My friend and I our planing our first trip to Ireland in April 2012. For our first trip, we think we are going to just stick to a couple of counties. We are looking at Wicklow and Wexford Counties. Wicklow is a definite must for us, because we want to visit Avoca. We are planing 6, possibly 7 days for our entire trip. My question is, Is 1 day enough to visit the town of Glendalough, or should we plan for 2 days there. Thanks for any help.

Wicklow is a wonderful county! (I am prejudiced because it was "home" to me for several years.)

Glendalough is not a town. It is a former monastic site. You could easily do a day there if you want to do some hiking. Otherwise, several hours will do it. The visitor center is interesting with an informative film and a diorama explaining the history and geology of the area. It is on the list of places to which I always take my family and friends when traveling in that area.

Powerscourt Gardens are lovely. Powerscourt Waterfall is the highest in Ireland at 417 feet. It is not exactly a raging torrent, but a pleasant place for a visit and walk around.

Are you going to Avoca for Ballykissangel?

In Wexford there are pleasant beaches (of course, in April, you won't be swimming, but for walking good). Enniscorthy has a small museum in its castle. Vinegar Hill is just outside town. A bloody battle was fought here in 1798. Housing estates are now creeping up the hill, so it is no longer the open space I once knew, but you can drive to the top, close your eyes, and imagine what it was like in 1798 as the Irish awaited the British attack and then fought a hopeless battle.

Kylemore Quay (quay is pronounced key) is a charming village of thatched houses and glorious window boxes. The harbor is a jumping off spot for boat trips out to the Saltee Islands which are a stopover for migrating birds.

Tell us a bit more about what interests you and whether you will have a car for this trip, and we can help you more. April will be lovely with the gorse coloring hillsides with yellow blooms. Are you planning to base yourselves in two places and do day trips?

Glendalough is best experienced first thing in the morning or in the evening when the other tourists are not there. There are nice b&bs in the area so you might plan an evening at Glendalough, stay in the area, and then go again in the morning, then off to explore other venues.

Thank you for the great info. Yes, we are thinking about basing ourselves in these two areas. We are just in very early stages of planing our trip. As of right now we are planing on flying into Dublin, but not really spending any time there. We are going to rent a car.

Yes, we want to visit Avoca because of Ballykissangel. We are huge fans of the show. I know that there is not much to do there. I have to say if it hadn't been for our liking Ballykissangel, we probably never would have even looked at Wicklow County, and I'm glad we did, because it seems like it is beautiful country.

We both like nature, history, gorgeous landscapes. The reason we are just looking at a couple of counties to visit is that we don't want to be overwhelmed or rushed. I've been looking at a lot of people's itineraries on different forums, and they look so rushed, trying to see all of Ireland in such a short time. The way we are looking at it, Lord willing this will be our only trip to Ireland. I do have to admit though, I really would love to go see The Cliffs or Moher on our first trip.

Thanks again for your help and information. I really appreciate it.

A quick anecdote:

Our first trip to Ireland was in 95. We spent one night at The Olde Coach House outside the village of Avoca, which, at the time, was owned by the sister of our Irish neighbor in New York.

Although they were not there at the time, the crew of a show being filmed in the area had been staying at the B&B. On our way through the village (I think we were off to Glendalough the next day) traffic was stopped for some filming.

It turned out that we had been watching a scene from BallyK being filmed, but we had no idea until I watched the show on BBC much later. (Of course we became hooked on the show and have been back to Avoca since.) But be forewarned, the interior of Fitzgeralds is not the same, as the interior pub scenes were not filmed there.

Go to IrelandYes forum. I think you will find it very helpful. I liked Kenmare @ Dingle the best, but enjoyed Dublin as well.