alji

Hello to all,

I'm just starting to plan a brief visit to Ireland and am finding all the information online rather overwhelming. The basics are that my wife and I will fly in late July into Cork (from Paris), landing at 4pm, and renting a car at the airport. We will have the car for four days, dropping it off in Dublin, where we'll be for three days before flying back to Paris.

So, my basic question is what should we not miss in those four days, and where would be good places to stay (in a moderately priced B&B or hotel) each night? It seems like the Dingle Peninsula and Cliffs of Moher are must-sees, but beyond those two, there are so many options and we are finding making the choices difficult, so would welcome any suggestions from those more knowledgeable.

Also, another initial question: should we plan to spend that first evening in Cork, or would it be better to already go into the countryside or another city for that first late afternoon/evening?

Thanks in advance to all.

PS. some perhaps relevant details about us: we are in our mid-late 50s, not rich but can afford to travel comfortably, are looking forward to both urban and nature adventures, and enjoy a good dinner.

ArtyJones

Hello, first off I would recommend you stay in Cork for the evening. I may be biased (as I live here) but I think the city is worth a visit even just for an evening and then you can set out on your journey early the next morn. There are of plenty relatively cheap hotel right in the centre of the city or B and B's that I can advise you about if you please. Also if you mention your interests eg Music, Art etc people can advise you further on things to do throughout your trip.

The City is really easily accessed from the airport and you will be in, in less than 15 mins. When you arrive you should just explore the street and also visit the food emporium that is the English Market. It was made even more famous by the visit from Queen Elizabeth the 2nd in May this year.
I could go on for hours about the food etc in this city so reply back if you are interested, I’d love to help with restaurants, hotels, activities etc!

When you are in Dingle or an Daingean as its supposed to be called I have a few ideas that ye would all enjoy!
Get ice cream from Murphy’s ice cream. It is outrageously delicious! If ye all like Fish make a reservation at Out of the Blue, the fish it literally just off the boat and served! Instead of seeing Fungi (a famous Dolphin that is soooo popular especially with young children) take a trip to Blasket Islands. But only do this on a really clear day.
Drive Slea Head but again only a really clear day!

My last bit of advice is when you drive the Conor Pass go into a small little holiday town called Castlegregory. I spent all my childhood summers there! Drive through the village and out towards the beach, you will pass the front beach on your right and see all activities out on the water like windsurfing and a trampoline in the water. Although the front beach is lovely continue on until you see cars and jeeps parked in sand dunes and on the grass, its a scramble to get parking for the back beach. But once you find something hop out and go onto the beach on the left. It is my favourite beach in the whole of Ireland and I think it’s one of the longest. Walk along the shore for miles and enjoy watching all the surfers.

Happy Travelling

alji

Thanks, ArtyJones. Just checked "Out of the Blue"'s website and it looks great. I'll try to get a reservation once I know what night we'll be in Dingle. Still haven't made a plan for the first night, so I'm happy to hear recommendations on B&B or inexpensive hotel in Cork city centre that would have Parking for a rental car. And restaurant recommendations would also be appreciated. Thanks also for the rec. of Castlegregory; I'll put it on the list.

Alji

Viajero2

Cahir Castle and Rock of Cashel are MUST see.

I actually loved the coastal drive on R597 that went by Leap, Glandore, even Skibbereen.

I loved the Ring of Kerry far better than the Dingle Peninsula; just my humble opinion.

frogoutofwater

I hope the OP doesn't mind if I hijack this post and ask ArtyJones a question. I'm sorting out the final details of our trip to Ireland later this summer. For our final two nights we are staying near Fossa (Loch Lein country house) and then will be flying back to the UK around mid-day on a Sunday. Are we better off driving to Cork to fly back to Heathrow or driving to Shannon? The flight out of Shannon is a bit later and a bit cheaper than Cork, but Shannon is a bit further away than Cork. Is there anything to know about the two airports that would be relevant to a choice? (For example, in the US, I avoid connections in Atlanta because there often seem to be weird weather delays, and I prefer Houston to Miami because the terminal for my preferred airline is MUCH nicer in Houston than Miami.)

TPAYT

We've been to Ireland twice in the last 8 months and here's my take on it.

The Dingle Penninsula and the Connor Pass were by far the best scenery and Out of the Blue one of our best meals. We also loved Kenmare, and dinner at Mulcahy's was the best of both trips.

We tend to mix up our accommodations in price. Dingle(www.greenmount-house.com) & Kenmare(www.shelburnelodge.com) were the priciest of both trips but also worth it. In between those two we chose much lower priced places.

If you're interested, you can read our trip reports by clicking on our name and scrolling to the bottom. I know we went many more places that you will in 4 days, but you can read what we liked in the areas you choose.

Good luck!

mobilemc

Alji, my wife and I (in our late 50's) did a very similar driving trip last year. In SW Ireland it takes longer to drive from point A to B that you might realize. When we did it we had two weeks. With 4 days, you'll need to decide if you want to spend all your time driving or spend some time in fewer places. My suggestions:

Although Cork is a nice town, I'd suggest you drive for your first night to Kinsale - it'll be an easy drive from the airport. It's a magic little ancient village on a beautiful harbor with wonderful hotels, B&Bs, and restaurants. I'd suggest you spend day 1 in Kinsale touring the town, walking out to Charles Fort and driving out to Old Head for the views.

With a reasonable number of stops to take short walks and take pix, your day 2 drive will take all day ... drive west from Kinsale toward Bantry, onto the Beara peninsula across the Healy Pass, reaching Kenmare by late afternoon. It's a charming little town.

Again, with a a reasonable number of stops, day 3 will also take all day ... using Rick Steve's Ring of Kerry recommended drive, depart Kenmare in the morning, circle the Ring of Kerry, finishing your day in Killarney.

Day 4 ... just south of Killarney, tour Muckross House in the morning. It's a beautiful and historic estate and grounds. From there, drive east to the Rock of Cashel and spend your night in Cashel. Another charming little town.

Day 5 ... visit Cahir Castle (in Cashel) in the morning, then on to Dublin to enjoy the rest of your visit.

IMO, reaching the Dingle Peninsula and Cliffs of Moher involves simply too much driving for 4 days. The Beara peninsula and Ring of Kerry will more than cover your "rugged peninsula" views. Although the Cliffs of Moher are interesting, IMO they're not compelling enough to spend all your time driving to get there.

Hope this all helps - enjoy your visit.

alji

Thanks to all for some excellent suggestions. Parts of the trip are taking shape, but I suspect I'm still thinking about trying to cover too much ground. Right now, the trip is looking like this:

Day 1: Land in Cork at 4pm. Drive either a) north to Cashel or b) south to Kinsale for the night.

Day 2: Depending on a or b, a) tour Cashel, Cahir, drive through Killarney, ending up in Dingle; or b)drive along the coast, through Bantry, Kenmare, Killarney, ending up in Dingle for the night. Either way, we spend night two in Dingle.

Day 3: Dingle Peninsula, Conor Pass, drive along coast (Cliffs of Moher, if weather is good), ending up in Galway. (or could spend night in Ennis or Limerick, or some other town en route to Galway).

Day 4: Assuming we are in, or close to, Galway, drive to Cong, then on to Connemara, before ending up in Galway.

Day 5: Tour Galway, then on to Dublin, arriving by 4pm.

Would welcome any suggested stops between Galway and Dublin, and also things to see (castles, ruins, anything interesting) along the routes. My thinking is that the drives, and sights along the way, are the main attractions of the journey, and the towns will be little more than places to eat dinner, have a beer, and sleep. After the 5-day drive, we have 2.5 days in Dublin for urban life, and then we are back to Paris for 10 days before returning to the US.

One question I do have to those more familiar with Ireland driving: by the map, these driving days don't seem unreasonable, with 4 to 4.5 hours driving on the longest day (not counting the couple of hours around the Dingle Peninsula). But I keep hearing that driving takes much longer than one expects, so if my plan is crazy, I'd be grateful to hear that before we make our final B&B decisions.

frogoutofwater

I have the same questions about driving times and, in fact, I was just speaking to my Irish colleague about it an hour ago. She says that it depends on the road. If you're on a motorway, then drive time estimates based on looking at a map or using a website are probably ok. But if you're on anything less than a major road, then the timing could easily be totally messed up by who's on the road with you. If you get stuck behind a slow car on a narrow road, you could be there for hours longer than you expected to be.

PegMcNeill

based on my experience i think you are going to be spending more time in the car than you anticipate. we tend to think of driving in terms of american roads, ie, 100 miles = 2 hours. if you are not going to be on the few Irish dual lane highways connecting bigger cities, my rule of thumb is to double the driving time. the narrow roads through the mountains are particularly slow plus you want to be able to stop and see things along the way. While it can be done, one day to drive along southwest cork coast, over the pass, through killarney and on to Dingle is going to mean you spend most of the day in the car. I would try to break it into two days and skip going farther north or skip dingle and just do beara peninsula or ring of kerry. am about to take a four day trip in august and we are just doing dublin-adare overnight, then kenmare for two days, kinsale for one, back to dublin.

TPAYT

IMO, I'd take one of your Dublin days and add it to the middle of your trip Day 2 from Kinsale along the coast is beautiful, but all the way to Dingle will mean way too many hours in the car and not much time to stop anywhere along the way.

For an example, we drove along the coast from Kinsale to Skibbereen stopping for photos along the way (going through the ruins of Timeoleague Abbey was really nice) and took the fast, inland road back to Kinsale and it was 6 hours. Probably 1-1 1.5 hrs. back to Kinsale on the uninteresting highway. Anyway going from Kinsale to Skibbereen and then on to Dingle is beautiful but slow and time consuming. If you take the faster inland roads, it will be a shorter time, but not very interesting scenery. A highway is a highway, they all look the same.

Again, day 3---seeing the Dingle Penninsula(our favorite scenery of 2 trips) and The Connor Pass and then all the way up to The Cliffs of Moher to Galway or Ennis in one day is just too long again in the car.

Yes, you will cover alot of ground, but not have much time to enjoy anything. Your 4 to 4.5 hours of estimated driving on Days 2 and 3 is way too low---double that if you want to see anything.

If you don't want to lose a day in Dublin and add it to the middle, I have to agree with mobilmc and skip Galway and the Cliffs, etc.

Ireland is so beautiful, the people so friendly, you will find yourself lingering in places that you thought you would just drive quickly through.

Good luck!

alji

Thanks to all for the suggestions. The trip has taken shape, and I just hope the amount of driving is reasonable. I'd welcome any last suggestions for places to eat where we are spending the nights, and any warnings that we are being completely unrealistic in covering so much territory in any given day. Here's the planned itinerary:

Day 1: Arrive Cork, drive to Cashel. Tour Rock of Cashel, then dinner + pub.

Day 2: Drive through Cahir, then to Killarney, then on to Dingle. If time, and the weather is good: drive up to Conor Pass, before dinner at Out of the Blue. Would welcome suggestions for places to stop for a walk-about or photos en route from Cashel to Dingle.

Day 3: Drive Dingle Peninsula in morning. Then up through Conor Pass, then along the coastal route (Cliffs of Moher), ending up in Kilrush for the night.

Day 4: Continuing along coastal road to Galway. Perhaps a stop at Dunguaire Castle in Kinvarra en route. Suggestions for dinner and things to see in Galway?

Day 5: Drive to Cong, then on to Connemara, before heading to Dublin to drop off car by 16:00. Restaurant recommendations welcomed.

Days 6-7 in Dublin: any suggestions for dinners, things to do, etc. are welcome.

I realize this is an ambitious trip, but it appears to be doable. But I'm also a bit concerned by all the comments about how difficult the driving is in Ireland, how easy it is to blow a tire, how slow the roads turn out to be in reality, etc. So, I'm eager to hear comments from people with experience driving where we plan to go, especially comments telling us this itinerary is completely unrealistic.

Thanks to all for the past comments, and to anyone responding to this message.