Need help planning 2 nites in Dublin and 4 days throughout Ireland
 

We will be in Dublin the last weekend of July and the first week of August and will spend July 30th and 31st in Dublin, having Monday-Thursday to plan a trip outside of Dublin. We plan on returning to the Dublin airport area later on the 4th for a flight out morning of the 5th. Our tentative schedule is to rent a car on Monday the 1st somewhere in Dublin(we are staying near St. Stephen's Green) and drive south . On day one should we drive the coastline or through the center of the country to reach the sites the Rock of Cashel and Kilkenny Castle? Suggestions from here for first nites lodging? Would like to visit Kinsale; would this be realistic for first nite's lodging? If so, recommendations for restaurants and lodging is appreciated. Second day itinerary starting towards west coastal area. Is Ring of Fire according to Rick Steves plan worthy of the entire route? Can you view just portions of the coastline? Which is better Ring of Kerry or the Dingle area? Second nite lodging , Kenmare or Dingle? Third day to Shannon/Ennis area; Cliffs of Mohur? Fourth day return to Dublin to fly out on the 5th. So far, I have only confirmed plans for the first 2 nites in Dublin and the last nite at the Dublin airport.

Sorry,I meant to say Rick Steves Ring of Kerry.

sorry -- but your 4 day road trip simply isn't realistic. You are trying to cover more than 1/2 the country in a few days. In working out alterations/changes - figure on about 30 mph except for a few stretches of motorways.

And less than 30 mph around either Dingle or ROK. So you really have about 20 hours of driving. Just behind the wheel driving -- not visiting sites, not photo ops, not rest breaks. To do that driving itinerary, you'd want about a week.

Ireland just isn't a fast sort of place.

I see from your other thread you are basically spending most of the day the 30th getting to Dublin and then after one full day in the city are heading out on this trek. This is really cramming too much into too little time

I <i>know</i> you want to take the train/ferry -- but if it was me--I'd fly from London to Cork, collect a rental car and tour for 5 days before heading back towards Dublin. Still a lot but a least a little lest hectic.

Thank you for your suggestion, however, there are 3 of us traveling and the airfare on Ryan Air is 60 pounds plus 30 pounds for each bag of luggage and the cost of transportation to Stanstead is an additional figure, compounded should the flight require an overnite in Stanstead. We actually are looking forward to the trip on rail across the UK and the ferry across the sea as a part of adventure on our trip equal to a day of site seeing in Ireland.

Perhaps we can eliminate the day around Shannon and the Cliffs of Mohur to decrease our driving time. Is the ROC and Dingle repetitive; if so which is more enjoyable?

OK-- you have decided the day spent getting to Dublin is 'worth it'. It is your trip and you should definitely do it the way you want. Cutting bits and pieces really won't help much though.

You'll still be doing a full circle drive around 1/2 of Ireland whether you hit the Cliffs of Moher or not. The ROK and the Dingle peninsula are each basically a full day's drive