Better place to stay than Dingletown?
 

Yet another question:)

We will be driving from the Cliffs, and we will not arrive at Shannon airport til noon, so we will arrive on the peninsula on the later side. Is Dingletown our only option? Of course I have been reading past posts and someone a while ago commented that Dingletown was dirty and not picturesque at all, so now I am a bit leery about staying there for 2 nights! Can anyone give me some insight on the town? Are there other places on the peninsula where people have stayed?

TIA!

I disagree with a statement that Dingle is dirty. If you are doing the peninsula, Dingle offers so much as a hub, with restaurants and b&b choices.

Dingle is a very pleasant village and easy to navigate, by car or foot.

We were there in late September and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Jim

I also disagree that Dingle is dirty.

If your concern is that the drive from the Cliffs to Dingle will take too long especially following an overnight flight, plan a stop anywhere along the way. It's not necessary to stay in Dingle to enjoy the peninsula. As an example, I used Killarney as a home base for day trips to the Dingle Peninsula and the Ring of Kerry.

By the way, I suggest that you avoid touring the Ring. A friend of mine told me to avoid it and, unfortunately, I didn't follow her advice. The Ring is not the most disappointing travel experience I've had, but of the major must-do, must-see places, it is by far the most disappointing.

I must also disagree. Our B&B faced the harbour, and the mountains were behind us. On our first trip, in July 95, I actually snoozed in the grassy yard of our B&B, and later, the lowing of cows at the foot of the mountains lulled us to sleep. On that trip we had our teenaged sons with us so we didn't do too much pub crawling. On our last trip we strolled around the town, lunching once and having dinner twice in the local pubs and hotel. (Paudie's Hotel makes a great baked seafood!) We listended to musicians in two pubs and made it back to our B&B around midnight. I never once thought of the town as dirty!

Thanks for your responses. I feel much better about Dingle now! I should not have listened to that one post, anyway!

I like the looks of the Greenmount, the Lighthouse, and Heaton's. I have sent email inquiries to 2 of the 3.

I am not concerned about the drive from the Cliffs to Dingle. With the hours of daylight that time of year, we should be fine.

If you like hiking enough that you would enjoy hiking up some mountain sides looking down upon the ocean and lakes, let me know. I mention that because there is an incredible hike on the Dingle Peninsula on the opposite side of the mountain range from Dingle. If hiking is important to you, mention it to me and I will make a point of looking up the name of the hike and how to find the trailhead.

Mike,

I would really appreciate info on that hike. My husband and I are really interested in doing hiking while we are in Ireland!

I am so sorry that I can't find the details of the hike. I thought it would be so simple to get my guide book out of the storage room and look it up. The problem is that I had forgotten that due to lack of space, I had tossed out all of my guide books that are no longer current.

The best I can tell you is the following:

The hike was either in the Fodors or Frommers Ireland book, probably Frommers. The trailhead will be impossible to find without detailed instructions such as in the book, which are accurate even though you may not think so when driving down a one-way lane through a residential neighborhood. But the instructions in the book are indeed accurate.

If you are on the main road that goes along the southern coast of the peninsula (and through Dingle Town), you would need to get off that road and cross the mountain range. Once on the other side of the range, the instructions take you to a tiny town.

The description of the hike will include walking past a delapidated building (an old inn?) in ruins in the first 50 - 100 feet of the trail. You soon get to a gate, whereupon the trail ascends from there taking you through grazing land and occasional sheep. The description will also probably mention views looking down upon a bay (the bay immediately west of Tralee Bay), and ultimately when you get high enough, upon two lakes. I'm not sure, but I think the trail takes you to the top of Mt. Brandon.

Sorry, again, that I was unable to get the details for you other than the vague recollections of my memory from 2 1/2 years ago. If you think you might have found a description of the trail, get back in touch with me with more details of it. I'm reasonably certain that I would recognize the description of how to get to it and the trail itself if I saw the description again.