SW Ireland Itinerary - advice?
 

Hi, my boyfriend and I are travelling to Ireland in a month and are trying to determine the best itinerary. So far we are flying into Galway (from London) to spend 2 nights in Connemara (this part is set). Our plan is to wake up early on the morning we leave Connemara (Wednesday) to drive to Kenmare via The Burren, The Cliffs of Moher and Dingle. The next day (Thursday) we would drive the Ring of Kerry before heading to Kinsale where we would spend the night. The morning after that (Friday) we drive to Dublin after a morning in Cork. We spend 2 nights in Dublin and fly home early Sunday.




Obviously a ton of driving but that doesn't concern me too much. But, are we going to miss anything?? Also, and almost most important is that I am not sure if staying in Dingle makes more sense than Kenmare.

Would you recommend Kenmare or Dingle for one night in Kerry??




Any advice would be much appreciated!!

It's quite enough, probably more than enough for most people, to drive from Galway to Dingle in one day.

I suggest that you omit Kenmare and the Ring of Kerry from your programme. Stop in Dingle, do the Slea Head drive. Maybe stop a second night in Dingle -- or you could transfer to Kinsale if you really love driving.

Why the big hurry? Get into things; don't just pass by them.

I agree with you and so wish we had more time! My boyfriend really wants to do the Ring though... feels he would be missing out on something if we didn't see it. I have a thing about Dingle - I really want to visit there. We end up in Dublin anyway so stopping in Kinsale was just to help us get from point a to b...

I really appreciate your advice!!

Just tell him that he is wrong. The Ring of Kerry is overrated. Tell him that I said so.

The nice bit of the ring is the road between Killarney and Kenmare. Take your night in Dingle, then travel Dingle-Tralee-Killarney-Kenmare-Kinsale.

I'm in complete agreement with Padraig, just for another vote to convince your boyfriend! Driving just from Connemara to Dingle would be a long way for me. No way would I drive to Kenmare afterwards. I did the Slea Head drive on Dingle and the Kenmare-Killarney part of the ROK last year, and enjoyed Slea Head much more. The driving was less stressful and the scenery was more beautiful. That part of the ROK is lovely, but it's much more traveled and had me gripping my steering wheel much more tightly. I'm glad we didn't do the rest of it. Just stay in Dingle and enjoy it.

I have driven both the Ring of Kerry (twice) and Dingle, and prefer the beauty of Dingle. It is a gentler area, less built up for the tourists. The Blasket Island Centre is a great stop, very poignant. Check out the Gallerus Oratory.

I agree that much of the RoK is overrated, but for those who make the tour into the interior of the Iveragh peninsula, you won't be disappointed.

Padraig - We'll be in Dublin 2-3 October.

Bill

Bill, I think I might manage to get to Dublin at that time.

My email is my screen name plus [email protected]

Another vote for Dingle! We did the Ring of Kerry because we felt like we might have been missing something if we didn't, and while we weren't disappointed (well, okay, a little), we felt like the Slea Head Drive far surpassed the ROK in terms of beauty. What I wouldn't have wanted to miss on the ROK was Dunloe Gap and a picnic at a castle ruin on the beach at Ballingskellig.

Just to give you a sense of the timing involved, we left Killarney at about ten, and did the ROK (picnic, a few stops, one in Kenmare, and one at a little fair in another town. They were having a "wife-carrying contest later that day, but we didn't have time to tarry), ended up at Inch Beach on Dingle around 4:00, played on the sand dunes for an hour or two and drove on the beach--how cool is that, and then got to our hostel at the tip of the Dingle Peninsula by about 7:00. We had done the Gap of Dunloe and Killarney National Park the evening before.

Then the next morning we left the tip of Dingle about nine or ten, and drove to Doolin (near the Cliffs of Moher), arriving about 4:00 or 5:00. We took the ferry through Tarbert, and didn't make many stops that day. Of course, the word "many" is relative. I realized at one point that everytime we would stop to use the bathroom, usually at a Spar, we would end up spending ten euros on ice cream, etc. After that, the stops were fewer and farther between!