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9 Day trip itinerary west and northern ireland

9 Day trip itinerary west and northern ireland

Old Dec 18th, 2017, 12:16 PM
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9 Day trip itinerary west and northern ireland

Hi all. I was looking for some advise with a very tentative 9 day 8 night trip itinerary I put together. It will be my wife and I along with her parents. We will have a car. It will be her parents first trip, but we have been to the west and south along with Dublin before and have experience driving on the left both in Ireland and England. We will be travelling in late August-September. I am mainly interested in feedback on if the itinerary looks too rushed and if any days don't seem practical. We love the country side and like to take the slower local roads when possible, although obviously time doesn't allow for this in a lot of cases. Will be staying in BnB's throughout the trip other than in Dublin.

Day 1- Fly into Shannon arrive early, pick up car- Cliffs of Moher, to Galway for the night. Would love to head down to check out Loop head lighthouse and that peninsula, but think that would be way too much driving for the first day.

Day 2- Ferry to Innes Moir and spend the day/night there.

Day 3- early ferry back to Rossaveel. Drive to Ashford Castle in Cong for falconry, drive through Connemara region via coastal route (if time allows, if not we'll take the more direct route), to Clifden for the night.

Day 4- Drive Sky road, Tour Klyemore abbey, drive Achill island, stay somewhere near Achill (maybe Newport? open to suggestions)

Day 5- To Donegal via Sligo. Donegal for the night

Day 6. Slieve league, drive to Derry for lunch and quick tour of the town if time allows. To Portrush area for the night. Where would you recommend staying this night? Portrush seems a bit touristy for us. Open to suggestions.

Day 7- Early start to Dunluce Castle, Giants Causeway, carrick-a-rede rope bridge, dark hedges, Antrim coast road to Ballygalley for the night (or suggestions in the area)

Day 8- Tour Carrickfergus castle, Drive to Dublin. Drop off car. Dublin for the night

Day 9- AM in Dublin- Afternoon flight home.

I am most concerned about days 5 and 6. The drives definitely seem doable, but back to back days of a lot of driving without much time for anything else. Aran Islands and the Antrim coast are the two top things on my wife's list, so not sure where we could cut in order to save some time to cover less ground. Open to any suggestions, criticisms, or details any anything major I missed.

Thanks!
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Old Dec 18th, 2017, 07:50 PM
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To get driving times use the journey planner on the aaroadwatch.ie website. You will need to add about 30% to 40% to that to get an accurate estimate.

Why not stay on Achill Island ? Much nicer IMO than another town. There are a number of interesting places. to stay Have a look at The Bervie www.bervieachill.com We stayed there several years ago. An unassuming place with pleasant rooms, an excellent restaurant and just about 50 yards to the sea.

Also suggest that you avoid Portrush for the reasons you mentioned. Just a bit further is Bushmills. The Bushmills Hotrl is nice and there are a couple of other options, The Swashbuckler ?
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Old Dec 19th, 2017, 07:06 AM
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Thanks for the advice. For some reason staying on Achill Island never occurred to me. The Bervie looks gorgeous! Couldn't get a more beautiful location. Will definitely look into staying there.

We definitely know to be very cautious when planning for driving times. We like to stop frequently for pictures and exploring when time allows. For such a relatively small island there is so much to see! Such a struggle finding a balance between fitting as much in as possible and slowing down to really enjoy the things you can fit in. Thanks again for the help!
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Old Dec 19th, 2017, 09:09 AM
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I think you should be fine as long as you accept the fact that you will spend some time in the car. See my link of a similar trip below. We covered similar ground but in reverse order and also included south west Ireland as part of our trip. Hope this helps.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rip-report.cfm
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