best look it up on the internet......no-one here will admit that they went to it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

only joking......

I don;t know much about it all...

the 'willie clancy week', music festival in clare is also supposed to be brilliant.

Well thank god we'll only be there for 1 day then off to Galway ;-)

Any suggestions on what to do in Dublin on a monday & tuesday night?

My only experience of visiting the matchmakers festival was as a child on a day trip with my parents some years back!

Then it seemed to be lots of drinking in scruffy hotel bars, dancing to country and western music and not much else really. There used to be traditional music and set dancing in the Spa Wells. However as a people watching excerise it can be fun :-)

Personally I don't think its worth a day or night out of your holidays perhaps an hour or too to see what all the fuss is about!

Prehaps someone who has been there recently might be able to give you a better idea of what The Matchmaker Festival is like in the naughties!

I received my Sept-Oct issue of Irleand of the Welcomes and there is a 6 page article on the festival. You might want to check it out.

I haven't been to the Matchmaking festival, I just happened to be in Lisdoonvarna when it was on. About 5 years ago. I'd say it hasn't changed much since Suzy Flag was there. There's precious little "matchmaking" going on and a lot of drinking.

matchmaking festival is great craic. Lots of drinking and dancing happening and if ya get fed up of socialising there is always the gorgeous countryside to admire.

"Personally I don't think its worth a day or night out of your holidays perhaps an hour or too to see what all the fuss is about!"

That's about where I would put it. I used to visit Doolin regularly in September so we'd all go over for an hour or two but it wasn't really something I'd go out of my way for.

But I have to confess that I'm not a fan of Lisdoonvarna anyway. Can't really tell you why, it's just never impressed me as a place worth spending any time in.