We are planning a future trip to Ireland for a week, probably in the late summer, and would like to stay in a centrally-located self-catering rental. My sister wants to travel to Derry and I'd like to see the Dingle Peninsula, so somewhere in between would be great. We like staying in villages rather than large towns or out in the middle of the countryside. We'll be renting a car, so we won't have to rely on bus/train transportation. Any suggestions?

You could find something central to both areas, but then would have long, long drives in both directions to see the two places.

I would recommend one or the other. My personal recommendation would be the Southwestern Peninsulas. You could locate somewhere around Killarney and do day trips to Dingle, Ring of Kerry, Kenmare, Beara Peninsula, and Mizen Head. Plenty to do in those areaa to occupy 7-10 days.

There's some stunning stuff near Derry - almost all of it in the Republic. But while bits of the city itself are quite pleasant (or at least interesting if you like IRA graffiti), most of the area around Derry is pretty run of the mill, and swathes of the city itself are just hideous.

Budman's absolutely right. It simply isn't practical to stay anywhere central (30 mph is a pretty good speed to average on the roads of Western Ireland). You're much better off staying in one place, preferably in the south-west.

Squeezing in a quick trip to Derry from, say, Dingle, would take up pretty much a whole day in each direction, plus the time you spend there: you might find it difficult to drop a rental car off in Derry if you've collected it at Dublin or Shannon. There's a decent plane connection from Derry to Dublin, but to nowhere else in Ireland.

Sadly, I think you'll need to leave Derry till next time.

Leaving Derry until next time works for me! Now if I could only get my sister to agree.... Her main reason for visiting Derry is because a friend is from the city, although the friend now lives in the U.S. and wouldn't be there when we are in Ireland, so I could probably talk her out of it. I'm the older twin, anyway, so my word should rule, right?

For self catering holidays could I suggest www.goireland.com and for Cork www.inishbeg.com
If that sister of yours wants to go to Derry could I suggest you put her on the 7 a.m. flight to Belfast arriving at 8.10 a.m. and she can take the train or bus to Derry. Then when she finds out that her friend is really not there she can take the 19.40 p.m. flight back to Cork arriving at 20.50hrs. Then everyone is happy like a pig in dirt.

If it's self catering accommodation in Ireland you want then there are lots to find at www.selfcateringhomes.ie