Ireland in September
 

Two couples are going to Ireland; men want to play golf and ladies shop and sightsee.
We fly into Dublin and plan to get on a train to Killarney or any suggested location, rent a car. Four days there, then drive to Belfast, or should we take the train and rent another car? Then where should we stay? We want to be near public transportation since the men will have the car some of the time. We only want to stay in two places, not move around, then the last night in Dublin for a total of 9 days.
Thanks for any help.

I visited Ireland in Sep'01 and Sep'02 and enjoyed excellent weather both trips. In Sep'02 I played Carne Golf Links (Belmullet, County Mayo). People kept telling me to dress in layers for the wet, windy weather - imagine my surprise when it was about 72F (21C). I wished I had brought shorts. Sep'01 the weather was similar: I played a couple of 9-hole links courses: Spanish point in County Clare and Connemara Isles in County Galway.

Distances in Ireland are not much but neither are the roads. I don't know anything about driving a rental car from the Irish Republic to Northern Ireland. But there are some great Golf Courses up there: Royal Portrush, Port Stewart and Royal County Down.

You want to split 8-days in 2-places and you've already chosen Belfast as one of those. You probably want to stop somewhere in the Southwest so the guys can play Ballybunion or Old Head (or even Tralee). But my choice would be Ennis (County Clare) where they could play Greg Norman's Doonberg course (near Kilkee) and Lahinch.

There's also a Matchmaking Festival in Lisdoonvarna, County Clare in September in case you want to trade-in hubbies for nicer models. People come from all over for that.

Visit my http://groups.msn.com/gate5 for some photos that may interest you.

Sorry, 72F is 22 Celsius (not 21 as I wrote earlier): I don't know about Doonberg, but Links Courses like Old Head (Kinsale) and Ballybunion are very expensive to play: Greens Fees of 150 Euros or more. It would be a once in a lifetime experience, so it might be worth it. Carne Golf links in County Mayo has been rated better than many of the 'name' courses and on a par with Ballybunion and Royal County Down. But it's so remote ...

If you're going to say you've played golf in Ireland, walking the courses is the only way to go! I have rented a trolley (pull-cart) but have never ridden a buggy (riding-cart) on an Irish Golf Course.

As a 'Senior' I don't have the stamina to walk the hilly links courses two days in a row, so I usually start out slow: with Spanish Point, a 9-hole 'executive' links course. The only thing that gives it that designation is that it doesn't have any par-5's. But it cost me 20-Euros for (all day) Greens fee, club rental, and Captain (the title for the president pro tem of the Golf Club) David Fitzgerald even throws in a sleeve of golf balls. I have a Clare surname, so I get the 'HomeBoy' treatment.

From County Clare I migrate northward to Mayo (actually the north end of the Gaeltecht region called Connemara) and to Belmullet.

Thanks Nedsireland. Is Killarney a good place to stay?

Sorry, I haven't stayed in Killarney.

Killarney is OK, but Kenmare is much nicer. Killarney is tourist central but many like it. Kenmare is a much smaller town and one of my favorites in Ireland.

Bill

ok, if you only have 8/9 days it's a bit much to drive from the Southwest to the Northeast. Killarney is very quaint but (I'm from Dublin by the way)sorry folks but it's very American Toursist orientated. Too many tacky souvenir shops. If you are going to Belfast anyway, I would recommend doing the northwest of Ireland first instead. There is nothing comparable with Mayo, Sligo and especially Donegal. Just my opinion.....

I wouldn't take the train if you are lugging golf clubs around. Keep the car that you rent in the south, and drive it to Belfast. Are you planning to play the Royal County Down? I am jealous.

Killarney would not be my first choice. Kilkenny is a good base, but I don't know anything about golf courses in that area.

bgregory;
Just got back in Oct 03. Best vacation ever. Stayed 1 week in dublin and another week in kilkenny at the golf resort mount juliet. We rented the car in dublin and drove to kilkenny and used that as our base for our second week. The american express open will be at mount juliet again this year, sep 04. The property is run by conrad hilton hotels and is top notch I heard the green fees are steep around 225 dollars. Get ready for your best trip and while driving watch out for the sheep, bulls and tractors. enjoy

Killarney is an "OK" place to stay. Better is nearby Kenmare, considered one of the prettiest towns in Ireland (Ireland's "Tidy Town 2001"). The top hotel in Kenmare is the Park Hotel, which made Conde Nast's Top 20 hotels in Europe this past year. But there are many cute B&Bs as well. There's also Sheen Falls, in the same class as the Park Hotel though it is not good for you as it's not walkable to the town. Kenmare has superb restuarants (it's famous for them) and pubs -- there's impromptu music somewhere every night and everywhere on Saturdays and Sundays -- and lots of cute shops. There's a local golf course that costs about $15 to play -- it's right next door to the Park Hotel, plus there's the nearby up-scale Ring of Kerry Golf and Country Club. There's Waterville, also on the Ring of Kerry, which was named one of the top 25 international courses by Golf Digest. These are so nearby that you could drop the guys off to ply and have the car for you to sightsee the Ring of Kerry, Killarney, Muckross, the Beara Peninsula, etc. Whether you pick Killarney or Kenmare, you're on the right track. SE Ireland, specifcally County Kerry and West Cork, is the most beautiful area in Ireland. Just remember that the roads are small, drivers often stop to talk to drivers in the on-coming lane (no one honks -- no one ever honks outside Dublin) and you will average no more than 30 miles per hour. No one ever believes me when I tell them that until they go!