mmc923

Hello! We are two active middle-aged folks, traveling as a couple, going to Ireland for the first time. We want to see as many of the "must-sees" as possible, but think we don't have enough time (don't want to drive ourselves crazy by driving all the time). This is a sketch of what we have decided so far:

Day 1 arrive Dublin - sight see a bit around Dublin
Day 2 - take a day trip guided tour to Giants Causeway, etc. from Dublin = overnight in Dublin (seeing Giants Causeway is non-negotiable, so this is where I have placed it).
Day 3 - Glendalough (my husband especially wants to stop here), Wicklow area - arrive in Kilkenny. Explore Kilkenny and overnight there.
Day 4 - Get up early and head straight to Ring of Kerry (this is one of my concerning days). Overnight in Killarney.
Day 5 - Explore Dingle peninsula. Overnight in ?
Day 6 - Drive to Galway - explore for a while, then drive to Cliffs of Moher (would like to be there around sunset time, if weather is cooperating). Overnight in Galway.
Day 7 - Drive back to Dublin - bit more exploring
Day 8 - Dublin exploring
Day 9 - leave for the US

So, my questions are: have we allowed too much time in Dublin? Where could we possibly fit in the Rock of Cashel? Any suggestions for changes to where we're staying (town-wise?). Where should we stay on Day #5? Anything we'll be sorry we missed that's not on there? The trip comprises the following dates (if that's helpful): 2/28 arrival through 3/8 departure.

Thanks so much for any and all input!

GreenDragon

I've done Kilkenny to Ring of Kerry and back to Kilkenny in one day - a very tiring day. It will still be a long day the way you have it, but a bit better. For Dingle - why not overnight in either Dingle town itself or halfway up to Galway, like Ennis? That way you can explore the Burren on the way up to Galway, and see the Cliffs of Moher then. No sense in backtracking to it before going to Dublin.

It's an ambitious plan, to say the least, but doable. It's just short (in my own humble opinion) of being a Green Blur tour. I prefer to stay in one spot at least two nights, but the first time it's so hard to do that.

As a suggested option:

Dublin - Night 1, 2
Kilkenny - Night 3
Dingle, Kenmare or Killarney - Night 4, 5 (can see Dingle and ROK from any of those)
Ennis - Night 5, 6
Galway - night 7
Dublin - night 8

flpab

We are arriving in Dublin, taking the express bus to Belfast, hotel close to station. We are doing the game of throne tour from the tourist info building early the next day. They take you to see the dark hedges. Belfast is so worth a night. We might see the Titantic museum, City hall which was built by same carpenters. Great pubs and history.

GreenDragon

Just remember - every time you change lodgings, precious vacation time is taken packing, checking out, finding the new place, checking in, unpacking. Minimizing the number of nights gives you more hours to enjoy Ireland. I have several trip reports with ideas if you like!

flpab

See the cliffs on your way to Galway. I like Doolin to spend the night or Ennis on your way. I am going to Avoca in County Wicklow. The coast is great.

Tony2phones

I would head for Belfast straight off the plane.. I don't know why folk go an hour south to Dublin drop their bags (if they can) then wander round Dublin until check in time. Next day head north and back.

drop back to Dublin airport on day 2 collect the car and head for Kilkenny, leave all the Dublin time to the back end.

I am not convinced that rushing from Kilkenny to Killarney, round the ring back to Killarney makes a great use of time and effort. try Cashel and Cahir on the way over and take a coach round the ring on day 4 have a drive free day.

From Killarney drive round Dingle, up to the Cliffs and overnight in Kinvara.

Have a quick look at Galway or do a small Connemara loop then either overnight or set off back towards Dublin.

flpab

Sorry for so many post. Keep getting called. I would do two nights in Belfast. Take the express bus early in morning to airport to pick up car. Head to County Wicklow, overnight one night somewhere and then base yourself for several nights to see Dingle and sights. Drive north to Galway via cliffs and then back to Dublin via Clonmcnoise. You have so few nights to cover all this properly without moving a lot. Green dragon has great trip reports.

Tony2phones

"base yourself for several nights to see Dingle" c'mon flpab, Several hours perhaps, well 4 actually, if you take the tour bus of the Full peninsula from Dingle town and back. 2 hours if you just do Slea Head.

mmc923

Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions! We will definitely consider them. I will check out your trip reports, GreenDragon. I was actually debating cutting a day off from the Dublin back end, as GreenDragon suggested, and adding a day in the middle - so I will definitely check out your suggested itinerary.

Thanks so much for all your great advice. We are really looking forward to this trip!

maryado

We did much the same itinerary 2 years ago, but with a tour group in just over 2 weeks, so you are packing a lot in a very short time. If you haven't already booked your tickets, I would suggest flying in to Belfast and leaving from Dublin. The Belfast airport is very small so you're quickly through it and Belfast was interesting to visit, as was the Titanic museum.

I loved the Giant's Causeway but would never go with a tour group again; you lose the freedom to decide how long you want to stay (I'd have spent hours walking and taking pictures there). You can also tour Bushmills Distillery close by and they have a decent cafeteria.

Frankly, I was disappointed in the Ring of Kerry; had expected it to be right along the coast all the way, instead of inland as much as it was. But while Killarney is full of tourists, we still found it picturesque with lots of pubs and Irish music at night. Also enjoyed Galway's (admittedly touristy) pedestrian area and found an excellent pub serving fresh mussels. One of my favorite day trips from Galway was up northwest to Clifden and Kylemore Abbey (kylemoreabbey.com)and back through Cong.

Have you mapped it on something like maps.google.com? That also gives you time estimates for how long your daily drives will take.

GreenDragon

I tend to map things using www.viamichelin.com, and then make sure to take the number of miles and use 35mph as a MAX speed to calculate my time. Then add some more for stops for photos, food, getting lost (on purpose, sometimes).

flpab

Tony, I said and sights! I have seen some great stuff in that area other than Dingle. I would skip Dingle altogether and head to Connemara but it is their first trip and you know everyone wants to see Dingle. I don't ever care to see it again. I am spending four nights in Dublin in May. YES, four nights and don't think it will be enough for me. Don't cut out a Dublin night. I have three museums I want to see, never been to the jail in five trips or St Michan's church. My husband has not been to Glasnevin and I hope to see a show this trip. We are taking a day trip to Avoca and the mountains. I am doing the Game of Thrones tour from Belfast because it meets my wants. I can always go back. I want to see those dark hedges...and my husband nor I want to drive. I would so like to go to Balleymoney to drink a beer in Joey Dunlop's bar, think the train goes there so might make it.

Tony2phones

To be honest I'm not a fan of the Dark Hedges too far off for too little wow. but then I live in rural Ireland with tree arches on lots of the roads round here. Pity the Avenue in Coole Park has had to be cut down https://www.flickr.com/photos/tony2p...57626575103290 had a similar feel
North Antrim coast and glens is better from Belfast, saves anything up to 4 hours polishing a coach seat heading up from Dublin.

mmc923

Rethinking my original plans based on all your wonderful suggestions. If I could only do two of the following, which should I do? ROK, Dingle, Connemara. Yes, I love coastland vistas, etc., but also interested in bogs and heathers as definitely don't have any of those back where we live! Thanks!

Luv2travel15

We loved our visit to Connemara! We stayed in Galway city for 5 days (have cousins in Spiddal) so took a bus day trip to Connemara area. Notice you are only spending one night in Galway. There is so much to see there, we made that our touring base. Visited our cousins in Spiddal, went out to Aran Islands for the day.

We also loved our stay in Killarney, again much to do there. We took a taxi van out to Dingle for the day from Killarney. We were told that the ROK can become very crowded and lots of tour busses go there so decided to skip there. We did take the Gap of Dunloe tour from Killarney and it was the most spectacular sight we have seen. We took the trap ride (4 of us per trap) thru the mountains. Absolutely breathtaking scenery, then a boat ride. You would positively love this adventure. Here is a website w/ info on it:

http://www.vacationkillarney.com/Gap-trip.htm

You do not have to take this trip thru a tour company, we took a taxi from our hotel and got dropped off at Kate Kearney's cottage (the start of the trip).

Here is the day trip we took to Connemara thru Healey Tours:
http://www.healytours.ie/tour_connemara.html

We loved this trip, stopped several times along the way to take photos, saw several double rainbows, stopped Kylemore Abbey, beautiful place to see; and many other points along the way. It was not a rushed day at all. You could skip the ROK if you are going to Dingle.

Think you would enjoy spending a couple of days in Galway.

I agree w/ Tony that you should go directly to Belfast if you want to visit the Giants Causeway.

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/giants-causeway/

You should stay overnight in Belfast and enjoy the beauty of Belfast. There is a new Titanic Museum (http://www.titanicbelfast.com)
that was being built when we were there to see. We were on a cruise port stop so only had a day in Belfast but it was one of our favorites. We took the coastal route to the Causeway and the scenery was spectacular! I would stay there on an overnight in a heartbeat! We stopped several times along the route to sightsee, the rope swing (not my cup of tea). Our bus driver took us on a tour thru the area where the 'Troubles' took place.

Do Dublin on your way back home, makes more sense.

Hope you have a wonderful trip and do a trip report for us. You can never get enough of the beauty you will see in Ireland.

bvlenci

We also loved the Connemara, one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.

ActiveMe_ie

Wow you will be on the go early each morning great fun. Personally I would sacrifice something just to be able to enjoy the other areas more.

Yes too much time in Dublin i'd say. There are a few really good things to see in Dublin including a trip to Newgrange but 2 days is plenty.

Also I would mix the must-see with some lesser known hidden gems. Being biased but I would give Kerry an extra day because to really enjoy ROK and Dingle you need a bit of time to explore a few hidden gems like Valentia Island and maybe do something like a walk, boat trip, etc. http://www.activeme.ie/guides/drivin...guide-ireland/

Have you considered the Skellig Islands - takes time but worth it. Once in a life time trip.

From Kerry take the Tarbert ferry (30mins) to visit Loop Head in Clare (3 hrs including lunch) and then head north to cliffs of moher on the way to galway. They are lovely but all you need here is 30mins to be honest and sunsets don't always work out in Ireland IMO the cliffs on Loop Head, Kerry, Aran Islands and Donegal are better.

mmc923

Thanks for all these amazing replies with photos and ideas. We have amended our original plans a bit. It was hard to cut things we wanted to do, and we were also frustrated by the "early-ness" of our trip - many island type locations will not yet be accessible during that first week of March, but that helped sort of mold our plans.

We are going to do a tour of Giants Causeway/Belfast from Dublin on our second day in Ireland (we'll spend the day we arrive seeing a few things around Dublin). Spending that night in Dublin again will make our driving on the next day a bit easier (shorter). Then, off to see Glendalough, spend the night in Kilkenney (drink some Smithwicks!), off to see the Rock of Cashel, spend the night in Killarney, get up and drive the ring of Kerry, spend the night in Killarney again, drive over to see the Cliffs of Moher, spend the night in Galway, get up and go see Connemara and Kylemore Abbey, another night in Galway, and then drive back to Dublin, via Clonmacnoise.

Yes, it's still pretty ambitious, and yes, we do understand that we'll be up and at it early every day, but I like the idea of having several places where we'll spend more than 1 night, and where we should have some evening time to enjoy the feel of the place.

Thanks again for everyone's help! I'll be sure to have a trip report with photos when we come back. Can't wait to go!

Tony2phones

I wouldn't bother with the Causeway tour from Dublin, 16+ hours and over €100 each for about an hour at the causeway and a couple of other stops, just long enough to take a photo. Sorry but for me there are better ways to use your time, maybe the Newgrange and Hill of Tara tour http://newgrangetours.com/ or Glendalogh and Wicklow? http://www.wildwicklow.ie/Wild_Wicklow_Tour.html

Archimedes

I think your original and revised plans are not too ambitious. I did something quite similar to your original last summer, and the bits you added in an earlier trip. It's manageable. I was going to suggest Rock of Cashel after Kilkenny, but you've added that. I'd really suggest re-thinmking Killarney. I hated it. Crowds, tourists, etc. If you're looking for a starting point for the Ring of Kerry, consider Kenmare. Even closer, and I think better than Killarney.

The iron elephants (tour buses) can make the ROK misertable. I'd suggest going counterclockwise, the opposite way the buses go, and detouring thorugh Portmagee and Ballinskellig. The roads there are too narrow for the buses, and while you're down there, the busrs will pass and when you rejoin the ROK, you will have avoided most of them.

We really liked Dingle. I'd suggest working it back in if possible.

The Connemara day trip should be enjoyable. We drove from Galway to Westport via smaller roads and Kylemore Abbey. Westport to Dublin is not much longer than Galway to Dublin, and a stop at Clonmacnoise is still possible.

On the way from the Cliffs of Moher, consider a detour through the Burren via Kilfenora and Kinvarra, and if time allows, a further dtiour via Gort to Kilmacduagh, you will almost certainly have Kilmacduagh to yourselves. We did this trip from Moher and are glad we did.

Not really about the itinerary, but it sounds like you will be driving - get the smallest car you can tolerate. When you encounter one of the iron elephants on a narrow Irish road, you will be glad you did.