1 week in Ireland Starting in Dublin
 

I keep seeing all of these wonderful things to do in Ireland, and looking for some pointers on our route of the southern half of Ireland. We are going no further north than Galway, except for a run up to Ashford Castle for the hawk walk there.

People talk of the Ring Of Kerry, but I also see the Gap of Dunloe which looks interesting as well.

I do want to make it to Rock of Cashel.

I do not have hotels set, and would like to work on that this weekend.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

Jim

And we are just an active couple coming with no kids. We will be renting a car in DUB.

Just short of how long you have on the ground?

My general recommendation is to have Dublin at the back end and hit the road for a short distance when arriving at DUB, depends on your flight time and how you handle jet lag/time sway. Kilkenny is a good option heading south within a couple of hours straight drive. Cashel or Cahir another option or Express bus from DUB to Cork and pick up the car at Cork airport day 2.

Killarney or Kenmare are good touring bases for Kerry and the west of Cork. Drive round Dingle to Ennis as a touring base for the former Shannon region and drive west Clare http://goo.gl/UtW24m up to Galway. Hawk walk at Dromoland or Ailwee Caves would get my vote over Ashford. (just don't like Ashford?)

Set your locations first and you will get recommendations for accommodations. Unless you are arriving next week that's not a rush ;)

Tony2, we arrive on a Sat April 25 at 9:25am, and leave the next Friday, May 1 at 11.

I was also thinking of being back in DUB on Thurs to visit around. I do want to drive out of the area first thing and start my journey. I am pretty good at fighting jet lag. We have flown overseas quite a few times, and know that you have to hit the ground running or it will hit you.

I will look into those hawk walks as well.

We do want to do B&B as much as possible, and only plan on a hotel the last night before we fly out. I will try to plot out more this weekend and update here.

Alright, My plans are as follows:

Night 1 Cork

Night 2 Killarney - Seeing Gap of Dunloe and not ROK. - Looking into the Killarney Lodge for this night.

Night 3 Limerick

Night 4/5 Galway - Have accomodations here.

Night 6 Return to DUB

Also looking for suggestions on what to see on the drive between locations that are not miss. We don't have to do the big touristy spots

Any and all help is appreciated.

Jim,

I would not recommend Limerick for night 3.

I would recommending spending 2 nights in Killarney - do the Gap of Dunloe and then the next day visit the beautiful, non-touristy Beara Peninsula.

On the morning of day 4 head to Galway City via the Tarbert-Killimer ferry and see a bit of the Burren en route to Galway.

If you decide you only want one night in Killarney I would recommend you move onto Ennis (rather than Limerick) for night #3. Ennis is a very pleasant town and a good base for a drive through the Burren en route to Galway on night 4.

Thanks, I will look into places in Ennis.