Ireland- 8 Day Intenarary
Dec 27th, 2006, 06:45 PM
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Ireland- 8 Day Intenarary
First Trip to Ireland. How should I improve on the following itenarary? We want to experience a wide variety but still have a relaxing trip.
Day 1 Arrive in Dublin, Trinity College, ChristChurch, St. Patricks, Temple Bar, Guiness Brewery
Day 2 Enniskerry-Powerscourt Gardents, Glendalough, Kilkenny
Day 3 Kells Priory, Instioge, Waterford Crystal, Dunmore East, Lodge in Ardmore
Day 4 Blarney Castle, Kinsale, Dromberg Stone Circle, Lodge at Mizen Head Peninsula
Day 5 Mizen Head Peninsula, Ilnacullin, Ring of Kerry Lodge in Kenmare
Day 6 Killarney National Park, Dingle Peninsula, Lodge in Kenmare
Day 7 County Clare- Cliffs of Moher and the Burren, Lodge in Doolin
Day 8 Return to Dublin, more activities that evening in Dublin
Trip will be in late August '07. How will the crowds be? Should I skip the Ring of Kerry and focus more on Clare and West Cork?
Any recommendations appreciated. We are in our late 30's and like a moderate pace and can skip certain elements of our itenerary if necessary.
Day 1 Arrive in Dublin, Trinity College, ChristChurch, St. Patricks, Temple Bar, Guiness Brewery
Day 2 Enniskerry-Powerscourt Gardents, Glendalough, Kilkenny
Day 3 Kells Priory, Instioge, Waterford Crystal, Dunmore East, Lodge in Ardmore
Day 4 Blarney Castle, Kinsale, Dromberg Stone Circle, Lodge at Mizen Head Peninsula
Day 5 Mizen Head Peninsula, Ilnacullin, Ring of Kerry Lodge in Kenmare
Day 6 Killarney National Park, Dingle Peninsula, Lodge in Kenmare
Day 7 County Clare- Cliffs of Moher and the Burren, Lodge in Doolin
Day 8 Return to Dublin, more activities that evening in Dublin
Trip will be in late August '07. How will the crowds be? Should I skip the Ring of Kerry and focus more on Clare and West Cork?
Any recommendations appreciated. We are in our late 30's and like a moderate pace and can skip certain elements of our itenerary if necessary.
Dec 28th, 2006, 08:32 PM
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This one has the right title but I don't think it is listed in the Ireland section so will probably sink fast.
If you want a moderately paced trip you will need to rethink your whole itinerary. The one you have outlined is a whirlwind. You only have two consecutive nights in one place and you will get exhausted trying to keep up.
Driving in Ireland takes a lot of time. Sightseeing takes time. Give your itinerary another try, or two or three. Get out a map and try to make sense of what you have outlined. For instance on Day 6 it makes no sense to do Dingle as a day trip from Kenmare. Better to spend the night in Dingle than to back track.
Use this site for driving times: http://www.aaroadwatch.ie/routes/ Get the mileage and divide by 35 to get actual driving times.
In Aug it is generally crowded in Ireland at the places on your list. If you want to avoid crowds you would plan a different sort of trip and go to different areas of Ireland where there are fewer tourists.
Can you fly out of Shannon instead of Dublin? That would make more sense.
If you want a moderately paced trip you will need to rethink your whole itinerary. The one you have outlined is a whirlwind. You only have two consecutive nights in one place and you will get exhausted trying to keep up.
Driving in Ireland takes a lot of time. Sightseeing takes time. Give your itinerary another try, or two or three. Get out a map and try to make sense of what you have outlined. For instance on Day 6 it makes no sense to do Dingle as a day trip from Kenmare. Better to spend the night in Dingle than to back track.
Use this site for driving times: http://www.aaroadwatch.ie/routes/ Get the mileage and divide by 35 to get actual driving times.
In Aug it is generally crowded in Ireland at the places on your list. If you want to avoid crowds you would plan a different sort of trip and go to different areas of Ireland where there are fewer tourists.
Can you fly out of Shannon instead of Dublin? That would make more sense.
Dec 30th, 2006, 01:37 PM
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barbmike: I appreciate your comments. There is actually sort of an Ireland section. If you click on "Ireland" in the drop down box of countries and then click on search it brings up all the posts for those who chose Ireland as the country under which to post. This narrows down things a bit rather than just having it posted generally under Europe. Things move pretty fast here on Fodors. I had to click on my own name to find this post because as I predicted it sank right to the bottom of the Europe list. When I went to the "sort of Ireland forum" I couldn't find this post because the poster hadn't selected Ireland when posting.
Dec 31st, 2006, 05:59 AM
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Just having been to SW Ireland in Oct. I agree that Day 6 is almost impossible, Dingle takes at least a day, Kenmare is beautiful in itself, and we skipped the Ring of Kerry. The National Park and Dingle are all very mountainous and driving is slow going, we could never even go the speed limit. What we were told it would take, 45 min. driving from Killarney to Kenmare, took much longer. Very beautiful country though. We tried to keep our itinerary flexible, had to make changes as we went due to delayed luggage, dr. visit, and slower driving. We didn't book B&B's until last minute, had a book with vouchers from 12 Travel and only once were we told they were full that night. I have learned from past travel that setting up an itinerary that is hard to keep is very disappointing, so I thought of things ahead of time I could give up if need be, and that gave me much more peace about what we did see. Hope you have a wonderful time.
Jan 2nd, 2007, 04:54 PM
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I'm tired just reading such an ambitious plan. As stated above driving in Ireland is slow. The roads are poor even the "national routes" are narrow, winding and have unbelievable grades. I am an engineer and trust me the roads in Ireland were not engineered.
I would skip day 7 (Cliffs of Moher, the Burren and Doolin). The cliffs are very over rated, the Burren is a rocky wasteland which would interest only a serious botanist and Doolin has nothing to offer. I spent the longest 2 days of my life in Doolin. If you want to do Doolin for the traditional music thing you will find it is just as good or better anywhere else and particularly in Dingle. I would also skip the R.O.K. and instead do the Ring of Beara Peninsula while visiting Kinsale (very charming little town). Two nights in Kenmare is a stretch also. Kenmare is worth only 1 night at most. I would spend more time at Dingle and the Dingle peninsula and Dublin.
Just one guy's opinion; your's may be much different. Ireland is breathtakingly beautiful so have a great time whatever you decide. Regardless of itinerary I've never heard anyone say they did not thoroughly enjoy Ireland.
Larry J
I would skip day 7 (Cliffs of Moher, the Burren and Doolin). The cliffs are very over rated, the Burren is a rocky wasteland which would interest only a serious botanist and Doolin has nothing to offer. I spent the longest 2 days of my life in Doolin. If you want to do Doolin for the traditional music thing you will find it is just as good or better anywhere else and particularly in Dingle. I would also skip the R.O.K. and instead do the Ring of Beara Peninsula while visiting Kinsale (very charming little town). Two nights in Kenmare is a stretch also. Kenmare is worth only 1 night at most. I would spend more time at Dingle and the Dingle peninsula and Dublin.
Just one guy's opinion; your's may be much different. Ireland is breathtakingly beautiful so have a great time whatever you decide. Regardless of itinerary I've never heard anyone say they did not thoroughly enjoy Ireland.
Larry J
Jan 2nd, 2007, 06:05 PM
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if at all possible...fly into dublin and out of shannon
day 1-dublin...you will be hard pressed to fit in all of these sights...do hop on/hop off bus tour and prioritize stops.
day 2-pick up rental car--to enjoy the day I would see glendalough then on to kilkenny to see sights there(we loved jerpoint abbey just outside of kilkenny)
day 3-would reroute to kinsale via rock of cashel and cahir castle (shorter drive time and great sights)...depending on timing could take peek at blarney...enjoyed time spent at charles fort in kinsale more than blarney
day 4-add day to kilkenny+area sights (before kinsale)or add a day in kinsale+area sights or add a day to kenmare+area sights...
this will give you at least one more 2 night stay
day 5-garnish island (not as lavish/formal as powerscourt, but we enjoyed more...plus you get the cute harbour seals as a bonus) then part of beara...cross healy pass (super scenic drive) then on to kenmare
day 6- beautiful scenic route past molls gap and ladies view thru killarney national park (this was our favorite section of ROK ...could visit muckross house and/or ross castle), then on to dingle
day 7-slea head (favorite pen. for scenery and historic stops)-dingle
day 8-cross shannon by ferry, up coast to cliffs-depending on flight next day... stay in doolin or bunratty.
my favorite stays were dingle, kenmare, and doolin in that order...why?...comfy B&B's in town, walkable, good food, great pubs with music...great sights in area...fun window shopping in Dingle and Kenmare.
did not really like the our stay in kilkenny...did not fit our expectations...too big, hard to park, not as friendly as other towns (lots of people on this sight did enjoy though)...tour of kilkenny castle was OK and loved jerpoint abbey...enjoyed our night in nearby cashel more
second checking out AAroadwatch site ...be sure to add time to their estimates
day 1-dublin...you will be hard pressed to fit in all of these sights...do hop on/hop off bus tour and prioritize stops.
day 2-pick up rental car--to enjoy the day I would see glendalough then on to kilkenny to see sights there(we loved jerpoint abbey just outside of kilkenny)
day 3-would reroute to kinsale via rock of cashel and cahir castle (shorter drive time and great sights)...depending on timing could take peek at blarney...enjoyed time spent at charles fort in kinsale more than blarney
day 4-add day to kilkenny+area sights (before kinsale)or add a day in kinsale+area sights or add a day to kenmare+area sights...
this will give you at least one more 2 night stay
day 5-garnish island (not as lavish/formal as powerscourt, but we enjoyed more...plus you get the cute harbour seals as a bonus) then part of beara...cross healy pass (super scenic drive) then on to kenmare
day 6- beautiful scenic route past molls gap and ladies view thru killarney national park (this was our favorite section of ROK ...could visit muckross house and/or ross castle), then on to dingle
day 7-slea head (favorite pen. for scenery and historic stops)-dingle
day 8-cross shannon by ferry, up coast to cliffs-depending on flight next day... stay in doolin or bunratty.
my favorite stays were dingle, kenmare, and doolin in that order...why?...comfy B&B's in town, walkable, good food, great pubs with music...great sights in area...fun window shopping in Dingle and Kenmare.
did not really like the our stay in kilkenny...did not fit our expectations...too big, hard to park, not as friendly as other towns (lots of people on this sight did enjoy though)...tour of kilkenny castle was OK and loved jerpoint abbey...enjoyed our night in nearby cashel more
second checking out AAroadwatch site ...be sure to add time to their estimates
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