MiteMsispe

My senior Mom and I will be traveling to Ireland in the middle of December for six days and then onto London for a couple more days. We will be driving and our goal is to take it easy,shop, tour, and not be too rushed. Your opinions on the feasability of us seeing the sights without being hurried will be appreciated.

Dec. 15. Arrive in Dublin and relax. Maybe see Glendalough.

Dec. 16. Drive to Cork via Caher or Cashel. Stay in Cork for the night.

Dec. 17. Head towards Killarney and see Mizen Head, Beara Peninsula, and Killarney National Park in route. Stay the night in Killarney.

Dec.18. Set out for Limerick and tour the Dingle Peninsula. Stay the night in Limerick.

Dec. 19. Start towards Clifden and see the cliffs of Moher en route. I could not find a reasonably priced hotel in Clifden so we will stay the night in Galway.

Dec. 20 Tour the Connemara region and then off to Dublin.

Dec. 21. Fly to London for a few days.

Well, does this sound like a relaxing holiday or a logistical debacle? Any thoughts on personal "must-sees" and "over-rated should miss" sites will be thoughtfully considered.

Many thanks,
Tim

MiteMsispe

topping

Holldoll

Just a note re Clifden--try Abbeyglen Castle (abbeyglen.ie). They have super rates (includes all meals) during this off season, and is a great place to stay.

DOCK

Hi, we did Ireland August 2004. I think doing Mizen Head , Beara and part of ROK all in one day is way too much. Choose either Mizen or Beara. Just my opinion.

AHaugeto

Whoa. You are going to be doing a TON of driving with this itinerary. I would recommend narrowing it down! Your day 3 is waaayyy too much, and then going from Killarney up to Limerick and back down to Dingle to "do" the Dingle peninsula and then back to Limerick sounds very, very rushed, and you need to remember that 1) driving will often be quite slow and 2) there are cool things to do/see in Limerick that close at around 5 that you'll miss out on. IMHO, you need to rethink this, especially if your weather is bad, which will slow your driving down even more.

leisa

You will spend most of your holiday in your car. bear in mind that in December you have fewer daylight hours ... you can expect it to be dark by 4.30pm and daylight will only start to break at about 8.00am. While the distances you are covering do not seem a lot when you think 'kilometers', you must be aware that irish roads are often narrow, particularly on the penninsulas, so it's going to take you longer than you probably anticipate to get around.

The itinerary is certainly doable, but may not be very relaxing - for example i cannot imagine how you can possibly manage your Dec 17 itinerary without speeding the entire way. Choose just one perhaps ..... Killarney National Park would be a good choice since your intending to see Dingle (which is my pick of the penninsula's anyway).

Hope that help, enjoy yr holiday.

leisa

i meant to add that you should be able to find a well priced B&B in Clifden, that will save you going all the way to Galway just to backtrack the following day to see some of Connemara ..... you'll pay more for a B&B/Hotel in Galway anyway.

wojazz3

This is not an itinerary that I would call relaxing. As others have said, you will spend most of your daylight hours in the car and the 17th would be pretty much nothing but driving. Many people like to travel in this fashion, but I'm basing this on you saying that you want to have time to shop, take it easy and not feel rushed. This itinerary will leave you feeling rushed. Leisa's comment about the amount of daylight is very important and the weather comment is something to keep in mind also.

It sounds like your plans are to stay in hotels instead of B&Bs. You might want to consider B&Bs which are usually less expensive and a little more personal. Fewer are open in December though.

15th: Just stay in Dublin. Glendalough might be a bit much if you intend to relax. Glendalough is an hour south of Dublin, but from the airport and in heavy traffic, it could be worse. Then you'll have to get back to your room. I don't know if you intend to see much of Dublin or not and where you plan to stay. You should make reservations soon.

Dec 16 is do-able though I probably wouldn't stay in Cork. That's just me.

Dec 17 as suggested would be impossible, certianly by my traveling standards. Way too much. The walk out to the the lighthouse at Mizen may be open on weekends at that time of year, but it could be very cold and rainy.

Dec 18: I would consider staying in Dingle and then and then travel north via the ferry at Tarbert. This would allow you to spend some time on Dingle and go past the cliffs of Moher the next day with a nice drive up the coast.

Dec 19: See the cliffs. I don't think you would make it to Clifden by nightfall though. Probably have to stay in Galway.

Dec 20: You wouldn't get to see much of Connemara before you had to head for Dublin.

All that said, I would leave part of this trip out. As you have a good part of it in the SW, I would leave off Connemara. It's beautiful, but it may just have to be for another trip. The days are so short at that time of year that you just don't get as much travel time in and if you want to take it easy and enjoy, I think this is too much. You will definitely be hurried.

Keep in mind that AVERAGE driving speed in a day will be about 35 MPH, less if you take smaller roads, like around Mizen and Beara. It is beautiful, but very slow.

You can certainly have fun, but I think you would be much better served by cutting back on some part of the trip.

Bill

jez

Tim, like other respondents, it strikes me that you're planning far too much to be realistically practicable. My advice would be to either extend your time in Ireland or halve your intended itinerary, which will make it so much more relaxed (and therefore more fun.)

Had you considered Northern Ireland at all? Belfast and other areas are within easy reach of Dublin (2hrs by road or rail).

tropo

MiteMsispe - slow down & smell the roses, get to know the locals in Ireland. Why drive such long distances, don't fall into the trap of trying to see everything in one quick trip.
Might I sugest that instead of staying in the larger towns/cities stay in a farm B&B and get to know the Irish better, they are a warm, friendly lot, with plenty of information on interesting places to visit.
My preferences would be as follows - Stay in Kinsale rather than Cork, also stay in a farm B&B either on Mizen or Beara Peninsula, rather than Killarney (its a tourist town), stay at Dingle, rather than Limerick, etc, etc.
We stayed in a lovely farm B&B on the Dingle Peninsula (not in Dingle town, but not far from it), and Mary, our host, invited us to join her for a walk in the countryside, which we did, and it was lovely to talk and learn about Ireland, and the Irish people.

wojazz3

I agree with tropo on staying in the smaller towns, though, especially on Mizen, you may have a hard time finding a B&B that is open. Heron's Cove in Goleen may be open at that time of year ... lovely when the tide is inn, a mud field behind the place when the tide is out. Nice enough place, but I'm not sure I would list it in my top 5 or 10. Not sure whether Galley Cove in Crookhaven is open then. I enjoyed staying there though the breakfast room was freezing when I got up.

Bill

lake22

I agree--you're doing far too much driving. Irish train service is pretty
good, just stick with 1st class seats for extra space and fewer inebriated
riders (esp. on weekends). In Dublin you might want to see Trinity College
for the Book of Kells. Also I agree on
Kinsale verus Cork.

wojazz3

It's a little odd to see praises for the Irish train system. I'm not sure of the quality of ride, but it's a bit inconvenient because it branches out from Dublin in spokes and to get from anywhere in the west, to anywhere else in the west, you usually have to head back towards Dublin quite a distance. If you combines it with bus service, it could work, but with as little time as you have, I'd rent a car.

Bill