Airports
County Mayo is over four hours drive from Dublin airport (DUB), however, Knock International airport (NOC) is conveniently located in the middle of County Mayo. Knock airport is served by Ryan Air, BMIbaby and Aerlingus from several European cities. Ryan Air offers low cost flights, but check the cost of their mandatory extra fees and baggage limitations carefully.
Accommodation in Ireland
B&B's start from about 30 Euros per person per night. Typically, it makes little or no difference to the total price whether you share a room or have separate rooms. Self-catering cottages are also available for rental and may be more practical for longer stays.
Ballycastle has several B&Bs, however,
self-catering cottages are recommended
here (see below) as there are few eateries
nearby. Alternatively, the bustling town
of Ballina is just 20 miles and 30 minutes
drive from Ballycastle, half-way between
Knock airport and Ballycastle.
The author has had good experiences at New Lodge B&B, just 10 minutes walk
from Ballina town centre along the
picturesque river Moy. It is situated half
a mile south of Ballina town centre, on
the east side of the N26 road. River Moy and Ballina Cathedral Ballycastle accommodations: The author has had good experiences staying in a
well-maintained and well-equipped holiday cottage in Ballycastle, with spectacular views across the Bay
and Downpatrick Head. The cottage is within
5-minutes walk of several pubs and village shops.
Tel: +353 96 43113, Mob: +353 8616 23650
Email: info@MayoCottages.com
Web: MayoCottages.com
Ballina Eateries
The author discovered the charming Dillon's Bar and Restaurant occupying the premises of an old Bond Store Warehouse (for liquor) built in the early 1800's, tucked away in a cobble-stoned alley off Dillon Street. The food was excellent and the prices reasonable.
Car rental
There are many car rental companies and agencies to choose from at
Knock airport, however, cars with automatic transmission or air
conditioning are not very common in Ireland. The author found good
value and service in 2010 at Casey's Car Rentals, though their rental
cars are now supplied from the AVIS rental desk at Knock.
Most Gold and Platinum credit cards specifically exclude Excess or Deductible insurance coverage for car rental in Ireland, so you may need to buy this separately. Buying this coverage from the car rental company can be very expensive, but a much cheaper alternative and usually with better coverage, can be purchased on-line at various insurance companies such as Worldwideinsure.com or Insurance 4 Car Hire.
Maps
A GPS (Sat-Nav) can be very useful, but most do not display the smaller single-track roads. The Ordnance Survey Map, Discovery Series No. 23 (ISBN: 1-903974-57-7), provides details of all the roads and names of the townlands around Ballycastle. It can be ordered on-line from Ordnance Survey Ireland, or purchased locally at a bookstore or newsagent.
Copyright notice: You are welcome to download any information or images from this website for personal use. Private individuals and non-profit organizations are welcome to re-publish any images and information from this website provided due acknowledgement to the author is given where appropriate; e.g. "Reproduced courtesy of C. M. Golden, www.GoldenLangan.com". Commercial organizations may not publish or reproduce information or images from this website without written permission from the author. Anyone is welcome to link to pages on this website.
While every effort is made to ensure accuracy of the information presented, no liability is accepted for any errors or omissions.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Visiting County Mayo
Family History in Ballycastle & N. E. County Mayo, Ireland
