Wahoowa95

My husband and I will be spending a week in Ireland May 14-21. We will be there 6 nights, flying into Dublin and out of Shannon. I have put together a tentative itinerary but would love to get input and suggestions on things to see or changes that might make the trip better...one week is not much time!

Here's our proposed itinerary, organized by home base:
- Days 1 & 2: Dublin
- Day 3: Kilkenny - see Irish National Stud (Kildare), Waterford, Cashel?
- Days 4 & 5: Killarney or Dingle (which would be better?) - see Blarney Castle, Dingle peninsula. I've heard Dingle is amazing so want to allow plenty of time to see it.
- Day 6: Ennis - see Cliffs of Moher, the Burren
- Day 7: fly out of Shannon at 9:00 am

Also does anyone have recommendations on good B&Bs / farm stays in the above home bases?

Thanks so much!

freetoroam

A very ambitious itinerary to say the least. My suggestion would be to drop Waterford and Kilkenny. On day 3, drive from Dublin to Cork [overnight here instead of Kilkenny] stopping in Kildare and Cashel on the way. Visit Blarney before going to Dingle [could possibly stop at Muckross House on the way]. Enjoy your trip.

nikinoo33

I agree. you are really better off seeing a couple of places and enjoying them rather than rushing from place to place. If it were me and I am Irish so I have seen many places here, I would spend a day in Dublin walking around Grafton street and seeing St Stephens Green park and having a pint of Guinness/Irish coffee in an old pub. Head down south then. Killarney is stunning and you could take a few days just driving/walking around seeing all the wonderful sights. I am not familiar with Dingle. Seeing Dublin, Killarney and Dingle and Cliffs of Moher would be plenty in a week... bring your rain coats!! Have a great time!

irishface

Just to confuse the issue, I would skip Kildare and Waterford and head straight to Kilkenny. There is much to see and do there. However, Kildare is not far out of the way on the route to Kilkenny from Dublin. Then hit Cashel on the way to Dingle. My opinion only, but I would skip Blarney; IMHO Blarney has become just that: a pile of Blarney. (However, it is on most tour routes in Ireland and many people feel they have not been until they have kissed the Blarney stone.)

The factory at Waterford is closed and in my opinion, Kilkenny is a much more interesting city.

Wahoowa95

Hi, thanks so much for the help on our itinerary!! I have decided to drop Waterford based on your recos. I'd like to keep Kildare just to visit the Irish National Stud (I'm a big horse person) - but I'm thinking maybe we can do this as a day trip out of Dublin on day 2? On day 3 I am thinking we head to Killarney, stopping at Cashel and either Kilkenny or Blarney on the way. Then I'm thinking 2 nights in Killarney, as it sounds like it would be nice to have more time to explore things there. Then 2 nights in Ennis to see Cliffs of Moher and The Burren.

Does this sound more feasible? Thanks again for your input!!