calvo2

hello friends -we will be in Ireland late July and early August-14 days (12 nights) our original plan was to spend the following amount of nights in these towns .We must eliminate 1 night somewhere -we are open to any and all suggestions -Which night would you cut out? Many thanks

Dublin 2 nights
Shannon 2 nights (first and last nights)
Galway 3 nights (ancestral connections)
Dingle 2 nights
Kenmare 2 nights
Kinsale 2 nights

mari5

It's a tough choice!
Though it is very nice, like all the others,: I would eliminate one night in Kenmare, !

gruezi

and Kenmare was one of our favorites!!

yes, it's a tough choice.

IrishEyes

What is your arrival time in Shannon?

calvo2

well we'll be coming from the states so i'm assuming it will be early morn-not finalized yet.

NEDSIRELAND

If you're traveling BusEireann you could make it to Galway or Cork (i.e., Kenmare) your arrival morning. That's how I travel: Get where you're going rather than just making a convenience stop.

On the flip side, consider Ennis (County Clare) for your last night. Spend some time at Cruise's Restaurant & Pub: Trad Irish music every night beginning at 10 PM. Ennis is about 30min from Shannon

JOHNOD

To me it looks like your two nights in Dublin are the fly in the ointment, Everyplace else in the in West. If you give up Dublin you could spend your first night Galway and use the three nights that are left to further explore the west or southwest. You might spend a night in Doolin (not my favorite) and take a trip out to the Aran Islands and spend a night or two exploring the Beara, Sheepshead and Mizen Peninsulas which all have spectacular scenery. If Dublin in important to you you should have flown into Dublin and left from Shannon. I that doesn't work for you I would skip a night in Kenamre but getting to and from Dublin is going to mean spending the better part of day driving. Have fun

mowrites

I would cut out Shannon, and I agree that Ennis is a nice and convenient town to stay in your last night. I've stayed there the night before a trip home and had plenty of time to get to the airport. Do not stay at Queens Hotel.

Galway City is great, but I might go out to Connemara to Clifden, at least for one night. I got married there three years ago. It's a small town, but has the Sky Road, with its beautiful vistas, and opportunities for several other outdoor adventures. The Station House Hotel is a nice, modern hotel in the city centre, but we had our wedding at Rosleague (rosleague.com), which was lovely and had a wonderful restaurant. It's also close to Kylemore Abbey, which is always a treat.

In Kinsale, I would highly recommend the Olde Bakery B&B (theoldbakery.com), run by Christine and Tom Quigley. I stayed with them my first time in Ireland in '99, and then several family members did after my wedding in '05. My nephew felt so at home that he took his plate to the sink for washing up.

If you didn't already book your travel, try flying into Dublin and out of Shannon. That's what I did on my first trip, and it made so much sense.

IrishEyes

The reason I asked what your arrival time was into Shannon was to determine if your first nights stay could be somewhere other than Shannon. Most flights from the east coast of the US arrive in the early morning. Flights from the west coast can arrive later.

If you arrive before noon you can easily drive to Galway thus eliminating an overnight in Shannon. There is your extra one night!

IrishEyes

I should mention that the drive from Shannon to Galway takes 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

chip

I would eliminate first night in shannon or night in galway (our least favorite stay...did enjoy surrounding area/connemara...enjoyed stay in Westport). As above stated, you could get to another destination on your first night...most arrival times are ealy in the morning.

Another option would be a night from kinsale.

Dingle and Kenmare were our favorites...so many options for day trips.

calvo2

thanks to all for your help -i think we'll take the advice of driving straight to Galway after arrival. i just wasn't quite sure of how far a ride it was. i've read so many cautions on here about driving while jet lagged that perhaps i was being overly cautious. agin amany thanks

GreenDragon

The drive to Galway is pretty uneventful, so even lagged, it's not too bad.

However, I'll reiterate the idea to cut Dublin out - it's a bit of a drive (3 hours?) each way to Dublin. Why not make this a west Ireland trip completely? Unless you change your flight to fly in or out of Dublin (open-jaw), I'd drop it. That will give you more nights AND more time to explore the west. The drive out there is pretty, but nothing spectacular - mostly motorway and trees.

I will say that Ennis was a very nice base, we stayed there four nights. It's less than a half hour north of Shannon, and a great place to explore the Burren, Cliffs of Moher, etc.