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My husband and I are planning a trip for this November. I can't find much about Ireland in November and what there is to do. Has anyone been there at that time of year. We are flying into Shannon and going to Dublin and then renting a car and driving around the coast and over to the Southwest. We want to rent a self catering cottage for a week in the area close to Ring of Kerry or Dingle Pens. Does anyone have suggestions and what to expect that time of year. We are going from Nov. 17 to Dec. 3. Thanks.
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I'm planning a trip for almost exactly the same time (but without a car...sigh). Some folks have shared ideas in the topic "Ireland in November...ideas please". They might be helpful to you as well.
The advice I've heard the most so far is to expect the unexpected as far as weather is concerned and bring layers.
Looking around myself, some of the interpretive centers and such at various landmarks are closed after October, so you'll probably want to check ahead for that sort of thing. I haven't had a problem finding plenty that are still open, though.
Good luck planning.
Factor in that at that time of year it will get dark early and won't get light again till late.
Check out sunrisesunsettime.com and you will find that at the beginning of your trip sunrise is 7:50 a.m. and sunset, 4:26 pm. By December 3, the sun will be up from 8:16 a.m. until 4:10 p.m. That gives you just about eight and a half hours at the beginning and less than eight by the time you go home.
Put simply: the big deal in Kerry is scenery; November is perhaps the worst month of the year for enjoying scenery in Ireland -- short days, rain and cloud, poor light quality.
Use good-sized towns or cities as bases, so you have something to see or do on days not suitable for touring.
my daughter and i will be there the week after you, i was thinking of killarney as it is on the ring and has a train station, i've heard it's really pretty and there will be other things to do if it's too cold (2-8c) most of the b&b's seem to be open and cheaper. I still need to check on the landmarks being closed. all the above info has been helpful, thanks everyone. google maps is great, it seems that the ring is small only 23km if my calculations are correct. Not quite the Great Ocean Road, we're in Aust. I am really looking forward to it though, the cold,well I'll wear my ski gear, from melb i need to go up a mountain for that temp.
www.irishholidayrentals.com , I also found lot of info on this site.
ok so i can't read google maps! i just read something about taking 6-8 hours to do the ring of kerry, can someone help?
The Ring of Kerry (Killarney-Killarney) is about 170 km long; it's two lane road and when you add in stops to see stone forts and a couple of villages, it's going to take pretty much all day. That doesn't include the additional distance if you want to go down to Portmagee and Valentia Island.
From Killarney (heading clockwise) it's 22 km to Moll's Gap and another 10 km to Kenmare (that's about 32-33 km or 22-23 miles total) -- perhaps that's where you got confused?
thanks skib, 170kms I don't mind as there will be 4 of us and we plan to stay o/n when we find somewhere nice. Knowing how we will stop at any cute place on the way I don't think we will make it around in daylight, being November. Thank you for the reply.
We drove the Kenmare-Killarney road many times during our August stay in Kenmare. About 40 mts ride, some treacherous spots, incredible views. Not sure about Nov weather and doing the coastal roads....
I really appreciate all the feedback. I understand that the days will be shorter and the weather is iffy but we don't let that stop us. We spent two weeks at Christmas time in Yorkshire UK and encountered the same type of thing, including snow but it was the best Christmas we ever had. We are adventurous and up for anything so know we will have a great time. Thanks.
We're going in mid-November and I've found that several B&Bs and guesthouses close well before that, especially in the smaller towns in the West. That said, I've found the hotels that are open to be much more reasonably priced (Ashford Castle for $248/night, for example).