How does this sound, is it realistic? We will be in Ireland the first part of Nov. and I know it will get dark early. Okay, fly into Shannon early morning and go to Bunratty Castle, the Folk Park and then the Bunratty Banquet that evening. Next day drive to and tour Rock of Cashel and Cahir Castle. Then head to Adare to spend the night at a B&B. Looking at cutting across on a (R) Regional road instead of driving thru Limerick. Would these roads (R) be a problem? How is this sounding.....the people responding to various questions on this forum have enlighted me and it's making it so much fun to plan our trip.

Shannon to Bunratty to Cashel to Adare, and back to Limerick (Shannon)? Short trip? How long will you be in Ireland? There are other places I would be spending the night other than Adare. Why did you chose Adare?

I think the Bunratty Banquet would be great for the last night's stay. Enjoy the Guinness.

In order to answer your question better , we need to know how many days you will be in Ireland.

Sunset in early Nov is around 5:30.

I would choose to stay in either Cashel (dualla house) or Cahir. Being sure to visit both the Rock & Cahir castle, instead of staying in Adare.

It all depends on your time table.

oops - a couple more points.

You will be on a lot of R roads - most of them are fine - choose the ones that look 'wider' on the map, and connect bigger towns.

Also - for future reference - you may want to be more specific in your post titles. Put either Ireland , or Shannon/Cashel/Adare? in the title, that way more people who know about Ireland will open it up. Even though you mark Ireland in the topic list, the post still goes to the main Europe board. There are a number of posts out there right now with your same title...

In answer to some questions. Actually we have reservations in Dingle the following night(Nt.3), that's why we were thinking Adare so we'd be a little closer to Dingle. I should have said that this was the first days of a six night trip that ends with the last night at Ashford Castle in Cong. We would like to leave Dingle and head to the Cliff of Moher area one night (Nt.4)and then in a northerly direction staying ?? for Nt. 5 before going to Ashford Castle for the last night. Thanks also for the tip about the post title line.

Lets see if I have this right
1) arrive Shannon - stay Bunratty
2) drive to Cashel/Cahir - drive to & Stay in Adare
3) drive to & stay Dingle ( resv. made)
4) Drive to cliffs and stay ???
5) Drive to Cong area and stay???
6) drive to Ashford Castle (res made)

yikes - you are planning on a lot of driving and staying in a different place everynight. You won't really get a feel of any place, because by the time you get there, you will only have a couple hours before darkness ( if you are lucky) to explore and then head out the next morning.

What time is your flight home? Are you flying out of Shannon? You may want to move Ashford to night 5 so you can enjoy it and not have to check out early the next morning to get to the airport at least 2 hrs ahead of your flight.

I would cut down your trip considerably ( my first trip was in mid Nov a few years ago , and we did 4 2-night stays and that tired me out. 6 1night stays would have made me crazy) .

Here is what I would do:
1) arrive Shannon - drive straight to Cashel
2) see Cahir on way out of town - drive to Dingle - stay here 2 nights, not 1
3) drive to & stay Dingle ( resv. made)
4) Drive to cliffs and stay ??? (Take Tarbert ferry to save time)
5) move Ashford to this night if poss.
6) drive to Bunratty - see folk park , do banquet (**** do you have banquet reservations yet???? ***) easy drive to airport next day

whoops - hit post a bit soon.

Remember you will average only 35 mph - so those short 100 mile drives will take around 3 hrs. And that could be longer if it is raining out.

I would ideally cut Cashel ( weeping here.. ) and spend 2 nights in Dingle, 1 in Doolin, 1 Ashford, 1 Bunratty

ok - really bad mouse day - I keep clicking too soon.

to continue my thought - somewhere in there find another 2 night stay. Either head up to Galway instead of Doolin, or move Ashford way up, and do 2 nights in Ennis or Bunratty.

This time I really do mean to click post

With only six nights, I hope you won't spend one in Adare! Your schedule really does have you moving around a lot. I'd think about skipping Cashel and Cahir this time and concentrating on the other areas you're planning to visit.