10 day Ireland Itinerary - need help!

Old Jan 31st, 2008, 04:10 PM
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10 day Ireland Itinerary - need help!

Hi all, I booked FF tickets last August for a family of 4 trip(2 teens)to Ireland during Spring break - March 20-30. We fly in and out of Dublin. I am debating what I am sure most of you will think is an itinerary covering way too much. I would very much appreciate any advice/options that you have. I realize most will suggest I skip Giant's causeway and I know that would really help relax our schedule - but I promised my daughter I would fit that in!
Day 1 - NewGrange - sleep somewhere that is on the way to N. Ireland.
Day 2 - Giant's Causeway - sleep somewhere on the way to Connemara.
Day 3 - tour Connemara
Day 4 - Cliffs of Moher/the Burren
Day 5 - Dingle Peninsula
Day 6 - Killarney
Day 7 - Kinsale/Blarney
Day 8 - Kilkenny/Rock of Cashel
Day 9 - Powerscourt/Glendalough
Day 10- Dublin
Day 11 - leave for home
I still need to fill in where to stay each night. Totally crazy and unrealistic or possible? Thank you!
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Old Jan 31st, 2008, 05:12 PM
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We're doing a similar trip in May (except going clockwise rather than anti). Blarney didn't make the first cut, nor did Powerscourt (I'm not sure the gardens would be at their best in March in any case). I decided to skip Killarney, although we are driving the Kenmare to Killarney bit for the scenery. I reluctantly gave up Kinsale, Kilkenny and Glendalough.

I agree with your daughter -- don't skip the Giant's Causeway (and Dunluce, which is nearby). Don't skip Newgrange.

Is Day 1 the day you arrive? I would be reluctant to get into a rental car when jetlagged and set off on the wrong side of the road (from my colonial perspective) to Newgrange and points north. You might want to spend that day in Dublin, get a good night's sleep, then pick up the car.

el
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Old Jan 31st, 2008, 05:31 PM
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Hi el, Thank you for your reply. I actually had not considered doing Dublin first and I think that might work out nicely. I had planned on staying outside of Dublin and taking transport in on the last full day - due to the high cost of hotels in Dublin and the need not to drive in the city. I might still want to pick up the car and drive a short way to an easy town to commute in from. And you are right - I had not considered that Powerscourt might not be at it's best in March! Easily crossed off. It sounds like you have been to Ireland before. Otherwise, do you think the driving distances between our stops are doable? Thanks again! Cheryl
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Old Jan 31st, 2008, 06:02 PM
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travelcrazy1, IMHO you want to rent a very comfortable car because the inside of that car is about all you will be experiencing. Because you are set on seeing the Giant's Causeway, you may want to consider cutting out Dingle, Killarney, Kinsale/Blarney, and Rock of Cashel. One posibility is Dublin 2 days, Galway with exploration of Connemara 3 days (4 days if you go to Aran Islands one day), Sligo, Donegal, Giant's Causeway, Belfast, NewGrange, Dublin for your return home. Have a fantastic trip!
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Old Jan 31st, 2008, 06:45 PM
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It really sounds to me like you're planning to push yourself so hard that you'll have very little time to savor the country. Also, it looks like you're planning to relocate and move on practically every day. That will probably mean that at least one hour or more a day gets consumed with packing up, loading the car, finding the new hotel/B&B, unpacking the car, etc. If you can identify a smaller number of centers to stay in, and then try and do some day trips, I think it would mean less wear-and-tear on you, and you'd have more time to enjoy things.

Ireland is a relatively small country, but the roads are not great. There are very few roads that are the equivalent of American interstates. Thus, you will move more slowly than you would covering an equivalent distance in the U.S.

When my wife and I visited Ireland a few years back, we had nine days, and we decided to concentrate mostly on the western part of the country (we flew into Shannon), with one jaunt further east to Cashel and Waterford. You've got a couple of days more, but you're planning on doing a circuit of the entire country. There hardly seems to be a day in the course of your trip when you won't have a major drive somewhere, in addition to the other sight-seeing you want to do.

From my perspective, it would be a real shame to only spend a day in Killarney. I'd give it at least one day to explore the sights (Ross Castle, Muckross House) and beauty spots around Killarney itself and to do a walk or hike, and another day for the Ring of Kerry Drive. You could also do the Dingle peninsula as a day trip from Killarney -- it would take you about an hour to reach the southeast end of the peninsula, and maybe 90 minutes to get back from Tralee at the end.

Also, it seems like you could easily spend another day, at least, in Dublin.

Here are a few other thoughts.

1. Cashel is great. We stayed at the Bishop's Palace there -- which is really an 18th century Bishop's Palace -- and enjoyed it, but it was a mild splurge 5 years ago and may be a far worse one today. There are also a couple of ruined abbeys near Cashel -- one (Hoare Abbey) at the foot of the rock itself, and Athassael Priory a short distance away.

2. Cahir Castle, which you may well pass on your way to Cashel, is one of the best in the country. I also recommend the lovely walk along the Suir River to Swiss Cottage.

3. The boat trip out to Skellig Michael (off the Ring of Kerry) was an unforgettable adventure, but not for the faint of heart, and I'm not even sure the boats go out there as early as the end of March. This excursion takes about 2/3 of a day, but can be combined with the Ring of Kerry drive if the boats are going. Even if you don't go out to the island, there's a good museum about it on the Ring of Kerry drive in Portmagee.

4. We had a wonderful walk around the Middle Lake in Killarney, and another nice one from the Cathedral along the Deenagh River to the Upper Lake one evening. There are no end of other wonderful walks in that area.

5. Dingle is unforgettably beautiful, but it's a very slow drive in spots. Don't miss it, however. Rent "Ryan's Daughter" and watch it before you go, so you'll recognize the film locations when you see them. The Blasket Island Center on the end of the peninusla is definitely worth a stop.

6. We stayed at the Ballinalacken Castle Hotel near Doolin on the edge of the Burren, and found that a good base. Gus O'Connor's pub in Doolin is a famous center for the performance of traditional Irish music.

7. The Burren fascinated me. I wished we'd had time to do a hike there with a guide. We also enjoyed stopping at a perfumery in the middle of the Burren.

8. If you wnat to see a classic Irish ensembles of ruined churches and a beautifully preserved round tower, visit Kilmacduagh on the edge of the Burren.

9. For another splurge, we stayed at Ashford Castle, the old Guinness family home, on the north shore of Lough Corrib for one night. Even if you don't stay there, you can take boat excursions from its dock out into the Lake, and visit one of the islands (Inchagoill) that has a pair of small ruined churches. Or, you could find some less costly place to stay in the nearby town of Cong, which might work as a base for exploring Connemara. Oscar Wilde grew up around there, and it's where the John Wayne/Maureen O'Hara movie "The Quiet Man" was filmed. There's also a ruined abbey in Cong.

10. The medieval dinners at Bunratty Castle near Limerick Airport are very touristy, but it's possible your teens might really enjoy it nonetheless. There's a whole lane of B&Bs just around the corner from the castle.
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Old Jan 31st, 2008, 07:04 PM
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Two more points:

1. There is a woman named Patricia Tunison Preston, who has a couple of books and a wonderfully helpful website devoted to Ireland. I was able to plan practically our entire trip through her website, including identifying specific B&Bs to stay in. Here’s the URL:

http://www.ireland-withpatpreston.com/

2. You can use the international version of Mapquest to calculate distances and likely driving times. Just punch in the names of the towns. Or, use the Q&A board on Pat Preston’s website.
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Old Jan 31st, 2008, 08:31 PM
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Most everyone else has given you all the reasons this is a difficult (!) itinerary.

I don't need to pile on - but I'll just add, at the 30-35 mph you will average on some of those days - your main sightseeing will be roads, hedgerows, and the inside of your car.
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Old Feb 1st, 2008, 04:09 AM
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Easter falls on the first part of your trip (March 23 this year) so the 21st is Good Friday. Check to see how that affects your plans.
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Old Feb 1st, 2008, 07:06 AM
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You have been offered some wonderful suggestions. There is so much to see and do in Ireland that trying to pack it into 10 days is not doing justice to the country -- or to yourselves.

I would suggest for your initial trip that you either go north -- Dublin, NewGrange, Giants Causeway, Donegal, Galway OR south - Kilkenney, Kinsale, Kenmare, Ring of Kerry, Killarney, Dingle Peninsula, the Burren, etc. There are excellent lodging opportunites all over the country. Select the two or three areas you are most interested in and tour from there

If you take time to savor Ireland you will be enchanted and will want to go back again and again! I have visited 7 times and can't wait to return.

Enjoy!
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Old Feb 1st, 2008, 12:16 PM
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I have been to Ireland before, with an itinerary that no sane person would ever consider. It was November, which meant we had approximately 9 hours of daylight. My daughter was working in Ballina (which is in County Mayo in the west.

She picked me up at the Dublin airport and we drove to Kilkenny, ate lunch, looked around, drove to the Rock of Cashel where we spent a couple of hours, then drove on to Killarney.

The next day we drove the Ring of Kerry, drove to Dingle and wandered around, then drove to Limerick (via the Conner Pass) to spend the night.

The next day we stopped at Bunratty, then drove to the Cliffs of Moher, then explored the Burren briefly, had delicious "spicy wedges with garlic mayo" in Ballyvaughan, then drove to Ballina.

The next day she had to work in the morning, but in the afternoon we drove from Ballina to Westport and Kylemore Abbey, then back to Ballina.

The next day we drove from Ballina to Dublin, where I spent three days while she commuted to work in Drogheda. On the fourth day I went to Drogheda with her and drove to Newgrange where I spent the morning. Then we drove back to Ballina.

The next day, at noon, we set out from Ballina for Sligo (lunch) then made a mad dash to Slieve League (Cliffs of Bunglass) racing against the setting sun. We made it to the top just in time to watch a wonderful sunset, then drove to somewhere east of Derry to spend the night.

The next day we went to Dunluce Castle in the pouring rain, Giant's Causeway in the drizzle, a shopping center near Belfast so she could look for jeans, and a final night near the Dublin airport.

And I loved every minute of it. But I admit it was possibly the most bizarre Ireland itinerary ever.

el
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Old Feb 1st, 2008, 01:04 PM
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Not to be disrespectful but this may be the worst itinerary I have seen posted on this site in a few years. For instance, Day 4, Cliffs of Moher to Dingle, figure on 4 hours. Get to Dingle early afternoon, find your B&B, back in the car drive around the Slea Head drive, skip the Connor pass because your running out of daylight and tired. Back to town for dinner, No music until about 9:00 p.m. so if you stay late your out again next morning and tired. What are you going to do in Killarney with such a short schedule? Cut it back and spend two nights a couple of places and your right, the giants causeway is taking you way out of the rest of your schedule. Last but not least skip Blarney. Have fun
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Old Feb 1st, 2008, 01:28 PM
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Hi, thank you for replies...yes, I do know that I was pushing it - but, we have done trips like this before. As el's posts indicate - sometimes this can be crazy and still fun. To clarify, we only travel with carry-on luggage - this makes it easy to pack/unpack quickly and more importantly travel with much less stress. Granted we don't have fancy clothes - but we also do not have the budget for fancy dining. We tend to turn in early - so late nights at pubs were not considered. I will look into streamlining our itinerary in order to spend 2 nights in one location as much as possible.
Unfortunately, can't cancel Giant's causeway. Anyone know how the drive is(traffic/roads) to there from Dublin and from there towards Connemara? I appreciate the tips on checking drive time which I will do - just wondered how easy/difficult the actual drive will be. Thanks again!
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Old Feb 1st, 2008, 01:45 PM
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I might consider getting rid of something to spend a day in Belfast, and taking a Black Taxi tour of the political murals, if you're going to be up in Northern Ireland anyway. When I went, we spent a day in Belfast, and then the next day took a bus tour from Belfast to Giant's Causeway, which also included a stop at the Carrick-a-Rede Rope bridge, which was very neat. I can't remember what company we went with. Possibly this one: http://www.minicoachni.co.uk/tours/giants_causeway.html. That is the same itinerary anyway.

When I did a 10 day tour of Ireland last summer, we skipped the car and took buses. We spent a few days in Dublin, a couple days in Galway, a couple days in Dingle, and a day in Cork. Then we just took bus day tours to the surrounding areas (Cliffs of Moher, the Burren, Blarney, and into Waterford) from each location. Bus Eireann used to have many good day tours, but I just checked their site (https://www.buseireann.ie/asp/TourList.asp) and they don't seem to be running many now, which is too bad because it worked out really well for us.

I have been to Powerscourt in the winter, and it was still nice. It happened to be sunny that day though, which is very rare in Ireland. I don't really think it would be a tragedy if you had to skip it.
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Old Feb 1st, 2008, 03:04 PM
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IIRC, the roads from Dublin to the north coast were pretty good, and the road from Doneghal to the north coast was very good.

Go to maps.google.com or http://www.aaroadwatch.ie/routes/ and plug in your routes (I prefer google). Make sure you pay attention to whether the distances are in kilometers or miles. Then remember it will take you two or even three times as long as you think to drive that distance.

Our itinerary also covers a lot of ground, spends a lot of time in a car, and is constrained because we are meeting my daughter and her boyfriend in Cork (they're flying in from London) and then returning them to the Shannon airport four days later. It includes things DH HAS to see (the Old Jameson's Distillery, Killybegs, Athenry, Giant's Causeway) and things I think DH has to see (Newgrange, Book of Kells, Rock of Cashel) and things I want to see (Dingle Peninsula). Our longest day covers 170 miles (Dublin Airport to Cork via the Rock of Cashel). We're doing three nights in Dublin, two nights in Dingle, two nights in Galway and several one night stands. It wouldn't be the trip for everybody, but it will work for us.

el
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Old Feb 2nd, 2008, 12:52 PM
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El, thanks again, it sounds like you travel as we do. Did you rent an automatic or stick when you were in Ireland? Also, did you drive or just your husband? I am still debating this, as my husband feels he could handle the stick, but I definitely would not be able to. So, I either have him drive the entire trip or we spend the extra money for an automatic and extra driver.
Our last trip to Europe was 10 days and we flew into Prague for 2 days, train to Vienna for 3 days, day trip from Vienna to Budapest, train to Salzburg for 2 days, train to Venice for 2 days and overnight stop in Madrid for one night on our way back to Chicago. The travel by train made it nice and it really did not feel like we had crammed too much into our itinerary. I wish Ireland had a better train system.
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Old Feb 2nd, 2008, 05:10 PM
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When I was there with my daughter, she was driving a car with a manual transmission. I did okay until the first time I needed to put it in reverse, and I finally had to ask a kind person in the parking lot to show me where reverse was.

We're going to rent an automatic this time I'm older, smarter, and less able to adapt to multiple challenges simultaneously. We had a manual shift in Italy last spring, and it was one more change to adapt to while driving a strange car in strange surroundings.

el
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Old Feb 6th, 2008, 12:49 PM
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Do get an automatic...driving was hard enough (don't plan on enjoying much of the view if you are the driver)

I am looking forward to your trip report of this madcap adventure dragging 2 teens on a loop around the entire country of Ireland in 10 days.

We had what I thought was an ambitious 10 day itineray that included our teenage niece and nephew. We had the advantage of a private driver on a tour bus for the ten of us...and included 3, 2-night stops...and our trip was in june so we had very long daylight hours. Unless you have very uncharacteristic teens...good luck. My newphew slept most of the trip...and my niece was always the last to get ready each morning.

The giant's causeway is a fantastic sight (I enjoyed dunluce castle more)but it was still chilly and wet in june.

your drive from antrim to connemara is going to be a killer...especially since you don't seem to have enough time for stops along the way to break it up.

I would suggest you atleast consider droppping touring connemara and kinsale/blarney as well as powerscourt.

our niece and nephew really liked dingle. too bad you will not have time to enjoy many of the wonderful sights along the way and time to linger and explore.

by trying to cover so much ground to make everyone happy...you could really be cheating everyone out of really enjoying ireland
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