Help please - 9 day itinerary
 

My husband and I are flying into London on Sept. 18, then flying to Ireland on a small airlines such as Ryan Air. We will be in Ireland for 9 days with a rent car and then flying out of Shannon back to the US.

During our stay, we would lke to visit the south or southwest and west Ireland.

Normally I plan everything months in advance; however, time restrictions and life have limited my planning for this trip. I do not have a rent car, a flight from London into Ireland, or any B&B or hotels rooms yet.

QUESTIONS: Should we fly into Shannon or into Cork or some place else? or does it really matter?

Is there a car rental agency you would suggest? We are thinking of an automatic since we will have to contend with driving on the left side of the road.

Do I need to make B&B/hotel reservations before we go?

Taking into consideration castles, natural sites, small towns and pubs at night,what are some itinerary suggestions?

Thanks for any help. I am almost in a panic state.

Please help with Do you

Depends on what you want to see as to where you want to land, but into Cork and out of Shannon would probably be very nice. Shannon may have more car rental options. Consider Kemwel, irishcarrentals.com (Sixt), and autoeurope for starters. Dan Dooley is there too. They've always been more expensive when I have looked.

Booking B&Bs in advance will usually save you the time of looking while you are touring but could also limit your flexibility. At this point in my Irish travel career, I can usually decide how long I want to be in an area, so I usually book ahead, though I'll leave a day or two free in between sometimes.

Bill

Please see http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34832802

You really should re-post... and mention <b>Ireland</b> in the message header.

Best wishes,

Rex

RyanAir is NOT a small airline! It flys B 737's all over Europe. I think Aer Aerann serves Galway from the UK.

The Ryder Cup matches (Sep 18 - 22) may be happening when you visit Ireland, so you might want to bypass Dublin &amp; Kildare (where the Ryder Cup Matches are taking place) so, for logistics, etc., Shannon might be your best Port of Entry.

I consider Mayo's 'wild west' (i.e., near Belmullet) and Connemara as the West of Ireland: Achill Island, Westport amd on down to western County Galway (all in the Gaeltacht) as part of western Ireland. Then there's west Clare: Lahinch, Cliffs of Moher, the Burren and Doolin - Lisdoonvarna will be hosting the annual Matchmaking Festival until early October. There's Dromoland Castle and all the way down to Killimer wjere you can catch a 'Car' Ferry across the Shannon estuary to Tarbert, in County Kerry.

In late September you shouldn't have too much trouble finding B&amp;B's with vacancys. Just make a list of prospective B&amp;B's and call a day in advance.

9 days w/car and wanting to see s/sw/w...2 westport,1 doolin, 2 dingle, 3 kenmare, 1 bunratty

we have rented from sixt and had a good experience

day 1-would fly into shannon...if get early flight could drive thru mid section of burren, stop in cong for a quick walk around...nice walk behind the abbey and nice coffee shop just across from abbey...then on to westport for the night...good choices for dining and pubs with music. we enjoyed the old railway inn (great location and scenic downtown)...if there on a weekend, request back room...little noisy front facing rooms. nice breakfast...very victorian quaint...definately pick a place that you could walk to matt malloys pub

day 2- scenic drive past croagh Patrick thru doolough valley, around fjord, stop for a bounce on a bog, kylemore abbey (not a must stop, but pretty to drive by for quick photo), drive the sky road outside of clifden, then loop back thru connemara to westport for the night.

day 3-to doolin via burren coastal road, past dunguaire castle (quick photo stop), blackhead (views of aran islands in the distance), cliffs of moher...enjoy one of the pubs (be sure to pick a pub within strolling distance...this june we stayed at cullinans (construction across the street but the best breakfast...try the lemon/honey pancakes)...enjoyed dinner at mcganns, was easy &lt;5min. stroll, and mcdermotts just a mini-hop further...enjoyed gus occonors for pub grub and music on previous trip...stayed at doonmacfelim (was OK...close to pub).

day 4+5-from there you can enjoy coastal drive to the shannon ferry crossing then on to dingle via connors pass...would spend 2 nights...spend one day doing slea head loop. lots of dining and pubs with good music to choose from...also lots of b&amp;b choices in town...check to be sure in town (or short walk and parking available)

day 6,7,8-next 3 nights in kenmare...
on way to kenmare from dingle enjoy sights around killarney...we did the gap of dunloe tour (jaunting cart thru gap to lord brandon's cottage then boat ride on lakes ending up at ross castle)you can arrange tour in killarney for transportation. alternative, tour muckross house/abbey and tour of ross castle

if you do a lot of sight seeing around killarney you may want to take quicker route to kenmare and save scenic drive thru park past ladies view and molls gap for way back...but don't miss

in kenmare...lots of nice b&amp;b's in town, good music, great dining and pubs (we stayed at hawthorne house...not fancy, but great location,private parking in back) enjoyed dinner at mcdermotts and usually good music at landsdowne arms...packies was the hot dinner reservation)

next day beara peninsula/healy pass...we also took boat ride out to garnish island gardens which we enjoyed...stopped for a nice lunch/pint in Ardgroom at the village inn pub.

next day could do more ROK or more Killarney National Park

day 9-bunratty...if you haven't done, vistit bunratty castle and folk park and banquet...we enjoyed both, but if you do just the banquet...we did the late banquet and were able to get back into the park, enjoyed a pint at mac's pub before, walked thru park to the castle (the shops/houses are closed...but you get the idea/feel of the park)...same with early...could do banquet then stroll thru park to mac's for a farewell pint

we stayed at bunratty woods...ok, easy 10 min. stroll from bunratty castle, breakfast was not bad, but our least favorite of the trip...with a car/would check out other options (our first choice because of location was the bunratty castle hotel...but it was booked)

if narrowed stays...my favorite 2 towns to stay in are dingle and kenmare