MiteMsispe

My senior Mom and I will be traveling to Ireland in the middle of December for six days and then onto London for a couple more days. We will be driving and our goal is to take it easy,shop, tour, and not be too rushed. Your opinions on the feasability of us seeing the sights without being hurried will be appreciated.

Dec. 15. Arrive in Dublin and relax. Maybe see Glendalough.

Dec. 16. Drive to Cork via Caher or Cashel. Stay in Cork for the night.

Dec. 17. Head towards Killarney and see Mizen Head, Beara Peninsula, and Killarney National Park in route. Stay the night in Killarney.

Dec.18. Set out for Limerick and tour the Dingle Peninsula. Stay the night in Limerick.

Dec. 19. Start towards Clifden and see the cliffs of Moher en route. I could not find a reasonably priced hotel in Clifden so we will stay the night in Galway.

Dec. 20 Tour the Connemara region and then off to Dublin.

Dec. 21. Fly to London for a few days.

Well, does this sound like a relaxing holiday or a logistical debacle? Any thoughts on personal "must-sees" and "over-rated should miss" sites will be thoughtfully considered.

Many thanks,
Tim

VolGreg

A couple of suggestions.
You are doing a lot of driving. For example, a drive to Dingle & back will take most of the day. So wil Connemara, and Clifden is a long way from the Cliffs of Moher. Then you fly out of Dublin when the Shannon airport is much closer & more accessible than Dublin.
Get a map of Ireland and trace your itinerary. Then try to stay in one city and take daytrips- a spoke & hub approach. Remember everytime you move you must pack. Get the Ireland daytrip book by Pat Preston published by Hastings House. http://daytripsbooks.com/

The roads in Ireland are narrow an will take about twice the time to navigate as the interstaes in the USA.

Greg

sformby

I've got a suggestion, that I haven't see posted before. On our last trip to Ireland, we picked up our rental in Dublin and did the "horseshoe" over to Galway. THEN, we dropped the car off in Galway, and took the train to Dublin for our last day, catching the plane the next day. It seems like many make the 5-6 hour drive back to Dublin, which must be exhausting after a week or two of the winding Irish roads. I say, let the "train take the pain", especially if your tour ends far from Dublin. There was no extra charge to drop our car at a different place than we picked it up. And I'll put in a plug for Hertz here, we've rented twice in Ireland with Hertz, without a hitch, and the CDW on our platinum MasterCard. Also helps to be a gold member...no lines at all, just walked out to the lot.

allisonm

Tim, I think you are trying to fit in too much. On your first day I imagine you will be too tired to make it to Glendalough if you are coming in that morning. The next day is okay, but Cork is pretty horrible for driving, so you might want to stay outside of the city in Blarney or Kinsale and take a bus from one of the perimeter areas.

On the drive to Killarney, you can take a straight shot across Cork instead of the scenic coastal route. I don't think you will be able to comfortably see all of those sights in one day, way too much driving. The drive from Killarney to Dingle to Limerick is doable, but it will be a rush to drive Slea Head, which is spectacular.

Finally, I don't think on your last day you will be able to see much of Connemara since the drive to Dublin will take several hours. We did this same trip in 95 but over 10 days and still felt rushed! If possible, fly out of Shannon.

twm

My husband and i spent 2 weeks in Ireland last may and had a wonderful time. What you have planned took us about two weeks. There is a lot, i mean a lot of driving ahead for you. The drive from the Cliffs of Moher to Galway is about 6 hours alone. That's almost the whole day. If your looking for a hotel around the cliffs travel a little more north and you will find one of the best towns in Ireland. Doolin is about a 20 minute ride from the cliffs and well worth it. It's a small quaint little place with pubs that offer live music everynight. Actually my husband and i loved it so much we stayed 3 nights. Galway is beautiful and all but with the limited amount of time you have, i'd skip it. If your headed to cork there is this unbelievable littel place called Kinsale. A MUST!!!! It's right on the water and is beautiful. There's tons of shops and pubs, don't miss Kinsale Crystal, it's better than Waterford. The Dingle Peninsula is another must see. Beware of the driving around there. The roads are narrow and sometimes on one side of the road it drops, and i mean drops. In dingle there is a hardware store that in the inside is actually a cute little pub to stop and have a pint and catch a game. I'd suggest flying from Shannon to London, why bother doing all that driving for such a hop skip and a jump to London. A lot of people we met in Ireland actually were just on a weekend holiday. Your present itinerary is a littel much for 6 days. Like i said we did about the same in two weeks, especially if you want to relax, which i have to say is very easy to do in Ireland. Take a look at a map to familiarize yourself with everything and go from there. You'll have a great time. All the best of luck to you

Ann41

The only way it will take you six hours to get from Galway to the Cliffs of Moher (or vice versa) is if you're driving a donkey cart. From what I remembered, it's about 2-2.5 hours. And not to leave it up to my memory, I checked the time on some tour group's website--they leave Galway at 10 a.m. and have lunch near the Cliffs, after a few other stops.

Glendalough is doable your first day, as it's not very far from Dublin. Are you planning to stay in that area, or drive back to Dublin?

At first glance, I thought it was too much driving. You will spend much of your time in the car, but that is pretty typical of a trip to Ireland. You won't really be rushed, though.

AHaugeto

Waitaminit...I've seen this before. You posted this same question under "Seeking Irish Itinerary thoughts". And your itinerary was called waaaayyy too aggressive by most posters (including myself). Why are you reposting?

MiteMsispe

Hi all and thanks for your help. I have been quite busy and just recently stumbled upon this site again.
Let me say that Ireland is a beautiful place with some of the most brutally honest and friendly people that I've met. The food is another story all together. We had some good meals in Cork and Kinsale, but the rest of the places seemed to serve rather bland and unimaginative dishes. I am from New Orleans so maybe I'm just a tad bit partial to spices and the lots of love that is put into food preparation.
Well do not try to pack as much of Ireland into your trip as we did. By trying to "see it all"- we missed seeing Killarney National Park and Mizen head. Well , actually we saw Killarney Park ,but it was dark and treacherous. My word those are pathetic roads that they have - I've been on better bike trails. Lovely countryside and people though... did I say that?.
The most memorable places for me were Cork, Kinsale, Dingle, the Cliffs or Moher, and the very unique Connemara region.
And Ireland certainly does not have much daylight in December. The sun rose around 0830 and set abut 1700, so the touring time is short. So take the advice of seasoned travelers and add at a few more than we did to your Irish vacation. Ireland was not my first choice to travel abroad, but I am glad that we went nonetheless. Tim

CU

Have a look at www.goireland.ie
For Americans hop along to www.tourismireland.com/us/index.clm
For route planner www.aaireland.ie
You sure are doing a lot of driving.No time put in for stops or shopping. Ireland looks small on the map but is big in reality.
For accommodation www.bedandbreakfastireland.net
Have a good and safe time while here.