Hi, I will be in Ireland from April 16, 2003 until April 22, 2003. I am trying to fit as much as possible into this short amount of time. Please tell me is this is possible.<BR>16April03-Arrive Shannon at 730am and pick up a car. Drive to Cliffs of Moher and travel south and take the ferry across to Tarbert and drive down to Killarney for the first night.<BR>17Apr03-Begin the Ring of Kerry (counterclockwise) and then drive down througn Kenmare, Glengarriff and Bantry to Kinsale. Overnight in Kinsale.<BR>18Apr03-Travel north to the Blarney Castle, over to The Rock of Cashel and then down to Waterford and overnight in Waterford.<BR>19Apr03-Tour Waterford Crystal and then head toward Dublin via Wexford and Wicklow for a two night stay in the Ballsbridge area of Dublin.<BR>20Apr03-Tour Dublin<BR>21Apr03-Head back towards Shannon for overnight stay in Bunratty. Tour Bunratty folk park and castle.<BR>22Apr03-return to USA<BR><BR>Please Help!<BR>Suzanne

Hi Suzanne:<BR><BR>Generally the responses you will get will find flaw in your second sentence and from there it will begin. Ireland is not a great country to try to fit as much in as you possibly can. A large part of the charm of the country is it's slow pace and thus, to catch that you need to travel at a slow pace. You are definitely doing what has been called the green blur tour. All that said, many people still want to do what you are trying. I don't recommend it at all and they all usually say after they return that they should have slowed down. I'll give you 2 suggestions: 1 if you want to try this general itinerary and 2 an option that I would find a bit more palatable.<BR><BR>Day 1 will be very tiring. The further west you are coming from, the more tiring it will be. People have made it to Dingle on the first day, but it is tiring and that usually doesn't include a trip to the Cliffs. You will need to get out of the car a lot. The ferry will be a nice break, but you will be tired. That said, since you are not really going to tour Dingle, I'm not sure why you would go there. You won't have enough time or energy on the first day to do that. Since you are not touring Dingle, stay in some place like Kilorglin. Then you can get as early a start as possible and maybe stay ahead of the buses on the Ring.<BR><BR>Day 2 is too much for sightseeing, but if you do it, you won't really be able to stop much, so you should be able to keep the buses behing you on the Ring. You won't really have much of a chance to see any of Kinsale, but you can say you've been there.<BR><BR>Day 3: I would blow off Blarney Castle. You have to get around Cork to get there and the traffic is pretty miserable and you will likely get lost more than once. There are lots of castles in Ireland, and with your schedule it doesn't make sense to do this one. If you want to catch a castle, after the Rock, stop and see Cahir Castle on the way to Waterford. You'll drive right past it.<BR><BR>Day 4 will work, though it will be a weekend day and it if you plan to do Glendalough or Powerscourt, they may be more crowded. You should probably have your room booked pretty soon, if not already.<BR><BR>Day 5: Fine, though my contention is that one day in Dublin is just enough to realize what you should have visited.<BR><BR>Day 6: Get an early start if you intend to enjoy the folk park. It will take 4+ hours to get there. Viamichelin says 3, so add at least an hour.<BR><BR>Now a quick attempt at an option.....<BR><BR>

Suzanne, your first day is doable but the next two may need a little tinkering. If you do the ring, about 3-4hrs, then travel to Kinsale via Glengarriff and Bantry this could be a bit much as you will be passing through some beautiful scenary. My suggestion would be to cut out Waterford and east coast and focus more on Southwest. You could still do Blarney and the Rock then maybe add Kilkenny instead of Dublin. Many possibilities but remember, you don't want to spend too much time in the car as Ireland is beautiful to drive through but not for 4-5 hours a stretch. You will get some other great suggestions so just balance things out. Good Luck

The option:<BR><BR>Don't go east at all!<BR><BR>Yes, the Waterford factory is interesting, but not intersting enough to drive across the country. Dublin can be a fun city and many extol it's virtues, but it takes a couple of days to see much of it and once again, it's on the other side of the country.<BR><BR>Your original plan will take you flying by all sorts of beautiful parts of the country, so if you really want to &quot;see&quot; as much as possible, slow down. You will merely be driving by. Remember, your average MPH will probably be about 35.<BR><BR>My suggestion would be to slow WAY down, but you probably won't want to do that so I will suggest something a bit slower.<BR><BR>Day 1: Stay near the Cliffs. The other option would be to try to make it to Dingle (via Adare from Shannon) and have a full day the next day. The ferry only runs once an hour from Killimer in April, so you might have to sit and wait if you go that way and it's fairly easy to get around Limerick from Shannon to Adare. Dingle will probably be about a four hour drive, which some people find impossible and others don't. If it's raining and windy, the cliffs aren't much fun.<BR><BR>Day 2: To Dingle, stay in Dingle<BR><BR>Day 3: Kenmare: drive there via the Ring<BR><BR>Day 4: Kinsale: Drive there via Glengarriff.<BR><BR>Day 5: Cashel/Cahir: I would still avoid Blarney, but if you must... The grounds are nice and the castle is attractive, but don't waste your time standing in line for what is easily Ireland's biggest tourist trap... the stone. See Cahir Castle and the Rock and stay in one of the two towns. Both are about the same distance from Bunratty.<BR><BR>Day 6: Bunratty<BR><BR>This is a busy itinerary but certianly doable and it only leaves out the major stops of Waterford and Dublin and gives you a credible shot at enjoying your vacation.<BR><BR>There are certainly other options. This is just one.<BR><BR>Bill

Thanks for the advice. We will be flying from Atlanta, so the flight is just over 7 hours.<BR>We are not staying in B&amp;Bs, so we don't have to worry about searching for a place to stay. Will it already be crowded at this time of year and what time is sunset? <BR>I can live without Blarney Castle, but I would really like to see some of Dublin. What do you suggest for a comfortable driving distance in a day?<BR>Thanks,<BR>Suzanne

Suzanne, <BR> I have to side with Bill's second option. I did way less than you are suggesting on my first trip ( which was 9 days - 3 more than yours) and still found it to be a bit tiring. Your 1st day would be a killer. Most people go with the rule of thumb of 2 hrs of driving on the day you get to Ireland. I would stretch that to - 90 min to the cliffs, then back to your place of choice for the night. <BR><BR>I totally agree that if you are driving cross country for 1 day in Dublin, just to head back to Shannon the next day, it is not worth it. Save Dublin and Wexford &amp; Wicklow for your next trip - they could take up a week on their own, easily. <BR><BR>Bill and I disagree on Kenmare vs Killarney , and whether Waterford Crystal is worth a visit ( for me YES!) But all in all we agree on the fact that Ireland is to be enjoyed, not rushed through, seeing it only from a car window. <BR><BR>One more thing - If you go with Bill's 2nd option try to give yourself 2 nights in a place. With the pace you are trying to set, It will get very old moving from place to place every night. <BR>I would do - day 1 cliffs &amp; stay in either dingle or tralee<BR>day2 &amp; 3 Kenmare - day 2 ring of kerry, day 3 tour kinsale<BR>days 4 &amp; 5 - Cashel / Cahir area - from here you could do a day trip to the crystal tour , or stop in Kilkenny<BR>Day 6 - Bunratty. <BR><BR>You should also be aware - you are traveling over Easter week. You could run into some delays, places with limited hours, B&amp;B's booked up for the holiday. Take this into account and slow down. <BR><BR>Let us know what you decide<BR>Debbie

Hi Suzanne:<BR><BR>Debbie has an excellent point. I didn't look at the calendar, but very little will be open on Good Friday. The entire country shuts down from what I am told.<BR><BR>Sunset will be between 8:37 and 8:45 while you are there. I still recommend against Dublin. You just don't have enough time. If you were to go to Dublin on this trip, you would have to take a major chunk out.<BR><BR>I usually agree with the notion of two night stays, but in your case, the trip is short enough and you can pack light enough that moving from place to place should not be a problem. Any reason why you are not staying in B&amp;Bs? They are wonderful, usually at least as comfortable, less expensive and you get a much better flavor of Ireland. I would not consider staying anywhere else. You can reserve them in advance if you need to, but in April, crowds will be lower (esp. this year) and you can't stumble from pub to pub without falling into one. They are everywhere. You could play it entirely by ear in April. You will probably need hotels on the Easter weekend though, especially if you want to eat.<BR><BR>Please consider not going to Dublin. Trust me, on the trip home you will be planning your next trip and you can put the east caost in there. You'll make it a longer trip too.<BR><BR>Let us know what your final plans are.<BR><BR>Bill

sgar,<BR><BR>I have to agree with the suggestions wojazz3 made. We did something similar to what you are attempting to do, but what made it worse for us was that we started in Dublin, and drove southwest through Cork and Kerry, then headed north along the coast to Galway. The biggest mistake we made was in miscalculating the difference in driving times between here and there. On the map, I would look and see that a point of interest was 100 miles away, and make the calculation that we would be there in under 2 hours. Wrong! As a result, we spent a lot of time in the car, and we only had time to partially do the Ring of Kerry. I think that Blarney Castle is fairly interesting, although I agree about the Blarney Stone, but the walk through the grounds, and the castle itself are pretty cool. If you are interested in Celtic mythology, the gardens with their trees and stones are very evocative of that era. <BR><BR>In that same vein, Newgrange is north of Dublin a couple of hours, kind of in the center of the country, and it predates Stonehenge and is really interesting.<BR><BR>As far as Dublin, it actually is not my favorite European city. Don't ge me wrong, it is nice, and it has some sights, but it doesn't hit me the same way that London does. As far as things to do, if you like Guinness, the tour is always good because you get a pint! There are a couple of cathedrals that are interesting, and Grafton Street has a sense of charm about it, but it is really just an outdoor shopping venue. If you like the nightlife, the Temple Bar is fun, but that recommendation comes from my daughter, who was 20 when we went. I just felt old. I can recommend a great restaurant that everyone I have sent to raves about, La Stampa, I believe it is on Dawson Street fairly close to St. Stephen's Green. <BR><BR>So that's about it. Cliffs of Moher are a definite must, and just getting there you will get a lot of the flavor of the west country. Have fun.

Wondering, what towns do you recommend are must sees? I get the feeling that the same towns are being mentioned over and over (Dingle, Kilarney or Kilkenny, Waterford, etc.) - so are they too touristy? What about some of the other places I see on the map? Are they just so small that they're not worth the visit? Any help you could provide I wouuld appreciate. (I'm asking b/c my husband and I really enjoy traveling through the countryside and visiting small little towns and visiting with the people - we did this in Italy vs. going to all the big cities. How does Ireland compare?)

There's a thread on small towns right now--I think you might have posted it--yes, you could have a wonderful time in Ireland just wandering around and hitting little towns in the countryside. As for the &quot;tourist factor&quot;, in some towns it's worse than others. For example, I really like Kilkenny, and found it less touristy than places like the town of Killarney (which I really dislike because it's one big tourist trap, but the countryside around it is wonderful). And Dublin's a big enough city that the number of tourists doesn't really matter.<BR><BR>If you want to really enjoy Ireland and get away from the hordes, head to Northern Ireland. People still have the mistaken belief that it's dangerous, which it isn't, so the American tour buses, for the most part, stay away. Yes, there are some tourists, but not the hordes you get down south.