Flying into Dublin early in the morning from Bristol in September. My husband and I will pick up a hire car and we have 3 days to drive and see as much as we can. In these 3 days we want to visit Enniskillen in Northern Ireland for family history. Then we come back to Dublin to pick up daughter coming from England, have one and half days in Dublin and then we have another one and half days to see some more countryside before flying back to England. What I would like to know is what is the best of Ireland to see in the first 3 days and then the other 1.5 days out of Dublin. Thanks for any help

For me, the best of Ireland was the Dingle Peninsula and Slea Head Drive. The drive and view's are awesome.

With so few days, I wouldn't suggest the southwest of Ireland, as much as I believe that to be one of the most beautiful areas. However, there is plenty to see and do closer to Dublin.

Are you interested in historical places, prehistoric sites, churches, shopping, beaches?

The Boyne valley area (just north of Dublin) has some spectacular sites like Newgrange, the Hill of Tara, Knowth. It has fabulous manor houses like Castle Trim and Malahide. Drogheda. I believe there is a great folk park farther north in Ulster. Don't forget the Giant's Causeway and the carrickafergus (sp?) rope bridge

West of Dublin you might be interested in the National Stud Farms (racehorses), Japanese Gardens and St. Fiachra's Garden (all in the same complex). Nearby is a sweet little shrine to St. Brigid.

South of Dublin is a nice little seaside village of Dun Loaghaire, and farther south is Powerscourt Gardens (beautiful formal gardens), Powerscourt Falls, and Glendalough Abbey. Glendalough is one of my favorite places in Ireland, incredible serene and peaceful. Try to get there early or late in the day, when the tourist level is down.

I think that should certainly fill your days!

Thanks for the replies. At the moment I am still tryng to gain information on Ireland. So don't really no much about what there is to see. We love to see great scenery and historical things. Not hugely into museums as they always take up a lot of time. We want to see whatever it is that makes Ireland special

Sorry just another question. How long would it take to drive to the Giants Causeway from Dublin, avoiding Belfast?

What makes Ireland special? Great folks in small villages, great history, spectacular views. All of that is available in the info I gave above, both north and south of Dublin.

Not sure how long it is - check out driving times on www.viamichelin.com or www.theaa.com

Hi landor:

I want to make sure I have this right.

1.5 Days to Enniskillen
1.5 Days in Dublin
1.5 Days in "countryside"

or do you have 3 days at the beginning?

First of all, Ireland is best seen at a slow pace and generally the roads move that way. If you ask 10 people what the best of Ireland is, you will probably will gets lots of different answers. Many may agree that the west and SW are high on the list, but you really haven't given yourself time for that.

If that is the case and you want to see NI, especially Giants Causeway, expect to spend a lot of thime in the car. viamichelin puts the time to Giants Causeway at 3:15 or 164 miles. Normally i would say add a lot to this, but 90 miles are on pretty easy to drive motorways so figure 4-4.5 hours if you are used to left hand driving. The roads in NI tend to be a little better than in the Republic but I would figure 4.5 to be safe. 1.5 days for Giants Causeway and Enniskillen and then back to Dublin would be impossible by any reasonable sense of tourism. Total mileage is about 350 which is way too much for 1.5 day. Enniskillen to Dublin will not be very fast.

If you have 3 days, you could make it up and back to Giants Causeway. It would still be a lot in not much time, but I could make some driving route suggestions that would make things more interesting.

With 1.5 on the end I would suggest something south of Dublin, Glendalough and Powerscourt as Green Dragon mentioned.

Bill

ttt