ireland itinerary help/approval/criticism
 

hello. My new husband and I are planning our honeymoon in Ireland. We depart the day after our wedding on a sund and arrive monday april 11th. from there we have the following itinerary. Please let me know your thoughts. Be brutal and be honest. ist there anything I am missing? Am I passing something up and not stopping? should anything be cut out? anything overrated/not worth it? won't be able to fit in? etc. right now we have it so that we are driving everyday and staying at a new place every night. We really want to see a lot of the country and are hoping for a lot of stopping? Thanks

Day 1 mon april 11 dublin
-explore what we can on our jetlagged sleepless personas
overnight at the westin in dublin

Day 2: tues april 12 p/u rental car early;drive from Dublin to kilkenny with stops at
-powerscourt
-glendalough
-kilkenny castle?
stay overnight at Lawcus farm guesthouse or butler house

Day 3: wed april 13 drive to waterford with stops at
- Cashel
-cahir
-waterford castle?
stay at glendine house in arthurstown or Ardsallagh Lodge in youghal

Day 4: thurs april 14 drive to kinsale with stops at
-blarney castle
-cork
stay at MARANATHA country house blarney or knockeven house cobh

Day 5: fri april 15 drive to Kenmare with stops at
-drombreg stone circle
-sheeps head
-lakes of killarney?
stay overnight at Lissy clearing thatched cottage kenmare or Tara farm kenmare

Day 6: sat april 16. drive to tralee or dingle with stops at
-Moll's Gap
-Ladies View
-Lakes of Killarney?
-drive the dingle loop
overnight stay at The shores castlegregory or Pebble beach tralee

Day 7 sun april 17 drive to bunratty/ennis with stops at
-dingle
-maybe back to lakes of killarney?
-tarbert car ferry
stay at Bunratty meadows or Newpark house ennis

Day 8: mon april 18 drive to galway stopping at
-cliff of moher
-the burren
-Doolin
overnight stay at Lisdanough house or Connemara hillside

Day 9: tues April 19 drive to sligo with planned stops for
-castlebar
-ballina
-carromore megalithic cemetery
stay at Yeats lodge drumcliff or Seashore house ballysdare

Day 10 wed april 20 drive to Donegal stop at
-rosses point
-glencar waterfall
-donegal castle
overnight stay at Ocean view house killybeg or Bay view country house ardara

Day 11: extra day to be inserted where needed (should I stay 2 days somewhere, spend more time somewhere? or?

Day 12: fri april 22 drive to Dublin stopping wherever on the way or just going straight through depending on how far the drive is and do pub crawl that night.
overnight in dublin at westin

Day 13 : sat april 23 depart Dublin for the usa

I can not comment on days 1 to 6 ;as to days 7 to 12 I think your schedule is much too tight,too many places are included and some of the best ones are missing.
I would suggest you to forget about counties Mayo,Sligo and Donegal,beautiful and interesting but too far.
My suggestion is the following :
Day 7 : drive to Doolin via Trabert-Ennis without any diversion to Dingle (?) or Killarney and visit the Cliffs of Moher before you stop in Doolin for the night.
Day 8 :visit the Loop Head peninsula (the cliffs are spectacular) and the Burren ;overnight in Doolin
Day 9 : move to Inishmore (Aran islands),abt 1 hour by ferry from Doolin ;Dun Angus is really a must-see ;overnight in Doolin
Spending three nights in Doolin IMO is all right as you can enjoy delicious food and the best traditional pub music available in county Clare.
Day 10 : move to Clifden (Connemara,county Galway) and spend 2 days visiting the area (absolutely beautiful,worth much more than 2 day's visit).I can give you some more detailed suggestions if you wish.
Day 12 : drive from Clifden to Dublin ; it may take 4-5 hours,anyway much less than it would take from Donegal as per your schedule.
Wishing you a nice trip,possibly with a reasonable amount of sunshine.
Mauro

ok - maybe we can insert the extra day fudge factor I had for an extra night in doolin?
do you think we should choose to go from doolin to cliftden instead of galway?

Would it make more sense to just fly out of Galway (open jaw)?

. . .Meaning if you follow maurorudelli's suggestion & skip Mayo, Sligo & Donegal.

good point! unfortunately delta doesn't fly out of galway to the states, but Is shannon closer to galway then dublin is? in which case, we would spend the first 2 days in dublin instead of on the back end.

Yes, Shannon is much closer to Galway than is Dublin. And Shannon Airport is much more user-friendly.

oh that is fabulous news. I will do that. Based on suggestions, here is a new itinerary, please review and comment. does it look more resasonable? am I going to feel like I missed something by taking out donegal/sligo?

Day 1 mon april 11 dublin
-explore what we can on our jetlagged sleepless personas
overnight at the westin in dublin

Day 2: tues april 12 another day to explore dublin and another overnight there.

Day 3: wed april 13 p/u rental car early drive from Dublin to kilkenny with stops at
-powerscourt
-glendalough
-kilkenny castle?
stay overnight at Lawcus farm guesthouse or butler house


Day 4: thurs april 14 another overnight in kilkenny with day trip to explore waterford and kilkenny castle


Day 5: fri april 15 drive to kinsale with stops at
- Cashel
-cahir
-cork
stay at MARANATHA country house blarney or knockeven house cobh

Day 6: sat april 16. drive to Kenmare with stops at
-blarney castle
-drombreg stone circle
-sheeps head
stay overnight at Lissy clearing thatched cottage kenmare or Tara farm kenmare

Day 7 sun april 17 drive to tralee or dingle with stops at
-Moll's Gap
-Ladies View
-drive the dingle loop
overnight stay at The shores castlegregory or Pebble beach tralee

Day 8: mon april 18 another night in dingle with day trip to visit Lakes of Killarney and whatever else we missed?

Day 9: tues April 19 drive to doolin with stops at
-tarbert car ferry
-ennis
-cliffs of mohar for sunset
stay at Doonagore doolin or Doolin activity lodge

Day 10 wed april 20 another night in doolin with day trip to burren and aran islands

Day 11:thurs april 21 drive to clifden stopping at
-galway
overnight stay at Lisdanough house or Connemara hillside

Day 12: fri april 22 another night in clifden with day to explore connemara

Day 13 : sat april 23 early morning drive to shannon depart shannon for the return to usa

I recommend you to move from Doolin to Clifden without even stopping in Galway.Clifden is a nice village and is ideally placed to visit beautiful Connemara.IMO in the west of Ireland time is much better spent visiting natural beauties and lovely villages rather than towns.
Sure you are going to miss something by skipping Mayo,Sligo and Donegal (all of them are beautiful indeed) but IMO it is impossible to visit 7-8 counties properly in just 13 days.
FYI from Clifden to Shannon it takes about 4 hours by car.

Your itinerary is very aggressive. I would suggest that you may not want to try to see so much and take a little more time to relax. Stay in a couple of places more than just one night. If you're from the US, you will probably find the driving a lot different than anything you are used to and it can be stressful the first time you drive in Ireland. Also, this is a honeymoon so you may want it to be relaxing and stress free.

My wife and I have found that we actually see more if we spend more than one night in an area than if we drive all over the country. If you’re going to be in the country for more than a week, you might want to mix a week of self catering in one area with the rest of the time moving around. (Sorry if I am being too forward with my suggestions and have a great honeymoon).

I totally agree with Michael_S. Enjoy Ireland.

In my opinion, I would go to a fabulous B&B in Dingle like Emlagh House, or Greenmount House and stay for 3 days or so right in the middle of your trip and enjoy a slower pace. Dingle is easy to spend 3 days or more in! Go to the Blasket Islands if the weather permits.

Its okay to go from place to place, but pick some place right in the middle of your trip to relax so you can have a little less stress (like dingle). Also, do Killarney (and the lakes) before heading to Dingle. You're doing a lot of back and forth otherwise.

Just my .02

OK - new itinerary, we bought our flights and it was much cheaper to do round trip from dublin, so unfortunately, we have to drive back to dublin...

Day 1 - arrive, guiness factory? overnight dublin
Day 2 - drive via glendalough to killkenny overnight in killkenny
Day 3 - drive via cashel to kinsale overnight kinsale
Day 4 - drive to kenmare overnight kenmare
Day 5 - day trip to killarney national park overnight kenmare
Day 6 - drive to dingle overnight dingle
Day 7 - dingle loop/explore ruins overnight dingle
day 8 - drive via tarbert ferry to doolin overnight doolin
day 9 - explore burren and cliffs overnight doolin
day 10 - drive via galway to clifden overnight clifden
day 11 - explore connemerra overnight clifden
Day 12 - drive via Clonmacnoise back to dublin overnight dublin
day 13 - departure

As we plan to be in Ireland in May, I hope you post a trip report when you return.

Last Sept. we did the West Coast of Ireland, but this May we plan to fly into Dublin and head south via Glendalough, Kilkenny, Cashel, Kinsale, etc. We are just in the planning stages.

Where are you staying in Kenmare and Dingle? Check out our trip report for those areas. That was one of the best parts of our trip.

Ireland is beautiful - absolutely no doubt about it - but definitely best appreciated at a slower pace. That's not to sugggest you should laze around or get bored. More to say that places often reveal their beauty and charm over a couple of days. So sit back and relax on your trip - buy a local paper and sip a glass or pint of Guinness in a pub and take it easy.I honestly believe you will get under the skin of Ireland - see more, experience more and enjoy more than you will if you rush everywhere. Its a small country but can still take a surprisingly long time to get around...

And for all the places you miss on your honeymoon..well they will still be here for the next visit!!!