9 days in Ireland - Suggested Itineraries?
 

Hi, We (2 adults 60 years young) will be arriving in Dublin on Feb. 16 around 2 p.m. from Liverpool. We will be picking up a rental car and driving ourselves using b&b vouchers. One night in Abbey Glen Castle. We have driven all over Europe so it won't be a problem - even though we hear so much about the roads in Ireland. My husband loves challenges. We are looking to do all the things a first timer to Ireland should do. We fly out of Shannon to return home to Orlando on Tuesday morning, Feb. 25th. I would really appreciate your input and help on this one. Can you please give me a suggested itinerary. Thanks!

The first thing I would do would be head South to Cork. Kiss the Blarney Stone, spend a couple days in Kinsale, Killarney, Dingle, Doolin, and finish it off with Bunnraty/Durty Nellies the night before you head home. <BR><BR>There are numerous other great places and cities to visit, but if you only have 9 days, you'll have your hands full.

Hi Carole. We just returned fr. Ireland/England about a month ago and did some things this trip that were new as well as visiting some well-loved places. Nine days isn't enough time to do everything, obviously, so from the responses you will have to pick and choose those things that appeal to you most. Considering you'll be there in February, I'd probably stick to the south where it will probably be a bit warmer. For us (mid-40s to early-50s) we've loved: <BR>- Cragganouwen (not sure if I've spelled that right) - really interesting site where they have recreated primitive lake forts and hill forts used by ancient Irish, as well as the place where the Brendan boat is stored<BR>- Muckross House &amp; Gardens - travel to the house in a horse-drawn trap<BR>- Killarney National Park - some scary moment driving but breathtaking<BR>- Glengarrif - travel by boat to Garnish Island where you can see Ilnacullin Gardens - not sure what will be blooming in Feb. but views are lovely (make sure to travel there in a bit larger boat, the sea can get a bit rough)<BR>- do Ring of Kerry or Dingle Peninsula or even Beara Peninsula - should be fine in Feb.<BR>- avoid Adare - recommended by some on this site and we found it a tourist-trap that was cutesy rather than interesting. Although we had our second best meal in Ireland in Collins' Pub.<BR>- Kinsale will probably be manageable in Feb., we were there in August and it was a madhouse. Our two favourite pubs there were The White House - great food, and The Mad Monk, where they had music in the evenings.<BR>- Ardmore - quiet village on the ocean, very peaceful. Pub - Paddy Mac's - belongs to the locals, kids and everything.<BR>- Cobh - found Interpretative Center there very informative and thought-provoking<BR>- Youghal - just wander around town, shopping, try and eat at Aherne's if you like seafood<BR>- Avoca - where Ballykissangel is filmed. Beautiful, green area. Best food we had in Ireland was at Woodenbridge Inn. Have a pint at Fitzgerald's.<BR>- Glendalough - site of one of few remaining round towers in Ireland, where medieval monks built a thriving community. You walk to the lakes in a valley, quite spectacular and spiritual.<BR>If you are interested in any names of B&amp;Bs let me know. Have a great time.<BR>

I wish we had flown into Dublin and outta Shannon, saves so much time. Driving in Ireland isn't hard, it just takes longer than normal. My husband and I just did a 7 day trip and wish we had done that. My suggested trip would be:<BR><BR>Day 1: Land and see Dublin (don't sleep!!) Stay in Dublin.<BR><BR>Day 2: Powerscourt, and other places to Kilkenny, stay in Kilkenny.<BR><BR>Day 3: Kilkenny, Waterford (the factory is amazing) to Cashel. Stay in Cashel<BR><BR>Day 4: Rock of Cashel, to Cork, to Blarney. (The Jameson Distllery is on the way if you want to see that).<BR><BR>Day 5: Blarney to Cliffs of Moher, the Burren, stay in Ennis.<BR><BR>Day 6: Galway<BR><BR>Day 7: Co. Mayo (Klyemore Abbey) to Clifden<BR><BR>Day 8: Bunratty, (stay at Dromoland Castle if you can!!!)<BR><BR>Day 9: Fly home!

check out this site........tons of info and a good forum!<BR><BR>http://www.irelandexpert.com/

Mike thanks so much for the suggestions. Sounds sort of like what we were looking for. Mavis you brought up quite a few things that I have never heard of. I guess I have to do my homework now. Krista I have to merge your intinerary with Mike's and I think we will have covered everything we wanted to do. csr what a wonderful website. Now all I need is a few hours to go through it. Thank you so much for all your valuable input Fodorites! Anyone else care to make some suggestions. Thanks again.

Mike thanks so much for the suggestions. Sounds sort of like what we were looking for. Mavis you brought up quite a few things that I have never heard of. I guess I have to do my homework now. Krista I have to merge your intinerary with Mike's and I think we will have covered everything we wanted to do. csr what a wonderful website. Now all I need is a few hours to go through it. Thank you so much for all your valuable input Fodorites! I will work on the itinerary and then post it for your comments. Anyone else care to make some suggestions. Thanks again.

I think Mavis' itinerary sounds really good. You hit a lot of the major sites without wasting time at the really tacky touristy sites (like kissing the Blarney Stone). I would only quibble with the Woodenbridge Inn in Avoca. We ate lunch there once, and none of us finished our meals because they just weren't very good (and my husband ALWAYS finishes his meals).<BR><BR>If I was going to Ireland for the first time, I'd just follow Mavis' itinerary.

Ann:<BR><BR>Did you say you rented cars from priceline.com in Ireland. I couldn't see that they offerd international rentals.<BR><BR>Bill

Do Cliffs of Moher and instead of staying in Ennis, stay in Doolin. What time are you flying out on the last day?? Depending on your time out you can see Bunratty that morning. Durty Nellies was alright, nothing to rave about. We really wanted to see Dingle and that area, but found that in order to see everything that we did it just wasn't possible. While you are only going 50-60 miles on average, it takes usually 2-2 1/2 hours to go from place to place.

Sorry Anne you had a bad experience at Woodenbridge. Maybe chef had a bad day. We ate there three times but all in same week. Did want to say something about car rentals - we used AutoEurope and got lowest rate but really shop around. I think we went back and forth to AutoEurope about three times with lower rates and they always bettered them. Also we used gold Mastercard for booking and waived all insurance. Had no problems.

Krista, We arrive about 4 in the afternoon on Sunday into Dublin which really screws up that day. I haven't booked our flight yet so maybe we can change that. We then have nine days after that. Fly home on Tuesday, Feb. 25th at 7:20 a.m. so that leaves out that morning for sightseeing. I am dealing with two travel agencies, one in Liverpool and one in Ireland. I was going to let them handle the car rental, b&amp;bs, and flight from Liverpool. Is that the way to go or do you think I should make all the reservations myself? Thanks all for your help.<BR><BR>

Mavis, Could you break down your trip day-by-day? I must get a map to see where all these sites are. They sure do sound interesting. Only thing, I have to go and kiss the Blarney Stone or my Mom won't talk to me. Thanks also for your help. Carole

You can make the reservations yourself if you want. Town &amp; Country has a great site (www.townandcountry.ie). Are you going through Sceptre? I am suprised you arrive at 4. Most of the trans atlantic flights leave the USA and arrive to Europe early the next morning. Though actually arriving at 4 wouldn't be bad. You can get dinner and go to bed then and not be so tired. I honestly wouldn't use vouchers ever again. People are reluctant to accept them and you can get great prices without them. Even if you pre-book you have to hold them with a VISA/MC.<BR><BR>I would go here:<BR>http://www.shannon-dev.ie/tourism/holidays/holidayguide.htm<BR>And request a tour guide book. It has soooo many neat things, including a 10% discount to Blarney Woolen Mills. And Mike was right, 9 days isn't enough to even see everything you want, even with just brief stops over. So you have to decide how much you can see at once. My husband and I found that we hit all the major stops with 7 days and were happy with the amount of driving we did. (We're people who drive 16 hour road trips to see his college play football.)

Hi Krista,<BR>We are flying first to England to attend a 50th anniversary party in Liverpool then leaving Sunday afternoon via Ryan Air. I am rethinking that and maybe leaving earlier in the day if they have flights available. We are crazy drivers also. We make our Florida-New York trip in one day (18 hours) with both of us driving. My husband loves driving in Europe so that is not a problem.l We do not intend to do North Ireland so I think we can cover what we want in 9 days. I have to rethink our plan of booking through an Irish travel agent (who also uses Town and Country for the b&amp;bs) or booking on our own. I will check out the Shannon tourism website. Thanks again for your help. Carole

If you request the package from the Shannon website, they send you a great book for hotels and bed and breakfasts. I would absolutely recommend the Dromoland Castle. I have stayed in luxary places all over the world and I was amazed at this place. Cashel Palace Hotel is rather expensive but the room was bigger than the master suite at my house. =) And you couldn't beat the view from the 2nd floor of the Rock of Cashel lit up at night. It's beautiful. Some nice romatics places for a belated Valentines Day.