Need Help with 3 day W/SW Ireland Itinerary
 

My wife and I will be in Ireland for 3 days. We're flying in to Shannon on Sat morning and flying out on Tue morning.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a 3 day itinerary? We initially thought about trying to see both the Galway areas and Cork areas, but that seems like it might be too rushed. Does anyone have any thoughts on whether we should explore Galway and its surroundings as opposed to Cork and its surroundings? Also, any thoughts on what exactly to see.

Any help you can provide is greatly appreciated.

What you are able to see and do really depends a lot on the way you and your wife prefer to travel and what you like to do.

Considering driving times in Ireland, I would think you would be hard pressed to Galway and Cork on a 3 day trip.

On my families recent trip we chose to see quite a bit on a 5 night/ 4 day visit. We did quite a bit of driving, however we also broke up our driving with many stops to visit sights and towns.

We did not get up to Galway or down to Cork, however places we did get to go included the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren in Co. Clare, the Dingle Peninsula and specifically Dingle and the Slea Head Drive, The Ring of Kerry including Killarney National Park, Cahir Castle and the Rock of Cashel.

Along the way, we were able to stop in several lovely towns each day, and stop at most of the historic sights along the way (Ring forts, beehive huts, etc.) Any combination of these sights would be well worth it in my opinion.

Just remember that driving times are much slower than in the US when you are not on one of Ireland's few expressways (assume about 30 -35 miles per hours as I recall). It is also worth noting that we were able to see and do so much because our days were very long. The sun didn't set until close to 10:00 pm.

There are many on this forum who can offer you lots of wonderful direction that know much more about the area than I do. They were a huge help in our planning.

Have a wonderful time.

Thanks so much for your reply. Your thoughts are very helpful. It definitely seems like focusing on 1 area will allow us the best experience. I actually think we're going to focus on the Galway area, making sure to go to the Cliffs of Moher.

depends on how much you want to get into your trip and how you feel about driving...I feel in Ireland the scenic drives with little stops are the best part...

would suggest heading to cliffs, lunch in doolin, drive north along coast/black head and stay in Ballyvaughan (or stay in doolin, enjoy pub dinner and atleast make it thru first set of session).

drive thru connemara, straight to clifden or longer route to loop around to roundstone and on to clifden)...stay in clifden or continue on past kylemoore abbey (tour is not must do...best part is view of abbey) then on thru doo lough valley past croagh Patrick to westport...matt malloy's pub.
note:if stay in clifden you could still go out to abbey and back or drive sky road.

next day quick stop in cong then thru burren (head along coast back towards ballyvaughan then south thru burren and you will pass famous dolmen)...towards ennis...stay in ennis or I preffered bunratty (shopping, bunratty castle/folk park, one of dinner shows...also quick/easy hop to airport)

OR

drive south to Killarney/tour Muckross House or Ross Castle or explore park

drive to Dingle/drive slea head stay in Dingle

take killimer/tarbert ferry cross shannon then up coast to cliffs then on to nite in Bunratty

For such a short visit I would strongly advise the Dingle peninsula....the scenery is wonderful....the town of Dingle is a Irish music wonderland....I don't know how you could do both Galway and Cork in three days....From Shannon you could drive to Dingle, rest, have a wonderful, music- filled Saturday night, rest again and tour the Dingle Peninsula on Sunday, ....Monday, you could have a long driving day and explore North of Shannon to the Cliffs of Moher, etc....Monday night stay close to airport...I flew out of Shannon this past July and security was VERY tight so be prepared. If you go south may I suggest Kinsale, close to Cork....very nice! Another option is to base in Kenmare, that's where I spent two nights this past July....about three hours from Shannon ....Kenmare Bay Hotel.....One day I drove the Ring of Beara and the next the Ring of Kerry (go counterclockwise and early) But, honestly, the Dingle peninsula is the best of the three.....Enjoy!

I think you're wise to choose between Galway and Cork for such a short visit. You'd just be too rushed to try and do both.

We recently spent time in both areas and would hands down recommend spending your time in Connemara, north of Galway. After arriving at the Shannon Airport we drove straight to Clifden (just about 2 hours) and spent the next 3 days in that area. We could easily have spent more-- it was jaw-droppingly gorgeous and so peaceful. It was probably our favorite landscape in all of Ireland.

Our first day was spent driving out around Claddaghduff and Cleggan, but many people choose to do the lovely Sky Road drive instead. Then, check out Clifden town and enjoy some live music at EJ King's pub. In Clifden we stayed at Buttermilk Lodge, which I'd highly recommend. You could also spend your first night in Galway city, if you are interested in that, and then spend the next 2 days in Connemara. We found Galway to be very bustling and energetic, so it might be a nice contrast to quieter Connemara.

A second day could be spent driving the Connemara Loop, which is so, so beautiful. Be sure to see Kylemore Abbey and Connemara National Park. We also really like Aasleagh Falls near Leenane.

A third day could be spent on a day trip out to Cong in Co. Mayo (which we loved-- the Abbey and Ashford Castle are gorgeous) or up to Westport in Co. Mayo.

Here are some of my photos from that area, which I posted in my trip review here.

PHOTOS:

Clifden: http://tinyurl.com/yt47qf

Cleggan Harbor: http://tinyurl.com/2e8crj

Kylemore Abbey: http://tinyurl.com/yufx4x

Driving the Connemara Loop: http://tinyurl.com/ywz9vn

Aasleagh Falls: http://tinyurl.com/yqcyqg

Lamb in Connemara (they are everywhere in Spring!): http://tinyurl.com/2cccnl