Ireland- Lodging and Itinerary Help
 

Hi, Was wondering if anyone could help us... We are four women driving around Ireland. We fly into Dublin and out of Shannon... We have a tenative itinerary that has us staying two nights in dublin, one night in cork, one night in killarney, one night in ennis, one night in galway and one night in shannon... Does this sound good and do you have any recommendations for lodging....

What do you expect to accomplish each day with such an itinerary? Did you plan it or someone else? It is not one I would care to do.

We looked in some tour books and figured it out.. We are open to suggestions. Do you have any?

If you and your friends are looking for a Windshield Tour of Ireland, then by all means go with that itinerary. Eight days, seven cities, four women, self-drive?... it all spells out Disaster. The max number of cities? THREE. I propose Dublin (3), drive to Killarney (2), Ennis (2; all about location). There, you are done.

While basing in Killarney take a morning to visit Kenmare.

Staying a couple of night based in Galway is also a good option. You can do a day south of Galway to the Cliff of Moher and the Burren and then north to the Connemara for a day as well.

If you do get to Galway, visit the Roisin Dubh pub

http://www.roisindubh.net/

and eat fish and chips at McDonaghs for sure!

http://lostmyguidebook.com/ireland/g...ghs-fish-chips

you have fallen into the trap of equating "1 night" w/ "1 day". Your itinerary is really REALLY difficult. For instance, if you stay one night in Cork - you will have spent most of the day getting there and will leave the next morning.

You really are not spending ANY time anywhere . . . .

One can't really circle all around Ireland from Dublin to Galway and back to Shannon in one week. Honest.

This will be about 75% car time and 25% rest breaks/quick meals. Think 35 mph over most of your route

You could leave out Cork for this trip, and head straight across to Galway. From there you could drive through Connemara to Clifden for a night. Drive down the west coast to Ennis for the sights, maybe a little further if you are comfortable driving.

We have a favorite B&B outside of Galway, Craig Country House. Mairead and Tom are wonderful hosts and their home is new with lots of old home charm. It is in a small village with a couple of pubs, about 20 minutes drive from Galway.

&quot;<i>You could leave out Cork for this trip, . . . . </i>&quot; and the whole glorious SW bit too. Not just Cork.

Dublin, Galway, Ennis and back to Shannon would just about totally fill your week.

You may find a Dual Carriageway (i.e., 4-lane divided highway) near Dublin or Shannon; but for the most part, Irish routes (like the N-18 or N-21) are narrow, 2-lane roads.

Someone mentioned the Gray Gables B&amp;B in Ennis. Wife &amp; I did a 5-day trip a few years ago; as I recall the Gray Gables was only open Apr. to Oct. Late Feb, we stayed at Rose Cottage B&amp;B.

Ennis has a Spring Music Festival (Fleadh Nua) the last week of May. In Ennis, be sure to visit Cruise's Restaurant &amp; Pub at the foot of Abbey Street: Trad Irish music every night.

Ennis has some good Hotels like the Old Ground or the Temple Gate, but I prefer a B&amp;B because you can get an early breakfast if you need to get to the airport for an early departure.

Thanks for the help... We are totally rethinking our trip... Any suggestions are welcome as this is the first time any of us are going to Ireland....

I posted this to another thread, but I think itbears repeating here:

&quot;My wife and I are in our mid- to late 50's. Every trip (and this June will make our eleventh) to Ireland, we always have at least a few days where we are touring, 'Out And About' for 8 - 10 hours, yet I don't believe that we've ever covered more than 150 miles in one day.

Yes, the roads are narrow and all that, but the REAL reason that travel in Ireland is so 'SLOW', is that it is so DENSLY PACKED with sights that all but DEMAND that you stop and look and snap a photo -- and maybe pull off, down that beckoning side road that doesn't even appear on the map, because you just KNOW that there is SOMETHING absolutely AMAZING, just waiting, out of sight, around a bend or two. Or perhaps, you stop for petrol, or a drink, snack or meal and get embroiled in conversation with a facinatingly interesting fellow, who gives you directions to a stone circle, a ring fort or whatever, that isn't even in any of the guidebooks...&quot;

There are LOTS of roads that will allow 50-60 MPH speeds, but the INTERESTING places, like Connemarra, the Burren Donegal and West Cork / Kerry are more like what I've described. Those &quot;One Night - One Town&quot; Tours USUALLY invole a BUS, driven by a professional, Irish Driver, who WON'T be stopping for photo ops, diversions and 'Creative Detours'.

Bob

There are some deals in Dublin these days at the D4 hotels in Ballsbridge and great value http://www.d4hotels.ie/?gclid=CMOMvt...FQ0gQgodRScfmQ

Alse Bewleys hotel is lovely and also a 5 minute bus ride to the centre.

Good luck

I agree that staying over one night here, one night there you'll be doing nothing but driving and unpacking.You might as well watch a travel video.

The people on this board have convinced me to always try to spend more time in fewer places.

And Itallian Chauffer is totally right. You will make SO many stops as you are driving around, as you should. Don't hurry.

We spent almost 3 weeks there and didn't get to see and do all we wanted.

If I had to choose a short trip my priority would be the south and south west. ( we're not big city people, we did nothing in Dublin)

North of Dublin we loved Monastaboice, Newgrange and Fore Priory. South of Dublin we loved Glendalough and Powerscourt.

Have you thought of flying into and out of Shannon and just doing the South-west and west? Believe me you will not be bored! ( Or if Dublin is a priority, you could easily spend a week in that whole area.)

Maybe the four of you should write down your top 5 places or things you want to see and then grab a bottle of wine and your map and see which places the 4 of you have in common ( hopefully some!)

Great advice as always, Bob. As everyone here has said, Ireland is a place to be savored and experienced, not to be sped through.

What time of year are you going? It makes a big difference in terms of the length of day and the number of other tourists.

You might want to look at some of the trip reports here from posters who've flown into Dublin and out of Shannon. Seeing what itineraries others have chosen and how it worked for them may give you a better idea of what you'd like to do.

I also suggest that the four of you try to determine which places or types of things you're most interested in seeing. And then try to determine which area would encompass the most of those things.

And, remember, once you go you're probably going to want to go back. So there's no need to try to cram it all into this trip! ;)

The first time we went to Ireland I bought a big map of Ireland,spread it out on the dining room table, checked out guidebooks from the library and cut a strip of blue painters' tape into little squares. Every site that I read about that interested me, I put a little square on the map. It was full of blue!

We had 2 weeks so I decided to go to 2 places with the greatest concentration of blue squares. We spent a week in Kenmare and a week in Donegal. I didn't for a second regret not getting to the other blue squares. We really enjoyed and savored what we saw.

Ireland looks small relative to say, my state, but as Bob and others have said, there's a lot packed into every square mile.

Its wonderful information like this that makes one think and re-think ones itinerary over and over.

Lanos: we are headed to Ireland early May ( just Darby &amp; Joan) and have decided on a motorhome.
Not just any motorhome but a state-of-the-art luxury 2009 model! We aim to go where and when we please for 12 days. If we don't see every single &quot;must see&quot; - Too bad! We may get another shot at it - who knows?!