murph7

I'm looking for suggestions for a five night trip to Ireland in early July. We'd like to spend our first 2 nights in Dublin (we have to fly in there for reasons that are too boring to bother you with) and spend the remaining nights on the west coast (Doolin or Galway?) and fly out of Shannon. This may be our only trip to Ireland and we hear the west coast is spectacular, and although we don't relish the idea of hopping from hotel room to hotel room, we'd love to hit some of the highlights. How difficult is it to drive from Dublin to the West Coast? Is it necessary to have a car, or could we take public transportation?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Kelly

chatham

murph7, there are trains from Dublin to Galway, Westport, Cork ,Tralee, Killarney and other towns. I know from Galway and Killarney there are bus tours of the sights. From Galway it would be Connamara and from Killarney it would be the ROK. Just an idea, or you could train to one of the towns and rent a car in that town. I love train travel because you can see the sights, have a snack, and chat .

murph7

Thanks chatham for the information! Now we're thinking we may just skip Dublin and fly into Shannon from Dublin to save time so that maybe we could hit Dingle and/or Kenmare as well. Obviously, I have some decisions to make! I'm having trouble figuring out whether it makes sense to stay in Dublin and Wicklow county or if we should skip Dublin and just head west. And if we do head west, whether we should drive or take a plane to Shannon one or both ways. Thanks again for your input--any advice is welcome. This trip has come as a bit of a surprise to us (albeit a pleasant one!) and I'm having some trouble figuring it out. Thanks again!

Ozarksbill

Well,I don't see the sense in flying from Dublin to Shannon if you must arrive Dublin. Yes, count on a day's drive or bus ride, but you would see the counryside, maybe a stop at Rock of
Cashel. But spend a day in Dublin, which might include Glendalough, then get a taste of the West country, say, fromn Killarney. You can only do what you can and not fret!

ozarksbill
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chip

I would suggest...

1- spending the first day/night in dublin...do hop on off tour and stop at one or two places of interest (we liked book of kells and kilmainham jail and pub crawl tours in evening)

2-next day pick up a car and drive to cashel see rock of cashel ...there are some nice sights you could choose from on the way depending on your interests and how much you want to pack into a day... glendalough, powerscourt, kilkenny castle, jerpoint abbey

3-next on to killarney (stay in or around killarney)...you could do ROK or my suggestion would be killarney national park with stops at ladies view, muckross house and friary, and ross castle

4-next day dingle...slea head loop

5-last night in doolin(if you don't have early flight) or bunratty...see cliffs of moher

this would mean one night stays, but would break up drive, no back tracking, and you would see some great sights