ceezee

My husband and I are taking our first trip to Ireland the last 2 weeks of this coming September. For the past few months I've been a regular, lurking around this forum. There is so much valuble information here that it was huge help in setting up our itinerary. However, I still have many questions. I know the driving can be very slow (I've used both AA and Michelin to determine our driving times) but we still have a couple of long days.

Anyway, this is what we figured out so far:

Day 1 (Friday): Arrive in Shannon around 8:00 a.m. Pick up the car and drive to Doolin. Stop at Cliffs of Moher. We're staying at the Sea View House for 2 nights. Depending on how jet-lagged we feel, we may do some other driving around the Burren that day. I don't think we'll be able to stay up late enough to catch much music – that's why we're in Doolin for 2 nights!

Day 2 (Saturday): Originally I was going to go to Galway the next day but I realized that it would have been a Sunday so today we're up to Galway (for lunch and shopping) as well as driving around the Burren. What should we absolutely make sure to do or see? That night we'll head over to one of the pubs in Doolin for dinner and music.

Day 3 (Sunday): Today we're driving up to Clifden where we're staying for 2 nights at The Quay. Since this is a Sunday, we'll bypass stopping in Galway and just take our time driving from Doolin to Clifden. (Stop at Moran's Oyster Cottage for lunch.)

Day 4 (Monday): Spending this day touring Connemara. I'm still investigating the "must-see" places around here. Any suggestions would be a big help.

Day 5 (Tuesday): This is a long drive day. We have to go from Clifden to Ardfinnan (it's right by Clomel in Co. Tipperary). AA says it's 4 hours so it's probably more. We're staying at the Kilmaneen Farmhouse. On the way we wanted to stop at both the Rock of Cashel and the Cahir Castle. I'm not sure we have enough time to do both. At that time of the year they both close at 4:30.

Day 6 (Wednesday): Today we drive to Kinsale where we're staying at the Old Presbytery. Along the way we'll hit the Old Midleton Distillery and stop at Cobh for lunch.

Day 7 (Thursday): This night we'll be in Kenmare staying at The Lodge. To get from Kinsale to Kenmare that are several interesting options and we're not sure which to pick.

We're definitely skipping the Ring of Kerry and plan on doing either the Beara or Mizen penninsula.

Should we drive around Mizen Head (and follow the coastal road from Kinsale) or the Beara penninsula (and skip the coastal road from Kinsale)?

If we do the Beara penninsula should we take the Healy Pass instead of going all the way around?

If we skip the Beara penninsula and do Mizen Head instead this would allow us to make the drive from Glengarriff to Kenmare, which I understand is fabulous. If we do Beara instead, we'd have to double back on the Glengarriff-Kenmare road.

What do you think?

Day 8 (Friday): Drive from Kenmare to Dingle via Killarney National Park and through Connor Pass. In Dingle we're staying for 3 nights at the Greenmount House. After all that driving we'll need it

Day 9 (Saturday): Either veg out or drive around the Dingle penninsula, depending on the weather.

Day 10 (Sunday): See Saturday ...

Day 11 (Monday): Drive to Bunratty where we're staying at the Dunaree B&B. We'll probably hit the Bunratty Castle & Folk Park. But I haven't figured out what to see on the drive up.

Day 12 (Tuesday): Drop off the car and catch a midmorning flight from Shannon.

All suggestions about the itineray and what to see and do are greatly appreciated!

Holldoll

Re Connemara--with actually one day there you have two choices. You can go on teh N59 north, first to Kylemore Abbey, on to Letterfrack and the National Park, and maybe on to Leenane and Ashleagh Falls. If going this way, once in Letterfrack I think one of the most scenic places to drive is up the Renvyle Peninsula. I just loved that drive. Then you'll have to just retrace to go back. But that's actually a pretty full day, esp. if some of the time you go off the main road on smaller roads and really get to the more remote areas. That would be my choice. Otherwise you can go south to Roundstone, which is a different terrain and nice drive too. But I think there's more to see on the other route. Connemara is so beautiful and I think a relaxing part of Ireland.

Dathai

I wonder about staying 2 nights in Doolin - I know the music, However you could move on up a see a lot more in Connemara/Mayo.

Anyway must see in Connemara - Kylemore Abbey - Connemara National Park - Malachy Kearns the Bodhran Maker in Roundstone. Take catamaran trip around Ireland's only fjord at Leenane.
Take coast road from Leenane through Louisburgh to Westport. Walk up St. Patrick's mountain - Croagh Patrick.

Go neiri an Bothar Leat (May the road rise with you!)

On Saturday in Galway there is a nice market around St Nicholas Church and generally a great atmosphere around the town. Enroute around the Burren - visit the Burren Experience - Visit Ailwee Caves nr Ballyvaughan. Maybe Burren Smokehouse in Lisdoonvarna.

ceezee

Thank you holldoll and dathai. Originally I was planning on spending 3 nights in Clifden but The Quay couldn't take us on Saturday night. They were already booked (this was March!). So I extended 2 nights in Doolin and cut Clifden short by a day. The place we're staying – The Quay – sounded interesting but if there are any other recommendations I can try to change it.

IrishEyes

Byrne's Mal Dua House in Clifden is extremely nice. I have stayed there a few times and was never disappointed. They recently opened a restaurant for dinner and it was first-class dining.

Holldoll

Well, I know it's not a B&B, but I'm crazy about Abbeyglen Castle in Clifden. The food is to die for, and I love the old manor house atmosphere. I've been there twice and want to return. I can highly recommend it. It's well priced for what you get--lodging, high class dinner, breakfast and afternoon tea.

chatham

ceezee: You did a great job with research. I believe 2 days staying the night in Doolin is fine. You'll get over your trip and can tour around the Burren. I stayed at The Lodge in Kenmare and was very happy. I hope you have one of the jr. suites at Greenmount. When it is raining, you will still have those views. All rooms have the views and great hosts. I love Connemara also. You'll are going to have a great time.

yesiree100

You won't run out of things to do around Doolin. Other options would be heading south and taking in the coast down to Kilkee and/or Loop Head; shop, dine and explore Ennis; wander around Dysert O'Dea (the castle will likely be closed, but the church ruin and high cross will be there).

Take any route in Connemara and you're bound to see amazing scenery. Cong is a favorite place of mine.

If you reach Tipperary too late for the Rock of Cashel and Cahir Castle, take a detour to Athassel Priory in Golden (between Tipperary and Cashel). It's a huge ruin that you can wander around...it's free and open until dusk (which should be around 6:30/7pm). From there, you can head to Ardfinnan via Cashel, so you can at least view the Rock of Cashel from the exterior.

Good luck and have a great trip.

12perfectdays

yesiree 100,
quick question...you said Cong is a favorite of yours. I am going end of October...any particular suggestions? Any blurb of info I find of Cong is very short. If available that late in year, am thinking of Corrib cruise, Ashford Castle, Cong Abbey, Quiet Man Cottage. Any other? pub?

ceezee,
have a fantastic trip! Let us know how it turns out...I love the trip reports, not just for the info gleaned but also to imagine being there...a little adventure before my October adventure.
Happy travels!

ceezee

Holldoll and Dathai: I checked back with The Quay in Clifden and they now have an opening for Saturday night. This means I could just spend one night in Doolin and then three nights in Clifden. It'll give us two full days in Connemara for exploring. With this extra time, what else should I see?

Hopefully, we'll have enough energy the day we fly in to give justice to the Burren area (Cliffs of Moher, the Perfumery, Ailwee Caves)!

Holldoll: I did check into the Abbeyglen Castle but they never returned the emails I sent requesting more information about their rates. Plus I thought that I'd rather try several places for dinner instead of being tied into just one. It certainly looked great, tho, and another time we might go for it.

yesiree100: We should definitely make it into Cong with the extra time we'll now have.

I checked into sunrise and sunset times for when we'll be there and the day we drive to Tipperary the sun sets at 7:28. It probably seems like it gets darker earlier then that, tho. Is there a long twilight time there? I grew up in Minnesota where the twilights seem to go on forever and I'm in the Philadelphia area and it gets dark in a second.

BTW, I found an interesting web site on the Connemara Loop –

wwww.goconnemara.com


So our new itinerary is:

Day 1 (Friday): Shannon to Doolin. Visit the Cliffs of Moher, the Burren, etc. Have dinner in a pub (McGann's?) and try to stay up late enough to hear some music.

Day 2 (Saturday): Drive up to Galway and spend the day shopping and eating. Would you recommend trying to hit Moran's Oyster Cottage for lunch on the way up or Conlon's in Galway? Then head to Clifden for the night (for 3 nights).

Day 3 (Sunday): Explore Connemara. Kylemore Abbey, Letterfrack, the Nat'l Park, Leeanne (catamaran trip around the fyord sounds fantastic), Ashleagh Falls, Renvyle Penninsula.

Day 4 (Monday): Explore Connemara.

Days 5 – 12: The same so far!

Holldoll

For your extra time in Connemara--I forgot the first time I wrote--drive the Sky Road in Clifden. Some great views and an interesting drive. If you like to horseback ride, you could go up to Cleggan (very close to Clifden) for a short ride. Also, with the extra time you could go down to Roundstone and explore that area south of Clifden. You'll find you'll simply enjoy any drives in Connemara. Except for the N59 the roads are very small and winding, so it does take some time to get from place to place.

cd

You sure have done your research. Wish I were going with you! We did the same as you on the first day. Except, if I had it to do over, I would visit the Clifs and then go to our B&B and take a 2hr nap, which we didn't do and by the time the music started (9:30pm)we were falling asleep at our table.

I would also drive Slea Head Drive while in Dingle, absoulutely beautiful!

ceezee

12perfectdays: I found an interesting travel blog entry about a trip to Cong, check it out:

http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/ireland/travel-18.html

yesiree100

In Cong I like to visit the abbey, walk the castle grounds (entering on foot from the back drive by the abbey allows you to bypass the front gate admission), walking around the town and dinner at Mikaline's (not sure how it's spelled).

Watching John Wayne's The Quiet Man before going makes visiting the town a lot of fun because you keep seeing settings from the movie...some of the buildings and scenes are also on the grounds of Ashford Castle.

I heard they recovered the original pub set from the movie and have installed it into the building in town that was used for the pub exterior shots (it was never a pub before). It just opened as a pub and is supposed to be great fun.

NEDSIRELAND

"Day 1 (Friday): Arrive in Shannon around 8:00 a.m. Pick up the car and drive to Doolin."

Doolin is about 1.5 hour drive from Shannon airport. If it were me, I would call ahead from Shannon and ask if you can get an early check-in. If so, go directly to the SeaView and take a nap for a couple of hours. It's surprising how well one can get along after 2-or-3 hours sleep. The midday meal is usually served until about 3PM so you can dine when you get up. Then you can go see the Burren or Corofin or Lahinch ...

Reason: 1. The Cliffs are best viewed around sunset;
2. Friday is usually the best night for 'Trad' Irish music.

There's an outdoor market in Galway's pedestrian area on Saturdays. If you don't like that, you can enjoy more Trad Irish music at Taaffes or another pub just across the way (its sign is in Irish, so I can't tell you what it says). Both have matinee sessions Saturdays, and their 2-hour sessions alternate.

The last time we were in west Clare on a Sunday, we were staying in Ennis: After 11:00 AM Mass we went down to the Queen's Hotel (on Abbey Street) for lunch and I persuaded the wife to stop next door at Cruise's Restaurant & Pub, a great Venue for Trad Irish music: We got there just as an impromptu group was setting up; and we enjoyed their music for about 2-hours. They weren't finished; we were!

"Day 5 (Tuesday): This is a long drive day. We have to go from Clifden to Ardfinnan (it's right by Clomel in Co. Tipperary)."

Yes; it's a long way to Tipperary! (Sorry about that!)

Dathai

Did anyone mention A boat trip on Killary Harbour? - see www.killarycruises.com - from Leenane travel north on coast road by Delphi to Louisburgh - Go from here towards Westport - climb St. patrick's Holy mopuntain (or a bit of it!) Croagh Patrick and get great view of Clew Bay
Conlons is more Fish and Chips style where Morans would have a lot more atmosphere.
with it's 365 islands!
Travel back towards Connemara through Headford and Cong and Lough Nafooey.

ceezee

Dathai: I'll add the info on Killary cruises. My guide books show the view from the mountain and I'm not sure we'll climb to the top but the view looks breathtaking. Do you know if I'd need hiking boots?

I was afraid that Moran's would be much more interesting. The only problem is that it would cut into our time in Galway. That's the day we now drive from Doolin to Clifden (spending the day in Galway). I'll have to check and see how close Moran's is to Galway. It seems it will be worth it to eat there. It's only our second day in Ireland so I'm not extremely interested in spending tons of time in a city – I'd rather look at scenery I think.

NEDSIRELAND and cd: The woman at SeaView does want us to call her when we get our car to let her know when she should expect us. We'll ask her about an early check-in. That's a great idea to nap for a few hours and then grab a bite and head out.

NEDSIRELAND: I hadn't heard before about viewing the Cliffs at sunset. Great tip!

Sorry about the temptation regarding Tipperary Now I can't get it out of my mind.

cd: I was definitely planning on doing the Slea Head drive while on the Dingle peninsula. I have the Rick Steven's guide book and he has a few pages on it. (One of my problems will be to decide which guides books we should bring – my husband will want to take them all!)

And I'm still trying to figure out what route to take from Kinsale to Kenmare (which peninsula to see – Mizen or Beara – or both?).

McShane

Hi ceezee,
Last year we rented a place in Kenmare for a week and I'm pretty sure we drove every road that led to Kenmare! The one that sticks with me still, that pops into my head at odd times, is the Borlin Valley drive between Bantry and Kenmare. I thought it was far lovelier than Glengarriff. Spectacular and lonely.

So I'd drive the coast road from Kinsale to Bantry, then take R584 and stop at Kealkill and find the cool stone circle on top of the hill. Then head to Kilgarvan through the Borlin Valley, then to Kenmare (I'm looking at the freytag & berndt map.)

We did drive the Kerry Peninsula to go to Skellig Michael, it was amazing, and my 75 year old MIL made it to the top! Then we drove through Macgillycuddy's Reeks back to Kenmare, also lovely.

And the Sheep's Head peninsula - I'm ready to move there. I took a picture of the cottage I love.

The replies to your post have been so helpful to me as we'll be in Galway and Westport in early August.

Have a great trip!

Dathai

Doolin is about 50 miles from Galway.
It will take about 1.5 hours total.
Morans is just after Kilcolgan so you wuld indeed be probably passing a little early for lunch (or Not) - You might like to stop off and see The Burren Exposure and take a walk in the burren. If you do miss Moran's I wouldn't worry that much - there are lots of nice places in Galway City - The atmosphere is not typical city - (population 60,000)
pedestrainised centre has great atmosphere and you will find lots of interesting places to eat around Quay Street. You can park in Jurys Inn Car Park or other car parks in the centre.
It is worth stopping in Galway and I promise you that you'll find something interesting for lunch. Check out www.galway1.ie You don't have to spend a long time and you could head out to Connemara early afternoon.

Hiking boots are not a bad idea for Connemara - you never know! - Very nice climb in Leenane - can't think of name of mountain right now.
For extended ideas informaiton check out web for Delphi adventure centre and Delphi Mountian Spa.

ceezee

Mcshane: I would have never thought to go inland through the Borlin Valley to get to Kenmare – thanks so much for the information. Do you think that if I take the coastal road from Kinsale to Bantry and then through Borlin Valley as you suggested, we'd still have time to include the drive to Mizen Head (or maybe just Sheep's Head) before hitting Bantry? (I'll have to run the route through AA.) I think I'll need a very good map, tho. I've never heard of freytag & berndt. I imagine the best place to buy maps is when I get to Ireland.

Dathai: My husband and I discussed the Day 2 drive from Doolin to Clifden via Galway last night and basically came to the same conclusion that you did. It makes much more sense to skip Moran's and spend more time in Galway and get an earlier start to Clifden that afternoon. I'll check out that web site you mentioned – I'm sure there are plenty of good places to eat and I want to hit a bookstore, etc. I'm hoping there will be new book out by Ken Bruen (he's become my favorite mystery writer and he's from Galway).

Also thanks for the car park suggestion – little tips like where to park can make getting around so much easier.