Well, I had our whole itinerary worked out for our October trip to Ireland and wouldn't you know it? I spoke to someone who seems convinced I should not miss a visit to the Cliffs of Moher and Galway.
We are going to (in this order) Dublin (2 days), Cahir (1 day), Blarney (1 day), Killarney (2 days), Dingle (2 days), Tralee (2 days), and back to Dublin (1 day). All hotels/castles/B&B's are booked and deposits have been made so changing things at the beginning of the trip would give a snowball effect and mean everything would have to be changed. So I was thinking maybe of giving up Dingle, moving up our stay at the Ballyseede Castle in Tralee two days and adding in two days to see the Cliffs and Galway.
Thoughts?
I would hate to think I missed seeing the cliffs if they are indeed as magical as my friend has said. Any help would be great. Thanks Fodorites!

I would never give up the cliffs to see Galway. And I would never, never give up the Dingle Peninsula. Somehow I would work it out to drive to the Dingle Peninsula and then up to the cliffs and then back to Dublin.

If you are staying in Killarney then going to Tralee You have the full day to drive Dingle on the way. Then you could have a day driving up the Clare coast to Galway passing the Cliffs on the way, another day to do a small Connemara visit and then off to Dublin.

Would I trade 2 nights in Dingle for 2 nights in Galway? Definitely and I'm not even that fussed about Galway other than the fact is a great touring base with lots of options and a wide choice of evening entertainment.

Tony2phones...my thoughts exactly. I am thinking we could spend the day driving the peninsula and then hit Tralee leaving us the two days to see the Cliffs and surrounding area. I am going to speak with my friend more and see where exactly she was suggesting we go. There is still time to figure it out. Thanks for your thoughts.

I would skip Tralee, drive to the Cliffs from Dingle, tour the cliffs and the rest of the Burren-boulders from the ice age, limestone pavement, megalithic tombs,Kilfenora crosses, etc.Sleep in nearby Doolin.Great traditional music in the local pubs.
We liked the Aran View Hotel.

http://www.aranview.com/index.html

http://www.booking.com/hotel/ie/aran...1adc74c9d6f2X3

For your next day/night you could tour and stay in Galway or the Connemara before returning to Dublin.

An alternative for night 2 would be to stay in Bunratty and attend the Bunratty Castle Medieval Banquet.Yes it is touristy, but the female singers sang like nightingales.

http://www.shannonheritage.com/Eveni...dievalBanquet/

We stayed here(Gallows View B&B):

http://www.booking.com/hotel/ie/gall...5c52ae34beaX15

Dugi...yes, it is seeming as though Tralee is the spot we should skip. We were just going to relax there with a spa day and would rather push on and see the Cliffs. Thank you for your suggestion. I will look them up.

I agree with cd.

My hotel, The Ballyseede Castle, says it is a 2.5 hour trip to the Cliffs either by driving through Limerick or taking a ferry. I'm thinking maybe I don't have to change anything and we should just make it a day trip and drive from Tralee to the Cliffs.

?

I would skip Dingle which is within the reach of both Killarney and Tralee. As said Galway is a great touring base for the Burren and Cliffs area of Clare then the Aran Isles and Connemara which is a decided contrast to the south west corner of our island. You also have the benefit of the 2 1/2 hour run on the M6 from Galway to Dublin (plus a possible stop at Clonmacnoise)

To each his own but I was not the least bit impressed with the Cliffs. I would spend the time to drive around the Dingle Peninsula. Another place I liked a lot was Kinsale. All of Ireland is so beautiful that it's hard to say that spending time anywhere is a mistake. If you are into cliffs you would enjoy the cliffs along the Normandy coast and the Pas de Calais coasts of France. Spent last week hiking the cliffs of Pas de Calais.

Who would have ever thought two weeks would not be enough time? LOL I am going to mull this over and revisit it later in the week. I am just so confused about what to do right now. But thank you,everyone, for your help!

Personally, I would not think the Cliffs of Moher are worth five hours' driving.

Tralee has very little to commend itself to the visitor, but Ballyseede Castle is a very nice hotel. It's much easier to get from Ballyseede to Killarney than to Dingle, so if you like the idea of keeping it in your schedule, you might be wiser to use it as it your base for the Killarney stuff than for Dingle.

Unlike Tony, I think time spent in Dingle is time well spent, particularly if you make the effort to do more than the Slea Head drive.

Padraig, we are spending two nights in Killarney, then two in Dingle, then two at Ballyseede. One of the days at Ballyseede will be a spa day. However, I am thinking that maybe we should forego the spa day and head to the Cliffs and spend a night up there. Just deciding what to do and how important going to the Cliffs is to us.

If all you want to get from County Clare is the Cliffs then I would go with the others and not bother. You could see loop head in South Clare by crossing the ferry and turning left.

http://www.loophead.ie/index.htm

Your original question related to going to Galway and whilst you could see the Cliffs of Moher from above or better from below on a trip out from Doolin. There is a lot more to West Clare than 1/2 a mile of coast. The Burren covers a large area between the coast and the N18.

http://www.burrennationalpark.ie/

Galway has enough diversity to cover all tastes, then as stated you could take a tour of the Arans in particular Inis Mor sailing from Rossaveal.

http://wikitravel.org/en/Inis_M%C3%B3r

If the weather is not fit to go over to the Islands then you could take a drive along the N59 into the Connemara.

http://connemara.net/
http://www.tripadvisor.ie/ShowTopic-...ty_Galway.html

But I am sure that Dingle has far more to offer, everyone knows its the only place in Ireland worth going (Or at least the only place in Ireland no on is permitted to speak against)

Tony2phones...thank you. You give me a lot to think about. I appreciate the links.