Short trip to Ireland suggestions

Jamie6700 · Member

Short trip to Ireland suggestions

Jamie6700 · Member

We are now actually thinking about staying in Dingle the last night and then driving to Shannon to catch our flight back the next day. Does this sound reasonable?

-- Edited by Jamie6700 on Friday 2nd of July 2010 01:57:31 PM

Michele Erdvig · Host

Jamie,

Welcome to my forum. Since you are leaving so soon I will assume that your flights are written in stone and cannot be changed. So it is into Dublin and out of Shannon.

Generally when someone asks "are we crazy??" I think they already know something is amiss. You have three actual days in Ireland and on one of them you will have to drive cross-country. The general rule of thumb is you will average 35 mph in Ireland. You will get a very brief taste of Ireland (half an appetizer!) but hopefully you will get to return for longer another time.

Now, lets proceed to what you can actually do in three days. I suggest you drive from Dublin to Doolin. Depending on your interests some things to do along the way are Belvedere House & Gardens, Locke's Distillery, Clonmacnoise Monastic Site. The drive will take all day if you stop for sightseeing. Doolin is right near the Cliffs of Moher, which you indicated you wanted to see. On night 3 you could spend another night in Doolin and drive to Shannon the next morning (giving yourself 1 1/2 hours for the drive) or you could do your Clare sightseeing (cliffs, Aillwee Cave, dolmen, Burren) and proceed to Bunratty for an overnight. If you proceed to Bunratty you might squeeze in a banquet at Bunratty Castle on your last night.

This is definitely a whirlwind trip to Ireland. Or as we call it "The Green Blur Tour". wink It can be accomplished but you will need a vacation from your vacation afterwards. This is not meant to discourage you, only to let you know the realities of travel in Ireland.

Hope you have a great trip.

Michele

tony2phones · Guru

Fly London to Cork, drive Cork to Doolin then Doolin to Dublin for the return flight to London 10 kg hand baggage is enough for three days so no need to pay for hold luggage and Ryanair fly Gatwick to Cork and Dublin you should have booked 6 weeks in advance for the best fares but you will probably find theirs are the cheapest fares if you keep to the 10kg in holdalls.

Jamie6700 · Member

Michele,
Thanks for the advice. A few more questions. If we went to Doolin, where would you recommend staying? Another question I had was would it be better to stay in Galaway the 2nd night then Doolin the 3rd and then head to Shannon that next morning for the return flight, or would we rather spend time to see things in Shannon - I guess I just want to know what we would enjoy the most since we are so pressed for time!

Michele Erdvig · Host

Jamie,

Go to my Lodgings page (West/Co. Clare) for where to stay in Doolin.

You won't have any time to do justice to Galway so I suggest you skip it.

Really the only thing you would have time to do in the Shannon area is Bunratty Castle & Folk Park and the banquet. However, the banquet must be pre-booked. If interested you might take a look to see if there are reservations available for the banquet for that night.

Michele