carmar

After planning our Irish trip for the past 6 months, I think I've finally made up my mind about where to go but would welcome any suggestions or new ideas.
Flying in and out of Dublin from Sept. 10th - 19th. We arrive 7:45am and are renting a car and driving immediately to Galway. 2 nights at Park House Hotel.
The last 2 nights are at Trinity Lodge in Dublin. Now the middle 4 days are what I'm not sure of. I was thinking 2 nights in Kinsale and 2 nights in Kilkenny with day trips at both places. We prefer not to make reservations for those 4 nights so we can wing it.
Any suggestions or ideas would be very much appreciated.

MaryZ

Do you have to fly in and out of Dublin? If your first stop will be Galway, it would be easier to fly into Shannon, and then fly from Dublin at the end of the trip.

Budman

I certainly wouldn't want to drive from Dublin to Galway as soon as I arrive. Jetlag.

You seem to be all over the country in such a short time. Have you thought of concentrating in one area? You'll be doing an awful lot of driving. Two nights in Kinsale would be very nice. Have you ever thought about Dingle?

janis

I agree - the drive to Galway from Dublin will be really difficult after an overnight transatlantic flight.

If you are set on flying into / out of Dublin, I would spend the first two nights in Dublin (w/o a car) and then start the driving portion of your itinerery. get ove the jet lag on foot in Dublin instead of behind the wheel.

Clifton

I wouldn't disagree with Budman. I wouldn't want to land after a long trip and drive 4 hours in a strange place either. Especially if it's not my usual side of the road.

I'd recommend putting the majority of the Dublin portion first, just to get your legs under you again. It is still a lot of wandering about the country though.

I might, if it were my trip, do something like:
Dublin -> Wicklow -> Waterford coast(not city) -> Cashel/Cahir -> Kilkenny -> Dublin.

NEDSIRELAND

I have to agree with Janis: Unless you are flying 'up front' (i.e., Business / First) and get 4-hours sleep, a 4-hour drive to Galway may not be your 'cup of tea.' If you're committed to Galway on your arrival day, there's a 'CityLink' (private, not BusEireann) bus that departs Dublin Airport hourly and takes you to Galway (the Tourist Office) in 4-hours, 15-minutes. You could probably pick up your rental car in Galway the next morning and drop it off in Dublin. CityLink has a web site - I think they leave about 15-minutes after the hour; and 1-way to Galway costs 15 Euro. The CityLink Bus departs from about 75m from the arrival doors, straight across the parking lot, past a building and there it is. You'll see several buses parked there. CityLink is the white one. It makes a stop in Dublin to pick up passengers but then it's essentially non-stop to Galway. It's restroom equipped but the driver told me that was just for emergencies.

I arrived about 8:00 AM, caught the 9:15 CityLink and was having dinner at Garvey's in Galway around 1:15 PM.