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.