Ireland:help Tony!!!
 

Help!!! the more research I do, the more confused I get... Arriving in Dublin with car via Ferry on May 20th... Have 16 days in Ireland. Like to home base for a couple days and move on.
Figuring 2 days in Dublin and make a circle. Have to take Ferry back to England at end to return car and fly out of London. We like to enjoy scenery, quaint villages, visit sites, shop, eat and meander.... I guess what I'd really like is for Tony to lay out his "ultimate 16 day Irish itinerary" for me... How bout it? Or will take others "perfect itinerary " ideas...
Looking forward to the input.
Thanks!!

I am a long way from the only contributor with good Ireland knowledge,,

I suggest 14 days as a minimum around Ireland's coastal route or at least 70% of it.

http://goo.gl/maps/I8Vzh is a 10 day loop could well be 9 days to crossing the Shannon estuary? That leaves 7 for the rest of the way round.. Driving round Dingle to Killarney or Kenmare for 2 nights leaves 5 Cork then via Cahir and Cashel to Kilkenny before crossing Wicklow to Dublin.

http://goo.gl/maps/XrgOs was a route for someone a few years ago 16 days loop

Everyone has individual factors to consider and there will no doubt be places on your personal must see/do list.

A trip I had planned for last September which for reasons didn't happen http://goo.gl/csfU8S The starting point is different but the loop the same ish,,

Please do make sure you're allowed to bring the hire car abroad.

The best scenery is on the west coast; it can be quite dramatic in places. The midlands (where I live) is more boring (& flat), but still has its charms. You may want to choose between north & south coast, then back to Dublin on the motorway from Galway, or wherever you end up - most places have good road links to Dublin. You could do both north & south coasts, but please don't! Choose one or the other. You need to linger. If you do the north coast you'll be back in the UK for a while.

Yes, be careful about the rental. Some companies are not user friendly when it comes to their cars and ferries!!

Many rental companies will NOT allow you to take the car out of the country - meaning the insurance would be invalid - and technically you would have stolen the car.

I know many people here don;t like Dublin but it's one of my favorite cities - esp good for theater and there are several interesting museums as well as the library of Trinity College.

Even IF your rental co. does allow it, why would you pay to take a car across??

What is the rest of your itinerary like - There must be better/easier/faster/cheaper options to taking a car across (twice) and spending an entire day schlepping from Ireland to Heathrow.

If you are flying into London to spend time in England before the Ireland leg of your trip, then look to fly back home from Dublin. It will probably cost a lot less to fly to Dublin from England and then pick up a hire car at the airport, than to pay ferry costs as janisj says.

Again, most hire companies will not allow you to take the car into Eire.

I am also very interested in the same trip, although I don't mean to hijack the OP.
Our story is that we arrive in Dublin from Holyhead via ferry, then have 2 nights in Dublin before we would,like to pick up a rental car and tour around for 13 days before catching a flight Jo,e from Dublin. The map links are wonderful, but I am unsure of where to stay the night or nights, where to stop, how long to stay .....interested in the west coast and maybe north coast too....

Madforireland: instead of tacking on to this thread with different questions - you probably shoud ask on your own thread http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-13-nights.cfm

(To find all your posts/threads, click on your screen name)

Thank you janisj, I'm so confused I forgot I had started a post !!