Is it worth going to Ireland in December?

Hi!
The past two years we have suffered very bad snow here in Ireland during December. Now it may not happen this year but just be prepared for it! Another bad thing would be the weather. No matter where you are in Ireland, During winter temperatures are around 8 degrees, so no matter what make sure you have a warm coat with you.
It depends on what you want to do really in Ireland. If you just want to visit a castle, drink some beer and just a few other things you should be fine if you visit a city like Dublin, Cork or Limerick. But I still wouldn't recommend travelling in December. Last year Dublin Airport closed for a few days and all other flights got diverted to Cork Airport and Shannon Airport with an extra journey of about three hours to Dublin.
I would recommend you to visit Ireland in the summer, autumn or spring because the weather will be much better and there will be no chance of airports shutting down or you being frozen in the cold.
Anyway I hope I helped :)

...... to add to Graham's comments, in December daylight is very short, if you are into Pubs etc., then it won't matter.

The past couple of years have been exceptional, as #1 mentions, but most of the snow has been late December to mid-February (maybe a little later last year). The west coast, in terms of snow, was largely unaffected last year - very light falls which vanished by Dec 26. I think the winter of 2009-10 was worse but that could just have been because Ireland was less prepared.

As also mentioned, Dec 21 or about is the shortest day of the year and some/many tourist attraction opening hours are reduced.

If your interests are galleries, castles, museums and pubs, come on over would be my opinion (acknowledging the potential risk of snow at airport problems so do make sure your insurance or airline appropriately covers you for such an occurrence) as they are largely indoor pursuits.

the weather will be against you big time
Dec 2010 we had a lot snow and temperatures
during the day averaged -8 C night-time -15 C
for upto date weather : MET.IE /
a sunrise / sunset calculator :
TIMEANDDATE.COM /

good time to visit would be from April to Oct
when we get the extra hour of daylight.

Edited by: yofletch

They were not the average temps IMO. On some nights/one night in some places it got to -16C but since the lowest recorded at the time was -18C (sez wiki), I can't see it feasible that the average was -15C. This link shows average across whole day) as -5C so I don't think the averages you suggest are feasible..

If you've got a link to show otherwise #4 please paste it and I'll stand corrected.

Eric Newby wrote "Around Ireland in Low Gear" about his cycling tour around the country in winter. He could get away with that without freezing through because in reality it is mild in much of Ireland, and the freezing cold and snow talked about here is pretty uncommon seen over the longer term.

But he tells tales of difficulty of finding B&B's prepared to open for him, resulting in some long rides some days. Even in October, I've found it tricky to find B&Bs open in touristical places, which is logical because it isn't economic for guesthouse owners to be ready for guests on the rare off-chance they might turn up. But it is Ireland, and I recall on one occasion someone making a couple of calls, and then someone drove a car in front of us to lead us to a guesthouse that was not just hidden away, it didn't even have a sign. Of course they will still be something in the kind of place where there is year-round business from commercial travellers, etc.

I have had the pleasure of visiting Dublin many times, and when you go there in midwinter, it isn't just the short daylight that limits you, it is the fact that it cloudy so much of the time, especially in the early part of the winter, and under the heavy cloud it is really rather dark and depressing, it barely seems like day at all. But if you are just doing city things, the bright city lights under the dimness can give a cosy feeling. Later on, towards Feb, it can be a bit less persistently cloudy, though by then the sea is at its coldest and cold winds can seem to blow right through you.

Hi Christie,
how long are you planning on coming for?

Jan 2010 and Dec2010 were quite unusual in the amount of snow, the duration and the below freezing temps. Nobody can predict whether it'll happen again this year. we could be lucky and get a mild, sunny(but no heat) Dec or cold windy and wet or freezing and snowy. Short daylight hours, shortage of B&Bs and tourist attractions outside the cities open would be the main drawbacks. It really depends on where you are going, for how long and how good your travel insurance is.