St Patrick's Day Tours

Event and PP Tour Information

Let PP take you to Dublin for a huge fun-filled 4-day tour being part of the biggest St Patricks Day party in the Emerald Isle. We stay right in the heart of the capital, so you will be close by to all the attractions and celebrations and have the choice of hostel or hotel accommodation.

• Return coach travel from London to Dublin
• Great central accommodation - hostel or hotel
• Breakfasts daily
• Free Guinness party on journey to Dublin
• Guinness Brewery Storehouse entrance included
• Souvenir T-shirt
• PP parties in Dublin
• Accommodation package from just £179, coach/hostel tour just £219!

As well as experiencing the St. Patrick's Day 'Craic' and Ireland's largest parade, you will have three big evenings to sample Dublin's famous nightlife. With guaranteed entry on St Patrick's Day evening, you are sure to have an unforgettable night. We provide return coach and ferry travel from London, accommodation, breakfasts and the services of your PP crew. We also include entrance to the famous Guinness brewery storehouse, souviner T-shirt and Free Guinness Party on the coach tour to Ireland.

Accommodation

Our St Patricks Day Tours are based in fantastic central Dublin accommodation centres. We use two well appointed hostel and an excellent hotel.

Globetrotters Hostel
Globetrotters is in a great position just 2 minute walk from the main street in Dublin (O'Connell Street). All dorm rooms have their own ensuite and all beds have a reading light and are really comfortable. The bed linen is professionally laundered daily. Continental quilts are also included. Fully cooked Irish breakfasts are also included. The building itself is famous. and was once the home of famous poets and playwrights Mr. Dion Boucicault and Lafcadio Hearne (Koizumi Yakumo). It is a well run and friendly hostel and has retained much of the building's character. The breakfast room overlooks a Chinese garden. Globetrotters on Google Maps

Town House Hotel
Our hotel beds are accommodated next door to Globetrotters in their hotel wing know as the Town House. Comfortable double, twin or triple rooms available.

Four Courts Hostel
One of Dublin's finest purpose built hostels situated right on the Liffey River. It has excellent modern facilities in the beautifully restored Georgian building. All rooms have private facilities. Four Courts on Google Maps

Frequently Asked Questions about St Patrick's Day

The PP St Patrick's Day Experience

For many thousands of visitors who decend annually to Dublin on 17 March, St Patrick's Day is really just a parade. However we know the city and the "festival of St Patrick" as much more than that - and will again be demostrating this in 2010.

With 19 years experience of operating tours to Dublin, we know all the best places to be apart of the official St Paddy's festivities. The concerts, the dances, the fireworks and of course the street parades. On top of that, we annually turn the PP St Patrick's Day tours into our own "3-day festival" with parties and events beginning virtually from the time you leave London.

We are fortunate to be able the best budget accommodation in Dublin, all in superb central locations. While their, our experienced crew will ensure you get the best not only out of St Patrick's Day, but from the city itself. And with three big evenings to sample the city's famous nightlife and with PP events on each them - it is sure to be a celebration of note.

Naturally we also be sampling the local brew - not only while in Dublin - but on the coach journey to Ireland with our free Guinness party on board. And no visit to would be complete without heading to actual brewery itself, so we include entry and a free pint to the famous Guinness Storehouse Tour.

History

St Patrick's Day is the national holiday of Ireland. 17 March is the day the whole world, it seems, wants to be Irish and it is celebrated across the globe. It is, in fact, the one national holiday celebrated in more countries than any other.

In Dublin they established the first official St Patrick's Day "festival" back in 1955. Since then it's aim is to show case to the world the talents and achievements of Irish people on many national and world stages. However until 1996 the celebrations held in Ireland for St. Patrick's Day paled in comparison to those held abroad.

That is when a concerted effort was made to transform Dublin's celebrations from simply being "just a parade". The authorities want to show to the world that Ireland was a country "bursting with creative energy, ideas and enthusiasm" and to make "our national holiday an unforgettable experience for all." In 1997 the organises dropped the word "Day" from the title and it became "St. Patrick's Festival", growing from a one day party to a three day event. The festival has since grown to become a four day festival and is enjoyed by well over 1.3 million people.

Preparation for the first St Patrick's Festival used to take only 5 months, but with the growth of the Festival, it now takes 18 months to plan for Ireland's biggest annual celebration.

History of Saint Patrick

St. Patrick's birthplace was probably Roman Britain and was about sixteen years old when he was abducted and enslaved by Irish marauders. Working as a shepherd he prayed to the Christian God while captive in a pagan land.

According to legend, after six years an angel came to him in a dream, prompting him to escape and seek out his homeland. After travelling for more than 200 miles by foot, he was eventually given passage on a boat travelling across the Irish Sea. His first destination was Britain, but he soon settled in France where spent twenty years of his life as a monk in Marmoutier Abbey.

An angel again called upon him to return to the land where he has been enslaved as a priest and converter. Before leaving on his holy mission he was called to Rome in 432 whereupon Pope Celestine made him a Bishop.

Patrick and 24 of his followers arrived in Ireland in the winter of 432 and he then confronted the high King of Tara to get his support so he would be free to take God's message to the people of Ireland. While with the king he plucked a shamrock from the ground and tried to explain the shamrock had three leaves just like God had three personas - The Father, The Son and the Holy Ghost. This was called the Trinity. King Laoghaire was very impressed and chose to accept Christianity. He also gave Patrick the freedom to spread Christianity throughout Ireland.

Patrick is thought to have died sometime between 463AB and 493AD. There is a dispute as to his place of burial; the site with the strongest claim seems to be Down Cathedral, where a large slab of rock on which the word Patric is inscribed protects "the grave" of St Patrick.

Veneration of Patrick gradually assumed the status of a local cult and homage to Patrick as Ireland's saint was apparent in the eight century AD. He was claimed locally as a saint before the practice of canonisation was introduced by the Vatican. The veneration in which the Irish have held St Patrick is evidenced by the salutation, still common today, "May God, Mary and Patrick bless you".

Within the Christian calendar Patrick has long been remembered with fondness. This began as early as the ninth century AD with the Feast of St Patrick's "falling asleep" - in other words his passing on 17 March.

Fables about Patrick ridding Ireland of snakes or his use of the shamrock to explain the Trinity, still endure as part of modern St Patrick's Day folklore and custom.

St Patrick's Day Photos

St Patrick's Day in Dublin 2010 17/03/2010	St Patrick's Day in Dublin 2009 17/03/2009	St Patricks Day in Dublin 2008 17/03/2008
St Patrick's Day Dublin 2007 17/03/2007	St Patrick's Day 2006 Dublin 16/03/2006	St Patrick's Day 2005 Dublin 17/03/2005
St Patrick's Day 2004 Dublin 15/03/2004	St Patrick's Day 2003 Reunion 27/03/2003	St Patrick's Day 2003 Dublin 15/03/2003

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