SarahBSC

Am visiting Ireland with my husband from April 23rd through May 3rd. We would love some help or suggestions or feedback with re to our itinerary. All we’ve booked at this point are out flights.

Arrive in Dublin at on 23rd @ 10AM (suggestions where to stay- would prefer walking distance from everything). Do some sightseeing in Dublin (Dublin Castle, Trinity College/ Book of Kells, St. Patrick’s Cathedral possibly Guinness brewery).
Apr 24th – Day 2 in Dublin
Apr 25th – Rent car first thing in AM (suggestions where to rent?). Leave Dublin. Start drive to Tipperary hopefully through the Wicklow Mountains. Head to Rock of Cashel. Sleep in B&B in Tipperary (any suggestions?).
Apr 26th – Drive to Youghal to stay with Family, get to Youghal today.
Apr 26th – Apr 29th. With Youghal as base, will visit Cork, Blarney Stone, Cobh or Ardmore and other with family (other suggestions?).
Apr 29th – head to Kinsale from Youghal in AM. Spend the entire day in Kinsale, that evening make drive to Kenmare. Stay overnight in Kenmare (any suggestions?).
Apr 30th – Wake up early in Kenmare and begin Ring of Kerry drive. We expect this to be an all day drive, will do entire ring and plan to end the day in Dingle. Sleep in Dingle (suggestions?).
May 1st – Wake up in Dingle. Sightsee (suggestions?), stay 1 more night in Dingle
May 2nd – Leave Dingle early and head to Cliffs of Moher (any other stops along the way?). Will need to stay near Shannon Airport on that evening, 1PM flight on the 3rd.
May 3rd – 1PM flight out of Shannon

Thank you thank you!!

longhorn55

Since it looks like you have your evening destinations chosen, I suggest you look at the reviews of B&Bs in those locations on Trip Advisor. We have stayed in 10 different B&Bs on our two trips to Ireland and I found them all through reading reviews on TA. There wasn't a bad one in the bunch. (In Kenmare, we stayed at Abbey Court B&B and that's one I highly recommend.)

From Dingle to County Clare (Cliffs of Moher), you can take the ferry at Tarbert. Going this way puts you on the N67 which leads to Kilkee which has some pretty fabulous cliffs of its own--and they don't charge you to see them like they do at the Cliffs of Moher. Also, you won't find the crowds there like you will at the Cliffs of Moher. When we were there last May, we only saw 3 moms with prams when we strolled along the cliff walk path. You could also continue down to Loop Head for some more incredible cliff views.

The more I read about the cliffs in Kilkee when planning my trip last year, the more convinced I became that we should go there. I'm sure the Cliffs of Moher are spectacular, but I prefer not to have to share scenic beauty with the hordes.

flpab

Hertz - Dublin City Centre
151 South Circular Road, Dublin 8, Co. Dublin, Ireland
+353 1 709 3060 ‎ hertz.ie
I would not go back to the airport to rent a car since you are heading south.
I have stayed in four different places in Dublin but my favorite was Buswells Hotel, very close to Trinity, St Stephens Green(a must see, very beautiful) and Grafton St. This area is very safe and quiet at night but close to everything. It is an older hotel but very nice and the price was great. We took the aircoach from the airport and it dropped us off across the street from our hotel.
The English Market in Cork, loved it. Hope you have a sunny day in Kinsale.

indy_dad

Hi Sarah

Can't help you with the first bits since we focused on the southwest. We enjoyed Killarney (not on your list), Dingle, and the drive up through County Clare to Galway.

For Dingle, we really enjoyed the Slea Head drive. Much more manageable than the Ring of Kerry.

From Dingle to Galway (our destination), we took a detour at Kilkee and drove out to Loop Head for some amazing views. We then backtracked and drove through the Burren (with some stops). It was an admittedly long day but worthwhile.

Photos and description:

http://ukfrey.blogspot.com/2011/08/ireland.html

Good luck.

Tony2phones

Rather than spend the "entire day in Kinsale" why not take the day to drive to Kenmare via the Beara and Sheeps head peninsula's. I realise that this might later make you think of Dingle as being just OK, but it would be a better use of the day than a fishing village with a castle.

GreenDragon

Congrats on not trying to see the entire country!

I recommend Dan Dooley - their quoted price is what you pay, no surprises. They were very easy to rent from and return to, no worries.

We stayed in Kenmare and Dingle - go see my trip report for lots of suggestions on things to do and see. Good luck!

TPAYT

I also recommend Dan Dooley. We used them on 2 trips and would use them again.

I also agree with above post on Kinsale. To me only worth a few hours. The drive west of there along the coast is stunning.We also enjoyed the Slea Head drive much more than the Ring of Kerry.

Loved Kenmare. Stayed at
http://www.shelburnelodge.com/
It's an old manor house within walking distance of shops & restaurants. Best breakfast we had in all of our trips. Dinner at Mulcahy's our best in Ireland.

In Dingle we stayed at
http://greenmount-house.com/
Beautiful, modern rooms with a balcony overlooking the bay. Gorgeous view at breakfast. 2nd best breakfast for us.

If you'd like to see our reviews click on our name & scroll to bottom review list.

Good luck!

SarahBSC

longhorn55 :
Will check out TA for B&Bs. I did check out Abbey Court, is it within walking distance of the main area? I’ll also look into the car ferry. We have a TomTom with the Euro chip, do you suggest a certain map for our drive? Think we could do the loop head and still get to the Cliffs in a day? We will deal with the hordes 

flpab:
Will add St. Stephens Green. to our list of things to see in Dublin! Did Buswells include breakfast? What about Guiness factory, think it’s worth it?? Thank you so much for the help!

indy_dad:
It seems a few others have suggested the Slea Head Drive. We will be in dingle for a full day and a half, so maybe on the full day we can do this loop, how long did it take? Do you think the Burren was worth the stop? Also, we plan to make the trip from Dingle to the Cliffs of Moher in one day, how long do you think? Will check out pics now! Thanks!

Tony2phones:
We have family in Kinsale so we will be spending the afternoon with them. If we were to arrive in Kinsale early, and leave midafternoon (say, 3PM) do you think we could still do this drive to kenmare?

GreenDragon:
Appreciate your help! Do you know if we can rent the car from Dan Dooley in Dublin, then drop off in Shannon (at the airport). Will check out your trip report 

TPAYT:
Dan Dooley looked more pricey, but maybe it was because all tax etc was included. Do you know if we can pick up in Dublin and dropoff in Shannon? Shelburnelodge is beautiful. We were trying to keep our costs per night stay around $125 p/n USD (incl breakfast..). But seems it may be worth the splurge! Same with Greenmount. We will probably leave Kinsale midafternoon, we do have relatives there. But I will definitely look into the slea head drive. We will be in Dingle for a full day and this may be what we will do. Appreciate your help!

Tony2phones

If you have family in Kinsale thats a whole different game. Drop a night from Dingle and put it onto Kinsale so you can have the evening with family bite to eat quiet drink etc. Dingle is every visitors Holly Grail but lets face it if it takes the tour bus 4 hours to do the sights then a couple of days is more than enough.

TPAYT

I don't know about the car drop off thing as we had 1 trip in & out of Shannon and the other trip in & out of Dublin. I would think it is possible though. Call the free 800 USA number and ask.
http://www.dandooley.com/Contact-Us/

You can do the Slea Head drive in a couple of hours or shorter. It all depends how often you stop for photos etc.

IMO, the drive from Kinsale to Kenmare might be doable at 3pm on the inner larger motoway, but not along the coast. That would take longer and you'd want to stop at all the beautiful places along the way.

irishface

I might choose to stay in Cashel rather than Tipperary on the 25th. If you like to take pictures, the rock is lit up at night and the sun sets behind the Rock so if the weather is right, there will be a good sunset. When I was there with friends we enjoyed ambling around the town in the evening. From Youghal, I'd choose Cobh and Fota as a day trip. Cobh is a nice town and there was a history center down by the water which illustrates the experience of Irish emigrating to North America. It was also the last stop of the Titanic so there is much of that story as well as the story of the Lusitania which was torpedoed in the area. I think someone on Fodors mentioned that it had closed, but not sure. Even so, walking along the waterfront and climbing the steep streets to the cathedral can be a pleasant way to spend a few hours.

Fota is operated in cooperation with the Zoological society and many of the animals roam in unfenced areas. I remember one of the kids was fascinated by being right up close to lemurs. The big cats were fenced in but the area was large so they could be about doing what cheetahs do.

If you are driving the Ring of Kerry from Kenmare don't miss the short detour to see the Staigue Fort, a prehistoric ring fort. The walls are 12 feet high and wide enough for rooms within. It is past Sneem on the ROK road and up a narrow road, narrow enough so busses can't go up, so it is not inundated with people. It is in a sheep field and there is a box in which to deposit your money (honor system). Every time I have been there, I have been alone (or only with accompanying family) and have found it impressive.

Have a wonderful trip.

aussiedreamer

If you decided to stay in Cashel, we ‘fluked’ this great B&B, it really was fabulous www.aulberhouse.com
And also in Cashel www.chezhans.net a great meal in a fantastic setting.

In Dingle we stayed at www.duininhouse.com and can’t recommend enough, just terrific.

There’s more detail in my TR, of the Drive around the Ring Of Kerry & the Dingle Pennisula (which we enjoyed more the Ring of Kerry), also descriptions of the great pubs in Dingle.
We also drove through the Wicklow Mountains and up to the Cliffs of Mohr.

Hope it helps.
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...to-ireland.cfm

jaja

Last two visits we rented from Dan Dooley, flew into Dublin and out of Shannon seamlessly. Until something changes I will rent from Dooley as long as "he" will rent to this aging lady.

indy_dad

Our Slea Head trip was a very leisurely 5-6 hours with many stops and a picnic. You can do it quicker but we liked the fact that it was easily manageable for a day and allowed for all the various stops.

Dingle to Cliffs of Moher in a day shouldn't be an issue. We had a much longer route down to Loop Head and also visited The Burren and then drove to Galway (admittedly tired). I do think the Burren is worth a stop or two for its uniqueness.

GreenDragon

I rented from Belfast and dropped in Shannon with Dan Dooley. Quite easy, except for the fact we estimated the 'empty gas tank' a little incorrectly (km vs miles!) and almost got stranded on the way from Kenmare to Shannon at 5am on a Monday morning

Slea Head is DEFINITELY worth it. A trip out around the loop, including stops at the Celtic Heritage Museum, the Gallerus Oratory, and someplace for lunch is 5-6 hours tops.

If you have a clear moment near Dingle, drive up to Conor Pass. Don't wait, do it! It's fantastic, breathtaking, and rare that it's clear enough to see the view. I've been up four times, 3 of them were too misty to see. This is the view when it cleared a bit: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...type=3&theater

Dingle to Cliffs is a decent day, but still perfectly doable. We went from Ballyvaughan (north edge of the Burren) to Dingle in a long day of driving. Take the ferry across the Shannon, and you'll cut an hour off your driving time. The Burren is wonderful to explore. Poulnabrone Dolmen, Ailwee Caves, the Burren Perfumery, the coast near Fanore - all gorgeous.

TPAYT

Dingle---Connor Pass. It's a very short drive from town. First time up, foggy. We came back the next morning to a clear, gorgeous view. If you have the time, the drive further on over Connor Pass to Brandon point was worth it. Climbing up the hill at Brandon Point, we shot some outstanding photos.