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Need Help in Choosing the best scenic way!!

Need Help in Choosing the best scenic way!!

Old Jul 13th, 2014, 09:18 PM
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Need Help in Choosing the best scenic way!!

We are visiting Ireland in August and plan to arrive in Dublin where we will stay for 2 nights before heading off.......this is where we are not sure which route to take!
Do we go to Calway or drive the backroads to Ennis on the E20?
We only have a week so the rough itinerary is :
Dublin 2 nights
On the way to Ennis visiting Birr Castle perhap Nation Stud Farm?
Ennis - 1 night visiting the Cliff of Moher, then onto Adare perhaps then Limerick before
2 nights in Killarney
Killarney : 2 nights : Portmagee, Staigue Fort , Sneem perhaps Ballyseede Castle
Kinsale 1 night: Fishy Fishy a must! then on the way to Cork visit Blarney Castle, then Cobh Jameson Midleton Distillery then do we take the coastal road to Waterford or do we take the M8 inland where we stay in Kilkenny
Kilkenny 1 night
Then we have to decide the best way to get to England?
Ferry or Flight?
Any thoughts on this iternary?
Is the back roads to Ennis a nice drive?
Thank you
Rubyjean is offline  
Old Jul 14th, 2014, 12:38 AM
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I'm sure that a couple of our Irish experts can help you with the trip, but what part of England do you need to arrive in? Depending on where you want to be will dictate whether ferry or flight is best.
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Old Jul 14th, 2014, 12:58 AM
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Yes it depends on where you want to go, but flight is almost certainly the right method as you will not want to take a hire car across the waters
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Old Jul 14th, 2014, 07:33 AM
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>

Not sure why this is even a question. Where are you going in England? If to London, this is a no-brainer. The ferry is a day-long affair and requires a long train ride in addition to the ferry.

What's an iternary? Do you mean itinerary?
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Old Jul 15th, 2014, 02:09 PM
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Yes, I mean Itinerary as seniors we are not always "quick off the mark" to pick up on our spelling!!

We have decided to fly across to London, so thank you all for your thoughts and ideas.

The other decision we have to make is which drive is the most scenic : Dublin to Galway or Dublin to Ennis via backroads E20? and is Birr Castle worth a stop?

Which Castle is the most beautiful to visit? not to stay just to view
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Old Jul 15th, 2014, 03:08 PM
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The E-20 in Ireland is a fully-fledged motorway (the actual signage would be N7/M7/N18/N19) from Dublin to Limerick and further on to Shannon airport. It is definetely not a backroad, though the leg between Portlaoise and Limerick is quite scenic.

You cannot visit the inside of Birr castle, but the gardens (demesne) is quite nice.
On a more direct route to Ennis via M6, N66, M18 you would go near by Clonmacnoise. Which could be considered a more relevant sight to visit than Birr.

The other route (now coming back to "E-20") would have the ruins of the rock of Dunamese (near Portlaoise), a small nice castle in Roscrea (along with a round tower), and cute Nenagh (with a great tower). In Nenagh you would leave M7 and follow R445 into town and then R494 along the Southern shoreline of Lough Derg (great viiewpoints) to to pittoresque Ballina/Killaloe (old town, Norman ringfort), to Scariff and eventually to Ennis.
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Old Jul 15th, 2014, 08:21 PM
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Hi Cowboy,

You have been most helpful thank you.

Our first day away from Dublin will be Ennis, you have convinced us that Birr Castle maybe worth a miss!!
So are you suggesting that we choose Rock of Dunamese first stop and then onto Roscrea to view the small castle then onto village of Nenagh before heading to Limerick via Limerick Road and onto Ennis???

When i looked on the map of Ireland Lough Derg and Ballina are way up north and seems to be miles out of the way, is this right?

After Ennis we head south for a couple of nights in Killarney where we will base ourselves to tour then onto Kinsale.

Do you think the village of Sneem is worth a look?
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Old Jul 16th, 2014, 02:06 AM
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It's the other Lough Derg and the other Ballina -- much further South than the ones you found
The Lough Derg I was talking about is in counties Tipperary and Clare and a bit of Galway - when you look at a map, a bit up the Shannon river from Limerick.
The twin towns Ballina/Killaloe are at Lough Derg's Southern end, and Portumna at its Northern tip.

Oh, and I did not mean that you HAD to visit all of the sights/sites I mentioned, just giving you a rough idea about your options along the road which require no detour.

In addition, that route would also take you by Kildare - with the National Stud (which already had found out) and the Japanese Garden.

While in Ennis, the pittoresque Quin Abbey is just a 10 minute drive (to Quin). And also near Ennis is Craggaunowen, "The Living Past Experience" history park:
http://www.shannonheritage.com/Cragg...astExperience/

And re. Sneem: Yes, I found that village quite scenic - but when the tourist buses make their stop you share it with many others (like most places on the Ring of Kerry).
Personally, I found the drive of the Skellig Ring especially scenic. And the short walk to "Ireland's Most Scenic Cliff" worth while the 3 euros you pay for that view.

Aside from the Staigue Fort (which I found nice), I found the setting of Derrynane House (museum, but have not visited) gardens plus the nearby beach extremely scenice. To get there, both to the beach and the house/garden, just follow signs to Darrynane House once you got to Darrynane House.
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Old Jul 16th, 2014, 01:21 PM
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Once again you have been most helpful and i thank you very much
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Old Jul 16th, 2014, 10:09 PM
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My pleasure.
Just one minor correction: Of the two times I mentioned Darrynane House in last sentence of my previous post it should read: ... just follow signs to Darrynane House once you got to Caherdaniel.
Happy travels!
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