Need advice on Ireland itinerary....
Jul 14th, 2005, 10:56 AM
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Need advice on Ireland itinerary....
We have planned an itinerary for early October in Ireland. It will be a self-drive tour with a mix of B&B's, hotel and castle stays. We would love to get advice and opinions on our itnerary as this is our first trip to Ireland.
Day 1: Arrive into Shannon and lodge at Bunratty Castle Hotel with Medieval banquet at Bunratty Castle.
Day 2: Travel by way of Cashel to Kilkenny for a night there at a B&B.
Day 3: Travel to Kinsale for the evening at a B&B.
Day 4: Travel to Killarney and stay in a B&B.
Day 5: Drive the Ring of Kerry and on to Dingle for the night at a B&B.
Day 6: Travel from Dingle across Connors Pass up to the Cliffs of Moher and on to Galway for the night at a B&B.
Day 7: Drive out to Clifden in Connemara for a night at the Abbeyglen Castle hotel.
Day 8: This day we are open for options as we head towards Dublin. (Possibly head back to Galway for another night)
Day 9: Travel the rest of the way to Dublin for our final two nights in Ireland.
Day 10: Dublin
Day 11: Fly back to the U.S.A.
We would love to hear advice on where to possibly stay on our B&B nights and activities along the way. Do we have enough time to see all of the planned stops on the trip or will we be rushing from place to place? Also, what along the way should we see and avoid? Any travel tips would be greatly appreciated!
Day 1: Arrive into Shannon and lodge at Bunratty Castle Hotel with Medieval banquet at Bunratty Castle.
Day 2: Travel by way of Cashel to Kilkenny for a night there at a B&B.
Day 3: Travel to Kinsale for the evening at a B&B.
Day 4: Travel to Killarney and stay in a B&B.
Day 5: Drive the Ring of Kerry and on to Dingle for the night at a B&B.
Day 6: Travel from Dingle across Connors Pass up to the Cliffs of Moher and on to Galway for the night at a B&B.
Day 7: Drive out to Clifden in Connemara for a night at the Abbeyglen Castle hotel.
Day 8: This day we are open for options as we head towards Dublin. (Possibly head back to Galway for another night)
Day 9: Travel the rest of the way to Dublin for our final two nights in Ireland.
Day 10: Dublin
Day 11: Fly back to the U.S.A.
We would love to hear advice on where to possibly stay on our B&B nights and activities along the way. Do we have enough time to see all of the planned stops on the trip or will we be rushing from place to place? Also, what along the way should we see and avoid? Any travel tips would be greatly appreciated!
Jul 15th, 2005, 04:58 AM
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Everyone has a different preference, but my opinion (our first trip was last October; next trip in 4 weeks) is that you are doing too much running. In October you're not going to have the 14 hours-plus of daylight that you have in Summer. So it sounds to me as you're going to spend most of your time driving from place to place, with little time to stop, enjoy and get to know any one place.
All of the places you mentioned are either places we loved or places we would like to go. But to actually get some enjoyment, I think you're going to have to cut some out. As you're ending up in Dublin, I suggest you do something like this:
Day 1 Arrive Shannon as you said; if it's early enough in the day, head West to see the Cliffs of Moher (if not see Day 2)
Day 2 Drive to Dingle (with a stop at the Cliffs of Moher if you don't do that on Day 1; it's just a bit out of the way, but not much); spend two nights and explore the peninsula.
Day 4 Drive to Killarney (that's fine; I prefer nearby Kenmage though); spend 3 or possibly 4 nights in this area, that will give you time to do all or part of the ROK, as well as Killarney National Park, and the Beara peninsula.
Day 7 or 8 through 10 Drive East to Kinsale, Kilkenny/Rock of Cashel, and eventually making your way to Dublin. This part of your itinerary I am not really familiar with, but perhaps others could help with it.
The bottom line is that this way you get to spend a lot of enjoyable time in the wonderful southwest of Ireland. Trying to pack in Galway/Connemara is just too much ; save that for another trip--you WILL want to return.
All of the places you mentioned are either places we loved or places we would like to go. But to actually get some enjoyment, I think you're going to have to cut some out. As you're ending up in Dublin, I suggest you do something like this:
Day 1 Arrive Shannon as you said; if it's early enough in the day, head West to see the Cliffs of Moher (if not see Day 2)
Day 2 Drive to Dingle (with a stop at the Cliffs of Moher if you don't do that on Day 1; it's just a bit out of the way, but not much); spend two nights and explore the peninsula.
Day 4 Drive to Killarney (that's fine; I prefer nearby Kenmage though); spend 3 or possibly 4 nights in this area, that will give you time to do all or part of the ROK, as well as Killarney National Park, and the Beara peninsula.
Day 7 or 8 through 10 Drive East to Kinsale, Kilkenny/Rock of Cashel, and eventually making your way to Dublin. This part of your itinerary I am not really familiar with, but perhaps others could help with it.
The bottom line is that this way you get to spend a lot of enjoyable time in the wonderful southwest of Ireland. Trying to pack in Galway/Connemara is just too much ; save that for another trip--you WILL want to return.
Jul 15th, 2005, 06:02 AM
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Bunratty is near the airport.save it for last night so you wont have to rush to the airport.The Speed limit is 100kph on most roads.Don't forget that the sheep have the right of way.There are very few straight roads in Ireland.Once you are away froma major city it is slow going. Good luck with keeping up with the locals.It is sobering that when you enter a different county that the car crash death rate is posted. So what BMW are you driving?
Jul 15th, 2005, 08:23 AM
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Since they are leaving from Dublin, staying at Bunratty the last night won't be an option.
I like Beach Dweller's advice. As far as the last part, though, I think seeing Kinsale and Kilkenny might be too much. At least that's what we decided, and we had the same amount of time and also flew into Shannon and out of Dublin. We went from Kenmare to Kilkenny, stopping at Cahir Castle and Rock of Cashel along the way. From Kilkenny, it's only about a 2 hour drive to Dublin.
I hated to skip Kinsale, but it seemed out of the way. We were traveling with kids, though, and I suspect a couple traveling alone would be more efficient.
I like Beach Dweller's advice. As far as the last part, though, I think seeing Kinsale and Kilkenny might be too much. At least that's what we decided, and we had the same amount of time and also flew into Shannon and out of Dublin. We went from Kenmare to Kilkenny, stopping at Cahir Castle and Rock of Cashel along the way. From Kilkenny, it's only about a 2 hour drive to Dublin.
I hated to skip Kinsale, but it seemed out of the way. We were traveling with kids, though, and I suspect a couple traveling alone would be more efficient.
Jul 15th, 2005, 11:14 AM
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I agree that beachdweller has laid out a good plan but I might also counsel skipping Kinsale in favor of Kilkenny if you run short on time. We really enjoyed our time spent at Cahir, Cashel and Kilkenny (the shopping across from the castle in Kilkenny is quite good) as well as nearby Jerpoint Abbey and travelling the countryside to find the Ahenny High Crosses. You could also travel a little north of Dublin to catch the last tours of Knowth (or Newgrange if you are lucky) before flying out the next morning. That's what we did anyway and Knowth turned out to be an unexpected highlight of the trip.
Jul 17th, 2005, 02:28 PM
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just a suggestion you seem like you are going west to east and back to west and then east. I would modify my trip a bit to go from Bunratty to Kilarney and then the ring and on to Kinsale and then up to Kilkenney and Dublin. You are putting alot of miles on on your current route and crossing the land on small roads. I just finshed a 10 day drive and couldn't find the time to get to Galway - my next trip
A great B&B to use as a base for the Ring is Driftwood in Kenmare. Also one called Killcaw was great for visiting Kinsale
A great B&B to use as a base for the Ring is Driftwood in Kenmare. Also one called Killcaw was great for visiting Kinsale
Jul 18th, 2005, 09:29 AM
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Thanks everyone for your advice on our trip, it has given me insight as what to really focus on.
One question, I am thinking of skipping kinsale and kilkenny all together and saving them for another trip so that we can spend more time int he southwest and west. Is Kinsale a "must-see" or do you think it can be missed on the first trip to Ireland?
Thanks again!
Marc
One question, I am thinking of skipping kinsale and kilkenny all together and saving them for another trip so that we can spend more time int he southwest and west. Is Kinsale a "must-see" or do you think it can be missed on the first trip to Ireland?
Thanks again!
Marc
Jul 18th, 2005, 01:17 PM
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I too was questioning going - but the trip from Kinsale to Kenmare was something out of a picture book. We stayed at a B&B called Kilcaw - the food in Kinsale was great. Kemare is a pretty little town at the end of the mountain route just before the ring of Kerry( through Caha mountains via Glengarriff.
Other than the castle in Kilkenny - it is like a minature version of Kilarney.
I would highly recommend a B&B in Kenmare called Driftwood - right in the middle of the ring of Kerry and a 10 minute walk to Kenmare town it is about a 30 minute drive to Kilarney through the Kilarney park - great views. There is an alternate route that is 10 minutes longer and avoids the mountain road.
My B&B hosts at Kemare indicated that Kilarney was very touristy - we went any way and agree - it seems to be geared highlt to the North American tourist
We did stay in a nice B&B in Kilkenney called the Wandesford - great room a perfect hospitaility - it was about 15km outside of Kilkenney in a place called Castlecomer
On route back to Dublin we stayed in Adare and our last night before Dublin we stayed in a little village called Kinnity which was 12km from Birr. This gave us a real look at the irish midlands and had a chance to talk to alot of locals. It is off the typical tourist route and gave us a great prespective on real Irish life.
Other than the castle in Kilkenny - it is like a minature version of Kilarney.
I would highly recommend a B&B in Kenmare called Driftwood - right in the middle of the ring of Kerry and a 10 minute walk to Kenmare town it is about a 30 minute drive to Kilarney through the Kilarney park - great views. There is an alternate route that is 10 minutes longer and avoids the mountain road.
My B&B hosts at Kemare indicated that Kilarney was very touristy - we went any way and agree - it seems to be geared highlt to the North American tourist
We did stay in a nice B&B in Kilkenney called the Wandesford - great room a perfect hospitaility - it was about 15km outside of Kilkenney in a place called Castlecomer
On route back to Dublin we stayed in Adare and our last night before Dublin we stayed in a little village called Kinnity which was 12km from Birr. This gave us a real look at the irish midlands and had a chance to talk to alot of locals. It is off the typical tourist route and gave us a great prespective on real Irish life.
Jul 18th, 2005, 06:32 PM
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We flew into Shannon in May, drove to the Cliffs of Moher, the down the coast to the Tarbert ferry and spent our first night in Glinn at O'Driscoll's B&B. Wonderful first night.
We then drove to the Dingle and spent the next night in Kenmare. We skipped the ROK and drove the Beara instead. We enjoyed Cobh, Waterford, and Blarney.
In Dublin, we stayed at Cashel Lodge ([email protected]), north side of the city, great hosts. It has great bus service and easy taxi access to the airport. I highly recommend it.
We spent 7 nights total - 2 in Dublin. It worked great fou us.
We then drove to the Dingle and spent the next night in Kenmare. We skipped the ROK and drove the Beara instead. We enjoyed Cobh, Waterford, and Blarney.
In Dublin, we stayed at Cashel Lodge ([email protected]), north side of the city, great hosts. It has great bus service and easy taxi access to the airport. I highly recommend it.
We spent 7 nights total - 2 in Dublin. It worked great fou us.
