Ireland itinerary help needed, please... Sept 2012
 

My DH and I are planning a trip to Ireland with our best friends to celebrate our 20th anniversary of friendship. Mark and I have been to Ireland twice before but S&D have never been. They are going to use FF miles so they must fly into Dublin. We have always flown into Shannon because our interests are on the West coast. We have 10-12 days of travel in country. Donegal and Slieve League are "must see" for us this trip. We also want to revisit Clifden, Doolin and Dingle.

The options we have considered so far are:1) fly into Dublin with them and drive to Donegal on the first day (3 1/2 hrs). Pros are that we travel together, biggest con is a long day driving on our first day. 2) Fly into Dublin and spend that day in Dublin. Pros- easy day of sightseeing and acclimating. Con- none of us really have any interest in starting our trip in a big, busy city. 3). Fly into Dublin and drive to Doolin. Same pros and cons as the first option. 4). We fly into Shannon. They fly into Dublin and take the train to Galway where we pick them up. They actually like the idea of riding the train.

Any comments or suggestions? I appreciate any help you can give us.

I like #4 myself. They could fly in a day early to acclimate and see just a wee bit of Dublin and then take the train across the next morning.

I personally don't think any driving - let alone long distance driving - is advisable after an overnight flight. So you could all fly in the day before and meet up on day 2 in Galway.

meant to add --even though Dublin doesn't appeal to them that much, it would be a good to get over the jetlag, maybe have a nice pub dinner before crashing for the night.

To be honest with only 10-12 days and Donegal a must see Iwould cast Dingle onto a back burner. If your trip covers Clifden during Arts week then the weekends are usually best. How about Fly into Dublin and train to Limerick, bus (same location) to Bunratty or Ennis (Train/Bus)for the first night. Pick up a car at Shannon the following morning and start the trip north.

Hi, I agree with Tony2phone's good idea about flying into Dublin & taking train to Limerick- that will set you up in the West on first day, which is where you want to be.
Also agree about leaving out Dingle, save for another trip to the SW.