Hi, everyone! I'm going to Ireland with my husband, sister, and sister's fiance during the first week of June. We've never been to Ireland before, and I'd love feedback and advice about the itinerary we have planned so far.

I've read so many of your Ireland threads on here and taken a lot of great advice from everyone, so thank you!

Tentative Itinerary:
<i>Arrive in Dublin from O'Hare (and Tel Aviv) early morning</i>
<b>Day 1: Dublin</b>
- Stay in Dublin
<b>Day 2: Dublin</b>
- Stay in Dublin
<b>Day 3: Kylemore Abbey & Galway at night</b>
- Stay in Galway
- Dublin to Kylemore Abbey (174 km, 2 hrs/13 mins)
- Klymore Abbey to Galway (57 km, 1 hr/2 mins)
<b>Day 4: Connemara National Park and Galway at night</b>
- Stay in Galway
- Galway to Connemara National Park (83.4 km, 1 hr/20 mins)
<b>Day 5: Cliffs of Moher and Dingle at night</b>
- Stay in Dingle
- Galway to Cliffs of Moher (82.2 km, 1 hr/19 mins)
- Cliffs of Moher to Dingle (157 km, 3 hrs/4 mins)
<b>Day 6: Killarney National Park and Dingle</b>
- Stay in Dingle
- Dingle to Killarney National Park (78.2 km, 1 hr/20 mins)
<b>Day 7: Slea Head Drive</b>
- Stay in Dingle
<b>Day 8: Dingle</b>
- Morning in Dingle
<i>DH and I fly out of Shannon to O'Hare; Sister and sister's FI fly out of Dublin to Tel Aviv.</i>

I do have some questions, if you'd be so kind:
1) What would you skip out on or change? Alternatively, are we really missing out on any *must sees* for our short trip?

2) Should we skip the Connemara National Park on Day 4, and then go straight from Galway on Day 3 to Dingle, and stop at the Cliffs of Moher on the way to Dingle? That would clear up Day 5 for some slow driving around Dingle.

3) If DH and I are flying out of Shannon, does it make sense for us to spend our last night in Dingle? What's the best way to get from Dingle to Shannon Airport? Should we stay in Shannon our last night?

4) AND, my sister and her FI are flying to Tel Aviv out of Dublin, so would it make sense for them to drive back to Galway and stay there for their last night, and then take the rail from Galway to Dublin their last morning?

5) What do you think about us taking the rail from Dublin to Galway and skipping Kylemore Abbey altogether? Would we really be missing out? Would it be better to rent the car on our second (and last) day in Dublin and drive to the abbey on our way to Galway?

6) DH and sister's FI *really* want to take in a sporting match while we're there. It looks like there won't be any hurling or gaelic football matches going on the first week of June--am I correct? Are there any other sports matches that we could take in?

7) Sister's FI really wants to visit a castle. Recommendations?

Again, thank you all so much! Reading all of your threads and trip reports about Ireland has made me so excited for this trip. I've been waiting for this for so long, and I cannot tell you how excited I am.

I wish we could stay longer, but I'm a college prof and I start teaching summer classes the day after we get back home, and sister's FI is a high school teacher and he finishes teaching the day before we fly out, so we're blocked in from both sides.

Thanks again, everyone!

Don't have time to look over each of your questions just now -- but one quick comment . . .

I had to laugh (gentle laugh - not snarky, honest ) when I read all the >>2 hrs/13 mins, 1 hr/2 mins, 1 hr/19 mins, 3 hrs/4 mins<<

Driving in Ireland simply doesn't work that way. First of all, you need to take the drive time estimates from any trip calculator and add between 30% and 50+% just to allow for "wrong side of the road", NARROW roads, and traffic. And forget about an "2 mins" "8 mins" etc etc.

Just count on each drive taking longer than you'd guess . . .

Just to emphasize what janis said - it took us at least two hours to get from Killarney to Dingle, and we only went the wrong way once! Your itinerary, to me, looks feasible but very busy. That's the way I like it, personally, but you should know that ahead of time!

Thank you for your responses, Jani and Jent!

I've been forewarned about the travel times, that's the first thing everyone tells me about traveling in Ireland! I just figured I would put the time that the map gives me so I can double it later when we're planning our actual departure times.

The itinerary does look very busy, and I'd like to thin it out a little. Any suggestions?

Thanks again!

First of all, there are a million "must sees" in Ireland and they are different for everyone. You can't see them all in a short trip, so prioritize for your interests and needs.

If it were I, I would spend the last night near Shannon. Either take some more time to check out Dingle or come along and explore things in the Shannon area. The last time I drove from Shannon to Dingle or Dingle to Shannon, I did a lot of exploring en route so it took all day, but think it could be done in a couple of hours if you drive straight through.

Depending on what time the flight to Tel Aviv leaves would be the question to ask to know if one can stay several hours away or need to be at the airport the night before.

Just a suggestion, on the day you leave Dublin maybe take a slight detour and visit Trim if some of you want to see a castle. Spend the night in Galway. Then the next day take a drive out around Connemara and visit kylemore and the national park on the same day. They are quite close to each other. Then come back to Galway for the night. Aughnanure Castle is not far from Galway in the village of Oughterard. It is sort of off the beaten path and when I was there, there were few other visitors. I found it a pleasant visit. Just another suggestion for the one who wants to see a castle.

I think your plan looks pretty good without having to unpack and pack every night. Have a wonderful trip!

Thank you for your feedback, irishface.
A detour to Trim sounds like a great idea. If we end up renting a car in Dublin then we'll definitely do that.

I have a new question:
If you could only visit Connemara National Park (and Kylemore Abbey, then) -or- Killarney National Park, which would you visit?

We're thinking of skipping one of those places to make the trip less jam-packed.

Thanks again for all of your feedback!

It's hard to thin out someone else's itinerary - I loved Dingle, so if I were to take out anything it would be Galway/Connemara, but Connemara may be top on your list.

I'm glad irishface noticed your last night - I didn't pick up on it. Yes, definitely spend your last night nearer Shannon. It took us the better part of a day to drive from Dingle to Ennis. We left after breakfast (maybe 9:30?) and arrived around 3 or 4. You may have to wait on the ferry, we hit construction - you never know.

If you did want to take out Connemara, you could keep days 1 & 2 in Dublin, drive to Dingle on day 3, spend days 4 & 5 in Dingle, drive to Ennis or wherever near Shannon day 6, and see the Cliffs of Moher & Burren on day 7 before flying home day 8. Just a suggestion.

Thank you for your response, Jent. Okay, so we need to be in (or nearer) our departure cities for the last night, I should have realized that. I took your ideas about cutting out Connemara, so now I have two different itineraries.

So now I have another question for everyone: Which itinerary would you choose? Would you change anything about the one you chose?

ITINERARY #1:
Day 1: Dublin (stay in Dublin)
Day 2: Dublin (stay in Dublin)
Day 3: Dublin to Galway by rail, evening in Galway (stay in Galway)
Day 4: Aughnanure Castle, Connemara National Park & Kylemore Abbey (stay in Galway) *rent car in Galway
Day 5: Galway to Cliffs of Moher to Dingle (stay in Dingle)
Day 6: Bike or drive Slea Head Drive (stay in Dingle)
Day 7: Killarney National Park, drive to Shannon (or Ennis?) (stay in Shannon)
Day 8: Morning in Shannon, fly home

ITINERARY #2:
Day 1: Dublin (stay in Dublin)
Day 2: Dublin (stay in Dublin) *rent car in Dublin
Day 3: Dublin to Killarney (go via Kilkenny so sister can visit Waterford) (stay in Killarney)
Day 4: Killarney National Park, then to Dingle (stay in Dingle)
Day 5: Bike or drive Slea Head Drive (stay in Dingle)
Day 6: Dingle--Do whatever we please (stay in Dingle)
Day 7: Cliffs of Moher, Shannon in evening (stay in Shannon)
Day 8: Morning in Shannon, fly home

Thanks again! I always have the hardest time drawing up itineraries. There's so much to consider. I really appreciate everyone's time and feedback.

The only problem I see with Itinerary 1 is day 7. It's just a LOT of driving. You'll have 2+ hours to get from Dingle to KNP, and then several hours to get from Killarney up to Ennis. Plus whatever you'll be doing in the park that day. If you're all okay with that in order to fit everything in, go for it. It's feasible, I think, with the long daylight hours in June (that's when we were there, and it didn't really get dark until around 10:00). Itinerary 2 is more relaxed, obviously.

I'd stay in Ennis rather than Shannon, if you want to be able to go to the pub or walk around a town on your last night. Shannon isn't much besides the airport.

I feel your pains! We are planning our 2 week trip for next May. At this point, I have decided to knock out the Galway area. I just couldn't fit it all in. We're doing Dublin - Glenadough - Kilkenny - Kinsale - Kenmare - Dingle - Ennis (via the cliffs).

I tried to squeeze in Galway, but wanted to ensure we had ample time to relax and really enjoy the culture vs being stuck in the car all day.

Happy planning!!

Thank you for your responses.

Jent--You're right, Day 7 does look really packed. I think Day 5 looks pretty packed too, no?

We've decided to add another day to the trip because we don't want to feel to pressed to keep moving.

How does this look?

Day 1: Dublin (stay in Dublin)
Day 2: Dublin to Galway by rail, evening in Galway (stay in Galway)
Day 3: Drive Galway to The Burren & Cliffs of Moher (stay in Doolin)
Day 4: West Coast Drive to Dingle (stay in Dingle)
Day 5: Dingle--Drive Conors Pass, visit the beach, relax (stay in Dingle)
Day 6: Bike or drive Slea Head Drive (stay in Dingle)
Day 7: Drive Dingle to Killarney National Park (Stay in Killarney)
Day 8: Drive Killarney to Clare or Ennis or Shannon (Stay in Clare or Ennis or Shannon)
Day 9: Morning in Clare/Ennis/Shannon

This itinerary is skipping Connemara and omitting one night in Dublin. Better? Worse? It relieves a lot of the long driving days, at least.

Thanks again for your help!

Mykidsmom--Enjoy your trip! Two weeks sounds wonderful, I wish we could extend our trip a bit more. I suppose we'll just have to make a second trip in the future!

Well, now I'm confused about why you're going to Galway at all, since you don't have Connemara or anything else around there listed in your itinerary. Is one evening in Galway worth the extra driving? If you just want to take the train somewhere, you can do that from Dublin to Killarney, it looks like (I have no personal experience with that).

Unless you really want to spend just an overnight in Galway, it makes more sense to me to go Dublin -> Killarney -> Dingle -> County Clare. You could definitely do more in Killarney/Kenmare with the extra day.

Have to agree with jent103. Really no sense in going to Galway if you aren't going to visit the sites. Just a lot of driving!

Galway is a big sticking point for me right now, so I'm glad to hear your feedback. We've read some really wonderful things about Galway and wanted to squeeze in a day there just to experience it, but if it really isn't worth it then we'll cut it out.

Okay, I'm going to work on a new itinerary that omits Galway. Thanks so much for your advice.

We took the train from just outside of Killarney, round trip to Dublin, last summer. Bought our tickets on-line, the day before and travelled off peak (10 AM to Dub and 7 PM back) and got two tickets for 40 Euro -- TOTAL (about 1/2 price).

It's an easy trip on NEW trains. Takes about 3.5 hours, tops. Decent scenery, too.

BESt Restored Castle Tour is probably Ross Castle, in Killarney and the walk or horse drawn jaunting car ride through the Gap of Dunloe and subsequent boat ride through the Lakes of Killarney is THE BEST 'Experience Nature and Natural Beauty' daytrip available.

See: http://www.derostours.com for their Gap of Dunloe offering -- but there are other options.

Bob

Another option / information source:

http://www.gapofdunloetours.com/inde...tpage&Itemid=1

Bob

Galway might be wonderful (I didn't have time for it on my trip), but it just seems like all you'd have time to do is walk around a few hours. For me, that wouldn't be worth the tradeoff of an extra day mostly consisting of travel.

I took the Deros tour of the Gap of Dunloe that Bob mentioned. We really enjoyed it; they drop you off at one end, you hike or take a jaunting cart about seven miles (not a hard hike, it's paved the whole way), and then they pick you up and take you across the three lakes in a motorboat, then back to Killarney. You can wait till you know what the weather is before you commit, though.

I went to Ireland with my daughter in 2003. We truly Dingle and the Dingle peninsula more than Dublin. It is absolutely beautiful. My daughter was 15 at the time and we took the boat over to the Blasket Islands from Dingle. I have to say it was one of the most unique experiences i have ever had. You can wander around the island and through the remains of the stone houses the islanders used to live in. Don't know if this interests you but it was great. My daughter still talks about it at 22. I would love to go back to Ireland and probably will soon, though we will probably do the West and not go to Dublin.

should be loved Dingle