Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Dublin and beyond

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Dublin and beyond

hi guys let me start by saying great site unreal! My self & brother & 15 year old daughter are travelling around sw ireland, leaving dublin in hired car on the23rd or 24rth of August 2002, would like some advice and tips on where and what to see have 10 days all up in ireland, B&B vouchers is what our agent in oz has suggested? We realise B&B has to be pre booked as have been told its high tourist season that time of the year! Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!. Great site Fodors!

Just a point, I wouldnt be too keen on using B&B vouchers - you may find your choice of places to stay is limited. I would think that it would be better to pre-book the places you want and just settle up with them in cash when you arrive. D.

I thank u david for your reply! I have read and been told that the vouchers system can be frustrating , something else to work out with the travel agent. any way here is what i have planned so far! Arriving on the 20th August2002 staying dublin the night, picking up car next day. Head out to see Kildare maybe down to Kilkenny, stay the night or drive down to waterford and stay there? 22cnd.head to Tipperary stay 2 or 3 nights see the Castles and such. around the 25th head to Cork/Blarney want to stay in the Lee river somewhere, next day go over to Killarney the rest is up in the air ,we have to be back in Dublin on the 30th August, fly out 31st, so what do u think,, Too much or to Little? any tips or suggestions will be taken onboard, never been to ireland cant wait!

Well, the B&B vouchers worked fine for us two years ago. And we went at the start of August which was just as much the high season if not worse. We did not pre-book either except for one night. there were about 3 nights out of 11 that we had to go to second or third choices. The locals usually started helping us find which one to go to. We had the Town & Country vouchers, they give you a directory which is like a catalog and is organized by cities. I thought the B&Bs were wonderful. Good accomdations at a very reasonable price, you get to meet some of the people directly. Plus you get to have a good hearty breakfast to get you going. If you don't want to be tied into the voucher system, just take cash or plastic and pay as you go. Then any B&B that you find is Ok as long as it's not full. But I'm not sure how many take credit cards.

Thanks for the suggestions! Anyway here is what i have planned so far what do u think? 20th August... Dublin/booked 21st......Pick car up stay Kilkenny the 21st and 22cnd 23rd and 24rth... Carrigeen Castle/booked 25th.... cork/blarney...booked 26th head to killarney, not booked yet 27th head to Tralle, not yet booked 28th head to Limerick not yet booked 29th Kildare not yet booked 30th Dublin/booked ok now with that said and being a first timer to the emerald isle ,do u think we are driving around to much or being unrealistic on our distances in 1 day... thank u in advance and once again great site fodders!

one this I would say is do the ring of Kerry / Dingle as this was my favourite part of the trip - and don;t forget that in most cases you will be travelling on single carriage way and frequently be stopped by herds of cows and tractors on the road.

The distance between Dublin & Kilkenny is not too much driving for one day. Bear in mind the road system around Ireland is not great so there could be dealys - it is about 2 1/2 hours drive to kilkenny from Dub - this is the max time if lots of traffic. There is a lovely castle in Kilkenny - do go & see that. After Tralee I won't go to Limerick but would instead do the Ring of Kerry - you can drive this in one day but take a couple of days to go around as the scenry is so nice you won't want to miss any of it by rushing. After the Ring of Kerry you could drive to Limerick & stay overnight before driving back to Dublin. I think it would be too much driving to go from Kerry straight to Dublin.

Hi Aussie: Vouchers are usually more expensive than just booking yourself, but sometimes there are great package deals. I've only stayed at one place that actually encouraged vouchers. The B&Bs lose out too. Agents will suggest them because that's how they make their money. I'm not sure I would spend two days in Cahir with so much to see in the rest of the areas you are going. You can easily see the Rock of Cashel and Cahir Castle in the same day. I would be more likely to spend an extra day on the west coast. Either Dingle or Killarney area. Killarney is a pretty touristy town. It has some neat places if you know where to look, but there are lots of shops with porcelain leprechauns and the like. My favorite town in Ireland is Kenmare which is over the pass from Killarney. It's great advantage is that you can either do the Ring of Beara or the Ring of Kerry from there. Personally, I would recommend Beara because it is MUCH less crowded. There are some inland roads on the Ring of Kerry that if you reach the tip from the south side, you can follow back through the mountains. Really quite beautiful and less crowded. My suggestion, by the way, is to do the Ring of Kerry clockwise. Most of the tour busses go counterclockwise. Although you will have to make room for them to pass on narrow roads from time to time, it's much better than being stuck behind them. Unless there is something specific you want to see in Tralee, you might want to pick a more scenic town. There are some great towns on the Dingle peninsula including, of course, Dingle. If you wanted to stay near Tralee for some reason, try Castlegregory on the north coast. There is a terrific B&B called "The Shores" there. My favorite B&B. It's every bit as comfortable as a fine hotel and the owner is great. Wonderful food. You do have to cross Conor Pass to get to Dingle from there, (OK, you could go the long way) which is a bit hair raising but VERY well worth the claw marks in the dash board. Once again, I'm not sure I would stay in Limerick. It's really just a city unless you know someone there that can take you to all the unknown places. I'm guessing the idea is that you can see the sites of Co Clare from there (cliffs of Moher, Bunratty Castle, etc). You might want to try the town of Bunratty if that's the case. It'll be easier to get in and out of. Granted, other than the castle, there is not much to do in the town. We did the castle banquet and were surprised how much we liked it. Was it touristy....of course. Hey, we were tourists. Was the food average at best....yes. But the musicians more than made up for all of it. The folk park was very crowded the day we were there, so it wasn't as much fun. Definitely see the Cliffs of Moher. I don't know anything about Kildare, but I'm sure it's nice and you have a good reason for staying there. Never been there other than driving through in the dark one cold November evening. Hope this helps. Bill

Hi Aussie Mum, What a great trip you have planned!! If you can, try to get the ferry from Galway over to the Aaran Islands. Even just for a day trip, but accomadation was great too! Have a wonderful time. Karen...

i thank u all for ur fantastic tips, heres a update on my upcoming trip only 33 more days to go but whos counting! 20th August.....Dublin/booked 21st head out to kilkenny/booked 22cnd kilkenny/booked intoChaplins b&b 23rd..Carrigeen Castle 24rth.. Carrigeen castle Cahir 25th...Killarney house b&b/Booked 26th is up in the air not quite sure 27th..Bunratty.. tudorlodge/booked 28th.. bunratty.....................Booked 29th....... . up in the air 30th Dublin/booked so what do u think? any suggestions will be taken on board, thanks to all once again fodders great site!

Mum, You've received a lot of good suggestions and I especially agree wtih Bill's ideas. And glad to see you've revised your stops. But do wonder why you are spending so much time in Kilkenny. I'd suggest more time in Killarney ( or Kenmare, which I prefer) to tour the Ring of Kerry and also stay in Dingle or some other cute town (not Tralee) to see the Dingle peninsula. NOt Trallee. but do head down the Dingle peninsula. I also agree with stying at Bunratty....so many really lovely B&B's down the road behind the castle. I agree with Bill also about the vouchers..... you pay more, ( the travel agaents gets a cut) and you are a lot more limited. There area enough b&b's that you won't have a problem on your own. Also the local tourist board in each town will help you. Enjoy....

Thank u for the suggestions, the reason why we are staying in kilkenny for a few days is to get our bearings and just relax a little after visiting singapore on the way over not to mention the 4 hour stop over in London, and also catch up with an old friends, both there and in cahir, the 26th i have not yet booked and dingle looks like the 1 , for the 29th might try and get a room or 2 closer to dublin so we can have a good look our last day is in dublin as well but have a very early flight out to the states, will keep u all posted as to what we finally do, thanks again

Aussie: That does look like a better itinerary. Since you have two nights in Kilkenny, take your time getting there and go through Glendalough. The ride through the Vales of Clara and Avoca are great (I just said this in another messgae, pardon me for being redundant). The Vales will take you out of your way, but the are worth the drive. If someone suggest that you go see "The place where cars roll uphill", come up with another idea. It's a fairly obvious optical illusion and it's a little hard to find. Pretty area though between Dungarvan and Carrick on Suir. Apparently it is well known because the locals know exactly where it is. Bill

Thank you bill for your suggestions, just 1 thing i havent bboked anywhere for the 26th as yet i thought of going to the ring of kerry /dingle would this be to much driving the next day to get to bunratty? thanks again guys you have all been very helpful

Another person mentioned Glendalough and driving on to Avoca. We did that. Avoca is the town where they filmed the TV show "Ballykissangel". I don't know if you know of it. You can stop and have a pint at Fitzgerald's pub. Surprisingly there were not alot of tourists on the day we were there. It is also and first, the home of Avoca weavers. We went to Kildare to go to the racetrack, The Curragh. We are big horseracing fans and we loved it. Enjoy your trip. We stayed at the Kilronan House in Dublin and would recommend it.

Just want to encourage you to drive the Dingle Peninsula and DO drive Conor Pass and DO drive Slea Head Drive. This was some of the best scenery and most beautiful we saw in all of Ireland. To stay in Dingle town IMHO is much better than staying inland.

Yes, i would stay that night on the Dingle peninsula. Do the Ring of Kerry one day (from Killarney) and then Dingle the next. Dingle is generally considered more spectacular than the Ring of Kerry, but everyone has there own opinion. Don't miss Dingle. cd is right about the two drives. If you are doing some late light carousing in Dingle, stay near Dingle town. You don't want to drive over Conor Pass in the dark with a bunch of Guinness in you. The drive to Bunratty will be about 3-4 hours if you take the main road. I got around Limerick very quickly when I was there in May, but it was Sunday morning and the traffic was almost non-existent. If you take the main road, a stop in Adare is always nice. Pretty thatched roof houses and all that. Your other option would be to get to the area via the Tarbert-Killimer ferry. This is certainly the fastest way to the Cliffs of Moher, but probably not to Bunratty. I think the ferry leaves every 30 minutes in August. It may change to every hour in September. It appears that there website is not coming up anymore. It used to be shannonferries.com. Maybe it will return. Bill

I thank you all for your wonderful help, a big thanks to Bill who has pointed us in the right direction for our upcoming trip to ireland, only 22 more days to go but whos counting,, hahaha.... anyway here is the final itinerary what do u think? 20th........arrive Dublin stay the night 21st.....pick car up head to Kilkenny booked for 2 nights 22cnd................................... .Kilkenny 23rd..................Cahir/carrigeen castle 24rth.................................Ca hir/castle 25th.................................... ..Blarney 26th................................. ..........Dingle 27th.......................... ................Bunratty 28th.................. .........................Bunratty 29th......... .................................Kildare 30th.. .........................................Dublin 31st.......................................fly out to the USA! so there it is, we thought with staying in places for 2 days we would be able to drive around and see the sights, without carting our luggage around with us and also to get to know the places we are staying, thanks again for all your help,

Can you depart from the Shannon airport instead of Dublin? Spend two nights in Dublin in the start of your Ireland trip? Spend one night in Kilkenny instead of two?