Kathy333

Author: Kathy333 ([email protected])
Date: 07/19/2005, 09:59 am
Hello

I am new to this site, and the information and feedback is wonderful.

I am travelling to Ireland August 5th for 4 nights with just my husband and 2 daughters (9,12). We are then meeting up with my sister-in-law and 3 three children and spending 3 nights in Dungiven. From there we are travelling to Swords for 6 nights and meeting up with my inlaws (the 11 of us from Canada) and having family reunions and so on.

I am very excited, as are my children, but I want to try and see and do as much as possible.

My plan for the first 3 nights are:


Day 1&2:

Fly into Shannon, pick up car and drive to Tralee where I have a b&b. I hope to do 1 day in Killarney and 1 day in Dingle. Any suggestions would be appreciated, keeping in mind the age of my daughters (9,12).

Day 3:

Travel up to Doolin for a 1 night stay, and tour the Cliffs of Moher, caves, Aran Islands. I am little worried about the cliffs after reading that people have fallen over!

I do not have a B&B for my 4th night. I am hoping for something between Doolin and Dungiven that will interesting for the kids and us.

Day 5,6 & 7:

We are now 4 adults, 5 children (9,12,13,15,17). The Giant Causeway is on the list, Bushmills, the rope bridge (again I am a little apprehensive). Any further reccommendations would be appreciated.

The balance of the trip is based in Swords. What would be some must do and sees over the next 6 nights. I will be flying out of Dublin. I wish I had more time, but will savour the time I have.

Any input, advice, suggestions is very much appreciated.

Cheers
Kathy

Ann41

You don't need to worry about either the Cliffs of Moher or Carrick-a-Rede Bridge. The only people who would fall over the edge of the cliffs are stupid people who get too close. There are no barriers, so you could go right to the edge if you wanted to.

The rope bridge is perfectly safe. I've gone across it many times. It's a bit scary the first time because while you are on land, it doesn't look like the bridge is moving. But when you are on the bridge, it feels like it's swaying A LOT. So the first time you think it's going to crash into the sea. It won't!

Do exercise some caution with your daughters at the Giant's Causeway. The rocks near the water are very slippery. They recently put markers up to show you where waves tend to hit, so pay attention to that.

You do seem to be covering an awful lot of ground in a short time. Have a look at some mileage sites and make sure you're not doing too much. Estimate about 40 mph, except for driving between NI (Belfast or Lisburn) and Dublin, which is much faster as much of that is now motorway.

amyprib

You might have a hard time doing Dingle and Killarney in your first two days, if you're staying the night in Tralee. Dingle is doable from there, Killarney might be a little further. I'd have to look at distances again.

I am seriously hoping you're not planning to do Aran Islands, caves, and Cliffs all in the same day, after you have to travel to get there first. Aran Island can easily take a full day in itself, even if you just do Inis-Mor. And, they have specific ferry times, so that could limit your other activities. You might consider skipping the caves. If they're the same ones we visited, it was neat, but probably wouldn't recommend it. You could do the Cliffs in the evening/sunset, which I highly suggest. When we were there, arrived around 7-8pm I think, the guys was taking parking fee as people left. When we left around sunset, he was gone. That's just a bonus to the magical atmosphere, esp if the weather is nice.

Don't worry about falling off the cliffs. Unless you do the "belly crawl" on the ledge, you shouldn't worry. You can hop a fence at the beginning, but you can stay 40+yds from the edge and still see beautiful cliffs. The regular path is fenced, so unless you hop over that (where it is a thin cliff side), then there should be no problem.
I cannot make suggestions for the rest since I have not been to NI.

Kathy333

Thanks for your feed back. I am a little worried now that I am being too ambitious.

amyprib

We were extremely ambitious as well, but we managed to do just about all we planned... we moved relatively quick, but still enjoyed the time.

Just think about reworking your itinerary a little, maybe deleting a few items here and there, or rearranging. If you know where everything is (map-wise) and know what things are about, you can easily make decisions as you go as to if you want to skip it or make it a must. Chances are you will end up skipping things to spend time elsewhere, or just run out of time. Good luck and have fun!

Kathy333

I was wondering if anybody could suggest some good road maps for Ireland.

Also, can anybody provide me with some feedback on discount cards ie; Heritage card or any others that are available. Are they worth purchasing?


Thanks
Kathy