drberry

I only have 4 days to spend in Ireland. Which city or area would offer the best experience?

Ozarksbill

So little time! May depend on whether you arrive Dublin or Shannon. I hope you'll be getting lots of suggestions, but you need to first determine what is your focus, i.e., scenery, history, castles & manor houses,pubs with music, museums. I could mention what I liked but that isn't you. Just get out those guidebooks on Ireland and have a go. Bill in Missouri

doc_

all I can tell you is what we did on a 4 day trip. Flew into Shannon,drove to dingle and spent the night and toured the dingle peninsula for a day. Then drove the ROK,stayed in Sneem and Kenmare. Loved both towns. The drove up to Adare and spent the night so we could have a short drive to the airport the next day. We found Adare to be a bit less than we expected.

Ireland is a country that any 4 day trip could be fantastic. Hope this helps.

opaldog

We have done 2 short trips to Ireland. The first was in March 2000. We flew into Dublin. We rented a car and had no problem driving into the city. We based ourselves in Dublin at the Kilronan House for 3 nights. We went south to Glendalough, wicklow, avoca then west to Kildare to the Curragh race track. We went to a Van Morrison concert in Dublin and on the day we left we went to Malahide near the airport to visit the castle before our flight. We just went for the second time to the west coast and flew into Shannon. We based ourselves for 3 nights in Galway. We drove from the airport to Cliffs of Moher and then up along the coast to Galway. The weather was not good while we were there. We also went north to Connemara for a day and west to Ballinasloe to the Horse Fair. The fourth night we went south to Limerick and went to the Munster National Horse race, flying out the next day. We preferred the first trip. We liked Dublin and were able to get right out into the countryside and along the water easily. There was more to do in Dublin and believe it or not people were friendlier to us in Dublin than anywhere else.

allisonm

Part of the problem with Ireland is that so much is scenery, and if you have lousy weather, well....We had heavy fog in Connors Pass one year, and this past spring the Cliffs of Moher and Sky Drive in Clifden were totally fogged in. Once you decide what you would most like to do, I would suggest basing yourself in a sizeable town so if the touring is no good, there will be plenty of other stuff to do. There's quite a bit in the Galway area, or if you go south from Shannon, Killarney is a popular spot with good access to the Ring of Kerry. As Opaldog suggested, Dublin is also a good base.
(Opaldog, I must have just missed you! Van Morrison's concert was the day or day after we came home. What a show to miss!!)

allisonm

oops, meant to edit, not post. Since I started off with "one of the problems of Ireland," I wanted to clarify that we love Ireland and hope to sneak in our 4th trip soon, maybe this fall. (Have to see how much I spend in Paris!) We have had incredible luck in general with the weather each time we go. I hope you enjoy your 4 days there, wherever you decide to go!

NEDSIRELAND

OzarksBill hit one aspect. Here are a few others:
Time of year when you will be visiting (weather & limited hours of daylight);
Will you be driving?
Are we talking about 4-full days or one jet-lagged day of arrival w/departure on the 4th day.

In the latter case I would say Dublin (if that is your arrival airport). The Dublin area is nice for a short visit: Glendalough & Wicklow Mountains and a day or two for Dublin itself.

If you arrive at Shannon airport (as we will on 27 Feb), stay in the southwest. On our 4-day trip We will be staying in Ennis and touring west Clare (Cliffs of Moher, Doolin & the Burren, etc.). If the weather is nice, we might even play 9-holes of golf at Spanish Point G.C. near Miltown Malbay. Saturday we plan to spend the day in Galway, maybe even touching on Connemara.

Everything other than hotel or B&B may be left to ad hoc decisions. They will be heavily dependent on weather. That's the way I do it!

martina

If you arrive in Shannon, why not head north for Galway. Beautiful city. Then further north to County Mayo. Great scenery en route. Westport is a lovely town. If you are feeling energetic, climb Croagh Patrick. Take a trip to Knock (holy shrine). Nearer to Shannon are the Cliffs of Moher. However, all of this is better done during the summer months. If you arrive in Dublin, I'd base myself there for the few days. Lots of bars, nice restaurants/hotels, museums/galleries, Good shopping - Grafton Street area and Henry Street area. 'Avoca Handweavers' is located in Kilmacanogue and also in the village of Avoca in County Wicklow. You could take that in with a trip to Glendalough. The Point Depot is a good place for concerts. Take a trip to the Guinness Hop Stores and taste the real thing! Enjoy!!!

reddattitude

Depends of course if you want city or scenery. I would suggest going to the west for the scenery. If you don't want to drive much, you could stay in Kenmare (I stayed in a wonderful place in Kilgarvan, not far from Kenmare) and from there you can drive the ring of Kerry, Baera and to Dingle. Kenmare, Killarney are all wonderful. Within a few hours (it's fairly central on the west) you can get to Kinsale, the cliffs of Moher, Blarney, Rock of Cashel..

reddattitude

of course, I mention "if you dont' want to drive much.." then talk about driving everywhere! What I meant by all that is that when I went to Ireland, I found Kenmare to be a great home base! Galway is wonderful as well. I found Bantry and Skibbereen (southwest) disappointing, and Ballykissangel as well. Anywhere you go, it will be wonderful!