After falling in love with Ireland on a self-drive tour 10 years ago, my husband and I are taking our 4 adult children and 2 grandchildren in late September! We are all very excited but planning a trip for the family of 8 is a bit more challenging! We are hiring a private driver/guide to minimize the stress (have a couple type A personalities that are short on patience at times). With the children (ages 7 and an infant 3 months) we felt like we needed to base ourselves in a couple spots. We chose Kinsale And Dingle because we loved both of them, and because our daughter-in-law has family in Fermoy or Mallow, plus interested in Waterford area. Of course we will be heading southwest as well!
Here's what is booked so far:
-Flying into Dublin...1st night at Ariel House in Ballsbridge...plan on touring Dublin a bit that day and half next day.
-Leave after lunch and head to Kinsale... Renting a house in Kinsale for 3 nights.
-Next is Dingle for 3 nights at the Dingle Skellig.
-then heading to Malahide for our last night, flying out of Dublin next day. (Should have flown out of Shannon, but too late for that now).
The accommodations fit our needs and are all walking distance to center of town/pubs/restaurants...

Looking for suggestions for good day trips from those locations, and for stops along the way on traveling days. Should we do Cashel Or Wicklows on way from Dublin to Kinsale? My husband and I did not see the Wicklows on our previous trip. Is the Beara Penn a reasonable day trip from Kinsale? Should we do Ring of Kerry on way from Kinsale to Dingle? Killarney day trip from Dingle? Cliffs of Moher realistic? And lastly, it has been suggested that the trip from Dingle back to Dublin is long and maybe we should cut Dingle to 2 nights and spend a night elsewhere to shorten the drive. Your thoughts or suggestions about where...Bunratty? Traditional Music Night there?

We don't want to spend every minute touring, we are not strong museum/history buffs but do enjoy some of that, the 25-33 year olds will want to get in their pub time (well, we all want to do that), love the scenery, good food, meeting the locals, and playing a round of golf. With varied interests among the group and with the baby, we may go in different directions at times. We know we will barely scratch the surface, but everyone will get a good taste of the Emerald Isle and we will, hopefully, have a wonderful week together! Your thoughts are most appreciated!

Kinsale was too touristy for us. We preferred Kenmare from where we easily explored the Beara Pensinsula and the Ring of Kerry. If you have a large group, it would be best if you planned around places to go/stops rather than long drives; the Ring of Kerry is lovely for that, I totally liked it more than the Dingle Peninsula. The Ring of Kerry has tons of places where to stop and explore; my favorites were the stone circles. Given your likes/dislikes I think you should had stayed closer to Kerry County.

Neither Kinsale or especially Dingle could be considered Touring bases. From Kinsale you could explore SW Cork including Mizen, Sheeps Head and Beara. From Dingle you could explore..well Dingle. Moher would be totally unrealistic.. If you are paying a small fortune for a Private Driver what do they suggest?? You have a 5 hour drive Dingle to Malahide.

Thank you, Tony and Viajero for your suggestions. Definitely want to do the Ring of Kerry and Killarney, just need to figure out when would be best time to work it in. As soon as I book the Private Tour Company I will , of course, get their input. May take a night off of Dingle., but where? Maybe a night in Clare.

Killarney is a far better Touring base for Kerry. Whilst I love Clare the main places I would recommend for time with youngsters would be off the return to Dublin. Killaloe/Ballina might be an option east of Limerick and handy for the M7 Dublin link. We always take the grandkids down there when they are over.

I like the Killaloe/Ballina suggestion. Looks lovely there. Tony, your link to their brochure in the other forum is great. Thank you. Recommendations of where to stay? Some B&Bs aren't a good option with the infant, in case he would take to fussing during the night. Also need to be in walking distance to pubs, etc. (Those 20somethings, ya know.). Also considering Ennis. Any thoughts on that? Looks like there might be more to do, closer to the Cliffs of Moher, but more of a drive to Dublin.

Whitethorn lodge is a good fammily freindly guest house maybe 10 minutes walk from the centre on the Ballina side. Also on the Ballina side but south rather than north of the bridge Carramore Lodge would be about 5 minutes walk from Goosers a great little gastro pub. Of course the lakeside hotel comes into the equation and do have some good offers at times

Ennis, we generally stay at Grey Gables which is only a couple of minutes off O'Connell St but with a youngster possibly not ideal. The Temple Gate or Old Ground are the main Hotels in the town centre. I like Ennis as it is a good touring base with lots of infrastructure.

Ok, been discussing with the fam and Ennis it is. Made a reservation at Temple Gate. Will work well for us. My, hopefully, last question pertains to the drive when we leave Dingle. We can leave early to mid morning from Dingle....would like to do the Tarbert Ferry and work our way up to the Cliffs, then head to Ennis for the evening. Does that sound like it would work? Would there be enough time to do the Traditional Irish Music show at Bunratty that night if we left Dingle early...hopefully getting to Ennis mid afternoon. Maybe we will just chill in Ennis that night and then head to Malahide the next day. Just wondering!

With youngsters the early show at Bunratty might be best if necessary..Should one of you be duty babysitter then the rest can catch music in Ennis? The Cliffs could be evening visit after a bite to eat and before the 9ish music start. Or in the morning and head over on the M6/4 and up to Mallahide rather than dropping by the M7.
Crossing on the ferry gives chance to see South west Clare
http://www.travelogueireland.com/cla..._and_West.html before Ennis.

Sounds like a good plan! How long is the drive from Ennis to the Cliffs? I've seen conflicting info on that. And yes, we will definitely take turns being the babysitter so everyone has a chance to enjoy the music along our trip.

Thanks so much for all the input. Our basic itinerary is set, accommodations and transportation booked, now the "kids" and hubby can help fill in he gaps as they wish. Counting the days!

Just a little side note...when we went 10 years ago, that was our first trip to Europe. My husband is the one with the Irish heritage (his mother was a Clancy) and he just HAD to go to Ireland! He actually kissed the Tarmac when we got off the plane. I was certainly happy to go, but Ireland was not my first choice....well, I fell in love with it, too, and can hardly wait to get back. So fun to share it with our kids...

Best to you all!
Terri

Temple gate to the Cliffs car park probably 40 minutes for me maybe 50 for a visitor. 1/2 hour to look over the wall so 2 or 2&1/2 hours all in.. Bar food in Brogans (or the front room restaurant before 7pm menu change) around 5.30 back to the car for 6.30 onto the cliffs and back to Brogans before the music starts, sunset is about 8pm the end of September.

Thanks!