I’d love to start planning for a sit in Ireland but want to be in a location close to a town center and that has public transit to other areas. I’m thinking someplace less touristy too!! Any suggestions for how/where to start my search. I’m in the US and have never driven in the UK or Ireland and I’m not thinking I’ll be starting now.
The “formula” is the same for everyone.
Start with where, when, what…
In your case it would be Ireland. Select your specific dates and pets or no pets (that is also an option). Save that search to your favorites.
As you get notified of new sits, begin screening in more detail.
Accessible by public transport for instance.
Don’t rely on notifications only. Do searches regularly. That could be more than once a day.
You can also indicate duration of sit desired in your saved searches.
Be patient.
Be flexible.
There are a lot of hidden gems on the site and wonderful people willing to help their sitters with access to their needs.
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If you want to rely on public transport, then check out where your plane lands, and then look at where the local public transport goes to.
Close to a town but less touristy - maybe think about what requirements you really want, then google it. So, if you want a pretty town, just google ‘prettiest towns in Ireland’ and see where you fancy, and then see what smaller places are nearby too.
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Wonderful support and great advice. Glad to know about the hidden gems. 
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Love that Google idea.
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Sits in Ireland come up often, but sometimes the locations are remote. If you want to sightsee, choose a town that is near lots of attractions - Cork, Galway, Dublin are the 3 main ones - and take busses and trains from there to explore.
I am from Ireland and now live in the US. Driving can be challenging if you are a nervous driver and unused to stick shift. I drive in Ireland every year when I visit, and narrow, one-lane, roads are hairy!
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I recommend some beautiful towns / villages with good public transportation links into Dublin such as Malahide, Howth, Sandymount, Greystones (Marina Village), Naas etc. Further from the capital I recommend places like Kinsale, Midleton or Blarney (you say less touristy but you must kiss the Blarney Stone! ) with public transportation links to Cork.
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There’s usually quite a lot of house sits listed in Ireland. I notice the ones in the major cities get snapped up quite quickly so I think you’d have a good chance of getting one in more out of the way places. The rail service is good in Ireland so I would check out some of the listings to see if you can take rail transportation to and from the location. Avocadotoast has made some good recommendations for places outside of Dublin but not too far away. I’m from Dublin originally and have done two sits there. I like the town of Kilkenny which is about 1.5 hours outside of Dublin and is a very walkable town. The West coast of Ireland also has some lovely towns and scenery.
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We spent a month sitting in Bray and loved it. We didn’t need to drive but they allowed us to use their car to go to more incredible places to walk the dog. A car wasn’t necessary but was nice to have to see more places.
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Bray is a lovely place! It’s always such a bonus to have a car on a sit.
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