Ireland - Most efficient route Giant's Causeway to Shannon in 3 days
 

Sorry for lengthy title, but I'm having trouble figuring out to best use our time traveling from Giant's Causeway area of Northern Ireland to Shannon in 3 days/3 nights while still being able to enjoy a few place along the way in between long drives in car.

Originally wanted to go thru Derry onto Donegal for 1 night, then to Doolin for 1 night, then on to Galway/Shannon area for last night before flying out of Shannon.

I think these destinations are too far apart, and wondered what you who have traveled by car in Ireland think, and if you have a better plan - such as just going straight south toward the center of the country and then over to Shannon - is there anything of interest in the center?

Please help! Any help is appreciated!

Stephanie

It depends on what you want to see along the way but I would consider staying in Enniskillen or Sligo, then Galway and the last night in Bunratty.

I think you have time to see great things in those 3 days. If it were me I'd go to Derry, then to Enniskillin, then to Galway (or Bunratty.) I'd definitely not go to Doolin - it's a little out of the way and not that special.

You could even, if you want to see amazing cliffs and scenery, do this:
Day 1 Derry - stay in Donegal
Day 2 Cliffs of Donegal - stay in Donegal
Day 3 - Drive to Galway, stay in Galway. It's not all that bad of a drive.

Thank you for taking time to reply. We have decided to skip Doolin per your comments and others I've seen.

Still considering one night in Donegal area - Ballyshannon or Bundoran, then onto Lisdoonvarna for last 2 nights before flying out of Shannon. I've read a lot of comments on skipping Galway (busy, congested, lots of college kids, hard to drive thru, etc.) so we may skip that too.

Our challenge also seems to be finding a room for 5 rather than reserving 2 rooms everywhere we go.

Any more thoughts?

Hi Stephanie,
It's hard to go wrong with any itinerary in Ireland. But if I were doing the traveling, I'd spend the 2 days in Donegal and just the one night (pre-airport) in Lisdoonvarna. You'll read lots more about Lisdoonvarna and the Burren and it's fun to visit. But to me it doesn't hold a candle to Donegal. It's just that Donegal is hard to get to so few people go there and few people write about how amazing it is. And there you'll be, already there!

I'd stay in Kilcar, visit Donegal and the Cliffs of Dunglass. It's not too far off your route. I know on the map Bundoran and Ballyshannon make sense but they appeared to me to be growing holiday spots that have lost some of their charm.

I'd agree with skipping Galway. Again, Donegal, with far fewer tourists, charming towns and amazing scenery, is worth prioritizing.

And a room for 5 - yes that's hard. Are you traveling with young children?

PS: the Giant's Causeway is wonderful!

I would suggest (stop in derry)stays in donegal, westport, bunratty (doolin if you do not have an early flight)

this would break into approx. 3/3hour drive times daily. I use route planner, www.aaroadwatch.ie, and add a little of time

on our upcoming trip this june we are making stops from shannon airport to westport to just w. of donegal (between dunkineely and killybegs) to just north of letterkenney...we are visting derry and giant's causeway from there

and on our way back we are going from letterkenny to doolin ...but we do have luxury of having an Irish driver (route planner says 4 hours, driver reports that it will be a 5 hour drive...I think it may be a little more)...don't know when your trip is...but I will be back the last week in june with my trip report

slainte!

Rosetravels & Chip, thank you for your recent replies! I'll return at about the same time with a trip report, Chip, so we may cross each other's paths while in Ireland! You've given me much help with the last part of our trip. We'll actually start in Shannon, make our way thru the SW and S parts on our way to Dublin for 5 days (husb conference), then head up N. and then W. The W. portion of the trip has given me the most trouble because of the distance we need to travel in 3 days.

We do have 3 children traveling with us, and we are having luck finding rooms available that will sleep all 5 of us, just a little more work involved in finding them. I can't wait to (hopefully glowingly) report on the hotels & B&Bs we stay in!

I'm glad to hear of how wonderful Donegal is and will most likely stay a day or 2 as suggested.

Naturally our excitement is building everyday, and reading your suggestions only adds to that!

Thanks Again!

Did someone mention Kilcar? Might have had 1 pint too many on the 7th of this month. Margaret Decker & her Scotland friend played a lovely set @ Kilcar House Pub. I stayed outside of Kilcar (4km) @ Inishduff House. A wonderful B & B, which I've stayed in on each of my 4 visits to Donegal. You won't be disappointed. www.inishduffhouse.com