Please help with Ireland Itinerary
 

We're planning a trip to Ireland this year and haven't nailed down the date, but are thinking the end of September or beginning of October for 7-8 days. We know the hours will be shorter at some of the sights that time of year, but we want to avoid as much of the crowds as we can. The four of us will be picked up from the airport in Dublin by a friend of ours from Wales who will be bringing her car across on the ferry. She is purchasing a car-top carrier for the luggage.

Anyway, we know in that amount of time we can't do the whole country, so we've narrowed it to northern Ireland (geographically, not necessarily just the country). We don't want to spend all of our time packing and unpacking, so we'd like to stay at 3 or 4 bed and breakfasts for more than one night apiece. We enjoy history (that narrows it down, huh?), nature, and scenery. The things we know we want to see are the Book of Kells, the Giant's Causeway, Newgrange, stone circles, and would like to go to an island (Antrim coast?). Slieve League, Letterkenny, and Carrickfergus look interesting. We don't care about shopping, clubbing, or sports.

Could someone give us an idea of the best areas to use as home bases, a route, and a sample itinerary? We want to leave Dublin as soon as we arrive. We will spend our day or two sightseeing there before we fly back home.

Thanks!

Start in Dublin for the first day. Then Belfast for Carricfergus and the Glens. Portrush/PortStewart/Derry for the North Antrim Coast and into Donegal for the end before heading back to Dublin. (a bit brief but will bump the tread)

Thanks.

I know this post sounds like I'm asking so I don't have to do any research. Research is my problem. I've done so much of it, and there is so much to see, I'm kind of overwhelmed. That's why I asked for help.

Have a look through the forums here and a couple of other sites, Trip Advisor Northern Ireland and Ireland Yes. There are similar questions asked all the time.

From this forum I've seen that many people don't bother to get B&B reservations ahead of time when they're driving so that they don't have to know exactly how long they are going to be a particular place. Would you still say that when there's five of us? We've decided on going Oct. 4-13, 2012. I know that's not a busy time of the year, but several of the places I was looking at already have lots of rooms booked. We're probably mostly going to stay at bed and breakfasts, will need three rooms, and will be staying more than one night.

Please check out my trip report for May 2011 - we stayed in Cushendall (on the Antrim Coast) and Ardara in Donegal - both would be great bases for you, and will hopefully contain some great suggestions for your trip. I'll come back when I have more time with more tips. I'm researching another trip to the area for next year :)

I always book my B&Bs ahead of time, by the way - because otherwise I'd be too nervous :) I know the B&B we stayed at in Ardara has enough room for you. Cushendall, maybe - there seemed to be at least 2, possibly 3 rooms. Something to check - they're good about emailing. Cushendall - Riverside B&B. Ardara - Bay View Guest House.

You need to look at Guest Houses, (B&B with 5 or more letting rooms) or hotels. many B&B would be closed out of season or may just scale down. It is possible that the places you are looking with only a couple of rooms left might be that they only let a couple of rooms that time of year.

O.K. I’ve done some more research and have come up with this. How how feasible is this?

Friday—Arrive in Dublin at 8:00 a.m. Will be picked up by friend from airport. Drive to Bru na Boinne (Will it be too late in the day to give us enough time there?—the last admission is 16:45. We could do this on our way back to Dublin near the end of the trip if this won’t work. We don’t want to be rushed.)
Overnight in Belfast

Saturday—Titanic Experience and Carrickfergus (Can those both be done in one day? If not, we could do one the next morning)
2nd night in Belfast

Sunday—Drive the Causeway Coastal Route to Bushmills
Overnight in Bushmills

Monday—Giant’s Causeway, Carrick-a-Rede Bridge, Dunluce Castle
2nd night in Bushmills

Tuesday—(if we need more time today to do any of the above we could do that this morning or maybe the previous Sunday)
Remainder of the Causeway Coastal Route

Here’s where I really need help. These are places we think we’d like to see, but don’t know what order to do them in or where would be a good area to stay Tuesday and Wednesday nights or if it’s even reasonable to think we can do them in a day and a half:
Glenveagh National Park
Slieve League
Glencolmcille

Thursday—Overnight in Dublin
Friday—2nd night in Dublin
Saturday—Fly home in a.m.

What stone circles on or near this route would someone recommend?

Also, it looks like if we stay in Dublin that some of the parking garages might not be open it time for our friend to drop us at the airport. So, I need to make sure I get a place that can either shuttle us to the airport, or is close to public transportation. Right?

Thanks all the info so far!

1. If your flight gets into Dublin at 8am, you should be out of the airport by 9am-9:30am. The drive to Newgrange from the airport is an hour or less. Since you will not be visiting at the height of the tourist season, I think you'll have no trouble getting on a tour that morning and have plenty of time to enjoy Newgrange. (We did a similar thing in the month of April a couple of years ago and got on a tour within an hour of our arrival at Newgrange.)

2. I notice you have not allowed for any sightseeing in Belfast beyond the Titanic Experience. Is this your intention? We did a 2-hour hop on/hop off bus tour when we visited Belfast and it gave us a great overview of the city. Particularly interesting were the murals on Falls and Shankhill Roads.

3. If you are looking for accommodations in Belfast, I highly recommend Avenue House B&B. It's a lovely home in an excellent location within walking distance of Queens University and the CBD. http://www.avenueguesthouse.com/

4. You should have plenty of time on Sunday and Monday to do what you have planned, so I don't think you will need to do any of them on Tuesday. During your drive on Sunday, you might enjoy a stop at Glenariff Forest Park. The waterfalls trail (not difficult to walk) is lovely.

I neglected to say that we are going to Carrickfergus when in Dublin. We're not much on cities. We hadn't even planned on stopping in Belfast, but with it being the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster, we couldn't resist being there. The web site looks like the museum is pretty cool.

Thanks for suggesting Glenariff Forest Park. I had looked at that when researching the Glens of Antrim. There's going to be so much to see on the way, I needed that suggestion for somewhere to stop along the way. I'm adding it to our list.

I also love the Glenariff Forest Park - so much beauty! It's a lovely walk, and a good place for hot soup afterwards at the pub.

We stayed in Ardara, which is well situated for all three of those Donegal spots - Slieve League (Sliabh Liag in the Irish) and Glencolmcille is a lovely day trip, and can be combined. There is a great walk up the mountain in Glencolmcille to a pilgramage walk, if you like. Fantastic views!

We stayed at Bay View Guest House in Ardara, and it was large and well-appointed. About a kilometer out of town. Nancy's Bar in Ardara has fantastic food (especially seafood). The family that owns it has run it for something like 5 generations. Nancy was their great-grandmother's name (McHugh's next door was the original name, still the family name).

Eos Waterfall and Maghera sea caves are nearby as well.

Check out Griannan Ailleach as well - an impressive hill fort not far from Derry. Inishowen is also a great exploring option, we drove from Cushendall, along the coast, Inishowen, and ended up in Ardara that evening - a long day, but a beautiful one.

Make sure to seek out The Dark Hedges near Armoy (County Antrim). Beautiful photo op!

In Cushendall there is a lovely old Keyhole cross in Layde Church.

In Inishowen there is a 7th century celtic cross near the north end of the 'Inishowen 100', a scenic drive of 100 km.

Stone circles Antrim: http://www.irishmegaliths.org.uk/antrim.htm
In Donegal, Beltany is probably the best one: http://www.ancientireland.org/beltany/index.html

Thank you everyone for all of your help. One last question. I've been researching different routes from Donegal to Dublin. My question is, would the route north or south of Lower Lough Erne be more scenic? We will be leaving from about 9 miles north of Donegal Town. We have all day to get to Dublin, so we aren't in a hurry. Also, does anyone have any suggestions of where to eat on the way?
Thanks!

That I can't help with, though I may be doing a similar route next August (Ardee to Ardara, Donegal), so I will be interested in the responses.

A47/B82 over and between the loughs would be the more scenic option to Enniskillen from Beleek (pottery?)than the A46 which might be quickest or call into the American folk park by Omagh before dropping south to Dublin from Newry.