Ireland for One who hates to drive
 

My husband and I love public transportation. We have met the most wonderful people and gotten a real insiders view on buses. I am planning a trip to Ireland in September. My itinerary is not set. I would like to spend about two to three weeks using as much public transportation as possible. In Germany, we did almost all trains except for the Romantic Road. In Spain we did a lot but rented a car for the Costa Bravo. In the Uk, we did Scotland, N. Whales, York, London and Cambridge on public transportation. We had a car for the Cotswalds. Is it possible to plan a trip to Ireland using mostly public transportation? We love big cities and we love the country for hikes and scenery. Of course we love food, art and simple behind the scenes local stuff. Any suggestions? I thought we would do open jaw flying to Dublin and returning to New York from Shannon or Belfast.

I am not, cough cough, what you would call a skilled driver, and I fear what would happen if I ever had to drive a shift. My husband is willing to do anything, but he detests driving on vacation, especially in a foreign land. After two times in France, once with a manual that kept stalling out, he looked at me and said, "Car rental days in Europe--DONE".

NedsIreland, God Bless Him, convinced me we could do Ireland by bus. And I'll be darned, we did. We loved it. Well, we love Ireland anyway, so...

And when we could not make one leg work, I followed advice here, went to a local tourist office, asked if there was a driver for hire, and PRESTO, we were on our way at a fraction of what a car rental would have been.

We have not started in Dublin. We have flown into Shannon and then worked our way north towards Galway for a bit and then south over to the east coast, but much of our time was spent on a cycling tour.

No matter what...
Start here: http://www.buseireann.ie/. See where that leads :)

Hi,

I am from Ireland, but not living there any longer.

You can definitely see Ireland by public transport but be prepared for a service that is more meditteranean than German in its adherence to timetables!

I would recommend flying into Dublin and out of Shannon (as Belfast is an easy day, day/night trip from Dublin).

The train service is not very extensive but does connect the main cities. You will be on buses after that but they run fairly well. Trains and buses are run by the same semi-state company which means you can buy tourist passes taht cover both.

The link for these is here: https://194.106.151.95/asp/ExplorerList.asp

You can choose the days you will need to travel which is convenient.

Depending on the time you have I would recommend 2 days in Dublin, day/night in Belfast, back to Dublin (Connolly train station connects Dublin to Belfast), train to Galway (you will need to change train stations by bus or tram and tram is easier as Huoston station connects Dublin with the West.

2 days in Galway (witha trip to the Aran islands by boat if time allows). Get a bus to Kerry and spend a day or 2 in a small town there. Then go to Clare for a few days. Cliffs of Moher and the Burren are must sees (Lahinch would be a good base for this). Shannon airport is in Clare so you will have an easy connection to get home.

If you have more timeyou could explore Cork, Limerick etc pretty easily by bus.

Have a great time!

Bus timetables are here: http://www.buseireann.ie/inner.php?id=241

Train timetables: http://www.irishrail.ie/timetables

Bookmarking .. when I happen to catch a good sale on Aer Lingus, I may hit the buy button and plan a trip myself using this thread. (I can't drive family to new places this side of the pond without mistakes, never mind (probably) going by myself to a new country and opposite side of the road!)

Thanks for asking the question, milliebest, and thank you to the great responders!

Lahinch is fine but not for a holiday on public transport. Ennis would be the best base for the whole of Clare.

Milliebest:
I adore the West Coast of Ireland, so much so that we did it twice (husband got to bike Cork and Kerry the first time with us but not Clare, so I had an excuse to return).

On our second trip, we picked up a bus to Ennis (we had stayed there on a previous trip for a night or two) from Shannon airport and then immediately made our way by bus to Doolin for a two-night stay. Doolin's a good place to stop for several reasons: Doolin is right down the road from the Cliffs of Moher (you can even walk up there--we did!), it is one of the homes of "trad" Irish music and an Aran Islands Ferry leaves from there.

On the first trip with just my girls and me, we left Doolin on the Aran ferry, spent the day cycling (there are lots of transportation options over there), and from there took another ferry north to Rossaveal. FYI, there is bus service to Galway from there.

On the second trip with my husband, we spent our first day in Doolin hiking up to The Cliffs and that night went from pub to pub to hear the musicians. On the second day, we rented bikes at the camp site there and did a Doolin to Ballyvaughn, and back to Doolin through the Burren loop. There was a big benefits concert in Doolin the second night that we got to enjoy.

From Doolin, we took the bus to Galway, where we later met up with our second cycling tour group. There are a lot of bus options from Galway.

On both trips, we made our way up to Ballynahinch and Clifden, then cycled the Sky Road over to Rosleague and Letterfrack in Connnemara National Park. I don't think there's a bus that travels via Sky Road, but I know for sure you can get to Letterfrack via bus from Clifden, Galway or Westport, so that's doable.

Wow, what great responses. Now I am excited about planning!