Five days in Ireland....need advice on where to fly into.
 

Hi, My brother and I will be coming from London and will have five days in Ireland. We are interested in spending more time in the country than in the cities, exception being Galway. Does it make sense to fly into Cork and rent a car and out of Shannon home to the States? As we are coming from London, Cork seems to be an option.
Or, fly into Dublin and spend one day and take a train to Galway and then rent a car for the last three days of the trip?
thanks for your advice. this trip is planned for mid-October.
STP

StP,

If I'm reading your post right you ARE interested in visiting Galway, yes? Personally, with only 5 days and wanting to be in Galway I'd just fly into Shannon, rent my car, go on my way then fly home to the US from Shannon.

If you are looking to get a 'deal' then look into flying to another city as well as Shannon. Ryan Air has some great rates when flying between London and nearby Ireland. (http://www.ryanair.ie/) Also look into the cost of renting a car from various cities. I doubt it'll be much different (if at all) but better to do it than not. Some areas may also have a larger choice of car rentals (Shannon?)

I would not go to Dublin first then head to Galway...

Have a fun trip,
Wendy

There may be other options you haven't considered: CityLink is a bus company (http://www.citylink.ie) that provides hourly bus service from Dublin airport and several other stops in downtowm Dublin direct to Galway. It's about a 4-hour trip and goes to the Galway Tourist Office, about 100m from Galway Bus/Train station and Eyre Sq. So, if you want to spend a half day touring Dublin and then head west, that may be your 'ticket.'

Does 'five days' include days of your departure? We have always had late morning or early afternoon departures from Shannon (US Airways (Phila), Continental (Newark) and AerLingus (BWI)). So, we had to head for the airport right after breakfast: Except for shopping at Duty Free or getting our VAT refunds, that day was 'shot.'

So, for that short a visit, it looks like (in and out of) Shannon might be your best bet.

Hi,

the train trip Dublin to Galway is only about 2 hours or so. it's maybe 135 miles. bear in mind in October it will be getting dark earlier so your night time options may be limited (except in Galway of course!!) out in the country. If you want more country than city, then I would say just go straight to Galway.

Do you have 5 nights or only 4 (with the 5th day being either the day you arrive or leave?). You could probably mostly base yourself out of Galway, if memory serves, and make little day jaunts, unless you want to go far up or down the coast. I can't quite recall if Galway would make a likely base for the Aran Isles, if I remember it was a bit of a drive, at least an hour, to Spidal where the ferry is. (I could be wrong though).

Clifden was a nice little town in County Galway, as was Roundstone, for a base, but I'd do either/or as they are fairly close. Clifden seemed a little bigger. There is so much natural beauty right in County Galway, you could spend much of your daylight hours there I think, with some forays down the coast to the Cliffs of Moher, and take up much of your 5 days.

for Dublin - I only spent a weekend there, and really just part since I flew out Sunday morning, and I got a wee tiny bit of flavor of it. It was fun and interesting, if you don't mind a bit of rushing you could throw that in, land there, spend the day checking it out, and leave the next morning for Galway. it all depends on how fast you want to move.

have fun! It is a gorgeous country with very friendly people. you will really enjoy yourself.

These are just ideas, as I don't live in London and don't have the chance to make these sorts of trips on the quicky budget airlines. I'm envious!

How about public transport to London Luton and a one-way budget flight on Aer Arann (http://www.aerarann.com) direct to Galway?

Then another one way trip on Ryan Air back to London Stansted from either Kerry Airport near-ish Killarney or from Cork (depending how far you want to go) If you were to spend some time in the Connemara (I would since you'll be in Galway anyway), I'd probably plan to go no further south than Killarney this time. Something like: Connemara, Galway, the Burren and Cliffs of Moher, Dingle Penninsula, Killarney National Park area would be 5 very full days, for instance. Lots of beautiful scenery to take in as well.

There's a few other options on www.whichbudget.com for cheap flights.