It's been quite awhile since I've been on here but we leave in 3 weeks! Here's our rough itinerary:
Arrive Shannon 10:00 am - first night in Adare Adare to Tralee - stay here for two nights, taking day trip to Dingle Tralee to ? - We want to head up to the Cliffs of Moher and possibly the Burren for a couple of nights. ? to Bunratty for the last night
I need help with the ? - how long will it take to get from the Tralee area to the Cliffs area?
Is this pushing it for 6 nights? We don't want to be on the road the entire time nor be driving much after dark.
Also, I'm definitely pre-booking Adare and Bunratty. Should I pre-book the in-between places also?
Daylight will remain fairly late this time of year, probably 9-ish. By June it isn't truly dark until nearly 11 PM!
If you do your first night in Adare, I'm not sure why you would want to stay in Tralee. It's a nice enough, working town, but I would think that you would find Dingle Town much more interesting.
If it were me, I'ld do the nights like this: #1: Adare #2: Kenmare or Killarney #4:Dingle #6: Ennis or Bunratty
OR, if Adare ISN'T already booked, I would actually prefer this:
Day #1: (20 May) Drive to Cliffs and stay in either Doolin, Lahinch, Milltown Malbay, or even Kilkee Day#2, #3: (May 21-22) Take the Tarbert Ferry and drive to Killarney or Kenmare. Spend two nights. Day#4&5: (May 23-24) Drive to Dingle and spend two nights. Day 6: (May 25) Drive VIA Adare to Bunratty or Ennis and spend the night.
To me, this flows smoother, keeps the driving to a minimum and has the added advantage of placing you in Dingle in time for the Grand IrelandYes! Dingle Gathering! (I just made THAT up!) Here's the Thread with the info: Dingle
Bob
-- Edited by Itallian Chauffeur at 07:27, 2007-04-30
-- Edited by Itallian Chauffeur at 15:56, 2007-04-30
__________________
Bob
Help Us to Help You. The more you tell us about your plans (dates, interests, budget), the better we can tailor our advice to suit!
I also would choose Dingle town over Tralee. Tralee puts you closer to the Cliffs, but
Also consider 1 or 2 nights Adare (the N69 route from Adare to Ballybunion via the Shannon estuary is worth the drive as a day trip...you could end in Dingle), 2 nights Dingle, 2 nights County Clare (you could see all you mentioned from Bunratty...but staying in Ennis, Ballyvaughan or any of the Clare towns would be more interesting). If you spend only one night in Adare, you can add a day elsewhere.
You could get away with not prebooking, but since you know the general area you want to cover, I'd probably try to book some great places prior to leaving. Or I'd have a decent-sized list of favorable options to bring along.
I'm not sure on drivetimes, but I'd leave 2-3 hours from Tralee to the Cliffs and 3-5 hours Dingle to Cliffs. Speedy drivers could make it faster.
I agree that Tralee is not the most attractive town to spend two nights in Ireland. About another 30 minutes from Tralee is a wonderful B&B near Castlegregory on the north side of the Dingle peninsula. It is The Shores. You can click through to it from my "lodgings" page.
Otherwise, the advice you have received from Bob & Corey is excellent.