Missy,

Welcome to my forum! I am so glad you found it and you must let us all know when you have some specific questions. With only four days you need to choose carefully what you will do and see. It is a short time but it will give you a small "appetizer" of Ireland.

Michele

Hi! I'm heading to Ireland this October and have been reading this site and talking to folks that I work with who have been. Two people really said Dublin was a great place to stay and take day trips from. One person recommended Temple Bar, which is in a "happening" area of Dublin.
 
With that said, I'm staying in Dublin for three nights and then moving on to the country side, which is what I really want to see.

Good luck with your planning!

Maggie

With the amount of time that you have, if seeing the country areas of Ireland is important to you, I would stay away from Dublin. You could easilly spend three or four days seeing the sites there, so I think you have to choose whether this is going to be an urban or village experience this time around. As you will see on this forum, most who have been there will caution you to not try and do too much in a short time.

My choice for a short visit would be to fly into Shannon and see some things on the gorgeous west coast and leave Dublin for another trip. However, if you are not planning to rent a car, the city setting would be a better choice that rural areas.

Whatever you do, however, you will enjoy it.

Have a good journey and much fun.

-- Edited by Sidz at 10:43, 2008-05-05

It's really going to depend on what you want to see. You could base yourself in Dublin and do day trips to Newgrange, Glendalough, Kilkenny, and still see some sights in Dublin, plus hit the pubs in the evening. There are several companies that offer various day trips out of Dublin so this would be make it easy. I think if you fly into Shannon you would have to rent a car to see the countryside, and that would be an added cost, or you could just take the train to Killarney and do some day trips from there through the park, and the Ring of Kerry or Dingle Penninsula. I think it will probably depend on your flights, arrival and departure, because with just four days you will want to make the most of your time. If you fly into Dublin and only have half a day left you can spend it wandering the city and see a fair bit, but if you fly into Shannon you will still have to deal with getting a car, or possibly getting to some other location.

I wish I was planning another trip to Ireland. My aunt and cousin are headed out in June, though, and I referred them to you to do their itinerary. I'm planning a trip to Scotland in September, and I'm wishing there was a site like this for Scotland. It appears to be a little more difficult to get around by train in Scotland, and outside of Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen, I'm not sure where else to spend some time. It's nice to come here and read the trip reports, and all the good advice.