Hi Elise:

Welcome to the forum. You have a pretty short time there but you don't sound overly ambitious, so I think it won't be hard to figure out a good plan. As much as you may not expect it, you will probably be pretty tired a short while after you get off the plane so keep this in mind. I like to limit actual driving time to about 2 hours the 1st day and spend as much time as posiible out of the car moving around.

I would take the Ring of Kerry our of the equation. It's rather expansive, takes quite a while to drive and though I love it, doesn't really offer the bang for the buck that Dingle would. The loop I'll suggest could be done in either direction, but my suggestion would be to do two night is Dingle and one back in Co. Clare.

If you spend the 1st day getting to Dingle (it will be about two hours of driving) with stops along the way, then you can spend the next day touring around. On the way to Dingle, you can stop in the little village of Adare which is well known for a grouping of almost made for movies thatched houses. It's a cute town (IMO almost too cute) but worth a stop. If you come in on the N86 you would have to backtrack a bit to visit Inch Strand, but it a beautiful beach and worth a stop if you are not too tired. Instead of trying to get too much in, spend the rest of that day walking around Dingle as energy allows.

The Slea Head drive can be driven in about an hour or so, but anyone who does that would be crazy. It's a classic ooh and ah around every corner with lots of options to get out and do things along the way. I've spent a whole day on it. To me this is a good second day.

At one point or another on the Dingle Peninsula, you should go over Conor Pass. The road is much better than it used to be but there are still two short sections that are good for a bit of terror.

The good news is that the days are quite long at this time of year so there will be plenty of time for sight seeing. Just beware of exhaustion on the 1st day.

On the third day you could head for Co. Clare via the ferry at Tarbert, then up the coast towards the Cliffs of Moher. Many of the roads aren't high speed here so figure 4 hours of driving to the Cliffs. You could stay in the area (Doolin for instance) and then spend your next day enjoying a bit more of Clare before heading back to Shannon.

This could all easily be done in revearse since your flight out is in the evening so that could give you plenty of time to get from Dingle to Shannon. So my long winded version is twom nights Dingle, one night Co Clare (Doolin). I think I kinda like starting with Doolin because there is less driving on the 1st day.

Bill

Wonderful- these are great suggestions. I think we will eliminate the Ring of Kerry and spend more time in Dingle. Thanks so much!