Looking for comments on Ireland itinerary
 

two weeks in Ireland in September 2012, with sharing a rental cottage near the Dingle Peninsula for a week sandwiched in the middle. Arrive on a Wednesday morning to Dublin airport...thinking of spending Wednesday and Thursday in Dublin and picking up a rental car and leaving Friday morning heading to Powerscourt and Glendalough....spending Friday night near there somewhere (?). Then Saturday heading to the Rock of Cashel and on to Kinsale to settle in for Saturday and Sunday nights before driving to the cottage on Monday.

From the cottage base, hope to do the Ring of Kerry and the Cliffs of Moher. Will have two nights after the cottage before flying out of Dublin airport. Considering spending two nights in Trim with Trim Castle and Bur na Boinne on the agenda.

Does this sound reasonable? We're a fairly active couple in our early 60s, with interests in history, scenery, literature and food.

don't neglect Cork - IMO as nice as Dublin in its own way - a cultural capital of Ireland - old city on a river and in its suburbs famous Blarney Castle - stone and all to buss. Easy to hit on way back to Dublin, even if just for a quick look. Cork is famous for its singing pubs of Irish folk music I believe.

ttt

After more research and more reading on this forum, our tentative itinerary is:

2 days in Dublin
head south, stop at Powerscourt Gardens, drive to Glendalough
1 night in Kilkenny
head towards the coast making sure to see the Rock of Cashel
2 nights in Kinsale
drive to the cottage near Castlegregory on the Tralee Bay
from castle, do Ring of Kerry, Dingle Peninsula, Cliffs of Moher, the Burren, etc. (we have seven nights in the cottage)
2 nights in Trim, seeing the Castle and Newgrange

Has anyone taken the boat out the Skellig Michael? I know it's weather dependent and I am the only one in our group remotely interested, but it is very appealing to me.

We wanted to take the boat to Skellig Michael last May, but the boats didn't go out the entire time we were in County Kerry. (In fact, the owner of our B&B, who could see Skellig Michael from her home, said the boats had not gone out for the two weeks prior to our visit.)

Anyway, if you don't get a chance to go, I can recommend a visit to the Skellig Experience Center on Valentia Island. It won't be the same as going on the boat, but the film and the exhibits there were excellent and we learned a lot about the history of the island (both ancient and recent) and the fauna.

Thank you!