Ireland itinerary help
 

Hello all! My husband and I have finally decided on a vacation destination, and are planning to visit Ireland in April. I would appreciate any critiques/advice about the below itinerary!

Because it is our first trip, we are trying to see a lot, but also understand that we will go back one day! We like to travel semi-slow, and have never done a self-drive trip before. But, we're both in our early 20s and are up for an adventure :) Nothing is set in stone yet, though we do prefer to fly out of Dublin.

Our trip falls over Good Friday and Easter, so any specific advice about this time period would be great.

-Friday: arr. Shannon airport early in the a.m., visit Limerick en route to Dingle
**Note that this is Good Friday

-Friday and Saturday nights: Dingle

-Sunday and Monday nights: Kenmare (incl. Ring of Kerry and Killarney)

-Tuesday night: Kinsale

-Wednesday night: Waterford

-Thursday, Friday, Saturday nights: Dublin

-Sunday: fly out of Dublin in the a.m.

Thanks in advance for any help!

All in all it looks pretty good. I would skip Limerick and head right to Dingle (about 2 1/2 hours) and I would skip waterford and spend two nights in Kinsale or skip one night in Dublin. Having said that It is a good looking itinerary. Have fun

Thank you for the suggestions! My husband loved "Angela's Ashes" and was interested in Limerick for that reason, but we'll see.

The main reason we thought about a night in Waterford was to stay in the Foxmount Country House, which looks wonderful. However, I might be persuaded to skip it, as Kinsale does look like a charming place to spend 2 days.

Agree with John on Limerick. I don't think you'll get a real Angela's Ashes feel while there. Almost everything will be closed and it's a little hard to find your way out of town. Heading the direction that you are going, avoiding the city center is easy and there is no real reason to waste what little energy you will have on a first day trying to get out of there.

I'm not a huge fan of Waterford either. Unless you are making a pilgramage to the crystal factory, there are nicer places to visit and Kinsale is a good choice for an extra night.

Bill

hi, good friday and easter monday are holidays in Ireland and pretty much everything closes for the weekend, so if you plan to visit any museums, castles etc make sure you check they are opened beforehand. All pubs close Good Friday, so you'll need to find some other form of amusement !

Thank you for the tip! My husband is a teacher, so we are locked into school vacation weeks for travel. I've been concerned about the holidays as well, and was advised to find a B&B that serves dinner on Friday in Dingle. Any suggestions would be great!

After talking with my husband, I think we will probably add the extra night to Kinsale as suggested, and perhaps visit the crystal factory on the way to Dublin.

Doyles in Dingle is one of the better places to eat and friends of mine were very happy with their accommodations. You will enjoy your trip and good luck. Joan

While in Kinsale, visit Kinsale Crystal, its right in the center of town.

Another thought we had was spending a night in Doolin- would anyone suggest taking a night away from any of the above (Dingle, Kenmare, Kinsale) to add Doolin? Or save it for another time?

Thank you! :)

Many folks love Doolin. I have been there twice and I hope to never go back. There is actually no village in Doolin, just three pubs that are not within walking distance of each other. I have had better music in all of the places you mention. Stick to the three places you name and you will not be sorry. Have fun

The one concern I would have is the journey from Shannon to Dingle after a long plane journey. Jetlag can set in very quickly and as it is your first time concentration will add to your tirdness. Anyway you know best.
One suggestion would be to stop off at Bunratty.(www.blarney.ie)
As regards close day on good Friday all the shopping malls and most of the shops will be open so there will be plenty of places for you to eat. Anyway there's always McDonalds.
The following may be of interest to you
www.limerick.com
www.kerry-tourism.com
www.cork-guide.ie
www.visitdublin.com
and for an overall view
www.goireland.ie
also www.bedandbreakfastireland.net
Enjoy.

I've been to Dublin three times and, dare I say it, found it could be seen in little over a day, depending on your interests.

Doolin for the sake of being in Doolin is not particularly interesting although you are guaranteed at virtually any time of year of finding music on almost any night. Doolin's main attraction is it's proximity to the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren. There are a few B&Bs that view the cliffs out their windows. The cliffs, either early in the day or late in the evening are one of the most specatular sites in Ireland. At mid-day, it is one of the most tourist infested. Very crowded and lots of little carts hoping to sell Irish trinkets.

My favorite B&B in Ireland is The Shores on the north coast of Dingle. Annette serves an amazing dinner and this is a beautiful place to stay. If you don't need to stay in the town of Dingle, stay at the Shores.

Bill

Limerick will be dead good friday. All pubs are closed and some shops open but i doubt any tours will be taking place. I really do not get all the inquiries for limerick latelt. It is no way near the romanticised verion people have in there head. There are ok p[arts and grotty parts. It's not a particularly beautiful or happening place in my opinion. I used to down a lot to friends who lived there. Ennis is by far a better visit.

There is lots to do in Dublin for a couple in their 20's do not let people dissuade you from viviting it unless you have something you like better to visit in the country.

Tarheels,

I would NOT suggest taking a night away from one of the other places to spend in Doolin. If you're interested in visiting a place in County Clare for one night of great traditional music there are far better places in Clare such as Ennis, Feakle, Miltown Malby, Kilfenora, Kinvara (actually Co. Galway but close), Corofin, etc. to do that. Doolin is overrated in that regard. Don't believe me - just ask the musicians themselves on www.thesession.org to see what they think. Personally I've stayed there twice. First time was one night 10 years ago and the night spent at McGann's pub was excellent. I returned 2 years ago for 2 nights and to be honest it sucked.

You want to hear some kick ass traditional music? Then take that Wednesday night that you were originally thinking of going to Waterford and spend it in Feakle, Co. Clare visiting Pepper's Bar. Now that is worth going out of your way for.

Otherwise I agree with what others have said and add an extra night to Kinsale and skip Waterford. Also agree that you should skip Limerick and drive straight to Dingle upon arrival.

Mark

If you get tired on the way to Dingle on N-21 Limerick-Tralee road you might want to consider stopping for the night at the Courtenay Lodge (or about a mile south of there at Killeline (kill lay len) Leisure Park where they have a 20m indoor heated swimming pool and fully equipped spa (with Steam & Sauna) that guests may use. Killeline has a web site. It's in NewCastlewest, County Limerick.

Thank you so much for the tips! I think we will forget Doolin, and add a night to Kinsale as requested. Now, on to B&Bs! :)

I think we will enjoy a few days in Dublin. We live in NYC, and enjoy exploring other cities as well. We will probably arrive late afternoon on the first day, as we'll be driving there. A production of "True West" is playing at the Abbey Theatre, so I'm hoping to spend at least one evening seeing that.

Yes, I would go to somewhere like Galway over Doolin as there's a lot more happening! Great music at the Roisin Duhb pub and top notch fish and chips at McDonaghs

You can find info about both of these and a couple of other west coast ideas on my site at:

http://www.mcdougalladventures.com/category/ireland/

waterfords a great place,reginalds tower, river suir, shops are great too, and dunmores lovely its just outside waterford city, limericks a dump avoid there! dingle killarney and kerry are absolutely gorgeous, sligos lovely too, maybe instead of limerick you could go up that way, galways way better than limerick, and then you could see sligo/mayo too!! enjoy your trip!!

I agree that Galway is a great place to visit.Also the BruNaBoine tomb at Newgrange(just north of Dublin is a very interesting place.

Waterford is my favorite place.
Also check where u will be on Easter Sunday - may get to see commemeration parade for 'Easter Rising' in Dublin probably in morning time at GPO -90 yr anniversary

Like the others said I would skip Waterford. We were there and not much to see that you couldn't drive into town and see after spending the night wlsewhere. We did enjoy the Waterford Crystal tour though.

And for what it is worth we enjoy Doolin for a place to spend a couple days that you can use as a base to sight see. The people are always friendly.

Have a wonderful trip!

Hello! Thank you all so much for your suggestions. We will consider them all!

I believe we will save Galway for another trip (soon, I hope!), along with most of County Clare. Based on what you all have said, it seems that concentrating on the Southwest and Dublin makes the most sense.

peteram, I think we'll be leaving Dingle the morning of Easter Sunday, arriving in Kenmare.

When you arrive in Shannon, you may want to go north and see the Cliffs of Moher. They were truly beautiful. Then either go back to Bunratty and catch the castle dinner (very touristy, but interesting and tasty for your first night) and stay in Shannon, or take the car ferry across and stay somewhere like Glin. The car ferries are great. Just drive on.

Well, we've booked our tickets, and turns out we'll have to adjust the itinerary anyway- we got a better deal by arriving one day later, and will avoid the uncertainty of Good Friday.

So, the new plan will be as follows:

2 nights Dingle
2 nights Kenmare
1 night Kinsale
3 nights Dublin

I know Dublin sounds like a lot, but since we'll be likely arriving late afternoon the first day, and will fly out first thing in the morning on our last day, we will really just have 2 full days there.

I'm so looking forward to the trip...thank you all so much for your suggestions. We of course can't see everything this time around, so there's only one solution: start planning our return visit! :)

Sounds like a great trip, and I understand with you being educators that your choices of dates are limited. Schools are probably out also in Ireland ,and Easter week is always a busy time in Europe with kids on vacations.
Flying into Shannon and out of Dublin is what we did several years also and it worked out great. But drove around 9 days. We did however hang around Bunratty the first day and night, ate lunch after arrival at Dirty Nellies pub etc, tackled some jet lag,then took off for Galway the next day for a night.(Irish roads not as good as Enlgland and of course on the left side...be careful after flying all night) After that we followed your itinery of Wonderful Dingle, Kenmare, Kinsale (a night in Waterford, not necessary but you could pass through there on the way). Then Dublin for a couple of days.
I think you'd very much like the Greenmount House (?) in Dingle. Lovely with good views AND the most complete, famous, glorious breakfast included.
The Slea Head drive out of Dingle was spectacular and some say a better choice than the Ring of Kerry. Ring of Kerry is SO crowded with busses (and definately would be THAT week) and you see the back of a bus and of course can't pass. Slea Head is great as many other people have said.
We approached Dingle from the north over Connor Pass (really "interesting") , passing through the Castle Gregory area first.
Then leaving Dingle you can take the southern road on to Kenmare.
In Kinsale we stayed at the Old Presbytery , a lovely, well run B&B close to town (and it has it's own little parking place in the back courtyard,,a real bonus)
We were in Ireland the first week of April and had 9 days of sunshine!.(however it rained the last day in Dublin).
You have a wonderful trip to look forward to and I wish you well.
We ate at a nice restaurant in Dingle (sorry, forget the name) on the main street up from Benners Hotel. Met an American couple who were living in Dingle for 6 months....wouldn't that be nice. ?

Driving from Kinsale to Dublin Waterford is only a slight detour.I went there last year kicking and screaming but when i saw it I enjoyed it very much.Also the Middleton Distillary is on the way and also very interesting.In Kinsale we stayed at the Old Bakery(www.oldebakery.com and it would be hard to find nicer people to stay with.Within a short walk of town.We ate at J>Edwards which was outstanding.If driving to Dublin from the south Dun Laoghire is a great place to stay.Free parking and a handy train ride(3-4 Euro roundtrip.We dropped our car off and took the direct bus to the hotel.Double decker thru Dublin.Great ride.

Now that you have decided on your trip could I offer the following as a vast amount of info:
www.kerry-tourism.com
www.cork-guide.ie
www.visitdublin.com
Enjoy and give me a wave as you pass me by.

Hiya, my wife and I took a similar trip to yours three years ago, though the reverse - started in Dublin. Three days in Dublin is fine and you can always take a half day and run out to Glendalough, Tara or Newgrange if you are tiring of the city. We stayed in Kenmare and saw both Kerry and Killarney Park; we also stayed in Kinsale. Both great little towns. You can see the crystal factory in Waterford on the way from Kinsale to Dublin, we dropped by for an hour, worth seeing but not a huge deal. Enjoy, you'll love it.