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When to Go
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The Irish weather works on the ‘all the seasons in a day’ principle, which basically means that you can’t predict a thing when it comes to the behaviour of the sky. Some basic assumptions, however, can be made.
From June to August, the days are reasonably warm and – most importantly – very long: at the height of summer you won’t need to turn on lights until after 10pm. It is also peak tourist season, which means there are far more people pretty much everywhere but the most remote corners of the island, and prices are at their highest. Not surprisingly, most of the yearly festivals occur during these times so as to take advantage of the crowds and the more favourable weather.
Spring and autumn make good alternatives, although the country’s ever-growing popularity as a tourist destination can often blur the lines between mid- and high-season tourism. Still, you have a better chance of some peace and quiet and the weather can be surprisingly better in April and September than in mid-July – again, it’s all part of the uncertainty principle. Spring festivities include the ever-popular St Patrick’s Festival.
Although temperatures will barely venture below freezing, winter can be brutal, but huge parts of the country – the west and northwest in particular – are at their savage and beautiful best in the cold winter light. Crowds are at their thinnest, but many of the country’s tourist attractions and services close down in October and don’t reopen until Easter, which paradoxically leaves visitors with a more convincing taste of how Ireland is experienced by most of the Irish: it’s cold, grey and dark by 5 o’clock, but there’s always a pub to escape into when the rain starts sheeting down.
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