Hello:
In September, after spending a week in the UK, we'll be spending 9 nights in Ireland.

I'd like some critique on our itinerary and especially would like to know if we're trying to do too much and if there will be too much driving.

Also, we plan on visiting pubs, finding trad. Irish music, seeing if there are any festivals, etc. but I've left these details out as I'm trying to see if our "big picture" will work.

Thanks so much!!!
Carol

*****

Sept. 15 - Day 1 - DUBLIN
(arrive in a.m. from Edinburgh)
- Hop-On, Hop-Off Bus to get acclimated to the city and to stop along the way at places of interest - probably most of the day
(Spend night in Dublin)

Sept. 16 - Day 2 - DUBLIN
- Return to places of interest
- Possible historical walking tour
(Spend night in Dublin)

Sept. 17 - Day 3 - DUBLIN to KILKENNY
- Pick up rental car at airport
- Drive to Powerscourt, spend a few hours
- Drive to Glendalough, explore and maybe take a walk
- Drive to Kilkenny
(Spend night in Kilkenny)

Sept. 18 - Day 4 - KILKENNY to KINSALE
- Explore Kilkenny and Castle in the morning
- Drive to Waterford to visit the Crystal Factory
- Drive to Kinsale
(Spend night in Kinsale)

Sept. 19 - Day 5 - KINSALE to KILLARNEY
- Morning in Kinsale
- Leisurely drive to KILLARNEY - suggestions for along the way?
(Spend night in Killarney)

Sept. 20 - Day 6 - KILLARNEY to DINGLE
- Gap of Dunloe tour (approx. 10:30 am to 4:00 pm)
- Drive to Dingle - is this too much?
(Spend night in Dingle)

Sept. 21 - Day 7 - DINGLE
- Slea Head Drive (1/2 day)
- Explore Dingle
(Spend night in Dingle)

Sept. 22 - Day 8 - DINGLE to GALWAY
- Drive from Dingle to Galway via Conor Pass taking ferry to Killimer
- Stop at Cliffs of Moher
(Spend night in Galway)

Sept. 23 - Day 9 - GALWAY
- Either a day tour of Connemara or Aran Islands
- Explore Galway when back from touring
(Spend night in Galway)

Sept. 24 - Day 10 - GALWAY
- Either a day tour of Connemara or Aran Islands
- Drive to Shannon Airport and return car
- 9:10pm flight to Heathrow

We did a 9 day trip similar to this, and while it was a quite a bit of driving, we did get to at least 3 major tourist attractions/day. We didn't spend any time in Dublin, (we did 2 nights in Doolin near Cliffs of Moher, instead.) Your 1st day out of Dublin looks fine....we left Dublin at noon, visited Powerscourt and Glendaloch and made it to our B&B by 7PM, so if you get a mid morning start, you will have more time at the 2 stops than we did. Otherwise you itineary is similar, we did 1 night at Dungarvin(Kilkenny was booked up due to a national plowing contest!) We also did Kenamare instead of Killarney....same general location. Kenmare was our favorite small town in Ireland, we went thru Killarney, but it seemed awfully crowded with tourists, traffic etc. We didn't make it to Galway, but concentrated on the area south and west of Galway, and Doolin being the traditional music capital of Ireland! We decided to save the Conemara region and Aran Islands for our next trip (in less than 2 weeks!) We chose to spend the last 2 nights in Eastern Ireland (we flew back out of Dublin) and took in Newgrange(our favorite stop of the entire trip!) staying in Trim, then the last night in Swords, suburb of Dublin near the airport. Overall your itinerary looks pretty good, compared to what we did! Day 4 looks to be the busiest...Waterford may not be that good now that the factory is Closed/Open? a limited showroom is what I've read lately. We spent 2 nights in Kinsale after leaving Waterford. The traffic in Waterford was bumper to bumper, didn't make good time. At Kinsale we visited the Star Fort, and the immigrant/titanic/Lusitania display as well as the cathedral in Cobh, just east of Kinsale, so lots to do and see in that area...might give Waterford a miss...good smaller crystal factory tours in other parts of Ireland that won't cause you to do so much driving.
Day 5, we visited the Blarney Castle...lots of controversy about this being overly hyped and long lines... you need to be in fairly good physical condition to stand in long lines and then make it up several narrow steep winding steps. Great photo op. and grounds are beautiful. Day 8 will be a fairly long drive, but if you happen to make good time, a side trip to the Cliffs of Mohrer would be worthwhile. Hope these suggestion help...you are on the right track! cheers Dan

Thanks Dan for your input - just what I'm looking for!
Carol

I would give Waterford a miss as the factory is now closed. and go straight from Kilkenny to Kinsale. As rvflyer notes, the traffic around Waterford can be busy.

I would not say Day 6 is too much. I think it is between one and two hours Kil-Dingle (if I remember correctly) so you will be in Dingle by early evening--still time to check in to lodging and find supper and pub.

On the day to Aran Islands either drive to Rosseveal to catch a ferry or there are flights of about 10 minutes from the airport near Glaway. AER Aran, I believe, is the airline. Google it and check times and prices.

It sounds like a sensible itinerary and lots of fun. Enjoy!

Two worthy stops on the day you head out to Killarney from Kinsale: Macroom and Kenmare. Food in Macroom was some of the best we had on our trip. Kenmare is just picture-perfect.

Thanks for the info on Waterford being closed and for suggestion to go to Kenmare.
Much appreciated
Carol

Day 3

Maybe you'll find a better pick-up location than the Airport. You'll go North to get your car, and then all the way around Dublin to go S to Powerscourt.

Day 4

Instead of the factory tour, you could visit Jerpoint Abbey (bit S of Kilkenny, near Thomastown; go via R700 from Kilkenny). Taking R700 further on to New Ross and then N25 to Waterford is a few more kms than going straight there from Kilkenny via N10/N9, but that part S of Thomastown is a nice scenic drive, with Inistioge as a picture-postcard village stopover few kms S of Thomastown.
If you don't want to see downtown Waterford, you could take the scenic coastal drive on R675 from Waterford via Tramore, Annestown, Bunmahon, to Dungarvan, where you will get back on N25 towards Cork/Kinsale.

An alternative routing (no coastal drives, though) could take you from Kilkenny to Cashel (the Rock), Cahir (Castle & Swiss Cottage), and after that via M8 to Cork/Kinsale. The Mitchelstown caves are along that road as well, but I have no clue if they are "worth" a stop. The M8 motorway does not yet appear on many maps, but it's almost completely done between bit NE of Thurles and Cork (except for an appr. 10km bit of regular highway near Mitchelstown).

When I was at Mitchelstown, the caves were interesting. the tour was quite oriented toward geology interests and it was much less touristy than the caves at Ailwee. In fact I think there wer only four of us on the tour the day I was there. However, that was a few years ago and they may have become better known and more visited.

However, I think I would choose Jerpoint and Cashel over Mitchelstown and they will take up most of the slack in your afternoon drive to Kinsale. Of course, if it is pouring, the caves are not weather dependent.

Thanks you rvflyer, irishface, Viajero2 and Cowboy 1968:

The feedback you gave me is very helpful. I have actually made some significant changes in our itinerary that should work better.

First, we're skipping Waterford altogether. And, we'll stay in Kenmare rather than Killarney.

Also, rather than going South first, we may train to Galway, get our car in Galway and work our way down and around, reversing the order of our original plan though we'll probably cut out some of the east of Ireland (next trip!) We'd end up flying back to the UK out of Cork.

Now I can fill in more of the details and do a better day-to-day plan!

Thanks again,
Carol