MMO

Hello. We are taking the CIE "Irish Legends" tour 8-31 to 9-9-03, then staying over for another 4 days on our own. We are looking for suggestions as to what you would pack for that time of year and how much. We thought we might stay in the Dingle area and do day trips from there, I would like my husband to have the chance to golf somewhere-any suggestions would be appreciated. In fact, any suggestions for the 4 days would be great!! We are flying out of Shannon. This is a great site, thank you in advance for any help you may offer.

MaryZ

Pack clothes you can layer and don't pack a lot of them! I wore a T-shirt covered by a long-sleeved shirt covered by a fleece pullover covered by a rain jacket. I subtracted layers when the sun was shining and it got warm, and then added them back as necessary.
Ireland is casual, especially in the west, so it's unlikely that you'd need anything dressy unless you're staying and dining in castle hotels.
Where will your tour be taking you?

NEDSIRELAND

I visited Ireland in Sep '02 and Sep '01, the latter toward the end of the month (after 9/11). Both times the weather was excellent. On 12 Sep '02 I played Carne Golf links (Belmullet, Co. Mayo) and I wished I had brought some shorts. It was 22 C (72 F). With weather like that you shouldn't need any heavy clothes or to dress in layers. I think September is the best month weatherwise to visit Ireland.

The Listowel (Co. Kerry) Horse meet will be getting under way by the 10th of September. And for Golf, Tralee and Ballybunion are nearby.

MMO

The tour starts in Dublin, goes to Kilkenny overnight, Waterford, Cobh, Clonakilty overnight, Glengarriff, Killarney 2 nights, Dingle, Cliffs of Moher, Cong, Connemara, Galway 2 nights then out of Shannon. Now, some of those mentioned are just stops along the way, obviously !!!! For the 5 days, 4 nights we are staying over extra we wanted to stay somewhere in the SW area as a base, maybe near Shannon the last night. So, again, we're open to suggestions! Thank you.

MaryZ

You're covering lots of ground on the tour, so giving yourselves an extra few days at the end is a great idea. I'd vote for spending that time in Dingle or Kenmare. I like both towns, and both are good bases for day trips. For your last night, I'd suggest Killaloe. It's about 40 minutes from Shannon.

AC

Hi:
I did a 15 day tour in early October '99. I packed WAY TOO much stuff!!
The weather was great. No rain, 70's the whole time.
I found that I packed items that mixed and match and I could have left half I what I had taken at home.
A pair of slacks, a nice shirt and a blazer was adequate. The CIE tour we went on had us at two fairly nice places for dinner. So, I was glad I had packed a skirt and nice pair of shoes. You will be sitting on a motorcoach for long periods of time so be comfortable. Enjoy your trip. We loved CIE and thought the driver (Mike) and the guide (Aloquoe) were just great!