Ireland - To Drive or Not to Drive - that is the question
 

My daughter and I are planning a 16-day trip (not counting flight days) to Ireland with a brief side trip to London.

Neither one of us wants to drive on the left -- we weren't comfortable even being passengers while DH was doing this in the Bahamas where there wasn't much traffic and only one slightly scary intersection.

We arrive in Dublin and want to go to Galway, the Shannon area, Dingle, Kinsale, and the Wicklow Mtns, at the least.

Is this do-able without a rental car? Are taxis or private drivers available (and affordable?) where trains and busses don't go?

Thank you!

Maire - For my husband and I it was easy as we also drive on the left here. Because of our relaxed driving we were able to 'look & drive'. Even so, I did not drive as we were in a largish motorhome.
I think you should Google the transport situation in Ireland with regard to buses and trains. We were very aware of the lack of railway lines except in a few places. I DO like your suggestion of a private driver! That would be my choice if not over-the-top costwise.

Depends on season. Some tourist destinations have only or more bus services during the summer months.
Bus trips to the Wicklow Mtns are no problem from Dublin.
Galway has express bus services from Dublin (and to many other parts of Ireland).
Kinsale has bus connections to Cork city and airport.
Don't know about Dingle.
You can get a first idea of how widespread the bus network is by checking out buseireann.ie . You will also find a link to their tourist bus tours there.
The "Shannon area" is quite big. Any specific places you want to see?
It may be an idea to use scheduled bus (or rail) services between your destinations, and then do day trips / one-day bus tours, e.g. Galway + tours to the Cliffs of Moher or the Aran Islands.

A car will offer you much more flexibility, and also the chance to see sights which are not well connected by public transport. But I think you will get to see and do more than enough also by public transport.

I endorse what Cowboy1968 says.

It's no great help to point out to you that some scenic places are not well-served by public transport, but they are also some of the places that people who do not like driving on the wrong side of the road would least like to drive. So yes, use public transport to get to centres, and use local tour services once you are there.

A private driver (taxi or hackney) for a day or half-day tour would be a budget-burster for most people. You will probably find local tourist information offices a very useful resource for advice on how best to work each area you visit.

Thank you, Tod -- Yes, I hope we can find and afford a private driver in certain areas :) Thanks for the info, Cowboy -- I will do more research into buses and trains and day trips. We want to see the town of Shannon itself, for sentimental reasons--my daughter's name, although it doesn't appear to be a significant sight-seeing area (I could be wrong).

Thanks again!

Thank you Padraig. That makes sense and confirms what we are thinking about driving. We will check with the tourist info offices.

Taxis and private drivers are available but not affordable (except the former for short distances). Trains are not very useful (slow and often don;t go from A to B without a detour to a major city you have no interest in). Have not tried buses - since I lack the patience - have ended up driving except for the first trip - a few days attached to a job, which I had to adjust when I found out how useless the trains were.

Maire wrote: "We want to see the town of Shannon itself, for sentimental reasons--my daughter's name, although it doesn't appear to be a significant sight-seeing area (I could be wrong).

You're not wrong; believe me, you're not wrong. Shannon is a "new town" and dates from the 1960s, a time when architecture was at a particularly low ebb. Associate her name with the river, not the town.

There's a bizarre batting backwards and forwards of that meaningless word "affordable" here.

Others might have different experiences, but I've never found private drivers in Ireland quoting less than €300 (that's euros. Hard currency) a day, with little interest in part days. Bloody good value, given that Ireland's one of the richest countries on earth, neither cars nor petrol come cheap there, and you've next to no risk of being driven by someone employable only as a New York cab driver - ie, can't speak English and can't find the airport.

But many people's idea of something that absolutely isn't "affordable"

Ask a twee and vague question and you deserve every meaningless answer you get.

Please, listen to Padraig and skip Shannon town. Your daughter is much, much prettier.
The river Shannon and the loughs are very scenic, though. I just would not know how to get to the little towns and villages by bus.
You can see the Shannon in Limerick - which most tourists don't seem to like for whatever reasons. But it has a nice downtown area and waterfront, a big castle and cathedral, and the Hunt museum. I may be a bit biased in favor of Limerick since my friends live 30kms NE from there, and it's where we usually go when we want to be in a real city.
Or you can see the river Shannon in Athlone, where the bus from Dublin to Galway will go through.
If you don't like to drive you can rent a houseboat for a week and do your own river cruise. Not exactly cheap (yeah, boats are expensive). But I have not seen many American tourists doing that. Must be more a thing for Continental Europeans.

Have you thought of booking a multi-day bus tour from Dublin that would take you to most of the sights you want to see??
The main problem may be coordinating the dates of departure with the tour operator and the other parts of your trip. My husband and I will be driving around Ireland in September (HE will be driving and I will be the navigator). However, if it was just me and my adult daughter, we would be on a tour bus for sure-though I must admit I am not a fan of organized tours--just a suggestion.

Driving on the left isn't as scary as you think it is. It just takes a little time to get used to it. You just have to take it easy and it will be fine. No one really WANTS to drive on the left, but it's such a small thing once you're doing it.

You can take the bus or train to a town center and then take a tour. I just got back yesterday and we decided to drive. I have to admit I was really nervous but I must say that after one day I felt fine about it. It really isn't that hard if you have an automatic. We opted for a GPS which was very helpful in some cities though with an ordinance map you're fine. One stop at the town TI and they were always able to direct us to our hotel. We picked up the car at Dublin Airport, (didn't drive in Dublin and wouldn't), and drove the entire country in a clockwise circle. The most "trecherous" drive was the Dingle Penninsula. That wasn't bad; we left early and when we reached the part of the drive that is truly only one car width, I purposely drove behind a tour bus figuring and oncoming car would be the one to back up. I was right and we had no problem. You can avoid driving but by having a car we were able to linger, change our itinerary as we wanted and take time which made the car worth it. While I travel in Europe often I've never rented a car. My Ireland experience has changed my mind about future trips.

We traveled the back roads of Ireland in June 2003. We saw a great deal but it was extremely stressful for the driver and for me the navigator. I spent 7 days leaning towards the right to avoid weeds from the stone walls beating against the window. I spent the entire time with a map in my lap and every 5-10 minutes was a roundabout where you needed to know the name of the next tiny town. At the end of each day we were exhausted and did not get to experience much in the way of pubs or night life.
A friend just returned from a CIE tour of Ireland, they had an awesome guide (older gentleman) who also drove the bus and there were only 28 people on the bus.