travelmemories

I will be visiting Ireland for one week in April around Easter time. On the travel board many people suggested flying in to Shannon and flying back home from Dublin.

We are interested in visiting the beautiful countryside towns, what we imagine Ireland to look like.
Which Castle would you recommend us visiting?
I enjoy learning the history of the country.
I want to hear Irish music.
We could possibly see the city life of Dublin. Can you suggest any walking tours in Dublin, or guides when we get to other towns?

I am not interested in going to the Waterford crystal factory.

We are thinking of driving part of the trip. But I am not thrilled about driving in the rain or on the left side. It is a long flights from California so we will be tired when we arrive in the early morning. Is it best to rent a car on day two of our trip? Where should we be for our first night?

Many suggest going to Cliffs of Moher and Ring of Kerry. Are these two places that should not be missed. If we take a bus tour of this area instead of driving will we be getting off the bus and stoping in any of the towns? Will it be like driving around Big Sur in California? The road can get wet, narrow and twisty.

What do you think are the important sights for me to visit in one week if I fly into one airport and out of the other. I do want to see pretty towns but I do not want to be on the road all the time.

Thanks

minto

Regarding taking a bus vs driving, I would recommend hiring a decent car as you will be able to stop and see more of the country. Unless you have any special disabilities than would mean you have to have a special car that would not be possible from rental companies, if you can drive in USA you can drive in Ireland, on the left and in the rain. We can do when we come to yr country
Re itinerary planning, there are many resources on the net covering this topic, including some very well considered posts on this board, as well as:
Ireland Suggested Itineraries
http://www.frommers.com/destinations...226010007.html

Best of Southwest Ireland in 3 to 7 Days
http://www.fodors.com/miniguides/mgr...;feature=30002

To start yr planning use www.viamichelin.com to work out driving times and distances. Ireland is a small country, but I can understand not wanting to spend all yr time in a car

chip

with a week (less if you are including travel time), I would do in/out of shannon especially with your interests (countryside towns, music, history, not wanting to drive too much).

1st night doolin-not too far, close to cliffs of moher/burren, good pubs with food/music

then split time between dingle and kenmare-my favorite towns because they offer good pubs/trad. music/good food/good B&B's in town/shopping/easy to walk around/great sights nearby/variety of activities-horseback riding, golf, hike/bike, boat trips

then last night in bunratty-close to shannon, shopping, bunratty castle/folk park, could do folk night or castle banquet last night...or nice dinner/pub

could see bunratty castle/ross castle and might enjoy muckross house/friary

favorite scenic drives-dingle/slea head; killarney national park past ladies view between killarney and kenmare; and beara peninsula/healy pass

splurge on an automatic to help with driving, go slow (there are a lot of signs reminding you to stay left!), stay in town so you don't have to drive after dark to dinner/pubs, don't let the rain stop you...enjoy...that's why it's so green.

if you want to include dublin...I would start there so you wouldn't need a car at beginning. stay 2 nights

dublin has a hop on/hop off bus tour, also did literary and musical pub crawls which I enjoyed...favorite stops in dublin-kilmainham jail, book of kells

pick up car early and head west...my favorite sights on the way: glendalough, jerpoint abbey, rock of cashel, cahir castle, swiss cottage.

I have stayed in kilkenny (not small town, does have kilkenny castle) and cashel (rock of cashel nicely lit at night).

travelmemories

Thank you for the websites and your help.

Which towns would be the logical places to spend the night? Can you suggest any good B&B's in the towns you mentioned?

Also, what car rental agency did you use? If I fly into Shannon I probably would get the car at the airport. If I fly into Dublin I would not need the car for a day or two. Is there a rental place that you would recommend that would not be in the hub of the city but closer to a highway for easy access to get out of town?

wojazz3

Hi travel:

It sounds like you'd like to see Dublin. You can fly in to Dublin and out of Shannon. Spend your at least your 1st night in Dublin and then take the airport bus back to the airport. I wouldn't want to make your first attempt at driving on the left in the city of Dublin. It cost a bit more to rent from the airport, but if you either pick up or drop off at the airport, you have to pay the fee, so it doesn't really matter. The Cobblestone north of the Liffey is a haven for great traditional music in Dublin. Kilmainham Gaol is a must for Irish history. There are literary tours, music tours and ghost tours of Dublin. Most involve pubs. Hop on hop off tours are a good start. There is also the riotous Viking Splash tour that is probably good for some laughs. Try www.visitdublin.com and www.dublinevents.com. If you like ghost tours http://www.zozimus.com/tourinfo.htm is good fun.

With only a week, you could spend the 1st day in Dublin, then perhaps move on to Kilkenny. Kilkenny has a beautiful castle and they offer tours. It's a furnished castle which would be quite different than the next option down the road, Cahir. This is one of the nicer and one of the best maintained castles in Ireland. The Rock of Cashel is right up the road.

Kilkenny is a great medieval city and is a fun walk. Give the yesiree100 tour a try. http://tinyurl.com/2hqmt8 It's quite good.

Towns I've enjoyed staying in your path: Cahir, Kinsale would be nice at that time of year, though something really small like Baltimore, or even smaller, Crookhaven would be great fun. Kenmare, small town but lots of good places to eat and a great jumping off point. The Dingle area is beautiful also. I agree with ending up in Bunratty or Ennis. Ennis is becoming a big hub for traditional music also.

Here is a link to my travel journal (and previous years also). We followed basically your route over a longer period of time. http://www.obeirnetravels.com/ There are website links for B&Bs in there which might prove helpful.

Hope this all helps.

travelmemories

I am thinking of this itinerary:

Day 1 Fly into Dublin arrive late evening
Day 2 See Dublin
Day 3 Pick rental car up around 10:00am at airport
Drive to Kilkenny possible stop on the way to visit another sight. Which sight would be the best to stop at? (1 night Kilkenny)
Day 4 Drive to Cashel & Cahir Castle. I was thinking of stopping for the night in or
near Adare. (1 night)
Day 5 &6 Drive to Doolin see Burren & Cliffs of Moher (2nights)
Day 7 & 8 Drive to Bunratty and look around this area. I will visit Bunratty park and Castle and attend the medieval banquet (2 nights)
Day 9 Fly home early in the morning

Other option would be to visit Killarney /Dingle instead of Doolin, Burren and the Cliffs of Moher.
I do not know if it would be too much driving to both areas?
Remember I love beautiful scenery but do not want to drive all day.

I was looking at another option to drive to Newgrange and across the midlands heading to the Burren. But it seems like a long car ride with little spectacular sight to see on the way.

What do you think about my itinerary? Do you have any suggestions on places to stay?