Barbara Ryan

Can anyone tell me how long it would take to drive from Galway to Belfast? <BR> <BR>Also, I have a 6 night stay to Ireland planned next month, in which I fly into and out of Dublin. We have made all of our reservations at Bed and Breakfast's and everyone has been especially nice and helpful so far. If anyone would like to comment on my itinerary, I would appreciate suggestions. <BR> <BR>DAY 1: Dublin <BR>DAY 2: Kilkenny/Tipperary <BR>DAY 3: Cork <BR>DAY 4: Galway <BR>DAY 5: Belfast <BR>DAY 6: Dublin <BR> <BR>We have a 2nd trip scheduled for October in which we will spend more time in Dublin and hit the highly recommended town of Dingle. <BR> <BR>

Patrick

All I can say is it took us about 8 days to do that drive, and it was wonderful. I don't want to sound rude, but is your desire to be able to say you did a city per day? You certainly will not have any time to see anything anywhere. By the time you drive from Cork to Galway, and you won't really be able to stop much to enjoy any sights along the way, you will arrive in Galway in time to have dinner and go to bed, the same for Belfast. What is the point of this trip? If you can't spend at least two nights in any city to allow you a full day of sightseeing, then why bother to go at all? First I'd cut out Belfast all together. Northern Ireland is great, especially sights like the Giant's Causeway, but you can't possibly do that. If nothing else at least stay in Galway two nights then go back to Dublin. If this were my trip and I only had 6 nights starting and ending in Dublin, I'd probably, spend three nights in Dublin (probably having to spend two at the beginning and one before flying home) and three nights in Dingle as a base (or possibly Killarney), and forget trying to seeing how many cities you can drive through and sleep in. Or since you are planning to back and hit Dingle next time, this time just do Dublin and Killarney area. With such limited time, I'd also drop Cork. Sorry, but you asked!

Jim

I drove last summer from Galway to Clones and while we didn't leave early, we didn't arrive in Clones until late afternoon. I think you'll find the drive from Galway to Belfast and from Cork to Galway to be pretty long hauls. Driving in Ireland is not like driving on interstate highways in the US. There are very few four lane highways. In the summer you can end up behind a tractor in a string of backed up traffic on a two lane road. <BR> <BR>I share the previous poster's comments about the amount of time you'll be spending in a car. Galway is a nice town to walk around in. You won't have much time for that if you drive there from Cork and are heading off to Belfast. Plus you'll probably be missing the beautiful Cliffs of Moher and Burren en route, or at least limit severely the time you have to take in those spots. On of the lovely things about Ireland is that it is a place where the pace of life is more leisurely than the frenetic US lifestyle many of us live. You would benefit from focusing on a smaller part of the landscape and enjoying the sights and especially the people in that area. But if you do see the whole of Ireland on your trip, you will have a great introduction of places to return to.

sam

Barbara: assume you saw this message from somebody from France coming to visit the United States: <BR>We have 6 nights to see the US, arriving and flying out of New York City. We will be driving between the cities. We have already booked our reservations at the hotels. Please comment on my itinerary. <BR>DAY 1: New York City <BR>DAY 2: Washington, D.C. <BR>DAY 3: Atlanta <BR>DAY 4: Philadelphia <BR>DAY 5: Boston <BR>DAY 6: New York City <BR> <BR>Now ask yourself how much of the US this person is actually going to see. Although the distances above may be greater than yours, the driving times are pretty similar. And there is almost as much to see in each of your cities as there is in the cities mentioned above.

Thyra

Barbara, well you certainly want to see it all. My husband and I have driven literally the length and breadth of Ireland but it took us two seperate trips. I think the thing that the other posters are concerned about with your posted itinerary is that the drive times are most likely to be WAY more then you expect. <BR>Ireland unlike the US or most of the UK and Europe does not have miles and miles of Freeways, (motorways, M-roads, autobahns) what you will most likely be driving on except in and out of major cities, Dublin for example, are little tiny twisty, turny roads, and it is usually raining! <BR>Lovely countryside BTW. <BR>We drove from Belfast to Cork in one day leaving at 6 am and arriving WAY afterdark in Cork (March 1999) you won't have time to see a thing, since many things close up early and it gets dark, if I recall correctly around 5 ish. That same trip we also left at 9am from Dublin and again didn't get into Belfast until 4ish, it was growing dark and we couldn't get a single tour of the city since they had all stopped running from the day. <BR>Yes, the actual distances you are travelling may not be too far, but you can get stuck behind a big truck on a tiny road and likely it will take you 3 hours to get about 60 miles. Basically if you stick with this itinerary, you will have to get up early every morning, spend nearly the entire day driving, (stoping for lunch) get into a town, go for a pint (most "sights" will be closed for their winter hours) go to sleep, get up early, get in the car and drive again, repeting that for 6 days. <BR>Now don't get me wrong, my husband and I are pretty go go go when we travel, we usually don't have the luxury to spend 4 weeks or even 4 nights in a town, after 10 trips to Europe I have learned that you need at least 2 nights in a place..so that you have time to get to town, get your hotel, relax, have a meal, sleep, get up the next day and see the one or two sights that you really feel the need to see, get up the next day and start moving to the next town. Of course we all would like days to linger over a special town, but unfortunately we all don't have that kind of vacation time. But really, your itinerary doesn't leave any time at all for sight seeing, IMHO pick 3 places and save the rest for the next trip as you will surly be back. Have a great trip.