Ireland
 

My son and I are flying into Dublin Thursday morning May 24th. I had planned to stay in Dublin until Sunday morning the 26th and then head towards Dingle. Any suggestions on an itinerary? We are staying until June 3rd. Is 3 nights in Dublin too long?

You actually have only 2 days in Dublin and that is certainly not too long.

Some things you could do during the day are: 1) Historical Walking Tour of Dublin, 2) 1916 Rebellion Walking Tour, 3) HO/HO bus 4) Tour of Kilmainham Gaol, 5) National Museums (Archeology, Natural History, Decorative Arts and History).

Some things you could do in the evenings are: 1) Literary Pub Crawl, 2) Traditional Musical Pub Crawl, 3) a performance at one of Dublin's many theatres

That makes me feel better, thanks. Where would you suggest heading after Dublin? I was going to head across towards Dingle and I want to go to Doolin. Where would be a good place to stop midway? I am reading like crazy but everything sounds so beautiful I am a little confused. My cousin told me the Dingle Pennisula is more beautiful than the Ring of Kerry and I want to stay in one place more than a day, so I thought Dingle as a base for a few days and drive out to Doolin. Any thoughts?

Actually, we will leave Dublin on Sunday the 27th.

How does this sound - Dublin to Clonmacnoise to Galway City to Clare/Doolin to Dingle to Kilkenny and back to Dublin

We drove the Dingle Peninsula rather than the Ring of Kerry because we'd been spooked by the idea of trying to compete with big tour buses on a narrow road.

I like your 10:22 p.m. idea. In the time you have, you could certainly do that and spend some time not just in the car. Dingle to Kilkenny will be a long day but some nice scenery along the way.

What is the most non-touristy town in southern Ireland with local pubs? Anyone been to Clonmel?

Was the Dingle Pennisula worth it or would the Cliffs of Moher be just as beautiful.

I had tried not to get into the Dingle thing but..

There is a whole lot of places as or more beautiful than the 0.4% of the Island of Ireland that makes up the Dingle Peninsular. Off the main drag round the ring of Kerry there are small quaint fishing villages just like Dingle town used to be. Beara has double the scenic spots on its 50 mile loop than Dingles 100 miles but no masses on tour bus's to tell about it (Thankfully) Then there are the placeless not in the south west corner.

The Cliffs are another tourist hyped feature. Their rugged rural surrounds have been modified almost beyond recognition over the past 15 years. They are not the Highest (Slieve League Donegal, Highest sea cliffs in Europe)and there are better examples across on the Arans and on Achill Island (Mayo).

If you decide to take the ferry rather than the tunnel to Dingle from Clare then check out Loop Head which is a good possibly better spot than Moher.

Having seen the Cliffs of Moher from above, twice, (this was before the modifications) and twice from the Atlantic, I would only ever see them from the Atlantic again.

And Tony is dead right (as usual!) about Loop Head.

Thank you. I have rewritten my itinery about 10 times. This is my latest, but maybe I will change it again. I going from Dublin to the Tullamore area for a night, then to Doolin for 2 nights (because I thought there would be a lot to do in that area) - Is this a good idea? Is Doolin area nice?
From Doolin, I was going to skip Dingle and go to Cork for 2 days. But I'm rethinking that in order to take the ferry from Clare to Dingle.
From Cork it's on to Cashel and then either Wicklow or Kildare and back to Dublin and home.
PLEASE let me know what you think. This is probably going to be my only visit and I want to do it right.

How about Birr for the split night, That way you could drop past Clonmacnoise and continue over Lough Derg. Doolin is a couple of villages strung together by a stream of B&B's, Ballyvaughan is an option to the north and Lahinch or Ennistymon to the south. Ennis is the place I always suggest but with the FledhNua on the end of May accommodation will be hard to find (but not impossible). You don't have to go to Dingle just because you have taken the ferry but go ahead and enjoy yourself, call into Listowel on the way.

Between Doolin and Ballyvaughn we stayed at Rocky View Farmhouse outside Fanore and were very pleased.

Having made the mistake of staying one night in Doolin, I do not recommend it to others. There's just not that much to do there outside of the few pubs which, when we were there last May, were overly crowded.

If you want to see the Burren, you might want to stay in Kinvara which we enjoyed very much. We stayed at the Clareview House B&B just a couple kilometers in the country from Kinvara proper.

I totally agree with Tony that Beara Peninsula is more scenic and less crowded than the ROK and that Loop Head and the cliffs in Kilkee will be less crowded than the Cliffs of Moher.

My Itinerary finally -
Dublin - 2 nights
Banagher - 1 night
Kinvara - 2 nights
Kenmar - 2 nights
Cashel - 1 night
Laragh - 1 night
Dublin - 1 night and then home.
What do you think?

I know Kenmare - spelled it wrong