East and SE Ireland - your favorite sites?
 

I've gotten a lot of info for our trip in the west of Ireland and now on the E and SE. We'll be in the west/SW from Friday evening to late afternoon Wednesday and will then spend the night in Waterford to start with the tour Thursday morning. I have a list of too many sites between Dublin and Waterford and would love some input as to your favorites (or otherwise), ones not to miss (some of which we WILL miss) and the ones not worth the drive. Of course, I'd love to hear of any I've left out that we should consider.

We will start with the Waterford tour and have the rest of the day and the morning of the next day to fill until we meet up with our son. The worst part is not knowing how long it is between towns. The north south highways are great, but it's the east west routes that worry me. Are they all the 35 mph roads? Any driving info would be so helpful.

Here are the ones we come up with from Waterford (thanks Tony for what you've written elsewhere - your info has been a big help in compiling this list):
Kilkenny Castle
Rock of Cashel
Glendalough
Dunamase
National Stud and Japanese Gardens

Shell House in Dungavan - is this really a place to visit or just some sort of hotel? I read about it and would like to see it if not a ridiculous waste of time as long as we are passing by. Anyone ever been there or at least heard of it?

Avoca Woolen Mills - way out of the way, but we'd love to go. If there is another place like this in the SW, then that would work out better for our itinerary and prevent me from getting yelled at if we take the time to drive way over there only to find it's a two minute stop! If you have info, please share!

We might make our way up to Newgrange after meeting our son Friday afternoon to take the tour Saturday morning, but he is deciding what he wants to do. If not, then we will spend longer south of Dublin and see more on my list.

If we drove straight through from Waterford to Dublin, how long would that take, just for a starting point?

Thanks for any info!

I would rank these sites in the following order:
Rock of Cashel***
Glendalough***
Kilkenny Castle** (if rated with all castles in Europe, only 1 star)
National Stud and Japanese Gardens*(If you know who Arkle is, raise to 2 star)
Dunamase (Did not visit)

I would visit the Rock of Cashel on Thurs afternoon.
Waterford to Rock of Cashel 1-1/2 hrs, 44 miles ea way
or
Waterford to Rock of Cashel 1-1/2 hrs, 44 miles
Rock of Cashel to Kilkenny 1 hr, 38 miles
Kilkenny to Waterford 3/4 hr, 31 miles

Friday
Waterford to Dublin 2-1/4 hrs, 102 miles
or
Waterford to Glendalough to Dublin 3-1/2 hrs, 124 miles

If you want to see High Crosses. Note one in Kilfenora, near Doolin.

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=Y...f36&dg=feature

Avoca Woolen Mills

You will see this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-REf9NMt8I

Hubby will see this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJ64HS1FcII
Can you stand the ridicule?

Shell House in Dungavan -It looks like a private house with some sea shells on it. Ireland , in some places, is hard up for tourist attractions. This looks like one of those places. In Cong they are making a big deal about a cottage used in the filming of the Quiet Man-John Wayne/Mareen O'Hara-1951. We stopped there.

If we narrow it down to either Glendalough or Rock of Cashel, which would you choose? (I'm sure this will be a matter of opinion, burt yours sounds pretty good!)

If I may, I would choose Glendalough over the Rock. Somewhat depends on how much time you have. Also in your line of sight is the famine ship Dunbrody in New Ross.

I do my driving plans using http://www.theaa.ie/routes/ figuring about 3 hours per 100 miles so I don't have to do much math in my head (spending my entire adult life as an accountess has made me too dependent on my calculator). You can ask Roadwatch to show the route in miles rather than kilometers.

Rock of Cashel because of its historical significance- St Patrick, Bryan Boru, other kings. Also the Celtic art and medieval architecture.Glendalough is mystic and tranquil.

http://www.irishtourism.com/historic...of-cashel/1460

http://www.irishtourism.com/historic...endalough/1462

https://www.google.com/search?q=rock...w=1280&bih=589


https://www.google.com/search?q=glen...w=1280&bih=589

Outskirts of Waterford to the ouskirts of Dublin is 1 3/4 - 2 hrs.
It's motorway (M9/M7/N7) only and with not much traffic so you can easily average 100kph (signposted till you hit Naas is mostly 120kph) if you made no stops.
The only bottleneck is (as of April 2014) the last section of N7 before it hits M50 as there are/have been major roadworks. As you probably do not hit that part until later in the morning and after rush hour you should be fine.
If your final destination is in very central Dublin, it's easier not to follow N7 into town but to take M50 towards the Airport for one or two exits and then take the exit for M4/N4 (Palmerstown, I think) and follow four-lane N4 into central Dublin. You can expect a pretty smooth ride all way to the area of Heuston station and then crawl along the Quays until you find a place to park.

Thanks for the suggestions jana and dugi, and Cowboy, your info will be printed out and definitely used! Thank you so much!

Roadwatch here we come!

best of luck, your travelling tomorrow I see from another posting you made.

thanks Irishsweaters! this will be a real driving vacation and I'm so excited! I've never tried to pull a vacation together so quickly before so we'll see how it goes. We don't mind getting lost or running into something that was unplanned so it will be fun in any case!

Go n-éirí an bóthar leat!
Go dté tú slán

I should be tying up loose ends dugi, but was way too curious! Thanks!

For anyone else...
"That the road rise with you!
May you go safely"

:)

Have a good journey
May you go safely

And I will!

Just waiting to board at Newark. :)

Hi kwren - sounds like you're trying to take in quite a bit if this is a one day touring itinerary. Keep in mind that you are 'touring' and not commuting. I have figured out that the best rule of thumb is to anticpate that your AVERAGE speed will be 25 MPH (40kph). You should only want to stay in the car (aggregate) for 3 -4 hours per day otherwise you'll become exhausted. After all it is a vacation?? If you start out in Waterford and you wish to go to Dublin there are two routes: one is to drive north to Kilkenny, on to Tully ( National Stud and Japanese Gardens) and then into Dublin. If you drove straight through on this route it would take you about 3 - 4 hours depending on traffic. If you make the stops and visits as outlined above it will take you about 8 -9 hours. The other route is to tour to New Ross and visit the Dunbrody Famine Ship, on to Enniscorthy and to Avoca (woolen mills), Glendalough (6th century monastic settlement), Powerscourt Gardens (one of the largest formal gardens in Ireland) and into Dublin. If you drove straight through without stops and visit it would take about 4 hours depending on traffic. If you make the stops it would be a full touring day of about 9 hours.
It is either one or the other you can't do both. Both routes are equally enjoyable with the second one a bit less stressful. Are you staying in Dublin? If you are you might do a day tour with irishcitytours.com to the Boyne Valley Center as they have confirmed visits into Newgrange burial tomb. Let me know what your plans are when you reach Dublin and I'll give you some advice on that. If you want to get a good deal on a car rental use Hertz through easytourireland.com as they have zero deductible on their fully inclusive rate. I use them and am very satisfied. Hope my advice helps you with your decisions.

Hi jeanne! I appreciate all your advice and you are certainly right on driving times! If a local person tellls you "50" minutes, you can count on 1 1/4 hours minimum! There have been posted speed limits of 80 kph but no way can we go that fast!

We do plan on doing one of the two routes you have outlined, but probably with an overnight in the middle.

We had already booked a car with Dan Dooley but we'll file your advice away for next time. Wish I had checked out Hertz.

Thanks for the help!