We are planning an 11-day trip to Ireland in early May. Going on this trip will be me, my husband, and our 20-month-old daughter. We will be renting a car. (Husband has driven on many trips to England.) We plan to rent one self-catering cottage/flat for 7 nights, and rent another for 4 nights. While, logically it seems we should do the 7 days on in the west or southwest(all the natural beauty there, and nice villages/towns), we are thinking we should do the longer stay around Dublin instead. Reasoning: the long driving days (what we'll have on the west coast) are hard on the little one -- she gets cranky if we have too much time in the car. We're thinking if we base ourselves near Dublin, we can commute into Dublin for one or two days to see the sights there, then have a bunch of days of short trips -- e.g., to Newgrange, manor houses, etc. We'd also have one really long driving day so we can see the Giant's Causeway. (This is one of the only must-do's on my list.)

If you've gotten this far (sorry, I'm wordy), does this plan make sense? What towns near Dublin would be the most pleasant for a one-week stay? For reference, in England, we have enjoyed our stays in Chipping Campden and Keswick, both of which we visited in April (on separate trips), before most of the tourists arrived.

Any advice would be most appreciated!

Why not fly into Shannon and you will be near the west coast
www.shannonregiontourism.ie
If you are going to Dublin www.visitdublin.com will help.

If we did a week near Dublin, and 4 days in the west, we would fly into Dublin, and out of Shannon.

Our concern with staying a week in the west/southwest is that while the scenery would be beautiful, it would be very long driving days, with not much to break up the drives. We've done trips like that by ourselves (and enjoyed them), but it would be hard on our daughter.

So, restating my question (buried as it was), what towns near Dublin would be nice to stay in?

Thanks again.

With a chils Malahide might be nice as its on the sea and you could get a B&B with parking for the car as well as being close enough to a motorway for all those day trips. It is also close to the airport. Its a picturesque town. Malahide Castle is close by for a morning visit and you could talke the afternoon for Newgrange.

Southside you could stay in a few places as well. What facilities do you want and how far out of the city will you go?

Siobhan, thanks for your suggestion about Malahide. That sounds like a place to look into.

We'd like to get a self-catering cottage/house, in a town where we can walk in the evenings (so one of us can stay home with the baby, and the other can go into town). Close to the motorway is a plus. We don't need to be that close in to Dublin -- maybe within an hour commute by DART?

vamoodys:
My family and I stayed in Dunlaoghaire just south of Dublin for three days on our trip to Ireland. It's just a short Dart ride to the city. Look at our trip blog here: spaces.msn.com/cartersblog
Ireland is a wonderful place and we can't wait to return.

You will find it hard to get a self catering outside Dublin as most of these type of rentals would be in touristy areas in the countryside. Have you actually coinsidered dropping the car back and staying in the city in an apt. There are more rental options like this in the city and I think Dublin is pretty child friendly. I.e. you won't get horrible looks walking in with a small child to a restaurant.

Check these out for Dublin short let apts:

Check out Millenium tower not Christchurch
http://www.dublinevents.com/dublin-a...tay-dublin.php

Also these are near the Park (St Stephens green)
http://www.dublinevents.com/dublin-a...apartments.php

You could have a relaxing few days in thw city. Near the millenium apartments is an indoor/outdoor Italian quarter you can have a coffee outide each morning and let the little one safely run around. In the evenings the wine bar is open serving platter of food and wines you could still come and sit poutside on a nice evening with your child. Weekends have markets (Food one in Temple bar each Sat) and check if any events are on. You also could do day trip in bus tours to get outside of the city.