Hi folks, newbie here. First trip to Ireland in planning stages with my wife. We're using a number of mileage points and hotel points so we're kind of locked in at this point.
We will be in country in late Sept/early Oct for 2 weeks; flying into London then onto Shannon staying at the Balinalacken Castle Hotel the onto Galway @ the Galway Courtyard Marriot (hotel points) for 2 nights. I plan on golfing at Lahinch, am also a trad fan (play a little fiddle) and wife is a literary buff. she's also into walking/hiking and we're both foodies. Then on to the Enniscoe House in Mayo for more golfing (one night) then to Sligo and the Temple House for one night, Yeats country and on to Belfast to the Hilton Belfast (more hotel points) for 2 days and on to Dublin to the Westin. Please review and critique for our interests if you please. Trad pubs, great restaurants, museums, hiking etc.
thankyou

Will you have a full day on your first day in Ireland? If so, you might want to leave your luggage at the Castle and then look at taking one of the Dolphin cruises in the Shannon Estuary, www.discoverdolphins.ie. On your second day in the Shannon region, head for Liscannor and take one of the Cliffs of Moher cruises which depart from there through October, www.mohercruises.com. I think the view of the cliffs is most spectacular from below.

From Galway, you would do well to take a Bus tour of the Connemara region, www.lallytours.com or catch the ferry out to Inis Mor. There is also the opportunity to take a walking tour of the Burren, www.burrenwalks.com.

If your wife is a literary buff, Dunguaire Castle Mediaeval Banquet, http://www.shannonheritage.com/Dunguaire_Ban.htm, might be a consideration as its focus is music, song, poems, and prose reading with some humourous scenes from Irish literature. Inspiration of this entertaining presentation is draw from the great Irish writers who had an association with Galway and Oliver St. Gogarty; Yeats, Shaw and O’Casey amongst them.

You might consider staying in Donegal Town instead of Sligo, which would allow you to explore more of the Northern coast before heading into Northern Ireland.

Whilst in Belfast, take a Black Taxi Tour,www.belfasttours.com, or a Giant Causeway Tour, www.minicoachni.co.uk.

To plan your routes and estimate the distances, AAIreland's Route Planner is a great tool, http://www.aaireland.ie/routes/. The driving times are a bit optimistic though so don't go by those. There you go, somethings to consider for your trip.

Slan Agus Beannacht,

Bit Devine
Cowboy Craic

bripray, I believe the Balinalacken Castle Hotel is near Doolin. You would not be close to the Shannon Estuary. It's a great location for touring The Burren. Also, you are closer to Lahinch. If you stay up in Galway, you would have to come back down to play golf.
You have very nice accommodations and I'm sure you will get plenty of good info from this site. Have a great trip.

You must definitely travel to the Aran Islands. You can travel direct from Doolin, Co. Clare with www.cliffs-of-moher-cruises.com to the Aran Islands. This is the shortest route to the Aran Islands from the mainland. This is a great trip and you can also do a combo trip to view the Cliffs of Moher on the same day.

<b>intothewest</b> - are you kidding me? You pulled up a 1.5 year-old thread to post ads to your website?