cmf_1098

My husband and I will be making our first trip to Ireland (Europe for that fact) this September. We are flying into Shannon, arriving on a Saturday morning (9:30AM). Can someone suggest a nice, welcome to Ireland, town to stay our first night/day? Note, we will have a rental car.

Our second night is on Inis Mohr, via Ros a Mhil. The plan is to catch the lunchtime ferry. I am not interested in staying in Galway the first night, as we are staying there the night after we overnight on the Aran Islands. I don't hear good things about Limerick. I was going to try Clifden, but now I fear it is too far for one night, the first night.

Thanks!

annw

I liked Ennis for this purpose. Good trad music, places to stay, and not far.

rosetravels

I've not stayed overnight here, just stopped for coffee, but Ennis looked nice to me too.

tarmor1

We are flying into Shannon. And heading over to the cliffs of moher - I'd stay in Doolin or Lisdoonvarna if I was you, then the next day you can explore the burren and head up toward galway.

Cowboy1968

All three options would work, IMO.. depending on your preferences.

Bunratty is only a very short detour from Shannon AP (less than 10kms), in case you want to start your trip with an open air museum village plus castle.

Ennis has the advantage of being a real town, and a really nice one. It's probably best start when you just want to stroll around a bit, look at a few quirky shops, and have a good choice of restaurants, cafes, and pubs.

Doolin is a small village on the sea, with a bit of "cottage sprawl" going inland. If you want more nature than town, and a bit of *hiking* in the countyside as a start, this would be your choice.

cmf_1098

Thanks so much for the suggestions, Ennis sounds like a good option I will research. We have Doolin booked for a night after we stay in Galway, this is when we work our way down to Dingle after we stay in the Aran Islands.

I started looking last night, after I posted this and was curious if anyone has visited Kinvarra.

gablues

We stopped in Kinvara last week..it is a pretty little town on the Galway Bay. We decided not to stay there as we were looking for live music and nothing was on that Saturday.

TPAYT

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g1...re-Hotels.html

We also are going to Ireland and landing in Shannon in Sept.

After much research, especially on Fodors, we have chosen Ennis for our first night. Here's a good list of properties from Trip Advisor. We chose Grey Gables and are looking forward to our stay.

Good Luck!