blujaglove, you can't go wrong with the west coast of Ireland...whether you choose to go north of Shannon or south of Shannon, it's wonderful! I agree with Michele that you might want to consider covering less ground...if you choose to go south to Dingle, that's a great area, and you could spend several nights there exploring, and even go out to the Blasket Islands. Or if you choose to go north from Shannon, there's the Cliffs of Moher, the Burren, Galway, Aran Islands, Connemara...

I don't think there are any wrong choices there, all great places! Just too many of them to cover in a week... Enjoy beautiful, friendly Ireland!

Michele's book is great and it was my favorite book of all the Ireland guidebooks I added to my collection.

 

Thanks everyone so far.  We are thinking of changing this around some because of the driving distances but haven't given up the hope (though we still may) of exploring the dingle and clifden.

To answer Michelle's question - we are very active (climbed kilimanjaro and mt blanc within last 3 years) so sitting around would be painful.  On the other hand we don't want to see Ireland through the windshield.

Our new thought is to leave shannon at 6:00 am when we arrive and go straight to Kenmore and overnight there.  We would spend most of the next day in Killarney, before going to Dingle for 2 nights.  Then we would go north from there.

This might be our only trip to Ireland because we have so many other places in the world to explore so we want to take in all we can.

Just in case we change our mind - I would love others opinion as to whether the would go to the southwest area or the west area if they were forced to pick one.  They both sound so great!

blujaglove, you asked a good question...if I had to choose between SW Ireland (including Dingle) or the west coast of Ireland (including Cliffs of Moher and the Burren), which would I choose?

Usually I have a definite answer to questions like that. But my answer is, they both seem equally appealing, and I would choose one or the other, but not both, with the amount of time you have.

I think the only mistake in Ireland is that...if you really love getting out of the car and exploring on foot...then the mistake would be driving to too many places and only spending a night or two in each destination...it's just not long enough to get out and explore! Plus since the west and SW of Ireland is composed of lots of little villages and natural areas and ruins, you might want to hop in your car after breakfast and drive a little bit, and then get out and hike...that consumes more time. Plus you MUST hang out in a pub with traditional Irish music in the little villages. If you stay until midnight...you might not want to get up too early in the morning...so you'll get a late start on your outing the next morning...that consumes more time.

I totally hear you, when you say there are so many places to explore in the world, you might never get back to Ireland so you want to do it all...alas, I thought the same thing, but I realize now that doesn't work. Because we went to County Kerry, County Clare, County Mayo, County Antrim, County Galway, County Down, and County Dublin (Malahide only), and County Sligo (enroute only) on our first trip, I will never be "finished" with Ireland, because seeing so many spots in Ireland is like a tease, and they will all call you back...in each place, you will have left behind something you couldn't fit in and you long to see! I really think if we had only gone to one county, I might not be feeling like I need to plan 3 or 4 more trips to Ireland! (We didn't stay in all of those counties...we stayed in some, and we explored others en-route.)

Out of all of those counties, my favorites are County Kerry, County Clare, and County Mayo. I hope to return to those 3. I also hope to visit County Donegal, which we didn't see at all.

If you really want to squeeze an answer out of me...where did I LOVE the most... here is what I would choose:

Westport, County Mayo (Matt Malloy's pub...for the traditional Irish music and wonderful people...plus it's a great little town with shopping and not so many American tourists. Also plenty of day-trips in County Mayo to see lovely scenery or climb a mountain or walk on a beach...)

Dingle, County Kerry (loved Heaton's guesthouse in Dingle as a base; loved exploring Dingle peninsula; Connor Pass was a view of heaven in the mist; and best of all, The Blasket Center in Dunquin on the Dingle peninsula fascinates me...we all wanted to take a boat out to the Blasket Islands but we ran out of time...now I must return to do this!!!

County Clare: loved the traditional Irish music at Greene's pub in Ballyvaughan and the barn dance in Kilfenora...each little village in County Clare has something happening, depending on the night of the week...there is a web-site listing which little pub is having live music on which night of the week...sorry can't find the web-site right now but it's in my trip report... and of course County Clare has the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher.

Darn I've gone on and chosen 3 choices instead of only 1 !!!

Maybe this will help you. There are places that are Must-Sees which we didn't see at all, and I have no regrets about that...because it's hard to regret something when you haven't ever seen it! We didn't see Dublin at all, we didn't see the Rock of Cashel... Those are must sees but we couldn't fit them in. Do I regret that? Nope, not one bit, as we had a wonderful trip...and someday I hope to see both of them.

You probably won't be able to get out to any islands unless you spend enough time in one county..keep that in mind. We didn't have enough time for either the Aran Islands or the Blasket Islands.

What is really special about a visit to Ireland is those little spontaneous moments when magic happens for you. I really think the more time you spend rooted in one b&b as your base for one county...the more time you have to dig in and get away from the tourist herds...and have your magic moments happen.

Have a wonderful trip to Ireland!