Ireland Castle Tour Companies

The Seven Day Atlantic Way Experience - Small Group Tour was amazing! We visited several small towns and villages, and Killarney National Park. Also saw spectacular beautiful views, including Cliffs of Moher and the Dingle Peninsula. We also viewed a sheep dog demonstration on a working farm. I learned a lot about Irish history and culture and really enjoyed my time in Southwest Ireland. Our tour guide, Sean, went above and beyond expectations. Sean also made travel arrangements for me when I discovered I had made an error on my return itinerary. The guide, meals, transport, and accommodations were all excellent. I highly recommend this wonderful tour and cannot wait to go back. Thank you Sean!

Kieran was a wonderful host. He had a wealth of information, and knew how to make minor tweaks to the schedule as need be. Friendly, without being too intrusive. The tour took us to as many beautiful sites in southwest and western Ireland as our time allowed. Definitely recommend.

Best tour guide, best driver

We really enjoyed our tour, everything was well organized, on time and memorable! Our drivers and guides were very professional.

Just a good quick look of plenty of interesting things!

Marcus was funny informative and made this tour excellent. Loved the pace and all the places we stopped Only suggestion would be to have cup holders on the tour vehicle.

All was excellent…realy

The tour was amazing, the accommodations were beautiful and very welcoming. Our tour guide Daniel was very informative, kind, and very professional but not boring. Our experience was fantastic and would recommend.

Well I’ve bit my tongue for 8 years about my Collette travel experience so here’s what happened. I’ve traveled with Collette numerous times, even have another trip next month, I go with Collette because I travel with a large group and Collette is usually the preferred provider. The trips are good, I have had some great guides, and the adventure always leaves me with awesome memories. Here’s my complaint….in 2015 I had to cancel the day before because of an impending death of my father. I understand that most of the 5k I spent is gone, here is where I think the company could have been a little more compassionate. They kept all of my money but did not list it as a trip on my loyalty account, seriously, you made 5k and I don’t get loyalty credit. Secondly, my prepaid excursions, one of which was cancelled and my friends were told they would get a refund, I got nothing. (Don’t recall what got cancelled). A few years back I took a portion of that trip and when the excursion was presented to us, I advised them that I had already paid for that previously , the guide said it didn’t matter and I would have to pay again. Lastly, probably a year after the cancelled trip I was going on another Collette trip but was booking my own flight since I was going two weeks early to visit family. When you book your own flight, it does not include the airport transfer to and from. Wait, shouldn’t I get that since I have one I hadn’t used…nope, again. One might say that it wouldn’t be fair to the others on the bus….well the ENTIRE bus were my friends, yes we travel in a really large group. One friend offered to pay it when I said how upset I was, but no, for me it was the principal. I researched and found my own way to the airport while all my friends boarded the bus. So yes, you will have a good trip but they don’t care about you, only your money. I’ve written letters but no response, so my advice now is to always buy insurance and don’t prepay excursions. Collette failed here in the customer service department. Disregard the dates on this, this website wouldn’t let me submit a 2015 date.

We asked our travel agent to recommend a tour company, and she said go with CIE because several of her clients had used the company successfully. So, we signed up for their Elegant Ireland tour mainly because of its itinerary. Frankly, I didn't expect very much, and we were hesitant because we'd never taken a guided "bus" tour before. The first thing that indicated that we may have been too quick to judge was meeting our tour guide (Alistair Hetherington and our driver (Seamus Logan). These men immediately put us at ease with their friendly greeting and sunny personalities. Let's face it, if you're going to be captive for 10 days on a bus, you want the people in charge to be friendly and helpful. Both men met that requirement completely. We couldn't have been luckier than to have these men as companions. I had also wondered if CIE would actually do what their brochure included, but soon learned that they did exactly what they said they would do, and more. Every single facet of their itinerary, all of their hotels (with one exception--Celtic Ross), and all of the meals were waaay beyond our expectations. We were both amazed and pleased that the hotels were four,and in one instance, five star properties. That high rating goes for five of our six hotels. And the food? Breakfasts were all buffet style, and delicious. Dinners were good, and two were gourmet class. We had yawned at the thought of a visit to the Merry Ploughboy Pub, thinking that it would be just another tourist trap. Wrong! It turned out to be an evening that we won't soon forget--good food, fantastic service, and a performance by a band skilled at playing and singing mostly traditional Irish music. Almost every one of the 200 or so people there that night were singing at the tops of their lungs by the performance's end. Without trying to use this limited space to enumerate every single positive facet of this tour, I'll have to say that almost everything associated with it was first rate. I've worked in and traveled to 47 countries; both my wife and I would have put this trip at the top of our favorite lists. The CIE personnel, the tour bus, the itinerary, the value for the money, and just about everything else exceeded expectations by 100%. Add to this the beauty of Ireland, and, as my wife says, the "insanely friendly" Irish people, and the sum total was a wonderful vacation. We can guarantee that we will use CIE again next year to explore even more of this wonderful country. You can travel with CIE without any fear of being deceived by their promotional literature. Very simply put, they say what they will do, and then they do it. What a concept...!

My family and I enjoyed a wonderful tour filled with beautiful landscape, the sweetest people , amazing food and a few unexpected surprises that were not part of the tour! I especially enjoyed the cities , architecture, and the view from the Aghadoe heights hotel. Our tour had the so much fun together we all got along so well that some of us will be lifelong friends and may travel together again! The management at every hotel was very accommodating but one in particular went above and beyond, the Celtic Ross Hotel in Rosscarbery. There was a small problem of the weather being unusually hot and the management was quick to a solution and just went out and bought fans, that was beyond the call of dut! That management and our tour driver Lloyd Creagh exceeded all expectations as they worked together to accommodate their guests not because it was their job, but because they truly , in my opinion cared for their guests. Lloyd was our confidant in a foreign country that put us at ease with his charming demeanor, singing and gentleman qualities. He also had vast knowledge of the history of his country but was careful to keep his own opinion to himself. He may not know it but he was intricate in the foundation of how your tour will proceed, the friendships formed and beauty that you will see started with that smile....