Dejais

I will be taking my mom to Ireland for a self-drive trip and am just strating the planning. We are going in October and will have 11 days on the ground (I am not counting the travel days). We are flying in to and of Dublin and planning on driving across country to Galway, down to Dingle, Kilkenny and then east to Cork, Killarney and back to Dublin. We are going to stay in a hotel in Dublin and then B&B's with perhaps two castles in there somewhere. Lastly, we are looking to see historic sights but also take in the local culture. We like taking things slow and going off the beaten path.

So here are my beginning questions:

1. What is the weather like in October? Are we talking jackets or coats? (I am Floridian so cool weather is always great for me)
2. How is driving in Ireland? Basically, how hard is it to drive on the left side of the road? And is it safe for two women to drive through Ireland?
3. Does our itinerary sound like a good route?
4. Any suggestions to start off our planning with?

We have traveled Europe but have never done Ireland so this is all new to us. We are good independent travelers. Any pointers or suggestions would be most welcome.

Thank you all!

egnolive

1. Hard to predict the weather. Coming from Florida, it will most likely seem cool. Plan for rain. Take a waterproof jacket and layers for warmth.

2. Its not that hard to drive on the left hand side of the road, but takes some adjustment. Don't plan on much driving your first day and don't drive in Dublin or Cork City. Its safe for women, as safe as it is in Florida, perhaps safer.

3. To me it seems like you are doing a lot of one night stands. I would plan two nights mininum in each town. Not sure why you are going all the way to Galway; that would be my choice to skip. Its best to enjoy Ireland at a slower pace, IMHO. Plus, your daylight hours will be getting shorter.

4. Read some guidebooks and internet sites. See what interests you. Make sure you plan according to how much time it takes to get from Point A to Point B - much longer than it takes in the states. Plus you want to be able to stop and see the sites. You can always go back to see what you think you missed.

Enjoy the beautiful country and people.

Have a great trip.

longhorn55

Lots of good advice from Egnolive. I would pay particular attention to the amount of ground you want to cover and the fact that it will be getting dark early, especially after the end of DST in late October. (www.timeanddate.com is a good source for time of sunset in various cities around the world.)

As Egnolive also said, it takes longer to drive places in Ireland than it would take in the States. A good source for driving directions and times is the AA Route Planner. Add about 20% to the driving times they give to make them more accurate. http://www2.aaireland.ie/routes_beta/#

irishface

I trust that your proposed itinerary has Killarney and Kilkenny confused. If not, you are going to be doing a lot of backtracking.

To hit all of your sites, you will not be going particularly slowly or far off the beaten path.

I do not want to sound negative, but these are my thoughts on your itinerary. Want to add some positive suggestions below.

Agree with egnolive that driving on the left is not hard--just takes adjustment. Two women alone are safer than in Florida. (I've driven alone as a single female many trips to Ireland.)

Weather can be warm and pleasant or chilly and rainy--often in the same day. Bring rainproof jacket and dress in layers. Also have a spare pair of comfortable shoes in case one pair gets wet.

Also might consider dropping Galway--not that it isn't worth it, because it's a wonderful city and the countryside is gorgeous, but it is an outlier from the rest of the places you want to visit. When you look at distances, plan on 35-40 mph. I might consider doing your Dublin time at the beginning of the trip as that will save you having to drive straight off the flight and have you outside and walking to ward off jet lag.

Itinerary;

Day1-2 Dublin
Day 3 Drive to Dingle (long day)
Day4 still in Dingle explore area
day 5-8 Killarney drive the Ring of Kerry, explore the naional Park, visit Muckross House, visit Ross Castle, etc
day 9-10 Kilkenny visit Cashel and/orCahir Castle on the way from Killarney. Explore Kilkenny.
Day 11 head to the airport to turn in the car and spend the night near airport. Malahide is ten minutes from the airport and is a pleasant town. On the way back to Dublin stop at Glendalough and have a good explore.

This is just a suggestion. But it will more than fill your days. You will not have to change lodging every day which can get exhausting.

There are lots of others who will probably tune in later today. Tony2phones is a regular contributor and is right there on the ground.

Keep reading your guide books and keep refining your plans. Enjoy your trip!

Tony2phones

Weather is unpredictable, last year October was better than September. The days will be drawing in it will feel cold if you are used to Florida.

If you are competent driving at home then Ireland is not a problem. It takes a couple of hours to adjust and from all accounts the biggest problem is getting back on stream when you get home.

Of the three accidents where my car has been hit two have been because a couple of women have been too busy talking to watch the road. So two women in a car are less in danger than a danger.

You have the standard south north west triangle that most visitors opt for so fine.

Decide any Must see places, decide the towns which best suit seeing these places then consider Accommodation. Castle Accommodation will set you back €400 per night.

Dejais

Thanks for all of the answers. I am definitely going to pare down the cities. A Dingle stay and spending our first two days in Dublin are a definite. Also, I will not be picking up the car until we leave Dublin since Hilton charges for parking and there is no need for a car in Dublin.

As for the weather, it always seems to be where ever we travel it is a mix of cool and warm. Depending on what we pack, mom and I always seem to get the opposite. Perhaps this time we will have learned how to pack in layers better. One can only hope....

Thanks all. I will post back when I have a definite plan.

Maggie117

Hi, Both times I went to Ireland have been in October, and both times the weather was gorgeous! Each had bouts of rain. Dress in layers and for sure bring a light wind/rain coat. Personally, I love LL Beans rain coats...For $65 give or take you get a great coat.

I also drove our first trip which was 16 days. My only advice would be to take your time. They don't expect you to fly around as they do...I did find myself driving on the wrong side of the road twice and my co-pilots would have been fired had they not been my parents!

Have fun. You'll enjoy your wonderful trip!!!

TPAYT

We visited the West coast in Sept.'10 and enjoyed Ireland so much we returned in May'11 to do the middle, north to south.

Obviously we didn't go the route you plan, but here is my take on this beautiful country. We will return again.

We have driven in many countries and I have to say that Ireland wasn't as easy. Driving on the left with the steering wheel on the right and shifting with your left hand was doable. However it was hard to get used to the extremely narrow roads with absolutely no shoulder, just very tall hedges or rock walls. The motorways were much easier than the smaller roads and the signage was good.

I don't want to discourage you, after all we did return within 8 months time, but I just want you to be aware of the situation. I also want to mention that it took twice as long as we thought to drive anywhere. That said, driving from Dublin to Dingle in one day would be excesive for us.

Dan Dooley car rental was very good on both trips.

Safety is not an issue. We felt very safe everywhere we went, small town or larger city.

For us, the West coast was the prettiest, most enjoyable part. The middle looked exactly like Wisconsin where we are from. The small towns were more fun that the larger cities.

The Slea Head Drive on the Dingle Peninsula was the place we liked the best. Here's where we stayed in Dingle---fabulous.

http://www.greenmounthouse.ie/

IMO, Kenmare was far nicer than Killarney and you can get to the ROK and Muckross House quite easily. This was our favorite B&B out of the many we stayed in. An old Irish Manor house with the best breakfast to go with it. Park and walk all over town for shopping & dinner. Really nice shops.

http://www.shelburnelodge.com/

We did stay at a nice B&B just outside of Kilkenny, but the city itself did nothing for us.

This was our airport hotel. Easy to find, very basic & comfortable, and at 49 Euros a good deal. Dan dooley are rental return was just down the street & easy to return the morning of the flight.

http://www.premierinn.com/en/hotel/D...dublin-airport

IMO, I'd skip Cork & Galway. Big cities and you've just been in Dublin.

If it was me, I'd go the opposite way
1&2--Dublin
3--Kilkenny outskirts(if you want to see Rock of Cashel)
Kinsale or Cobh(if you want to see south sea ports--picturesque)
4,5,&6--Kenmare(day 4 will be driving with some delightful stops on the coast) (5&6 for ROK, Muckross House, shopping in Kenmare)
7&8--Dingle (for Slea Head Drive and Connor Pass)
9--Maybe drive North & stay at Ashford Castle (expensive, but gorgeous) or Adare Manor(again expensive)
10--start back east and stay somewhere in the middle
11--airport hotel

Everyone has different tastes, this is just one persons opinion.

Have fun planning.

Dejais

Good advice maggie117 and Tpayt. I just booked our flights for the 8th-20th. I am taking your B&B suggestions to heart and will likely choose several you've mentioned. After much research (but surely just the tip of the iceberg) I have to agree with your most of everyone's suggestions. Cork will most likely be nixed. Dingle has just increased to 3 nights and Galway may be excluded altogether. One of the reasons for Cork was my mom believes she has relatives there. If that is the case, we will have to make time to investigate but otherwise we will go around it. We are going into and out of Dublin and perhaps your suggestion Tpayt of going in reverse makes more sense. Back to the drawing board!

indy_dad

We enjoyed our trip last August to Killarney, Dingle and Galway. I've got some photos and commentary if that helps with your planning.

http://ukfrey.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/ireland.html

dunia123

I'll second TPAYT's recommendation for the Shelburne Lodge. It's a lovely setting, fantastic breakfasts and the owners were very helpful, which leads into just a bit of warning to you as it relates to driving.

My husband & I have also driven in various spots in Europe (all over France, Italy hill towns, Crete, etc.) and found Ireland more difficult. We flew into Shannon and made our way down to the ROK and Kenmare area the first day. Unfortunately, as we were getting our driving wits about us, with the narrowness of the roads and the fact that large motorcoaches were coming the other way, we (i.e. me) hit a large rock with the left front tire. We popped the tire, bent the axle (or something along those lines). In any case, as you might imagine, it did put a damper on the vacation, as we did end up having to get it fixed in Kenmare. (Insurance didn't cover this, so out of pocket it came.) We had intended to drive to Dublin, as we ended our trip there and were flying back to the states from there, but we ended up driving back to Shannon, dropping the car and flying to Dublin! I was never so happy to get rid of that car....

Dejais

Dunia123....Wow! Scary stuff. Sorry your vacation did not turn out the way you had hoped. Will heed your warning.

Indy_dad...Thanks. Will put it on my "to read" list.

egnolive

Just a couple of thoughts...

I think 2 nights in Dingle is plenty. I know there are people on the forum who love Dingle and it is beautiful. The problem is that Dingle is not really easily accessible to other areas. Its a bit out of the way. I think you can really experience most it has to offer in 2 days.

Since your mom thinks she has relatives in County Cork, you might want to do some research to find the town and take the 3rd night away from Dingle to stay there. It might be fun for her to stay near to the place her relatives came from.

Tony2phones

egnolive ...fully agree.

Dejais

egnolive....Totally agree. I am now considering the following:

Dublin - 2 nights
Waterford area - 1 night (? still checking this one out)
Cork area - 2 nights
Killarney - 2 nights
Dingle - 2 nights
Kilkenny - 1 night
Dublin Airport - 1 night

I am totally overwhelmed with geography and cities at the moment and still working on a route. The only thing I know for sure is I have decided on booking a Hilton in Dublin (points) for the first two nights and then the Hilton Dublin Airport (points again) for the last night.

I am also thinking we can shuttle to the hotel for the first two nights and pick the car up in town on the third day rather than pay for a car and hotel parking the first two days. I would think I do not need a car in Dublin. Any thoughts on this?

This would leave out Galway altogether.

dunia123

You definitely won't need (or want) a car in Dublin. It's plenty easy to get around by walking. (We tend to walk everywhere, but I'm sure others can weigh in on public transportation if that's necessary for longer distances.)

Lizzy_Beths

Take time to get to meet the lovely people there. The hospitality is fabulous. I went as a single lady and would go back anytime. Enjoy

Dejais

Okay, so I have booked hotels at the beginning and end of the trip in Dublin. I am not booking a car until we leave Dublin on Day 3 and will return it to the airport at the end of the trip. That will save a couple of days. I know for sure we want to stay in Dingel for 2 days and I have a B&B there already. Just deciding on the dates. I am still at a loss for the route. We have given up on Galway and will head south when we leave Dublin. Is Waterford worth a stop? If not what should our first stop be? Wexford, Waterford, or straight to Cork? So perhaps one day in Waterford (or thereabouts), two days in Cork and then we will head to Killarney for two days followed by Dingle for two days. We plan on going back to Dublin on a more northern route probably staying in Kilkenny.

I know I probably made a mishmash of the days but we have 11 nights to cover with 2 at the beginning and one at the end already spoken for.

I am wide open for suggestions so keep them coming! Thank you everyone!

jaja

We flew into Dublin, collected our car and headed southwest. We visited the Rock of Cashel and then overnighted in Cahir, saw Cahir Castle first thing the next morning, then took the Vee Drive. We detoured around Cork City to get to KInsale but you could go to Cork from the end of the Vee Drive at Lismore.

I'd not spend any time in Waterford unless you just have to see the new Waterford Crystal Visitors Centre. If so, you could overnight in Kilkenny or even the Waterford area and then on to Cork from there.

irishface

I would skip Waterford as well.