Dadelle

we, a family of 4 are planning to visit Ireland and France in May for the first time. Al adults by the way. My daughter is in Medical School and only has 10 days available for travel. We are flying from Orlando, Florida to Dublin. Now should we buy a multi city ticket from fl to Dublin then Dublin to Paris and back to Orlando or is it less expensive to purchase a separate flight from dub to Paris? Is 5 days in Ireland and 3 days in France enough? Where to visit while in Ireland? Also can we visit Paris and nice in 3 days? Any ideas which hotel to stay in in Dublin and also while in Paris? We don't mind taking trains, but our time is limited. We were thinking about doing a tour while in Dublin to Killarney park. Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.

pariswat

Absolutely no problem.
I visited the USA in 6 days and went to Mexico 2 days.

Do have a look at a map first. Somebody posted on 2 separate forums that se just realized that France was as large as Texas. Could be. and with more inhabitants and more to see apparently.

Rubicund

If this is a serious question, the answer is no, it's not enough time to visit both countries with only 8 days available. It may be enough time to visit both cities, but I'd do 3 days in Dublin (more than enough) and 5 days in Paris (nowhere near enough).

irishface

I would choose one or the other, but it is your trip.

I would not do a trip to Killarney from Dublin. It is a really long day on the bus which will leave you only a couple of hours to explore. If you want an organized tour, look into ones that go nearer to Dublin. You could take a tour to Newgrange burial tomb which is kind of neat or one that goes to Glendalough, which is one of my favorite places in Ireland. Google both of them to see what they are about.

Dublin itself has lots to see and do. Take a hop-on-hop off bus tour for an overview. Get on the DART (Dublin area regional transport) and take train to Howth or down to Greystones and walk the beaches.

At Howth there is a great hike up to he top of the hill for great views out to sea and there may be rhododendrons still in bloom. Lots of restaurants to catch a bite.

If you go south to Greystones, you can walk along the shingle beach or take a walk back to Bray over Bray Head. Lots of great views (about four miles). Catch the train back to Dublin in Bray.

Or take the Dart to Bray and then get a bus to Enniskerry (Used to be #44--but that was many years ago when I lived in the area) The bus will have Enniskerry up in the box on the front. In Enniskerry it will be just a short walk to the Powerscourt estate. Wonderful Gardens and a view into the hills.

If you choose Paris, there are a bjillion things to do. You would barely scrape the surface in ten days. I have been a few times, but there are others here who are much more knowledgable about Paris than I.

MmePerdu

Why do 3 people have to cut a trip short because 1 person has to go back? Visit 1 locale for the 8 or 10 days, send her home, continue on your way to the next. As you say, you're all adults and presumably 3 of you can travel without the 4th and vice versa.

janisj

>>Also can we visit Paris and nice in 3 days? <<

No

>>but our time is limited. <<

Ya think?

Lets get serious here. You have 7.5 free days (not 8 since you lose half of the first day arriving/transfers/getting settled). Then you'll lose more than another half day getting from your hotel in Dublin to your hotel in Paris. So now you are down to 7 days and you want to see two <i>countries</i>.

Dublin is a fine city - but it is not 'Ireland' if you mean the scenic bits on the west coast. To visit Dublin and see much on the west side of the country would require your entire time -- and that would still be very rushed and you'd have to seriously limit where you went.

If you just want Dublin and Paris -- do 2 days (three nights) in Dublin and the rest in Paris and forget Nice.

Or just Paris and maybe a couple of days in Nice or the Loire or somewhere.

julies

Nope, you don't.

And, IMO Killarney Park is not worth the time even if you have lots of time. For those of us who have been able to visit some of the US's magnificent national parks, it just doesn't compare

What you really need to think about is how much time you will lose in transit just going between those places. WE typically consider a transit day a lost day.

Christina

Dublin and Paris in that time is fine, of course it is "enough" if it's all you have. Don't add Nice, that's not a good idea at all. Of course you don't have a lot of interest in Paris, obviously, or you never would have even thought of doing that. Which is why I think 8 days for two major cities is fine. I've done that myself whcn it's all the time I add, what's the alternative, doing nothing and going nowhere?

nytraveler

Sorry - but your plan won;t work.

If you want to see Dublin and the West/countryside you will need to spend all of your time in Ireland.

If you want a little of each I would agree to 3 nights (2 days) in Dublin and 6 nights (5 days) in Paris. We don;t have your actual dates so don;t know how many days you have on the ground (you can;t count the day you arrive since it's 1/2 a day and you will be jet lagged and you can;t count the day you depart.)

Trying to do more places will just result in your spending more time and money in transit and not give you enough time anywhere.

Suggest you do a little research to determine what you want to see/do in each place and check with the michelin green guide - which gives you details on all important sights and also tells you about how long it takes to see each one.

And definitely do an open jaws ticket into Dublin and out of Paris to avoid backtracking.

mamcalice

Good Grief, NO! With the time you have, choose either Ireland or Paris/Nice. Either way, it will be rushed but you can't enjoy both in 10 days. I guess the weather would be fine either place but I would choose Paris and add Nice if you want to go there.

Tony2phones

Hit and run, yes quite possible. Land Dublin couple of days train to Killarney 2 days, bus to Cork 2 days, fly Cork to Paris 2 days gives 2 days to fit all the travelling in the mix.

Folk do these trips and have the time of their lives, wouldn't suit many who answer on the forums but then most of us would consider tour bus tours either.

tower

<i>Why do 3 people have to cut a trip short because 1 person has to go back? Visit 1 locale for the 8 or 10 days, send her home, continue on your way to the next. As you say, you're all adults and presumably 3 of you can travel without the 4th and vice versa</i>.

This most sensible comment came from Mme Perdu above, in my opinion. Send the Doctor-to-be home on a timely basis...and the others can leisurely take in much more of Ireland and France no matter how you decide to slice it up. My guess is, she would be happy to see the three of you taking a more comfortable, stress-less schedule. And someday she'll be in a position to do a world of traveling. Your choice.

flpab

I fly out of MCO a lot and we got a great deal on aer lingus this pass spring. Our flight left at 8pm and we were in Dublin by 8am. We had a 2pm flight from Dublin and we were home by 6pm. I loved the straight through flight. We did a side trip to Germany and got an early am flight out of Dublin. We booked two separate flights. Many times we do multi city and you could do that, fly into Dublin and home from Paris. We just decided to come back and spend four extra nights in Dublin. We did a tour to Glendalough which I thought was well worth it and if you have a free Sunday best time to go.


http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractio...ty_Dublin.html

I would go to Paris if you want but Nice is stretching it a bit. Maybe you could put daughter on the plane and stay longer.

Jury's Inn Christ Church is a nice area. Harding Hotel also. Around Trinity we like Buswells. You are still within walking distance of everything but a little quieter.

greg

The question like "Is 5 days in Ireland and 3 days in France enough?" lacks context. What are you planning to do in these countries?

Your box is on the small side, but if your content is also small, your box = number days, then it might be enough, but we don't have any idea of the "contents".

Also, counting by days tend to double count the same day. If you have total of 10 days, you would be arriving the next day, so you have 9 calendar (not duration) days in Europe. Taking out first and the last day as travel days, you have 8 nights, 7 potential full days, but you are using one day to travel DUB-Paris, so you have 6 full days and one partial day. You have really small boxes to put in your yet to be defined destinations.

For the airfare question, it is not necessary to wait for someone to tell you. Just plug in different scenarios into your favorite booking engines and out pop all the price and schedule options in seconds.

flpab

Greg, she is flying from MCO so if they took the 8pm flight and arrive in Dublin 8am they don't even have to count that as a travel day. That is why I suggested it unless they have long drive to the airport they can even work that day. Get there by 5:30 and you are set.

Loacker

Skip Dublin. The best that Ireland has to offer is scenery.
Spend 5 days in Paris and 5 days somewhere in the Irish countryside. You'll see the best of both countries this way.

Factor in a day for travel between the two.

Seeing the countryside requires a car rental. If you're not planning to drive forget it and stick to Paris+another place in France.

Enjoy

di2315

If you are working on a 'bucket list' and just want to tick off two countries, then you'll be fine.

If you really want to experience time in another country, then please take the time to do either one justice - you'll come home much less exhausted and have much better memories of where you've been.

I think this applies even if you are thinking of this trip as a once-in-a-lifetime journey with no possibility of visiting either country ever again. Di

kja

Dadelle -- You've already gotten some great advice -- trying to SEE or EXPERIENCE both of these countries in the time you allot is really not possible, IMO. You need to decide what YOU want. Get a good guidebook or two (always a worthy investment, IMO, but you can also go to a library) and decide what YOUR highest priorities are, and then plan your time around them.

@ pariswat -- I know you are relatively new to Fodor's, and I know that you already know that some Fodorites are not gentle or constructive, but you might want to consider what role you want to have here. Do you want to be the poster who always just uses heavy irony to point to the absurdity of an OP's proposal (no matter how naive that OP might be, or how open to learning?), or would you like to be constructive? I could be wrong, but I think you have only a very short window in which to establish a credible path toward usefulness.... And right now, I think you are tilting toward the wasp / pest / gnat side -- at least from what I've seen so far. I hope I'm wrong ....

pariswat

Kja
I appreciate your comment. I used some interesting threads like tipping or changing money to get a feel of some regulars and I saw that you are indeed a normal and constructive person.
I think I am perfectly capable of being both constructive and ironic.

Some posts are so absurd that I can't answer differently. I just cannot understand that somebody can come and bluntly ask a question that proves he/she didn't spend 5 minutes on the subject. I see it as a proof of laziness and somehow disrespect towards normal regulars who want to help.

I guess I should just have to refrain from answering, but it would take out some of the fun. And after all we're on a public forum so people can/should not expect everybody being well meaning.

Can you be smarter than me and just sigh when you feel I'm over the limit ?

Best regards.

Sassafrass

Pariswat,

Kja is always helpful and polite, always seems to give people the benefit of the doubt, etc. and her advice is always good as well as kind. Even her reprimand of you was in a helpful and kind vein.

OTOH, I did think your ironic response was funny, though I doubt the OP actually got it or would have appreciated it. It is annoying when people seem to have no knowledge of geography or history and do not know what a map is. The question I hate the most is, "I am going to (city or country name). What should I see?" A guide book is a helpful answer, but requires some work on their part. I try to answer questions directly, but sometimes I must refrain.

Before the Berlin wall came down, someone asked me which was "good" Germany and which was "bad" Germany. I replied that it depended on your ideological point of view and left it at that. Someone once asked how we packed enough water for trips to Europe. I told them we dehydrated it first. That seemed to satisfy them. You can see I appreciate irony, though I admire Kja's kindness and try to emulate it - most of the time.