My husband and I are planning a 2+ week trip to Ireland in late May/early June to celebrate our 40th Anniversary. I have already learned a lot by reading the messages in this forum, and would welcome comments on our tentative itinerary. We had originally planned to go to Wales too, but have decided to save that for another trip. At present we plan to make a complete circle around the coast starting in Dublin. Here's a rough outline:
Day 1 - Fly into Dublin, rest, walk around city.
Day 2 - Hop -on-hop off bus tour, Trinity College, Guinness Brewery
Day 3 - Rent car(pick up somewhere South of city)- tour Powerscourt, Glendalough - drive to Kilkenny - stay in Kilkenny or Cashel
DAy 4 - Cashel Rock, Cahir Castle - drive through Cobh to Kinsale, stay in Kinsale
Day 5 - Drive to Kenmare - tour Bantry House, Garinish Island garden - stay in Kenmare
Day 6 - Beara Peninsula - stay in Kenmare
Day 7 - Lakes of Killarney, Muckross House - Drive to Dingle - stay in Dingle
DAy 8 - tour Dingle Peninsula- stay in Dingle
Day 9 - Drive north, Tarbert Ferry, see Cliffs of Moher, Burren - Stay somewhere S. of Galway, maybe Ballyvaughan or Kinvarra - Maybe do Dunguaire Banquet
Day 10 - Go around Galway to Connamara - stay in Clifden or Leenane
Day 11 - Drive through Westport & Sligo to Lough Erne area - Belleek Pottery and CAstle Caldwell (family history)-stay near Donegal
Day 12 - tour area around Donegal & letterkenny - Glenveah Nat'l Park - Stay same place near Donegal
Day 13 - Drive to Bushmills - Giant's Causeway, Bushmills Distillery - Stay in Bushmills
Day 14 - tour Glens of Antrim, Larne - return to Bushmills
Day 15 - head South, bypass Belfast - stay somewherein Mourne Mts. area.
Day 16 - turn in car at Dublin Airport - fly home.

We could possibly add one or two more days - if so where would you add it? Are our distances reasonable for each day's travel? We are avoiding cities because we do not feel comfortable driving on the left side of the road in a lot of traffic. I am developing a list of choices of places to stay; we prefer small inns with a restaurant when possible, or larger B&B's with restaurants within walking distance. Any and all comments will be appreciated.

Dear LeeP,

Personally I think you are taking in too much territory.... I would add another night to Kinsale and another night in Clifden. One nighters after a full day of driving is tough.

In Clifden I highly recommend the "Quay House" and in Dingle "Heaton's Guesthouse".

Happy 40th !

Tam

You'll really be on the move and I think it looks like fun! At that time of the year, you'll have long hours of daylight. I think most of your distances look very reasonable.

I agree with Tam about adding a night in Kinsale and the Clifden area. I also wonder about Day 11. That's a fairly long drive and it could be a very long day if you want to tour Belleek and visit Castle Caldwell.

Congrats on your 40th...we went to Scandinavia on our 50th last year. I would agree that you are taking in alot of territory, but don't know what to cut. You don't allow for much in Dublin (and I'd skip Guiness for something else) but certainly Book of Kells is worthwhile. Personally, I think exploring ancient mounds on Boyne River is worth a day.
Bill in Missouri [email protected]

I could have sworn that I responded to this with a long boring note, but I don't see it, so I'll try again and try to be less boring.

The trip is do-able, will certainly be busy, but not impossible. I do similar planning in which, I know I'm going in a general direction and instead of making a round trip and backtracking just so I can say I stayed at the same place for a couple of nights, I'll do a single night enroute. It works pretty well and if one of your bags is a small carry on, you can put a nights worth of stuff in it so you don't have to do a lot of packing and unpacking and dragging of luggage.

I agree that you could benefit from another day in the SW, Kinsale or otherwise. My other choice for an extra day would be Donegal. It is a huge and slow moving county with much to see.

I did a similar trip to yours two years ago, though in the opposite direction. Here is a link to my trip report.

http://www.geocities.com/obeirne_ireland_2002/index.htm

See, not too long.

Bill