Ireland Trip

[Finance Dave]

Wife and I are planning a trip for this summer...probably early June. Would fly into Dublin, make a "loop" and fly out of Dublin unless you have other suggestions.

Need input please....the attached picture is a map with way too many potential visiting sites...but we want to narrow down with input.

We are in our late 50s....can do some walking but definitely not hikers...about 2 miles per day max for us. Like natural scenery, castles, and and meeting people at pubs/restaurants. Not much into museums. Willing and able to drive on the other side of the road, have done it several times in England/Germany. Prefer either B&Bs or 3-star level hotels...clean and basic.

Probably would spend about 3 days in Dublin without a car, then get the car and the entire trip would be about 10-11 days including travel (in other words, 8-9 days in Ireland given travel days on each end).

I want to stay in the southern half mainly.

You might wonder where I came up with the list of towns on the left (each mark on the map is one of those towns). Some were from this forum, some from a friend who lived in Ireland, and some were from an article I read on the 20 best small towns in Ireland to visit.

In addition to which towns to skip, I would appreciate comments such as "you can probably do towns A, B, and C all in one day, they are close). Also appreciate which towns would be good to stay in overnight.

Lastly, I hear lots of comments about the Ring of Kerry, but it's quite long...is it recommended to drive all of it? Is there perhaps a section of maybe half of it that we could drive to allow more time for other things?

Thanks in advance. More questions to come over the next month I'm sure.

Dave

[Finance Dave]

Just noticed that some of the towns are "cut off" from the list on left....Dublin, Doolin, Cliffs of Moher, Kilkenny Castle, and Lismore Castle....

and the purple ones are places we've been told are "must see".

[Red Badger]

Galway (and the Cliffs of Moher) are very worthwhile. If you opt for the cliffs, go by ship (a Galway mainstay).

When in Dublin area, a night at the Grand Hotel in the coastal town of Malahide is very nice. Malahide also has a seaside path that's great for walking. You can get there by train from Dublin for a couple Euros.Trains are commuters and run Frequently.

Both towns have great restaurants and pubs. The Grand Hotel has above average to excellent on-site dining. The Raddisson Blu in Galway is also great for a stay (and a meal).

[MBAustin]

We spent a week's vacation in Dingle in 1997 and found it wonderfully charming. We made several day excursions including one walk on a farm where our then-5-year-old son stepped square onto a very large cow pie. There were several nice restaurants in town as well as pubs (that we didn't visit). It's a very walkable little town and the people were quite friendly as I recall.

[Bamaman]

We were in Ireland in May for a week. Spent the night in Dubin and headed for Waterville down on the southwest corner in a 5 star B&B--220 miles from Dublin. The Ring of Kerry was just a 1/2 day drive, and it was quite beautiful. Too bad the weather wasn't the best. Driving the backroads was quite an experience, with rough pavement, crooked roads and very little room with walls and bushes on the roadsides.

We came back into Dublin and spent the weekend before flying home.

My wife and I are very well traveled and I have been traveling Europe since 1970. We were looking for better food and great pubs for nightlife. Satellite television now keeps the Irish at home nights looking at "football." Pubs are now sports bars and not especially busy out in the countryside. We found Ireland just a little too quiet for us. But it is beautiful and the people are great.

If at all possible, try to fly out of Shannon as it's much closer. We've been to most all great European cities numerous times, and Dublin is our least favorite. And it's a very expensive city for accommodations, too.

[Red Badger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bamaman We were in Ireland in May for a week. Spent the night in Dubin and headed for Waterville down on the southwest corner in a 5 star B&B--220 miles from Dublin. The Ring of Kerry was just a 1/2 day drive, and it was quite beautiful. Too bad the weather wasn't the best. Driving the backroads was quite an experience, with rough pavement, crooked roads and very little room with walls and bushes on the roadsides. We came back into Dublin and spent the weekend before flying home. My wife and I are very well traveled and I have been traveling Europe since 1970. We were looking for better food and great pubs for nightlife. Satellite television now keeps the Irish at home nights looking at "football." Pubs are now sports bars and not especially busy out in the countryside. We found Ireland just a little too quiet for us. But it is beautiful and the people are great. If at all possible, try to fly out of Shannon as it's much closer. We've been to most all great European cities numerous times, and Dublin is our least favorite. And it's a very expensive city for accommodations, too.

+1 on Shannon vs Dublin.

[Retch The Grate]

I've driven around Ireland repeatedly as a kid, with my folks, and about 9 years ago I did a trip with my girlfriend at the time. We did 17 days, about a week of which was in Dublin. My big suggestion is make sure you aren't spending too much time driving. We tried to stay in each B&B/hotel for at least two nights. In general, assume fewer places is better, and that you can always drive around a location if you happen to exhaust everything in the immediate vicinity.

Ring of Kerry or the Dingle Peninsula are beautiful, and you want to get out to the tip, at which point you may as well go all the way around...

Yes to: Cliffs of Moher, Kilkenny Castle, Powerscourt Waterfall, Rock of Cashel.

I recommend driving through the Wicklow Gap, and there are a ton of stunning drives on the west side of the country. Glendallough is beautiful.

There are lovely little B&Bs everywhere. Can't remember everywhere we stayed, but the ex-gf creates scrapbooks for all her travels so I will ping her and try to remember to come back to the thread.

[COcheesehead]

The big cities in Ireland didn’t do much for us especially compared to some of the cities on the continent. In a word they are “boring.” With that being said, we absolutely loved Ireland, but we went a bit off the beaten path and explored. We loved Dingle Way, Killarney National Park, Kinsale, Gougane Barra, The Wild Atlantic Way, Ring of Kerry. The charm of Ireland is in the small towns and pubs with local music and regional food.

[Ronstar]

2 days in Dublin was enough for me. The Guinness Brewery tour, Book of Kells/ Trinity College library. Liked Cliffs of Moher, ring of Kerry, Dingle, Killarney

[Luck_Club]

Norther Ireland _
Giants Causeway is great if you head into Northern Ireland. Also Game of Thrones Filming locations, stay in the Europa Hotel in Belfast, it has been bombed more times than any other hotel in Europe. (trivia)

Dublin:
HOP on HOP off TOUR! Simple and hits all the sights in 1-2 days.
Recommend this restaurant, and get the lamb sharing platter if in season.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaura...ty_Dublin.html

Galway Base Camp:
Take a full day bus tour to Inishire, cliffs of Moher by water and land. The Aran Islands & The Cliffs Cruise - Galway Tour Company
Going up to Canamare and Ashford Castle is a good day trip, don't recommend staying there since the nightly rate is 1500 euro! This at one point was the Guiness Family Summer home. It is also one of the locations where "the Quite Man was Filmed" Inishire is another where they filmed the famous fight scene through all the stone fields. If you golf...You have to go here...https://www.galwaybaygolfresort.com/.../course-guide/


Killarney is a good base camp to do the Dingle loop. Has a great downtown area with plenty of nightlife and restaurants. We stayed here. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Re...nty_Kerry.html

Skip the ring of Kerry it is a long treacherous road and the Dingle trip is easier and prettier. While in Killarney I recommend doing a falcon walk. Best 120 euro you can spend. Can also do this in Ashford Castle. Ashford Castle is a great place for the blow the dough crowd, Hunts, horse riding, fishing, falconry, archery, are all available if anything is left after the 1500 euro room rate. They have a tea, which other than staying at the hotel is the only way you can enter the castle.
Kinsale was really pretty, but small, did everything in an hour. They have two forts that guard the port. While kicking around 1 of them we saw a couple of middle school kids having a blast riding their horses.

[ugeauxgirl]

We did the Ring of Kerry and the Beara Peninsula. If we had to do it again we would still do the Beara, but skip the ring of Kerry and do the Dingle peninsula instead. We would NOT stay in Killarney again- it was really touristy and lacked the authentic charm of many other towns we liked better. We did like Kilkenny, but I'd agree with a previous poster who said most places in Ireland are charming, and the people are wonderful. Don't stay in too many different places- more is not better, just more tiring.

[Souschef]

Attached is the trip story of our tour of Ireland. Ashford Castle was a highlight.

[donheff]

I did a very similar trip about 20 years ago and enjoyed it. The Ring of Kerry is beautiful but will propbably be quite crowded in summer. Dingle would be a good option. If you do Killarney and the Ring of Kerry you should check out the Gap of Dunloe. When we went signs warned against driving it so we walked up which was a hike that would exceed your parameters. We noticed quite a few cars driving it so we decided to give it a shot after we walked down. The drive was narrow but doable and allowed us to cross over the Gap and come out by a lake on the other side and then loop back to Killarney. Nice trip. But this one will involve lots of crowds too. We enjoyed the Cliffs of Moher from the road. Beautiful views.

[big-papa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Finance Dave Wife and I are planning a trip for this summer...probably early June. Would fly into Dublin, make a "loop" and fly out of Dublin unless you have other suggestions. Need input please....the attached picture is a map with way too many potential visiting sites...but we want to narrow down with input. We are in our late 50s....can do some walking but definitely not hikers...about 2 miles per day max for us. Like natural scenery, castles, and and meeting people at pubs/restaurants. Not much into museums. Willing and able to drive on the other side of the road, have done it several times in England/Germany. Prefer either B&Bs or 3-star level hotels...clean and basic. Probably would spend about 3 days in Dublin without a car, then get the car and the entire trip would be about 10-11 days including travel (in other words, 8-9 days in Ireland given travel days on each end). I want to stay in the southern half mainly. You might wonder where I came up with the list of towns on the left (each mark on the map is one of those towns). Some were from this forum, some from a friend who lived in Ireland, and some were from an article I read on the 20 best small towns in Ireland to visit. In addition to which towns to skip, I would appreciate comments such as "you can probably do towns A, B, and C all in one day, they are close). Also appreciate which towns would be good to stay in overnight. Lastly, I hear lots of comments about the Ring of Kerry, but it's quite long...is it recommended to drive all of it? Is there perhaps a section of maybe half of it that we could drive to allow more time for other things? Thanks in advance. More questions to come over the next month I'm sure. Dave

Your plan is a good one. I know because it's nearly the same path we took several years ago, including starting in Dublin and staying there without a car for about 3 days. Except to cut back to Dublin at the end, we mainly hugged the coast.


Have you yet spent any time driving in countries that use the left side of the road? You eventually get used to it, but some driving skills just aren't automatic and I was always worried that in some sort of tough situation, I would unthinkingly react as if I were driving on the right. I only messed up once and, fortunately, I avoided a head-on collision! Going "backwards" through a roundabout was the other thing I had to concentrate on. If you haven't yet driven in any EU country, might want to brush up on road signs and their meanings.

Speaking of cars, unless you can drive a stick shift, you might want to specifically request an automatic. They might also give you the option of diesel or petrol (gas) - no biggy there until it comes time to fill up. If you do get a diesel, just be aware that while diesel pump nozzle won't fit into a car that uses petrol, the opposite is not true and you could easily end up putting petrol into your diesel tank. Ask me how I know.

[COcheesehead]

Just to tag onto my post above.
Go to Killarney National Park for the park, not the town. I agree the town is a typical tourist town lacking much charm.
Bantry was another small coastal town we enjoyed on the Wild Atlantic Way. Old homes looking over the sea. Cute downtown and little in the way of crowds. The Bantry House is a beautiful stop. The Bay is spectacular.
Pack good rain gear, hat, jacket and shoes. We saw sun, but we also had at least some mist or rain almost everyday and things never really dry out.
If you go to Dingle and I recommend it, make dinner reservations when you get into town. The better restaurants fill fast. Out of the Blue is the one I recommend. Excellent seafood.
There is also a small, craft distillery on the edge of town. They make an excellent whiskey. They were sold out when we where there, but we were able to obtain some at a local pub. They make a good Gin as well.
The Irish are probably the friendliest people we have encountered. Enjoy the trip.

[24601NoMore]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red Badger +1 on Shannon vs Dublin.

Ditto that. We flew into Dublin, rented a car and left Dublin almost immediately. (Dublin is just another big European city, and unless that's your thing, the rest of the country - especially the south/southwest is much more compelling). Spent ~2 weeks driving throughout the south and southwest, and left out of Shannon. I'd recommend you seriously consider that vs trying to get back to leave out of Dublin, unless your itinerary takes you back East at the end due to things you want to catch on that leg back.

The southwest/west part of Ireland is IMHO one of the prettiest places to see, with the most to do. Cliffs of Moher, Ring of Kerry, Dingle Penninsula, etc.

I only skimmed your list so may have missed it, but you might want to check out the Aran Islands if you enjoy natural beauty and peace & quiet. Skellig Michael (old monestary at the top of a very high mountain jutting out of the sea) is also an amazingly cool place to visit. I suspect it's probably gotten very "touristy" since Star Wars Last Jedi (definitely a shame) but when we were there 13 years ago, it was well worth the day to do..however, if you have a fear of heights like I do, may want to skip. I got about 1/4 of the way up and froze - was standing hundreds of feet up on a rickety, crumbling rock pathway that goes roughly 45 degrees up/down with nothing but air around me - no handrail, no nothing - looking out over the sea - and had to be pretty much walked off the mountain . Wife did make it to the top and the pictures she took are amazing, so still on my bucket list to get back some day and conquer the mountain..

I have a couple Dr's appts today so will post more details on our trip later..I'd go back in a heartbeat. In fact, if DW would ever consider it, I'd move there tomorrow and buy a little Irish hut on the west coast somewhere. It truly is a beautiful, magical and very special place.

[24601NoMore]

Funny story about Skellig Michael..when we were there 13 years ago, the boat skipper did not tell us much of anything. Basically get on the boat, take the fairly rough and choppy trip out, he pulls up to the dock, and you get off. We kinda wondered why and later realized it was probably liability reasons. (If they don't tell you anything, they're not encouraging you to risk life and limb to climb to the top).

The funny part is that once you get off the boat (with absolutely no directions from the boat captain or anyone), you walk down this little path and there's a sign that basically ways "welcome to Skellig Michael" from the Irish Tourism board. Then, there's a long list of things they are "not responsible for" including my personal favorite as the very last item on the list..

"LOSS OF PERSON"..

Yikes. Mark Hamill is reported to have almost fallen off himself when filming Last Jedi. But have heard conflicting reports on that..

Still a very beautiful and special place if you can manage the heights and safety risks..

[Souschef]

At the entrance to the Gap of Dunloe, there is a pub called Kate Kearney's Cottage. We were there for dinner and Irish dancing. It was great

[DFA]

Here are some of the place we saw on our trips to Ireland:

Picked up a one day bus trip out of Dublin to New Grange and Hill of Tara.
Stayed in Dublin near Trinity College saw Book of Kells, Dublin castle, St Patrick's church and Christ Church.
Headed south to Powers Court and Powers Court waterfall.
Next to Kilkenny castle, Rock of Cashel, Waterford, Blarney Castle, and Cobh each a day. Then to Killarney to see Muckross House, Killarney Park, and then day bus trips from Killarney to Ring of Kerry, and Dingle tour you can pick up these trips in downtown Killarney and let them do the driving this was a 3 day stop then to Doolin for two day to see Doolin, Cliffs of Moher, and the Aran Islands day trip.

We next stopped and toured The Burren some hiking here. Next to Galway 4 days to see Galway, bus tour to Kylemore Abbey from Galway, car ride to Ashford castle, spent time in the shopping district downtown. Then back to Dublin.


We did this on two trips to Ireland and are planning another trip soon.

[Nemo2]

It's been 32 years since I visited Ireland, but I remember Alice Kyteler, the Witch of Kilkenny: