Help w. Ireland basics
 

heading to ireland last week of june till mid july. general plan is to fly from boston, spend time on ireland's west coast, drive east to dublin. then, either back to boston or on to oxford (england).

would appreciate your thoughts on best airport for arrival, where to situate base on west coast (galway?), and best way from dublin to oxford.

any comments on good accomodation for 6 also appreciated.

thanks much...jfm.

I think most would recommend arriving in Shannon (airport code SNN) if you'll start on the west coast, where there are trans-atlantic arrivals. Then depart from Dublin or your choice of English locations as your plans go (although from Oxford, you'll locate to a larger city for your departure). Not usually a need to return to the first airport where you arrived.

On the Irish west coast, there are quite a number of interesting areas to base yourself. The usual suspects would be:

Killarney or Kenmare: for the Lake of Killarney, Muckross, the Ring of Kerry and/or Beara.

Dingle: For the sights of the Dingle peninsula - both ancient sites and scenic routes.

Somewhere in Co. Clare: Base towns open to discussion. To see the Burren, the Pulnabrone Dolmen and the Cliffs of Moher.

Galway/Co. Galway: Where to base depends on whether you wish for city of country. Galway is well thought of by many people as a town. I like Co. Galway for the incredible views of the Connemara and have based at Clifden.

Will take much narrowing of interests and making some hard choices to come up with the best choice of areas for your group. Galway (with access to a car) may well be the best solution if you are with a group with a variety of interests.

If you really want to go to Dublin, Oxford's roughly equidistant from Heathrow (buses every 30 mins), Birmingham(BHX) and Southampton(SOU): hourly trains to Oxford from both airports: see nationalrail.co.uk

But you can Ryanair to BHX or flybe to SOU, while only full-price airlines (Aer Lingus and bmi) operate between Dublin and LHR. Sometimes they're as cheap as the cheapos (go to their sites and see what they're offering for the the times and dates that suit you: ignore advice that implies one airline is always cheapest).

Buses to Oxford from Luton and Stansted are usually a real pain, so low-cost airlines through London aren't always a good way of getting to Oxford from Ireland. But there are flights from lots of Irish airports to SOU or BHX, and you should see which route really suits you best.

Unless you really want to go to Dublin, airports like Galway, Shannon or Kerry might get you to Oxfordshire more conveniently;. Go to the SOU, LHR and BHX websites to see which Irish destinatioms they have connections to,

I did pretty much this trip last summer, even the same time of year. My trip report is here if it will help:

http://www.greendragonartist.com/BItripreports2006.htm

thanks all, for such helpful information...truly appreciated...best, jfm.

You should ask yourself what is it that you imagine Ireland to be like. If that thought includes a small city...Galway might be for you. I was disappointed in Galway mainly because I was more drawn to the small towns in Ireland. Galway has character be would not be my list of places to visit next time. Try Clifden or Roundstone IMO or better yet a little farther north is Westport a very nice town.