I posted this last night but can't find it now so here we go again. We have an (almost) finalized itinerary for our 25th anniversary trip to Ireland. Please give suggestions or comments.

Fri. Sept. 19th: arrive in Shannon, drive to CLiffs of Moher, overnight in Doolin
Sat: Ailwee Cave, Poulnabrone Dolmen, possibly the Burren Perfumery and then on to Galway. Overnight in Galway
Sun: Cong, through Connemara, overnight in Clifden
Mon: Connemara National Park, overnight in Clifden
Tues: to Rossaveal, to Aran Islands for the day, then overnight in Spiddal
Wed: this is where we need help. We are headed to Dingle but are not sure how far we should drive that day. Should we stop in Tralee and overnight or push on to Dingle?
Thur: Dingle Pennisula, overnight in Dingle
Fri: Dingle Pennisula, overnight in Dingle
Sat: Killarney National Park, to Bunratty. Dinner at Medieval Banquet.
Sun: leave Shannon at 1:00.

Is Spiddal a good stop after the Aran Islands? How would you organize your day on Wednesday? Will we have time on Sunday to see anything before we leave?

Thanks so much!

Saturday afternoon in Galway is Great! Several of the pubs in the Pedestrian mall area (notably Taaffes and An Caeli) have Traditional Irish music sessions beginning around 2:00 PM. If you like 'Trad' Irish music and manage it right, you can just pop across the street from one to the other.

Ross'a Veal: There's a foto of a Guest House in Ross'a Veal on my web photo album http://groups.msn.com/gate5
I found it convenient, but mostly because I was there to play golf at Golf Mara (Connemara Isles Golf Course). It's called An Ceibah and the manager is 'Brid.' Either way: Ross'a Veal or Spiddal, I think you'll have to come in to Galway to catch the road down to Killimer (or Limerick, if you don't take the ferry). After tha Aran Islands, I would overnight in Galway.

If you take the ferry: When you get off you might want to detour over to Listowel where the Horse 'meet' will be just ended (Sun., 21 Sep). There may still be some 'horsey' activity going on there.

But if you were really 'Horse people' you would probably want to reverse your itinerary and combine Dingle with the last 2-days of racing at Listowel.

NOTE: before I post this I want to note I havent been to Ireland yet...I will be there the same time you are. That said...
You could spend an axtra night down in Doolin and take the ferry from Doolin to Aran. If not then I would also reccomend staying in Galway.You could do your one night in Doolin then up to Clifden for your two nights there then back to Galway for two nights. That way you wouldnt be going back to Galway for a second night. Might save a little packing and driving time that way. Just a thought...ideas from others on this route would be nice as I will be doing about the same trip the following week. (starting Belfast then to Fermanagh then to Clifden before Doolin.

The drive from Spiddal to Dingle is fairly long (4 - 4 1/2 hours), but I'd do it. Just get an early start and make it to Dingle by mid-afternoon. Tralee's a busy town and you'd have lots of restaurant and pub choices if you decided to stay, but it doesn't compare to Dingle in my mind.
Spidall's in a beautiful area. There's been a lot of 'holiday home' development around there, but that may not be much of a factor for you later in September.
I like your plan.

If you head into Dingle on Wednesday, I would spend Wed & Thurs night in Dingle, and part of Friday morning, and then head into Killarney. (about 1.5 - 2 hrs from Dingle) Give yourself some time to go through Muckross, etc. Then Sat AM you can finish up Killarney and head out to Bunratty.
We took the Tarbert ferry and I still want to say it was close to 4 hrs.
This should put you in Bunratty around 3 or 4. Time enough to check in to your B&B and relax a bit.
If you leave Killarney first thing in the morning, you would get to Bunratty in time to see the castle (closes around 3) or walk through the folk park (closes around 5:30?) or do some more shopping.

What seating are you at for the Banquet? 5:30 or 8:30? I am assuming you already have reservations - if not you should call them IMMEDIATELY.

Another thing you should do is make sure you have your 1st & last night's lodging reserved.

Congratulation on 25 yrs.
Debbie

Hi There,

Spiddal is nice, but I would opt to stay overnight on the Aran Islands. We stayed at a B and B in May and it was a great experience. Less rushed and able to just wander around the very small village and hang out at the restaurant and bar.

Hi edhodge, I took a CIE tour around Ireland in April of 2002 and it was great. Looking through your itinerary I automatically recognized Cong, Dingle, and the Cliffs of Moher.

Cong was a bit interesting. I hadn't seen 'The Quiet Man' before but it was still entertaining. The town is very small and the locals are very nice. The weather was a little strange, and it was sunny, rainy, foggy, and even hailed, which added to the experience. It's sort of (unfortunately) nothing but a tourist attraction by the end of the tour, but all good fun, either way.

The Cliffs of Moher were spectacular. They were my favorite 'scenic image' of the trip and I got tons of great pictures. I wish we'd had a bit more time there, even, although there may be little to see besides the Cliffs and O' Brien castle.

Galway was amazing-- my favourite city throughout the tour. Dingle was pretty great, too.

Bunratty castle wasn't anything great to me. Our hotel was located just above it and it was basically just a place to eat lunch at Dirty Nellie's (sp?).

Those ended up to be more comments. I don't really want to tell you where to eat because it's more fun to find the little place's on your own. And if you are going on a tour, don't always do as the crowd does-- some of the crowd was disappointed while we walked off to find a great local bar/restaurant. Have fun in Ireland!

Having given it some additional thought I wouldn't overnight in Spiddal. Think about continuing on to Galway or at least to Salthill (a beach area on Galway Bay where you may find a few excellent B&B's); or, you could stay at one of the B&B's on College Road, which is on your way out of Galway for travel to the south and west.

Either of those options would shorten your Wednesday drive toward Dingle. On a weekday morning you're likely to encounter a lot of truck traffic between Ross'a Veal (or Spiddal) and Galway.

Don't consider your plans 'set in stone.' Be flexible!

Thanks, you guys! Nedsireland, you are the reason we decided to do Galway on a Saturday. I am all about flexibility, however, DH is worried about getting stuck without a room so he has insisted that we book everything ahead of time.

"I posted this last night but can't find it now so here we go again...."

Ed, are you aware that you can pull up any previous post you have written or replied to on this message board? Just click on your author name on any post you have written and you'll obtain a complete chronological history of all the posts you have ever entered here.

Or better yet, pick a post (I select one with 0 responses), click on "Post a reply to this message", add ttt to send it to the top of the list, then click on your author name to this most recent entry and you have your post history.

At the top of the screen under the buttons "fodors.com and destinations,
it says "welcomeanhandle(your user name) if you click on your name it will also bring up all your posts.

Thanks panhandle, I didn't know that...
(Duh; our Screen names are highlighted in blue too.) Guess I can stop topping off other people's posts which may or may not be a good thing!

Dear Edhodge,

A few thoughts ...

Spend your first two nights in Galway - Friday night is very fun there as well. When you wake up Saturday there is a great farmers market near the old Cathedral. More carrots than I've ever seen.

Next two nights in Clifden, if you haven't made your reservations yet - a really neat place to stay is "The Quay House".

Then on to Doolin for one night (make reservations at the Doolin Cafe - excellent upscale food) which brings you closer to Dingle for the next day, (3 nights would be a good thing - spectacular scenery and tradtional music at the Small Bridge Cafe) taking the Kilmer Tarbet Ferry to shorten your drive to Dingle.

Then on as you planned.

I agree with having your reservations already made. September is still high season.

Enjoy,

Tam