Looking for help on Ireland Trip
 

My husband and I are planning a trip to Ireland next year. We do not want to do an escorted tour as the pace is too fast and we prefer to enjoy the country on our own. However, this will be our first self-drive vacation in Europe so we are unsure of how to go about planning it. We are looking for suggestions on places to visit in Ireland as well groups to contact to help us set up our itinerary/accomodations. Ideally, we would like to stay 10-12 days in Ireland and spend most of our time in the smaller cities outside of Dublin. We would also like to include a mix of hotels and castles/B&B's for our overnight stays. Any feedback/suggestions you can provide are greatly appreciated!

Many questions similar to this have been discussed on this forum. I suggest that you do a search and get some ideas, then you might like to come back with requests for clarification or ideas for development.

[Have you noticed the search box at the top of the page?]

One thing I have done when planning our own trips is to look at the itineraries of various tour companies. Not that I want to do things at their fast pace but they often have a map, list the top places to see, and give me a feel for what a "trip to Ireland" would be like. I like looking at Rick Steve's tour information because they give pretty detailed information on the cities they are visiting and why they are going there. Again, I'm not saying I would ever take one of the tours, but it gives me a starting place.

After that I'm over to these types of boards of course for more individualized information - this board in particular has great itineraries. And for hotel recommendations I use tripadvisor, fodors, and karenbrown.com.

After you get a rough idea of where you want to go and what you might want to see, repost here - I've gotten great advice from the fodorites.

A few things to get you started:

Consider flying in and out of Shannon if you are not interested in visiting Dublin. Your first driving experience (on the left) will not be as terrifying.

look at a few tour books with pretty pictures is nice before detailed planning. It will give you an idea of what you want to see.

In 10-12 days, do not expect to see the entire country. Ireland is small, but driving can get quite slow off the beaten path. Pick a section o tfhe country (since you like to travel slow) and think about the kinds of things you like ... scenery, historical, pubs, nightlife etc. This will get more focused advice for you.

Generally, outside of Dublin, I don't prefer hotels. There are some interesting castles that will cost a few bucks but will be a nice option. Again, the area of the country that you want to focus on is important.

Ideas for areas:

The SW: Co Galway, Clare and Kerry

The South: Co Kilkenny, Cork and Kerry

The East: Wicklow, Kilkenny, Waterford

The West: Clare, Galway and Mayo

The NW: Mayo, Sligo Donegal

Don't forget the possibilities in Northern Ireland too, now considered a slightly less expensive option due to the soaring Euro and the stagnant GBP. The exchange won't cause you happiness anywhere though.

You can certainly mix and match a bit on what I have suggested, but it's a start.

Bill

Thanks Bill, this is really helpful! I feel slightly overwhelmed about selecting an itinerary, so having other's opinions on where to go/what to do really helps. I wouldn't mind staying a night in Dublin, just to see the city, but I'd much rather spend most of my time seeing the country side. Realizing our time in Ireland will be somewhat brief, I'd like to focus on a few select areas that have a nice mix of beautiful scenery and fun things to do. My husband is a teacher, so we are limited to traveling in the months of July/Aug. I expect it to be rather crowded, so I'd like to visit some places where the tourists aren't as prevelant. I would love to stay in some B&B's or castles as I think you get a better taste of the culture. If you have any recommendations, I would certainly love to hear about them. Thanks so much!

Keep your mind open to the possibility of just "winging it." You will almost undoubetly on your travels finds a village that seems quaint and friendly. There are a lot of B&Bs in every village.

If you want an out-of-the-way great place stay at The Rosapenna Hotel in Donegal. Great food and golf. Very relaxing.

The Antrim Coast is interesting and beautiful. The Dingle Peninsula wonderful.

Enjoy your trip.

Here are a few thoughts then:

You could fly into Dublin and out of Shannon or vice versa. I recently checed and it was cheaper to do that than just one point which is odd.

Lower amounts of tourism: Beara, Sheepshead and Miszen Peninsulas and the coast form Clonakilty west in Co. Cork/Kerry. Spectacular scenery, one of my favorite areas.

In that same area, Killarney will be a tourism madhouse and Kinsale, a lovely village in the off season, will be very crowded also.. Dingle will be crowded but I would grin and bear it as the area is beautiful.

Co Clare will generally be crowded as that is a big jumping off point. Bunratty Castle will be mad, but if you get there at opening, it may be ok. The Cliffs of Moher will also be packed, but get there very early or late before the buses arrive and you may not want to slit your wrists.

In the North and West, Donegal will be much slower than Galway and something in between for Mayo and Sligo.

Rather than hitting all the areas, get a bit closer in your planning. Great B&Bs are everywhere. Major castle hotels are Kilkea, Waterford, Dromoland, Ashford, Glin. There are certainly others.

Bill

One way to plan a trip is to narrow down a few of your interests. Do you want to see landscapes, castles, cathedrals, etc. What made you choose Ireland? Throw some of those ideas into google, click images (so you get pictures instead of websites) and see what makes you say "wow, I want to go there!" Ireland castles, Ireland cathedrals, etc brings up fun things. You can also do the same for an area of the country: County Clare landscapes. One of the way I chose places was by going to the bookstore to flip through guide books looking at pictures.

Start with a list of places/areas you'd like to see. Once you can look at a map and see where your interests are, you can plan a tour around those places.

Another idea is to look through the trip reports people have posted. Where did they go, what did they enjoy, is it something you might enjoy as well?

My husband and I did a two week trip to Ireland last year. I posted a very thorough trip report here. You can feel free to look at it for itinerary and sightseeing suggestions.

Basically, we looked at guidebooks and read these forums to decide which points of interest we most wanted to see in Ireland. Then, we decided how many days we could reasonably do in each place. From there, we looked here and at tripadvisor.com for B&B recommendations and booked them directly.

I recommend not stretching yourself too thin. Don't do "one night here, one night there." Try to stay at least two nights in each location so you aren't rushed. Think about the drive time inbetween each location, as well.

If you have 10-12 days and want to see the country/smaller cities, you might want to fly in and out of Shannon and spend your time on the west coast of Ireland. I personally loved the Connemara region and the Killarney lakes, but everyone on the board will recommend different places that they enjoyed. Just keep reading posts and you'll get some wonderful suggestions.

Crazycatlady75,
Whenever I plan a trip to a new location I always find it helpful to look at photos of places for ideas.I visited some of the more famous spots in Ireland in 2005.
These included Doolin,Dingle,Killarney,Kenmare,Kinsale,Cashel,and Dublin.
I have posted some shots of these places at Picasa,and linked them to map locations so you can find them.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mwkkendall/IRELAND2005

BTW the thought of using an open- jaw ticket of flying into Shannon and out of Dublin is a good idea.You can ditch the car at Dublin airport,and take the bus into Dublin,where you won't need or want a car.