Best option for GPS use in Ireland?

Heading to the Emerald Isle for a wedding in April. Will rent a car to drive from Dublin to Thomastown (near Kilkenny) where the wedding will be. Wanted to ask for suggestions for having GPS capability for the drive (and any other excursions we will probably want to do around that area).

Cell phone? What would be the best option to be able to use my ATT iPhone while in Ireland?
Bring an old Garmin GPS? Will it even work there?
Rent GPS at rental agency?
Something else?

Plenty of options

I suspect the Garmin would depend on whether to have UK & Ireland (or Europe) maps on it and whether these could still be purchased for it. We still use an old TomTom which we got the European maps for and 99% of the time the roads are still the same. I rather liked the directions from that old unit - better than a more modern unit built into our current car

Buy an old unit for delivery to your 1st hotel, from either an online trader in 2nd hand tech, or from the equivalent of Gumtree etc.

Rental is an option, and do price it up. FWIW our experience is that the charge is grossly inflated and the built-in units worse than standalone units, but always worth checking. It’s at least the simplest option

Many people do use Google maps etc. to navigate from a phone or tablet, but that does require a phone tariff that’s not going to fleece you if in constant use.

If there is a navigator, then good old fashioned maps can still have their uses. I still find them ideal to planning possible routes, such that I might want to over-ride what the crap-nav suggests. Dublin traffic can get quite snarly, but once out of the city, the driving shouldn’t present major challenges. I’d definitely recommend avoiding evening rush-hour for leaving Dublin, but also worth avoiding morning rush hour if you can. Oh and it’s stretched out quite a bit beyond the hour now.

Thank you Ian.

Any experience with Navmii app? Saw it recommended on a travel site as a good option to download maps that can be used without data consumption.

Hi Jorge
No experience, but if the review looked legit, then it’s at least a recommendation. I checked Sloweurope website (small forum but savvy travelers with a slow travel leaning) and no mention there.

One option is to trial the apps out before you go, seeing which ones work / have a good interface before you go. Depending on cost of course!

Regards
Ian

We were there 3 yrs ago, and rented a gps unit from the car rental company. The car we rented ended up having a navigation system, but similar to here in the states, it was frustrating to use so we mostly relied on the separate gps unit. Worked fine and we drove all over the entire country. Some favorite gps photos.
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Google maps. Get a local Sim.

+1. Am on an EU friendly plan so no need for local SIM. but Google maps has been fine everywhere I’ve traveled in Europe, including Dublin. You should be able to buy a prepaid SIM for cheap and pop into a US iPhone (I’m running Orange on one), but note that you’ll likely need to produce a passport for the card.

And a phone that isn’t carrier locked. No passport needed for a UK sim card. You can buy an O2 Pay and Go sim (and top up credit) online.

But a U.K. sim won’t be ideal for Ireland. :slight_smile:

Eurozone no cost roaming. I’m not Andrew, but I assume that’s why he mentioned Orange France. You need a passport to buy an Orange France sim, but not a UK sim.

So Jorge just needs to stop off in the UK on his way to Ireland…

Or buy a sim online from Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/O2-Card-standard-micro-sizes/dp/B0199LPQMW/ref=sr_1_6?m=A22NHOCYSYYMK5&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1519314901&sr=1-6

And topups

The prepaid £15 Big Bundle is a good way to go.
https://www.o2.co.uk/shop/sim-cards/pay-as-you-go

Unfortunately my iPhone is AT&T locked. I’ll contact AT&T and see what data options they can offer for those few days.

Thank you Ombudsman!

https://www.att.com/deviceunlock/#/

Or, I think they sell daily international ‘passes’ for $10/day

Regardless of EU roaming regulations, I’d always advise buying the sim in the country you are going to use it most.

You da man, man!

Wild card, Ireland has awesome bus service. Nice Wifi equipped, comfy coaches that are pretty inexpensive. We were there last Fall and bused all over the place. Seeing the drivers in Ireland, I am not so sure I would want to be driving on the wrong side of the road. It is not intuitive.

http://www.dublincoach.ie/timetables-fares/M9-waterford-kilkenny-dublin-bus.php

Appreciate that Michael. Yeah, rethinking the whole car rental thing now. My one concern is, town I’ll be staying in (about 10 miles or so south of Kilkenny) looks to be pretty remote. Not sure mass transit will be a good option there.

AT&T used to have a “passport” package that you could activate for a month at a time. ~$40 iirc.

Re: passport requirements - vary by country. Needed one to get a sim in Italy, believe I needed one for France.

I generally agree with this for longer or regular visits. But, for a short one-off stay, it isn’t worth the hassle given the change in regulations and the availability of free or inexpensive roaming.

France and Italy (and Greece) require passports. Italy offers tourist sims that include online purchase passport processing (but you still have to show your passport when you pickup your sim card in Italy). UK doesn’t require a passport at all. France requires a passport in person.

Fortunately, there are many inexpensive voice and data options for travelers, which wasn’t often the case even a few years ago.