I haven’t done very many organized tours in my travels, but I decided that when I went to Dublin for St. Patrick’s Day I was going to join Shamrock tours. Here are a very things to consider when choosing and planning your St. Patrick’s Day tour.

Going Solo?

I had initially planned on going to St. Patrick’s Day solo, staying in a hostel and going to the events with people from the hostel. However I’m kind of a last minute planner and booking ANY hostel a month in advance was impossible, the only option was joining a tour. So if you really want to go solo (or with a group of friends) make sure that you book your accusations well ahead or you will have to join a St. Patrick’s Day tour. Even though I was kind of forced into it I was glad that I ended up joining a tour.

Joining a St. Patrick’s Day Tour

St. Patrick’s Day tours tend to be huge! The tour I was in was about 200 people, every where we went we dominated and I don’t think I met any Irish people the entire weekend. That being said a lot of Irish people actually leave Dublin because it gets too crowded – we only really say high school age kids on the street. I also really liked the group of people on the tour. As a solo traveler it was nice to not have to think about making friends, they were just built into the trip. Particularly for such a short trip, sometimes on shorter trips I find it difficult to met people. It was Alsop nice to not really have to worry to much about where to go, how we were getting there or if I was safe, particularly on a weekend where I was drunker than I normally am.

The Event

The parade begins at noon in Parnell Square and proceeds along O’Connell St. and Dame St., ending at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It is difficult to see, but part of the experience is just walking the streets. The Guinness Factory holds events all weekend and going to visit was one of my highlights of the weekend. Going to a bar or pub is an essential part of the St. Patrick’s Day tour experience, but the most popular area around Temple Bar will be packed. This is still were we spent most of our time, but it was difficult to get anywhere through the crowd.