Hi. My friend and I are taking are first trip to Ireland for 10 days from the US in the first week of august.
We are renting a car and really want to some cultural and historical sites but we mostly love scenery, shops, crafts and getting a feel for new towns/ areas and scenery.. scenery..

Here's the itinerary I mapped out. Am wondering if it's going to be too ambitious and not enough rest!
Days 1/ 2- arrive Dublin 9 am/ see Dublin (try not to fall asleep!) (2 nights in Dublin)

Day 3- drive to Wicklow; see Glendalough, Powerscourt; Drive to Killkenny; see shops/ sleep in Killkenny. (1 night Kilkenny)

Day 4- Waterford Factory; then drive to Kerry (will take about 5 hours?); Anything really worth stopping for along the way? we dont want to overdo the castle viewing!!

Days 4,5,6 (and possibly 7)- Ring of Kerry, Killarney National Park, Dingle, Great Blasket Island. Should we do another day in Kerry? we wanted to bikeride, hike, shop , See Inch Beach etc.. and we want one full day of rest (saturday!) (3-4 nights in Kerry)

Days 7-8- Clare: Ennis, The Burren, Cliffs of Moher, Lahinch/ Kilkee, Doolin
(2 nights in Clare) ; how long do we need in Clare to do the above?

Day 9- Galway; Aran Islands; drive to Connemara/ see Spiddal, Clifden- and end there and rest overnight/ drive to Dublin next day or...(last night - spend in Clifden)

Day 10 - drive to Connemara/ see spiddal/ Clifden; then drive back to Dublin/ Flight to NY at 5 pm. Is westport on the way back to Dublin or is it best to drive back from Clifden?

A few other questions:
are we overachieving here?! We planned to make Kerry the restful point because we need rest/ down time. Would we be better off stopping the touring in Clifden and adding an extra day to Kerry ?

How long do we need for the Aran Islands? half day? is it realistic to spend 1/2 day strolling Galway and the other half on the Aran Islands?

Would we be better off/ less stressed if we plant ourselves in Connemara on Day 9 and then just explore Connemara sights there?

Can anyone recommend a nice and SCENIC B and B in Clare? most places we looked at received shabby mixed reviews. We were hoping to spend about $200- max $300 total for 2 people per night.
The Aran View House got a mixed review (bed bugs/ a bit run down);
Temple Gate? also got mixed reviews
How is Roundwood House? vs Lakeside Hotel or Lantern House?

Is there any night life on the RIng of Kerry? haven't seen much in the travel books.

Lastly- Can anyone recommend a great B and B to rest in / with scenery and possibly a beach on the Ring of Kerry? we were thinking of Sallyport House because Iskeroon and Tahilla's cove look like they will be scary roads to drive on if we go out at night and try to find our way back on twisty roads... Are there any other towns where we need to avoid staying in an off the beaten path place due to the need to drive safely (no unlit country roads!)- there? (eg how is Clare at night/ driving to Doolin?)

Thanks very much!
This is a great resource -
Stacey

I'm afraid I'm not an expert in Ireland but I have heard that the Waterford factory is closed which may alter your plans a bit. I hope others chime in who can give you good help. Have a great trip!

Yes, scratch the Waterford part of your plans as it closed rather dramatically some months ago.

When you get to Kilkenny please go to the Information Bureau and pick up the walking tour - we had the most kindly and amusing old gent who didn't lead us around at a gallop because he was incabale of walking more than a leisurely pace at his age - what a pleasure to be able to snap some photos and still catch up with him at the next place or building of historical interest! The tours go on about three or four times a day.

I will be posting my two weeks in Ireland Trip Report as soon as I've finished with my Paris report. Loads of photos of Ireland as we toured the entire country - of course not seeing everything!
Keep an eye on the postings for Ireland.

One last thing: There is only one sailing per day to the isles of Arran - It was something I really wanted to do but the weather was foul and when you get there you have to walk or hire bicycles - the boat leaves at about 9-10 am and returns at 5-6pm so one is stuck there the entire day.

Yes, the Waterford factory is definitely closed; there is a shop there but prices are no better than anywhere else. Since day 3 is quite full, you might allow some extra time for Kilkenny on the morning of day 4 and then drive straight to Kerry...with a possible stop at Rock of Cashel or Cahir?

In August there are more sailings to Aran Islands. The morning sailings, however, will keep you there pretty much all day. But you could explore Galway in the morning and take a ferry about 1:00 (but you have to allow time to get by car or bus to Rossaveel) and return at either 5:00 or 7:30 pm -- check aranislandferries.com and arandirect.com Alternately, you can fly (10 minutes) to the island. They list three flights a day to Inishmore, but I gather they put on extra flights if there is demand? Look at aerarannislands.ie

On Clare (day 7-8), allow time for driving from Kerry. You could potetnially see the Clare sights in a day and a half (i.e. spending the 2nd night in Galway) IF/IF the weather cooperates. But if it's cloudy/foggy/rainy you might miss the Cliffs and not have many fallback options? Trad music in Doolin is supposed to be great -- do you want two evevnings for that? or do you want to move on to the big city?

As for Kerry, there are so many options that we're spending a week (out of our 16 day trip) there. Maybe you do want to spend an extra day there, especially if you want to allow some down time? But I'm not very familiar with Connemara, so can't comment on whether an extra day in Kerry would be worth possibly giving up a day in Connemara

Thanks for all your input! Now I'm thinking maybe we should scratch Wicklow/ Kilkenny and save for another trip and just head from Dublin out to the Southwest for the whole trip so we can do it more justice. Any advice re; where to drive to first from Dublin? It seems shorter to drive from Dublin to Galway, then down to Kerry and then home from there or would it be better to drive Dublin to Kerry? The reason we thought of Wicklow is that we heard it's best to ease yourself into driving on the other side of the road by taking a shorter trip first... so we were a bit apprehensive about a 3hour drive first time around!

Are you able to change your flights, where you fly in to Dublin and out of Shannon? If so, that can add about a full day to your trip.

Last summer we flew into Dublin, drove over to Trim and Castle Pollard for a day or two, then down to a cottage we rented west of Limerick.

The cottage was perfect, very rural, but actually very well located for the SW. And the price was very good. ROK was an easy day drive south, same with Dingle. Cliffs of Moher easy day drive north, with the ferry. Spent about a week, flew out of Shannon, it worked great.

http://hazelcottageireland.com/

dave

Staceylk; We are going to Ireland in September from the US and are flying into and out of Shannon, which is closer to where you want to spend most of your time. You will find that the price is a little cheaper also. In County Clare, we are staying at Woodstock Hotel which has gotten great reviews. Try Traveladvisor.com for some accomadation recommends also; people who live in Ireland have been very helpful to me with b&b's & hotels (you can get "experts) for each county. Have a get trip.

Thanks for the tips about changing our flights! we are changing to fly into Shannon and then we'll fly out of Dublin at the tail end so we only have to drive one way.