. It\u2019s always about 10 or 20 per cent more expensive than north of Galway. We\u2019ve seen [that] the midland area is where the best value is,\u201d said Corry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe second thing is that a lot of beds that were gone from the market because of the Government [Ipas] contracts have returned to the market in terms of hotels. Not enough really to meet all the demand, but certainly there\u2019s a lot more available than would have been available the summer of 2025. That\u2019s helped a little bit.\u201d <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Killarney Ipas centre housing families and single women evacuated over pest infestationOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

F\u00e1ilte Ireland said it was seeing \u201cincreased interest in searches related to \u2018family holiday Ireland\u2019, suggesting more people were actively considering taking a break at home\u201d. <\/p>\n

Maintaining Ireland\u2019s competitiveness as a destination remains \u201ccritically important\u201d, the national tourism development body said. <\/p>\n

\u201cValue is about more than price alone,\u201d it saidd. \u201cIt is also about the quality of the experience received. F\u00e1ilte Ireland continues to work closely with tourism businesses to strengthen competitiveness and support the delivery of high-quality visitor experiences that offer good value for money.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you have chosen to holiday at home in Ireland this summer, we would like to hear about your experience.<\/p>\n

You can let us know what you think using the form below. Please limit your submissions to 400 words or less. Please include a phone number for verification purposes only. We will keep your contact details confidential. If you would prefer to remain anonymous in any published articles, please indicate this in your submission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There has been growing interest in domestic holidays in Ireland this year. Data from Google shows \u201choliday in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[40],"tags":[783,7485,9,10,6368,18,4774,13,14,2215,1878,6,19,17,957,11,12,15,16,5,7,8,5986,22676],"class_list":["post-607852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-airbnb","tag-booking-com","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-donegal","tag-eire","tag-failte-ireland","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-for-you","tag-galway","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kerry","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-tourism","tag-west-cork"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116996537677332235","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}