West Ireland itinerary help!
 

Need some Fodorite expertise. One of our planned travel days begins at Cliffs of Moher area and ends in Clifden via Cong.
The next day we head for Kylemore Abbey,Croagh Patrick, Westport and then east.
Are these plans reasonable?
How far east of Westport can we get without killing ourselves? Is Roscommon feasible or is there a better target between Westport & Roscommon.
Thanks for your assistance. This itinerary planning is fun, but time consuming - so many choices.

hhislim asked: "Are these plans reasonable?"

You could do it, and get as far as Roscommon. But I ask myself: why would anybody try that and hope to enjoy it? And I can't think of a good answer.

I know the country; I know the roads; I wouldn't dream of that itinerary in that time unless I was working a courier service.

Taking a route through Cong to get to Clifden adds to the travails.

Do you have a specific reason for wanting to visit Roscommon? If not I wouldn't bother - it's not one of the more scenic counties!

Padraig is spot on. If you can add a day or two to this area you will get so much more out of it.

The aspect of your planned trip that will completely finish you off is going through Cong to get to Clifden. Could you maybe swap Cong and Kylemore Abbey and do Kylemore Abbey on your way to Clifden day 1? On day 2 you can start with Clifden and cover Cong, Croagh Patrick and Westport. Still not ideal.

If you had 1 more day I would do: 1 day to get from Cliffs of Moher to Clifden (via Roundstone). 1 day to do Clifden / Kylemore Abbey / Leenane / Cong ending up in Westport. One day to do Mayo - Westport / Louisburgh / Croagh Patrick.

Thanks for feedback and littlejane's suggestions. Since we only alloted 2 days for this section of our visit, we will drop some sites (probably Cong and/or Westport)and rearrange itinerary.

I'm a big fan of Westport, not so much Cong and would choose Westport over Clifden also. The music pubs in Westport are superior to anything else in the area.

Westport is not really a drive through destionation so spending the night there would be a good option.

Bill