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We will have four or five nights in Ireland on a spring trip. We'll be traveling as a family (kids ages 15 down to 6.5). Where would be a good place in Ireland to base, where we could see as much as possible via day trips, but avoid driving from place to place each day? We aren't familiar with Ireland at all, so can't really answer questions as to what our preferences are, except that we'd prefer smaller villages to the bigger cities.

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Anybody?! Maybe it would help us determine a good area if you could give the highlights of what there is to do and see in a few of the basic regions...Waterford, Cork, Kerry, Shannon??? Others?

peter

Regretably to your situation, Ireland requires a car to get around comfortably. One lovely area in the southwest is the Dingle peninsula. We enjoyed the Hotel Skelligs. Dingle town is a nice coutry town. Further north, Galway and Donegal are really marvelous esp if you go to Connemara (rugged and oceanic views). People are lovely too!!

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We will have a vehicle, so that is not a problem. If possible, we would like to rent a cottage somewhere, and treat it as our home base. From there, we would just day trip the places that are reasonable distances. Donnegal looks lovely. Just to get my bearings, how far is it from Shannon (travel time, not necessarily distance)? <BR><BR>Has anyone here traveled Ireland with kids? What were the highlights, and where did you stay? Thanks!

marylouise

Hi <BR>In June 2000, my family of four (children 9 and 13) stayed at a fully equipped cottage in Castlegregory on the Dingle Peninsula.($200/week..and it was lovely!)<BR><BR>As the travelling is slow and you want to look at everything as you go...we didn't daytrip as much or as far as we had planned but we didn't feel cheated. The peninsula offered plenty to see and do on its own. I would still love to go back there! We saw the breathtaking views frome Conor Pass, drove Slea Head and my kids loved the bee-hive huts, the ancient stone fort and the various ancient ruins that are explorable and common. The views are so spectacular that they were not bored. They enjoyed eating in the pubs and both found things they liked even though they canbe picky. It was too cool to swim or do the water sports that are available but Inch Beach was still fun to visit and enjoy a snack from the<BR>shop there. My daughter and I (who do not ride as a rule) pony trekked on a most gorgeous stretch of beach with Brandon Mtn to our left and the Atlantic to our right.<BR>Dingletown's Murphy's Pub had great eats,an Aquarium that my 9 yr old wanted to see and a boat ride to see Fungie the dolphin. We missed the Blasket Island Center because while daylight is long in June ('til 11:00pm) most things close around 6:00pm and we didn't plan for that when we aimed our visit to the Blaskets.<BR><BR>We took an easy daytrip to Killarny and another to Cliffs of Mohr(using the Tarbert Ferry over the River Shannon).<BR>For thesecond week we headed east staying in B&B's with family rooms....visiting places in between...ending up in Dublin. my family enjoyed the hop-on hop-off bus tour, the Dublin Zoo, among other sites to see. All in all, we just loved being there! May I add that my children seem to be great travelers!<BR>Hope you have a great trip!<BR>Wish we were going!

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