Help with my itinerary

emso · Newbie

Help with my itinerary

GARYVOL · Veteran Member

Hi Emma,
What time is your flight out of Dublin. It would help Michele to your last ?
Galway to Dublin might be doable if it's late afternoon. About a 4+ hour drive.
-gary

GARYVOL · Veteran Member

ooops, scratch my reponse about Galway to Dublin. i read it wrong. sorry.
-gary

emso · Newbie

The flight to Dublin arrives early in the morning (before 6am) and the flight departing Dublin is at 5pm. The rough itinerary accounts for only 9 days because we're anbticipating leaving Kilkenny to get our flight back to Dublin on the 10th day.

yesiree · Guru

First thing I would do is call Aer Lingus and find out how much it would cost to change the ticket...it might not be too expensive.

If you could start in Shannon, you could stay in County Clare (which might suit your itinerary better than trying to stay near Galway).

You'll probably need to shave off Dingle or Ring of Kerry. Is there something specific in Tralee for you to see?

I'd definitely spend the last night closer to the airport. Even with an afternoon flight, I wouldn't recommend getting there less than three hours before your departure...and with the risk of Dublin traffic, you need to give yourself lots of time to get there.

Since you're meeting up with friends, you may just decide to forgo Cashel or Waterford this trip. I promise, you'll find some other remarkable experience in its place.

emso · Newbie

Corey-

I've already contacted Aer Lingus and we can change the reservation on their website anytime for a $60 fee and any differences in the price of the tickets. We didn't think it was necessarily worth it since its only about a 4 hour drive to Galway and we can see some more of the country. There's also the option of taking the train from Dublin to Galway. Since I first posted, I've been gathering more information. Here's the latest on suggested route and itinerary.

day 1 - Arrive Dublin in the am. Get rental car and drive to Galway.
day 2 - Galway (Connemara, possibly Aran Islands)
day 3- Leave Galway ( Burren and Cliffs of Moher on the way south?). Leave for Kenmare (or possibly Doolin)
day 4 - Kenmare or Doolin (Dingle, Tralee)
day 5 - Kenmare or Doolin (Blarney, Ring of Kerry), Leave for Kilkenny
day 6 - Kilkenny (Cashel)
day 7 - Kilkenny (Waterford)
day 8 - Leave Kilkenny (possibly Wicklow on way to Dublin). Leave for Dublin and return rental car upon arrival in Dublin.
day 9 - Dublin
day 10 - Dublin. Leave Ireland in pm.

Please give me your comments. I'm also concerned because we are arriving in Ireland on Easter Monday, an official holiday. Would that be a problem?

-- Edited by emso at 08:23, 2008-09-24

-- Edited by emso at 08:24, 2008-09-24

Michele Erdvig · Host

emso,

Welcome to my forum. Like everyone that visits Ireland for the first time, you need to be informed of how long it takes to drive around (35 mph!) and how much it is actually possible to do in one day. Do keep in mind that sightseeing takes time. Many people forget to schedule time for that.

I do not recommend driving 4 hours to Galway on your first day fresh off an overnight flight. That is a bit too much of jet lagged driving on the left. Have you ever driven on the left before? You might consider staying closer to Dublin and only driving for an hour or two.

Connemara takes a whole day from Galway. The Aran Islands takes a whole day from Galway. Two days, not one for both.

Can you tell me the attraction of Tralee? What do you want to see there? It is a pretty unremarkable place that most people just pass through on the way to somewhere else.

The only problems on traveling around Easter is that it is a holiday and places like Galway would require advance reservations.

Do you have a map of Ireland? You may want to trace out your route to see the best order for visiting the different areas. For instance, it wold make no sense to do Blarney or Ring of Kerry from Doolin.

Michele

Maggie117 · Guru

Hi, I'm flying into Dublin and out of Shannon this coming October. I'm slightly worried about Dublin but am up for the challenge. If you can't change your flight don't worry about it. Just take it as a challenge and meet it head on. Good luck! Maggie furious

Tough look! :)

stewh · Guru

Hi Emma,
I'm sure you'll have a great time. I think the $60 fee to change your flight to Shannon would be well worth it. There is not really much to see on the drive from Dublin to Galway. I once made the mistake of doing too much of a drive after an overnite flight from North America - not pleasant. The best thing about Tralee for me was getting only slightly lost while driving through.
Stewart

emso · Newbie

Michele- thanks for reviewing the proposed itinerary. Yes, I do have concerns about traveling all the way to Galway from Dublin on our first day. We are still considering the possibility of changing flights to Shannon, but wanted to get a better idea if its doable first. Maybe your suggestion of stopping somewhere between Dublin and Galway will work. Can you or anyone suggest a good place to stay midway between Dublin and Galway? I do have a map and am looking at Athlone.

At this stage we're not sure what's possible. We are thinking of different things and will pare down. We definitely want to go to Connemara, but may have to skip the Aran Islands for some other trip. Of course, we may eliminate something further south to get the Aran Islands in.

As to Tralee, it was suggested by someone. If there's really nothing there we can eliminate that.

I'm looking at the map and see what you mean by Doolin. We must have gotten it confused with somewhere else. We wanted somewhere to base ourselves in the SE and looking at the map Kenmare or Killarney is probably best.

Maggie-thanks for the positive thought. We want an itinerary but not to be too rigid. Yes, we want a list of possibilities, but will be willing to forgo it should something else happens while we're there. We want to see as much of Ireland as possible, but not at a break neck pace.

Michele Erdvig · Host

esmo,

Athlone would be about 1 1/2 to 2 hours drive from Dublin. I recommend Glasson Stone Lodge. You can get the link off my "Lodgings" page.

Yes, eliminate Tralee in favor of more exciting things to see.

Killarney or Kenmare are good for the SW.

Keep planning and you will have a perfect trip.

MIchele