Help with Ireland itinerary (5 full days)
 

We would greatly appreciate feedback on the itinerary and accommodations we've chosen below. A number of specific questions/concerns are in brackets.

Also, if you have alternatives for locations or lodging we'd love to hear them. We need recommendations for restaurants, pubs, delis, markets, etc. as well. Thanks!
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DAY 1 (Tuesday June 28th): Arrive Dublin at noon, see Trinity College/Book of Kells, stay overnight at the Merrion Hotel.

DAY 2 (Wednesday June 29th): Fly into Kerry Airport, arrive around 9am, rent car, drive the Ring of Kerry clockwise, stay in Kenmore at the Davitts, Killarney National Park [Will we have time for the park or should we push this to day 3?]

DAY 3: (Thursday June 30th): KNP if we can’t do it on day 2, drive around Dingle Peninsula, then up to Glin, stay at Glin Castle [Is this too much to do in one day? Should we skip Dingle and go straight to County Clare? See below.]

DAY 4: (Friday July 1st): Tarbert Ferry to Cliffs of Moher, stop in Kilkee and Lahinch along the way. [Either stay in Doolin, see the cliffs in the evening, and go to McCanns or see the cliffs in the day and drive to Ballyvaughan and stay at Gregan’s castle—which one?]

DAY 5: (Saturday July 2nd): In the morning, either Doolin to Galway or Ballyvaughan to Galway. Return the car, take the 3pm train to Dublin [Concerned about making all these connections], arrive 5:40pm for dinner. Stay overnight in Dublin at the Clarence.

DAY 6: (Sunday July 3rd): Fly out of Dublin Airport at 11am.

you have already posted this before. If you click on your name you will be able to see your previous posts & look at the responses.

Hi Amy,

We've just returned from Ireland and it was our first trip. I am not an expert my any means, but my suggestions would be...


Skip ROK and do Dingle instead. We went throught part of Dingle and it is just beautiful. (I chickened out on the other half as I got so scared of the cliff roads. ) Anyway, I've heard from so many at Fodor's that the ROK is not as nice as Dingle, I'm not sure why, maybe because of the buses. Something I surely wouldn't want to pass on narrow roads.

Kenmare is a wonderful town. I'm glad you are going there. Kenmare and Doolin were my favorite towns. Both for different reasons. Doolin and the surrounding area are spectacular. Kenmare is a real neat, clean and pretty town with brightly colored buildings.

If your are going to stay in Doolin I would get reservations now and yes, I would spend the day and over night in Doolin.

If you start early in the morning I think you can drive around Dingle and up to Glin in one day with no problem.

I have written a trip report and although we didn't have the same route as you, some of it is the same and maybe you could get some ideas on where to eat and where to stay.
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34625569

hope this is the right address. It's Craig and Robbyn's Adventures in Ireland.

Have you done searches on Fodors with specific search words? You may find help that way as well.

I wish you a wonderful trip, as I'm sure you will.

Robbyn from
Wisconsin

Hi everyone--I realize that I've posted this message twice. I couldn't figure out how to edit the heading (so that it included "Ireland" in it) without re-posting the entire message. Sorry to those who find this annoying.

Questions/comments for Robbyn:

Really looking forward to Kenmare. Great to read your travelogue. Where did you stay? We thought it would be fun to try Davitts--it would be different from out other accommodations, it's right in town. Do you know it? Has a pub right there.

Also, I wouldn't mind skipping the ROK and doing Dingle instead, but my travelling companion wants to do ROK. My guess is if we have time (are able to get up early) we could try for Dingle.

Do you think its possible to do part of Dingle and get the flavor of it?

Also, is driving the cliffs in the ROK/Dingle worse than the Corniches in the south of France?

Everyone seems to really like Doolin. My sense is that it's best to be there during the evening and stay over. I was definitely looking into the Arun View Hotel. Thanks for the info.

However, are we insane to try to drive to Galway from Doolin on the same day we intend to take the train out to Dublin? (We have a 3pm train and also have to return the car in Galway.)

The alternative is that we spend the day in Doolin and mid-afternoon head to Ballyvaughan and stay at Gregan's castle. That might be more relaxing.

Can Doolin be fun during the day too? Can we still hear music over lunch?

Thanks, Robbyn

Hi Amy,

We stayed at the Hawthorne House in Kenmare. It was okay, what we liked about it was the fact it was downtown. I looked up Davitt's and it looks very nice. Don't remember seeing it though. We used Kenmare as a base to drive the Beara Peninsula and so spent most of our time on the Peninsula. Prego's is a nice place for dinner in Kenmare. At least we really liked it.

I think it would be very hard to drive ROK and then Dingle. The prettiest areas of Dingle are past Dingletown, out on Slea Head.

We did not drive the Ring of Kerry.

Aran View Hotel is really nice. I think you'd like it. The views are incredible.

Galway is 45 minutes from Doolin.

Maybe other people can answer you ROK questions.

Robbyn

Thanks, Robbyn, this is very helpful.

I've heard wonderful things about the Beara peninsula. Probably less crowded than the ROK. If only I could convince my travelling companion!

Will make a note of Prego. Any pubs in Kenmare you enjoyed?

We would do Dingle on a separate day on our way from the Killarney area further north to Glin. Yes, I've heard Slea Head is the best part. I think the tour buses skip that part, no?

We're in a quandary as to whether to stay in Doolin (Aran View House Hotel) or in Ballyvaughan (Gregan's Castle). We're told that the two towns are about 20 minutes apart, both proximal to Galway.
Any thoughts?

Thanks, Amy