My husband and I have planned a last minute trip to Ireland for May 18 - 26. I have a preliminary itinerary that I would appreciate assistance with.

We fly into Heathrow on the morning flight from Boston on the 18th, staying at Heathrow and then flying into Dublin the morning of the 19th. We have booked 2 nights in Dublin at Cassidy's and then booked a rental car to be picked up on the 21st on our way out of town. Here's where I'm having trouble.

I THINK we will spend the night of the 21st in Killkenny, stopping along the way at Glendolough.

Then, drive toward Dingle/Kilarney, spending 2 nights there, and do the Ring of Kerry (is it worth it? How about one of the other peninsulas?).

Finally, our last 2 nights we thought we would spend in Doolin, doing the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren. We fly home out of Shannon at 2 the next day.

What else should we see? We really enjoy remote, desolate landscapes rather than cities, so we may skip Galway. Is that completely outrageous? Should we split the two nights in Dingle and spend the first night somewhere around Cork or Cahil? Finding somewhere to spend 2 nights centrally located has great appeal, but I also don?t want to spend a whole day in the car.

ANY advice is VERY welcome. Thanks!

GK

I would not spend the last two nightsin Doolin. In fact, if you prefer landscapes to cities, I would consider only one night or even no nights in Dublin. You will be more rested since you will have had a day to decompress in London. Don't get me wrong, you can have fun in London, but it was my third trip before I spent any time in Dublin and I never regretted it. I too am a landscape fan. How about:

Kilkenny, Cahir, Kenmare, Kenmare, Dingle, Dingle, Doolin.

Just one possibility of many. You'll hit a lot of heavy hitters that way in a short time. From Kenmare you could do Beara and/or the RoK.

Bill

I really like Galway for a Saturday afternoon: almost continuous 'Trad' Irish music either at Taaffes or across the way at An Caeli. But when I was booking accomodations for that weekend in Ennis I was told that there's a 'Trad' music festival there in Ennis from the 17th to the 25th.

There's always the Aran Islands for a nice daytrip.

If you like stark landscapes - maybe you should stay in Glendalough instead of Dublin. The walk through the Glendalough grounds is impressive, especially if you get a bit of fog in the morning.
If you like hiking, the area is known for that.

This would also give you a head start to Kilkenny ( or Cashel ) .

Its a surprise to have people say that we should consider NOT staying in Dublin! It hadn't even occured to me.

Are there nice places to stay at Glendalough?

Not saying I wouldn't consider staying in Dublin. To me, it takes a while to get your bearings (or would that be beerings). It's got lots to see, but the Irish countryside is my favorite and with 7 nights, I would do Dublin on a longer trip.

Bill