Connemara base to stay
 

Everyone has been so helpful on this forum. Based on all your feedback and my research, I've decided Connemara is just too beautiful to miss. Can I enlist some more help in my planning? I'm flying into Shannon on June 15th, renting a car, and returning it in Cork on June 23rd. We were thinking of staying in Ennis the first night as we are a tad nervous about driving. Or, is there a better place we should head to - we'll be arriving around 1pm. Is there plenty to do in Ennis our first night? Where shall we go from there? I was thinking Clifden. Then we would head to Southwest Ireland, and stay maybe in Killarney? Any suggestions for how to route this would be great! Also, if anyone knows of some wonderful places to stay, I haven't booked those yet...doing this weekend, so I'm open to ideas. Thank you all so much. I'm very excited about this trip!!

I was also thinking that maybe we should go a little farther that first day? We're coming from London, so we won't be jetlagged.

Why not fly into Knock (Ireland West) and start in Westport, night one then work your way down? If you do fly into Shannon aim for Galway Night one only an hour direct or 3 hours touring up. For Connemara region see http://goo.gl/maps/L5ihu

We had to fly into Shannon, so unfortunately that's a done deal, because of other issues. The original plan was Knock and Westport, so I know I'm backtracking now. Would you stay right in the city in Galway?

I missed Connemara the first time and spent 5 nights outside Clifden in 2011 and really, really loved it. I drove for two weeks each trip and had no problems. Just plan on drives taking longer than anticipated. Last trip, we flew in and out of Dublin, 5 nights Connemara, 1 in Doolin, 3 outside Killarney, 3 in Co. Wicklow, 2 in Dublin. Good pace.

Not sure how it fits in your plans/desires or what is "best", but we did Killarney, Dingle and Galway. See if anything strikes your fancy. You could do the reverse.

http://ukfrey.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/ireland.html