Possible Ireland Itinerary-are we crazy?
 

Is this too much to squeeze in? is the order right? Suggestions please! The goal is not do more than about 3 hours of driving from region to region in one day, I know once we get to an area, there will be some driving to get each attraction, that's ok.

Day 1: arrive Dublin early am, Guinness & Jamieson tours, St Patrick's Cathedral, Trinity College. Stay at Gresham Hotel.
Day 2: whatever we didn't get to the day before, then drive to Cork in the afternoon, stay at Ashlee Lodge.
Day 3: Blarney Castle, Garnish Island maybe? Drive to Killarney in the afternoon, stay at the Lake Hotel.
Day 4: Dingle Peninsula/Mount Brandon, stay at Lake Hotel again.
Day 5: National Forest/Ring of Kerry, drive to Limerick, stay at Absolute Hotel
Day 6: Cliffs of Mohr, Achill Island, drive to Galway, stay at House Hotel.
Day 7: explore Galway, drive to Shannon, stay at Oak Wood Arms
Day 8: early departure from Shannon to Boston.

I am exhausted just reading this! With the exception of two nights in Killarney, you are changing hotels every night and spending a portion of the day driving from one city to another.

Look at either http://www.aaireland.ie/routes_classic/ or http://www.viamichelin.co.uk for driving times, BUT take whatever time they give you and add at least 30%....50% may be more realistic. (The only exception is if you are driving ONLY on the M routes, but then you will miss the scenery.)

Also, don't forget that you are going to be jet-lagged the first day, even if you are only coming from Boston.

I would do either Ring of Kerry OR Dingle, not both. The ROK is a FULL day trip...and then you're going to drive to Limerick? (I'd pick a Gap of Dunloe excursion over the ROK, personally. This could also give you time to catch your breath and/or see a bit of Killarney/Muckross House.)

I might think about doing Gap of Dunloe (or ROK if you must) on day 4, then Dingle on day 5 (start early) and heading for the Trabert ferry, maybe looking for a hotel around Kilrush or Doonbeg. Not sure there is enough in Limerick to recommend heading east. Ferry/coastline will have better scenery.

"<i><B>are we crazy? </i></B>" You said it - we didn't :)

You are underestimating how long things take -- both the travel and once you are there. Also -- Why Cork?

Dingle peninsula (my preference) and ROK are easily each full days by themselves.

Let me suggest a less hectic schedule.
Days 1-2 - Explore / stay Dublin
Days 3-5 - Stay Killarney. Stop by Rock of Cashel, Cahir Castle and/or Blarney Castle [IMO overrated] on way to Killarney. Explore County Kerry.
Day 6-7 - Stay in vicinity of Shannon airport. Explore County Clare [CofM, Burren, Bunratty, etc.]
Day 8 - Slán abhaile

I have been to Ireland many times and if it your first trip I would spend a little more time in Dublin, maybe 2 days. Its a great city and you can get ticket on either the red or green tours buses that stop at all the tourist sights. Also don't miss powers court house which is North of Dublin and your might like the Bray area. Driving is a pain in the a**! so you might want to play it by ear when you get there. Driving in the West is very time consuming so you might want to make a home base either North or South of Galway and take day trips from there. Stop in Roundstone for dinner which is North of Galway, there is a great seafood restaurant there.

WOW. I too am exhaused just reading this. We spent two weeks in Ireland last September, and didn't cover half of what you have planned for one week. We never lacked for something new to see. Our itinerary was:
Dublin-3 nights-picked up car at airport as we left.
Kilkenny-3 nights
Kenmare-1 night en route to Dingle
Dingle-3 nights
Galway-3 nights
Dublin airport-1 night-in retrospect, I wish we had avoided the drive back to Dublin, and flown home from Shannon instead (poor pre-planning)
We took side trips, day trips, and explored all the towns we stayed in on foot. Half of our accommodations were in hotels, the rest in B and B's.
In addition to the slower driving speeds, remember that it takes precious time to pack up each day, load and unload the car, check in and out, and locate your next hotel.

I am with susieKay on this. Ireland is not a fast paced place, you need to drink it in. And why Cork?

We picked Cork as kind of that halfway point between Dublin and Killarney, as that is the longest drive we do in one day, if I have my times/distances right! Plus it's close to Blarney Castle. My husband is not big on cities of any kind which is why we didn't do 2 nights there. I had a feeling this might be a little aggressive, I think we will try to take out either ROK or Dingle and maybe try to add an extra day to the trip. And Limerick seemed like a good halfway point between Killarney area and Galway, doesn't look like much in Shannon area but maybe I am missing something?

• When looking at your route -- use 35 MPH to calculate drive times. (you will often average less than that). But 35 MPG is a good rule of thumb to at least see what is doable if all goes well.

• Cork is not a terrific place to spend any of your very limited time. (BTW - Blarney Castle is probably the single most touristy/disappointing site in Ireland. I'd drop it myself, but even IF you decide to go there, no reason to stay in/near Cork.)

If you really want half way between Dublin and Killarney, how about Cashel? We really enjoyed the Rock... The Dublin-Cashel portion is virtually all motorway now; you might even get in a stop at the Irish Stud (near Kildare) en route...oops! I shouldn't be adding more stops to your already hectic plan!

Look at Ennis for some place close to Shannon; a number of people on the forum recommend it as a nice town, and it's a very quick drive to Shannon airport. If you want a big splurge at the end, there's always Dromoland Castle...but if I'm going to splurge I prefer to do it when I can spend every minute of my allotted time enjoying the experience (rather than having to leave early in the morning to catch a plane).

Why is the driving so slow? Is it the speed limit, traffic, etc??

Day 6 is the one impossible day. Perhaps you can save Achill Island for your next trip; it deserves at least a full day. Spend that time in the Galway area. Lots to do and see there outside of the "city."

Driving is slow, not because of the speed limit (driving the speed limit a lot of the time will scare you to death!) but because the majority of roads are narrow, no frontages, and you share them with farm machinery, cattle, sheep, bicyclists, etc. Then of course there is "Stop, stop, I need to get a picture of that!" And getting lost and having to reverse in someone's driveway and backtrack. But that's part of the fun.

You need to understand that most of your driving will be done on small local roads with lots of farms and lots (LOTS) of sheep. Realistically you max speed is about 30 mph unless you want to rush past everything - and take a chance on hitting the SHEEP.

Agree that Dublin is worth more than half a day - and sightseeing the whole day (it will be) and then driving several hours will be exhausting and get you to your next hotel late - possibly too late for dinner.

Where is the best company to rent a car?

I would love to have a diesel. Are they popular in Ireland? We usually rent a diesel passat when we go to Italy ... love that car.

It looks like most places just rent standard ole focus, etc.

Cork is a cool city, but I don't think I felt deprived because I didn't go there on my first trip (nor to Blarney). It's also so hard to drive in, so I agree with janisj that you may want to exclude it this time.

redneck - There aren't big, straight American style highways. Driving is slow because mostly the roads are two lanes, they're narrower, curvier and they require more attention to tire-destroying-potholes.

redneck6497: You are planning your own trip and the answers/advice for fossbomb will probably be different than the info you need. It might be better if you started a thread w/ your specific questions so we can help you and your posts don't get buried in someone else's thread.

Fossbomb - I apologize for hijacking your thread earlier for my own purposes.

Janisj - I started a thread a couple of days ago at: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...elp-please.cfm

I didn't get any responses...so I figured there wasn't enough room for a couple of threads about the same sorta stuff.....

no worries for hijacking, I knew it would be slow driving but I didn't realize it would be 30MPH slow! This is great stuff, I like the suggestion for Ennis, I am surprised at few options there are for hotels in Shannon.

redneck: That wasn't a criticism, just a hint. No problem tacking along on another thread. It is just that often the info will be different from the main topic and it can confuse things a bit.

I think the main reason you didn't get any response to your thread (I hadn't seen it myself) is that it was posted on the weekend and it is just luck of the draw since fewer folks are around then. So was this thread -- but threads do sometimes get overlooked. I notice you topped it and now have some responses.

Gotcha Janisj. It must have been timing like you said. It looks like it got a little attention today.

Incidently, I spoke to AutoEurope. There was a really nice and helpful person on the other end of the line who has been to Ireland several times. She had some really good rental car tips as well as general Ireland info! I think I'll definitely rent from there when I get ready.

I am going to go with a compact car type based on her recommendations.

When we drive in Ireland, it seems we move very slowly. When we cycle in Ireland, it seems the cars are zipping by at 70mph. It's a puzzle. :?

What is the difference between the M and the N motor routes (I wouldn't call them "highways".

M's are Motorways -- high speed, divided highways like Freeways in the States.

N's are just roads. They are "National", but can be anything from wide divided dual carriageways -- to -- narrow, two lane roads

M-routes are motorways: 4-lane, limited access roads like (US) Interstates. N-routes are generally two-lane, usually with good shoulders; the lanes may be wide enough to make passing easier. The fewer digits attached to the N, the bigger the road. My AA Road Atlas has both green and red N-routes; green ones are bigger. Of course, there are also R-routes: narrow, often scenic roads where passing can be challenging. FYI, the R-559 around Dingle is techinically two-way, but MOST (though not all) traffic procedes counterclockwise around the peninsula.

This is what I would do:
Nights 1 & 2: Stay in Dublin
Nights 3, 4, & 5: Stay in Dingle
Nights 6 & 7: Stay in Galway

We spent 8 nights in Ireland and did just that, except with one extra night in Dingle. You can see the Cliffs and The Burren on your drive up to Galway. The drive from Dublin to Dingle wasn't bad, we took it nice and slow and stopped in Kilkenny for lunch. The drive up the west coast from Dingle to Galway was lovely, and we had an incredible time playing near the edge of the water along The Burren.

When you don't have much time there, you really have to cut out some of the big tourist attractions, but it's so much nicer to really take your time and explore rather than rushing from one place to the next, in my opinion.

Oops--I just saw that your goal is to limit your driving to three hours per day. Ignore my itinerary, you'd be driving five to six hours on days 2 and 5. However, it really is worth the extra drive time to get more nights in Dingle, if you ask me.

the good news is that we were able to take off one more day so I think we may do the drive straight from Dublin to Killarney/Dingle and try to cut out Cork/Blarney Castle. I have some revisions to do! We did book our flights today though, I got direct flights to and from Dublin/Shannon/Boston so the countdown has begun!

take off one more day of work for vacation I mean above!!

That's great news! And direct flights are so nice. We flew from Chicago but stopped in Newark both ways, blech.

We really didn't have a problem making the drive from Dublin to Dingle in a day. It took a long time, but we enjoyed the ride and it was actually a really fun day.

Dingle is now my favorite place in the world. We were planning on going to England and Scotland next summer, but now I'm trying to convince my husband to go back to Ireland and spend two weeks in Dingle, instead.

Have a great trip!

JanisJ and Skibumette thanks for the info on the roads.

Fossbomb - I am envious that your outbound travel is through Shannon. I have to cut short some cool things to travel back to Dublin. When are you going anyway?

I too am exhausted by the itinerary and I live here!
I'd definitely cut out Blarney, Limerick and Cork.
I'd fly Dublin/Kerry via Ryanair; rent a car at the airport and you are almost in Dingle - then you have optimum time on such a short trip to see "The Real Ireland"!!

we are going Sept 10-19. I am revising all plans as we speak to give us some more down time. Will keep you posted!

I have posted a forum "Ireland Itinerary help-8 days" and am doing a VERY similar trip. Is it preferable to fly in to Dublin and out of Shannon, or vice versa, into Shannon and out of Dublin.

I don't think it really matters. If you're going to the west my suggestion is in and out of Shannon, unless you want to see Dublin, and/or have a nice ride across the country. We are going for the first time, and are going in and out of Dublin. This was a mistake I made (I think).

bookmarking

Fossbomb, any change to your itinerary yet?

right now this is where we are at:


Day 1: arrive Dublin early am, Guinness & Jamieson tours, St Patrick's Cathedral, Trinity College. Stay at Brooks Hotel.
Day 2: whatever we didn't get to the day before, stay at Brooks Hotel again
Day 3: Taking train from Heuston station to Killarney, stay at International Hotel.
Day 4: Pick up car at International Hotel and do area sites, I think we are going to wing it a bit between Dingle Peninsula/ROK, national park etc. stay at International Hotel again.
Day 5: whatever we didn't get done the day before, stay at International Hotel again.
Day 6: drive north, take the Tarbert Ferry, do Cliffs of Moher, stay in Ennis.
Day 7: playing this by ear too, maybe do Burren, Bunratty, Doolin, stay in Ennis.
Day 8: same thing, playing by ear, maybe Galway for the day, stay in Ennis.
Day 9: early departure from Shannon to Boston.

I think we backed off the aggressive plans fairly well! :) Day 6-9 is still up in the air, we haven't booked anything yet.

On another note, Aer Lingus has a great sale I saw yesterday that would have saved us about $700 on plane tickets for the exact same dates!

I mentioned here recently that Loop Head is a nice drive, and easy from Ennis. You can drive out to the lighthouse, and although you can't get in, there is some really terrific scenery out there. There are cliff walks in Kilkee; just the drive along the coast is nice if you don't do the walk. Another daytrip we took from the Shannon area was up to Killaloe/Ballina, on Loch Derg, which was a very bustling area on a Sunday in April.

fossbomb, yours in a nice, relaxed plan. We have done whirlwind trips before, but have learned to spend more time in fewer places. I think you will really enjoy having the time to discover more about each area.

Yes, you are. Crazy, that is.