Shannon to Cliffs to Galway
 

We will be arriving at Shannon from Boston at 6:00 a.m. We will base ourselves in Galway for three days. Is Shannon to Cliffs of Moher back thru Burren up to Galway too much to do and arrive at the Guesthouse in the afternoon? I would like to spend the days we are in Galway doing a drive thru Connemara, a possible trip to Aran Islands, and spend part of each day and evening in Galway City. We leave to go down to Limerick for one night to go to a horserace before returning from Shannon. How does this itinerary seem to travelers?

It takes about 1 1/2 hours to get from Shannon to the Cliffs, and then another 1 1/2 hours or so to drive through the Burren to Galway. Of course, that's without making any stops which I find impossible. Might depend on your jet lag situation and whether or not you get any sleep on the plane.
I think your itinerary looks great. Galway is a wonderful town and a good base for the day trips you've planned.

I don't sleep on the (short) overnight flight from the U.S. to Shannon so such a drive would be totally out of the question for me. I have taken early morning BusEireann buses from Shannon airport to Galway (via Ennis), to Ballina (Mayo-via Galway) and to Limerick City to connect with points south and west. There's really much more to see in west Clare than rushing through it gives you. There's a 'Matchmaking' festival centered near Lisdoonvarna (or Ennistymon or the Falls Hotel) that ends the first week of October. It's for real: people come from all over Europe looking for mates. And you wouldn't want to go back to Boston and tell people you didn't stop for lunch at (RIP) Gus O'Connor's in Doolin.

Once I stayed at Fitzgerald's B&B in Miltown Malbay - I told Pauleen I would be there around 10 AM. She greeted me at the front door and invited me for some tea and biscuits before I took a nap. You would recognize the store window from an Ireland PostCard: It's the one that says: Curtin's fine meats

Hi. From my experience, planning as full a day as possible on the day of arrival works best for me. If I nap on arrival day, all of my days and nights get reversed for several days. Also, you will be walking on the cliffs which would clear the cobwebs out of anyones brain.

What might set you back a little is picking up the car. It took us two hours at Shannon (Hertz) to get ours.
But on arrival day, we still had lunch in Adare, visitied Torq Waterfall and drove to Kenmare. We arrived late afternoon.
We spent two nights in Galway and really enjoyed it.

Opal,

You'd be better served by driving straight on to Galway. While the prospect of driving at daybreak from Shannon to the Cliffs of Moher is enticing, especially given the fact you'll encounter little in the way of traffic, you'll want to resist that urge and "do" the Cliffs at another point. West Clare is an especially scenic area, one of Ireland's true highlights, and driving through it tired and bleary-eyed is no way to appreciate the Burren, the Cliffs, and other sites.

Using Galway as a base for exploring Connemara is a sound idea. Make a point, however, of dedicating at least a full day for Galway City, as it is a colorful, lively place. Also, don't miss visiting Kenny's Book Shop, located in downtown Galway. It's no doubt the best bookshop - certainly Irish interest - outside of Dublin.

Finally, do consider spending an overnight on the Aran Islands. Inishmore, the largest of the three islands, sees mostly daytrippers, and it's a treat to experience the island after the tourists depart for the Irish mainland.

Best of luck.

We went to Ireland last March and did just that when we arrived. It was a beautiful day and they expected rain the next few days so on the spur of the moment we decided to see the Cliffs. We had a very good map and decided to cut across through little roads. That is an "interesting" thing to do. We got alittle mixed up and ended up back tracking. The roads were very narrow with rock walls on each side. I made my sister honk around every corner...because of course you couldn't see anything coming. We did miss the cows in the middle of the road you"ll be happy to know. We made it to the cliffs...stopping on the way at a supermarket to pick up a wonderful meat pie...The cliffs were amazing. The road from there to Galway was fairly easy to navigate. You will have a great time. I loved Galway...great music...and the cliffs. Have fun and get a good map...don't be aftaid to explore!!

Thanks for all the replies. I would like to pick up a good road map. Where would you recommend? I probably don't have time to find one over here before we go, but wonder if the airport has any worth purchasing. Thanks

Actually, I have always found that the map you get with your rental car( doesn't szeem to matterr which agent) is about the best available

Actually the maps you get from the car rental agent vary greatly. We got one recently (Europecar) that was a xerox copy that was totally unreadable. But the one we got in Ireland from Hertz was better than the one we had purchased (Barnes and Noble) before we left. So Hertz in Dublin airport had a great map. Who are you renting from?

We are renting from Hertz in Shannon. I found the best rates thru Aer Lingus with Hertz. I'll just wait for the map they provide us with.

I think we used Michelin??

We just got back from Ireland, doing your exact route on the 1st day and it worked out just fine. We had a Michelin Map as well as one from the rental company. The rental co map was just fine, but on some of our trips, we found the detail of the Michelin map to be really more helpful. I think it is worth the price.