Kilkenny for a small irish town experience? Or elsewhere...
 

Me and a gal pal are going to ireland over thanksgiving. We only have 6 days so are not going to mess with driving. We fly into Dublin early so I would like to spend the first day/night at a smallish town with history, local art/crafts shopping and pubs, then move on to Galway for a couple of days and finish up in Dublin. Anyone have a suggestion better than Kilkenny still on the train/bus route?

Kilkenny is smallish but not small. Wife and I were there for a day/night five years ago. Excellent local ale-Smithwicks Red. Castle is a Victorian remodel. Quaint High street. Very walkable. The old castle mews has been turned into an artist/crafter-in-residence with a large store featuring extremely high quality crafts from all of western Ireland. There are several crystal cutters in the area. All in all a good choice.

If you are set on public transportation and flying in and out of dublin...

first galway and kilkenny were our least favorite towns...I would not call kilkenny small and we found it to be a bit unfriendly (did enjoy jerpoint abbey outside of town)

could do tours from galway to burren/cliffs and/or connemara or bus to clifden or westport to stay a night

would suggest as an alternative...

train to killarney-guided tours are offered from there plus pubs, shopping.
enjoyed muckross house and ross castle

would take bus and spend night in dingle (arrange tour of slea head) dingle has some of the best pubs, music and nice b&b's in town...charming, walkable, shopping...more of small irish town experience

from dublin could take day trips with tour to newgrange and/or glendalough

I'm a fan of Kilkenny. It's manageable and I've found it very friendly. It's a medieval village, so many of the streets are narrow and the castle and the cathedral mark the two ends of town.

You can find out more about the sites there from my walking tour of Kilkenny at:
http://irishfireside.com/downloads/d...dkilkenny.html

There are some lesser-visited sites I recommend for Dublin at www.irishfireside.com.

I think your plan is pretty good...unless you'd really prefer being in a smaller town than Kilkenny. Being there in November will mean that many tourist sites will be closed...but things that the locals enjoy such as music sessions, non-tourist shops and local sites will be going on.

In the winter, I've had nice visits in several smaller towns. Tullamore, Mullingar, Birr, Nenagh, Roscrea and Ennis are more off the tourist trail - but still on the bus/train route - and will require you to talk with the locals more to get the scoop on what's on in town.

In November, I think Cashel would make for a good smaller town stop as well.

I'm a fan of Kilkenny and trained there from Dublin in 1997. I found it friendly and very walkable. It would be a good place for late Nov.

Ditto on Kilkenny fans -- I have been there twice, in 2002 and 2006. It is, as mentioned, a medieval town, though it has some local young night life. We really enjoyed the music session in Kyteler's Inn (oldest pub in Kilkenny) listening to Caladh (the band). Walkable, not parkable! Best place to park we found was behind the Dunnes supermarket -- the Irish Walmart :)

Daytrips down to Kells Priory or Jerpoint Abbey are great. Inistioge is not too far away either (they filmed Circle of Friends there)

dmdevl:

You'd be better off renting a car which would give you a far greater variety of Irish towns, cities and villages. Just the drive from Dublin to Galway would give you a broad sense of small town Ireland. Follow this with a ride into the Connemara region and up to County Mayo, and triple your coverage...with your last two days in Dublin.

Consider driving, stop and start whenever you want, go off the beaten track, pick and choose a place for lunch, etc.

I've driven the entire perimeter four times...and wouldn't have it any other way.

Stu T.

You know, I generally agree with posts advising folks to rent a car. My husband and I did last year but we were there for 10 days and we went everywhere and only stayed for one night in each. I navigated and he drove. It was a great system that only broke down when I was wretchedly ill (bad mussels I think)and couldn't hold my head up to read, navigate or really even do more than lay in the punto moaning. (I missed the trip from Dingle to Galway but I'm pretty sure we were on a ferry at some point.) Anyway, DH hit a hedge/wall when he was trying to drive, navigate and avoid the Kerry bus crews. (CDW can be a good thing - but I digress).
This trip is with me and a buddy. We aren't as interested in seeing as much of the country as we can, particularly since we only have 6 days. We were thinking to focus on 2 or three cities/towns where we could eat, shop and stagger back to our lodging after the pub. It just seems like a car is an avoidable hassle for something like this. Is this way off base?

dmdevl, I've been 8 times to Ireland in the last 10 years and only twice had a car. For your short trip it'd be easy for you to take trains or buses. I was in Kilkenny 5 days and hired a hockney driver a couple of times to take us out in the country. I stayed at Langston's and if I needed to stagger to bed it was only up the steps. I think you'll enjoy Kilkenny.

We just got back (today)... stayed 2 nights at Alcantra B&B in Kilkenny, Bridgette & Liam were fabulous hosts (one of our faverite B&Bs), enjoyed Kilkenny Castle & grounds also did a walking tour from tourist office, nice walks along the river, very compact walkable,lots to do, shopping, pubs,organic farmers market outside of castle,locals at The Village Inn pub a couple of blocks from B&B for night cap...the memories help the jet lag.

Yes, Alcantra is fantastic! We stayed there, as well :)

Kilkenny is the quintessential medieval town in Ireland, and a fabulous choice for a first night. It is an easy journey by train, and the town is replete with history.
When I was there in 2002, I took a walking tour offered at the Shee Almshouse [Tourist Info Centre]. The guide was delightful and knew his history -- a fascinating tour including a visit through the Old Jail.
Be sure to check out St Canice's Cathedral, and climb the round tower for the view. Kyteler's Inn offered a great lunch. Enjoy!

dmdevl:

I agree that Kilkenny is a nice town to visit but is by no means a village. I never found that it was at all unfriendly, though it's difficult to find pub food on a Sunday night. Most of them don't serve. Saturday night can be a bit crazy with stag and hen parties but there is certainly a lot of action.

The town is very walkable and quite interesting. Also, it's easy to get to from Dublin by public transit.

Do check out the walking tour from yesiree. It's an excellent piece of work.

Bill