Almost every one I have stayed in has given us a key to the front door along with the key to our room. Of course, if we came in late we tried to be very quiet.

Loelle,

Killarney National Park is extensive. Friar's Glen is bounded by the park and you will be driving through parts of it. If you want a lovely walk through part that will not take that long I recommend the Cherry Tree Walk. Across the street from The Avenue Hotel is an archway. Go through it and follow the waking path past Killarney House and to Deenagh Cottage. From there you can walk back through town to your car. Then there is Muckross House and Gardens, Torc Waterfall, etc.

Michele

Hi everyone, one last question - from Dublin to Kilkenny - would you suggest driving via Wicklow and Powerscourt? If I were to pick one, which do you think would be a better stop for the drive? I am worried we wont have time to do both - our plane lands in Dublin at 9am, and I dont want to get to the Guesthouse all that late, I am not sure what the average check in time is.

Thanks!

Thanks Michele. Though, we wont be jet lagged really - we are flying in from a couple of days stay in London... Though it WILL be our first day driving there - and first time driving on the left side. Maybe we should just go straight to Kilkenny...thats a bummer though. I would like to see at least one of those places. Maybe we will see how quickly we adapt and what the weather is like that day.

Thanks Michele, I think we will see how long it takes to get out of the airport and on the road, etc. I dont want to chance being too late to the guesthouse, but I dont want to miss anything if its do-able. I dont think we will have a phone with us so there isnt a way to let them know we will be late. I think we will just do Powerscourt and then head over to Kilkenny. Thanks again!!

Thanks, I will look for that when we get in to Dublin.

:)

OK, I think we have our itinerary set in stone for the May trip - thank you ALL again for your wonderful advice and ideas and information. I wanted to list our full itinerary again now that we have a better idea of exactly what we are doing. I hope its not trying to cram too much stuff into our time there, but it seems like it should work out perfectly.

Day 1 - Drive from Dublin to Kilkenny, stop for lunch on the way. Its our first day and time driving on the other side of the road, and while we planned on trying to hit some other places, we decided to just make it to Kilkenny.

Day 2 - Day in Kilkenny, we plan on doing the walking tour that the boys at Irish Fireside typed up.

Day 3 - Drive to Killarney. This will be our longest driving stretch, so like Kilkenny, we are going to see what we see along the way without making any special pit stops, to make sure we check in on time at our B&B.

Day 4 - Rent bikes, head to Ross Castle, take the boat around the lakes, bike the Gap of Dunloe back into town.

Day 5 - Drive to Killimer - Tarbert Ferries, see the Cliffs of Moher and head to our B&B in Galway.

Day 6 - Free day in Galway. Doing whole trip in one backpack so I figure we will use this day to wash our clothes, roam around, see the city and buy gifts.

Day 7 - Day trip to Inis Orr that includes a cruise under the Cliffs of Moher. This leaves out of Doolin so afterwards we will probably spend some time there, and make the evening drive back to Galway.

Day 8 - Train to Dublin

Days 8-10 - Wander around Dublin. Hope to see Guinness Brewery, Jameson Distillery, Trinity College, St Patricks Cathedral, and of course, to roam around the city aimlessly!

As I said above, most of this itinerary was set up with the help of you all and I really, really appreciate it. I cant wait to share my trip with you all. If anyone has any suggestions about any of the above not being do-able, please feel free to comment.