michdphie

My husband and I, along w/his parents, are leaving for Ireland in a few weeks. Here is our itinerary. I would appreciate ANY suggestions/comments/help on our b&b choices, places of interest, or anything we left out! We would appreciate ANY suggestions. Its our first trip abroad! Thanks!!!!
Day 1-2
Dublin-Hotel St. George
Trinity College, St Patricks, Christ Church, ST STephens Green, Merrian Square, Nat'l Gallery

Day 3-5
Kilkeel-Morne Abbey Guesthouse
Mountains of Mourn, visit w/family in area

Day 6-7
Belfast-Larne at Drough Cottage
City Hall, High Street, Botanic Gardens, ulster Flok and Transport Museum, Tyronne Crystal and Linen Green

Day 8
Donegal-Arches Country House
Giant's Causeway, Glens of Antrim, Dunluce Castle

Day 9
Sligotown-Temple House
Belleek Factory, Castle Coole, Lough Gill, Grianan Fort, Turlough Museum of Country Life

Day 10 -11
Galway-Roncalli House
Connemara Park, Kylemore Valley, Ishnmare Island

Day 12
Adare-Berkeley Lodge
Bunratty Folk Park, Cliffs of Moher and the Burren

Day 13-14
Dingle-Cill Bhreac

Day 15
Kenmare-Sallyport House
Ring of Kerry, Beara Peninsula

Day 16-17
Yougal-Ballymakeigh House
Blarney, Rock of Cashel, Cork

Day 18
Waterford
Irish National Heritage Park

Day 19
Bray-Pine Cottage Windgates
Castletown House, Powerscot House

Day 20
Fly home

cailin

I live in Dublin and haven't heard of the St George hotel. Where is it located?

Your itinerary for Dublin looks good. Your best option is to probably go on one of the "hop on hop off" bus tours. They will give you a good commentary, and will stop at each of those places on your list.

On your way from Waterford to Bray, if you're taking the N11, try to stop in Glendalough. It is WELL worth a visit. Also, when in Powerscourt House, don't forget to visit the waterfall.

amyprib

The only thing that jumps out at me is your Day 15 and that it's pretty full. I think many people, based on previous comments and reports, would skip the ROK for either the Dingle Pn or Beara Pn. Depending on what your intent is for the ROK, it could take you an entire day in itself to do the whole thing. I'm sure others will chime in with their experience.
I'm leaving in one hour for my experience! Have fun!
Good Luck!

wojazz3

A couple of the days look a bit too full and amyprib was right about the 15th You can do either the RoK or Beara, but not both. You could easily spend a ful day in just Killarney National Park.

Day 8 seems very hard to do. Driving all the way up the east coast from Belfast and then all the way back down to Donegal and fitting in the sites would be more than I could do in a day. There are 9 Glens of Antrim (I think) and to enjoy them you need to get out of the car and walk a bit. The ride up the Antrim Coast road is beautiful and you could slide your way into one of the Glens. I would suggest Glenariff with it's spectacular waterfalls. If it were me I would take a day off the Belfast area and add it to the North of Ireland and Donegal.

I presume you meant Inishmor on days 10-11. That will be a whole day in itself. Count on the island being very busy that day.

If the Irish National Heritage Park is the one on N11, it looked to be a bit of a Celtic Theme Park, so we passed it by. Maybe someone who has visited can give a better idea. I would drop that to make sure you Glendalough in and I doubt I would get much argument from anyone on that.

Make sure you pronounce Youghal correctly. Someone may make fun of you (as they did me). It's pronounced Yawl or Ya'll.

Most of all, have fun, You'll probably find that you start leaving things out as you go which is fine. Average driving speed will be about 35 MPH, maybe a bit faster in NI.

Hope this helps.

Bill

IrishEyes

The Irish National Heritage Park is okay for young children but too contrived and corny for adults. I thought it was a waste of time and money. Quite run-down too. For a well-done folk park I recommend Bunratty.

redtux

I know it looks like a small country, but the roads outside of Dublin are essentially paved donkey paths -- even the national highway is two lanes with no shoulder. In other words, it's slow driving and you're trying to cover too much ground. Figure on averaging about 30 miles pr hour -- trust me, I've spent months in Ireland! The prettiest parts of the country are in the Southeast: Counties Kerry & Cork, specifically the Western edge of Cork County and all of Kerry. Just a suggestion, but I'd consider cutting out a few things and spending at least three nights in Kenmare. It's probably the prettiest town in Ireland. It will take most of a day to drive the various parts of the Ring of Kerry and it would be a real shame to miss the nearby Beara Peninsula. While on the Ring you'll want to stop at Muckross House plus the Muckross Farm, which is authentic, is worth a morning. Killarney is a good place for lunch. Do make time to hike into one of the numerous stone circles (mini-Stonehenges). The Dingle Peninsula is a pretty drive but not particularly interesting. You might want to cut that short a day. Oh yes, Kenmare is known for its restaurants, so much so that it's wildly popular and you actually need reservations EVEN at pubs for dinner in the summer months -- so book as soon as you gt to town. The best restaurant is the Lime Tree just behind the famous Park Hotel. You will love Kenmare. I loved it so much the first time that I came back, rented a cottage and stayed a month. And I never ran out of things to do.

MaryZ

Oh, please don't cut short your time on Dingle. Maybe everyone has their favorite peninsula, but to dismiss Dingle as 'not particularly interesting' is to ignore a lot. In addition to having some of Ireland's most spectacular scenery, the peninsula is the site of more archaeological monuments than anywhere in western Europe! And, there's the fantastic Blasket Center, Gallarus Oratory, Kilmakedar Church, beehive huts, ogham stones, etc., etc., etc.!

kodi

Cut Dingle short??? NO!! I've never heard it described as uninteresting. The whole peninsula is spectacular.
YOur plan looks really good. You've quite obviously spent a lot of time working it all out and you've done a great job. But I do agree with others, day 15 looks too full. I don't think you can drive both peninsulas in one day. Although many people will tell you that Ring of Kerry is too touristy, it is so for a reason. It it's your first time, DO at least drive part of it. Be sure and go to MUckross HOuse and take the Jaunting car ride (horse and buggy). It might be hoaky, but it's fun.
Have a great time.

MaryZ

I've got to disagree again, Redtux. County Kerry and west Cork are in Ireland's southwest.

Stella96

Hi all,
Six of us are planning a trip to Ireland Sept.9-23, arriving at Shannon 7AM, on 10th,day 1-- HELP!(much fun in planning tho) This may be either too general or TOO MUCH. Would appreciate your suggestions, we may be way off on this.

DAY 1 - 3 Bunratty area 2mi Inn.
Aran Islands, Cliffs of Moher,
the Burren,,Connemara.
(on day 3 drive 90mi to a wedding
near Knock & back to Bunratty same
day, POSSIBLE??) TOTAL 3 DAYS.

DAY 4 - 6 Killarney -Kathleen's B&b
Dingle, Ring of Kerry,Tralee,Bere Penn., Cork, Clonakilty,Rock of Cashel, Vee Gap, Waterford,Glendalough.
(TOTAL 3 DAYS)

DAY 7&8 B&B outside Dublin
Nat'l Stud, The Curragh, Dublin City.
(travel via Longford to Ballina)
(TOTAL 2 DAY)

DAY 9-12 Ballina - Hillcrest House
Sligo area, then The Belmullet Penn. (ancestors)
(TOTAL 4 DAYS)

DAy 13 drive down the west coast back to
Bunratty for departure on day 14 at shannon.
Michdphie, I copied your format, Thanks.

Budman

Stella96, I would suggest you start a new thread on the subject -- It looks like a nice itinerary, but you would get more specific responses if you posted a new thread on the subject.

Toro

You do not want to cut Dingle short. I believe RedTux is in the vast minority on that subject - do a search on this site, particularly "dingle peninsula or ring of kerry" if I remember correctly.

I do agree with RedTux on Kenmare however. Great little town.