Registered User
Posts: 1
(8/29/03 6:37 pm)

Itinerary suggestions please?

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This is our rough idea for next July...We will have just spent a week (July 9-16)in one location resting up in Scotland, near St. Andrews. Any suggestions??

JULY 16 Fly on Ryan Air nonstop from Edinburgh to Dublin for 4.99 GBP ($28.13USD including taxes, one hour flights at 8:15, 11:05, 4:25, and 7:25).

JULY 16 - Arrive Dublin (overnight here). Check in somewhere and hire a local guide planning to tour St. Stephen's Green, Grafton St. (street musicians and shopping), O'Connell Street (statue lined), possibly Dublin Castle*, Christ Church Cathedral, Old James Distillery (Irish Whiskey tour). Perhaps have high tea at the Shelbourne Hotel on St. Stephen's Green.

JULY 17 - Depart Dublin and head west towards Galway with stops at Muligan for the Belvedere House with its jealousy wall and at Clonmacnoise with its nteresting cemetary, great stone crosses and whispering arch? Then, travel onwards towards a B&B in the Ballyvaughan area. That evening I'd like to attend a midevil banquet at Dunguaire Castle with celtic harps and poetry reading!

JULY 18 - Traveling south through the Burran Region with it's peculiar geology and explore Poulnabrone Dolmen, the town of Ennis, Adare with it's thatched roofs (extremely picturesque) and onward to the Ring of Kerry Drive. Time permitting hopefully we can make it to the Bantry House for an overnight in that area and a late afternoon or early the next morning beach stop at Mizen.

JULY 19 - Onward towards Blarney, you may visit the town or the Castle and kiss the stone. Probably bypass Cork and move on towards Waterford and take a tour of the factory which includes Eric's favorite - glass blowers! We may chose to stay in the Waterford area or move towards Kilkenny that evening.

JULY 20 - Tour Kilkenny (picturesque town and castle) or just drive onward through the countryside and back to Dublin for return flight to London later that day. Fly Ryan Air nonstop Dublin to Gatwick at 8:15, 11:40, 2:45, or 7:10pm for $16.29 USD.

JULY 21 ? Fly to USA, I thinks desired flights (on the 777 planes) leave London at 9:40 am

Thoughts or suggestions?? Thank you so very much! Babs

Michele Erdvig
ezOP
Posts: 1805
(8/30/03 12:39 am)

Re: Itinerary suggestions please?

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Hi Babs,

One good thing you have going for you is almost a year to get your itinerary in shape. I do see some problems with it and some days will be impossible to accomplish. The reason is that even though Ireland is a small island and it looks as if you can flit from place to place in minutes, in reality it takes many hours on small winding roads. There are few super highways in Ireland. Since you are arriving and departing from Dublin and only have five days it realy would make more sense to stick to the east of Ireland rather than trying to cover so much of the country. Or perhaps you can change your plans to arrive in and/or depart from Shannon? Below are my comments:

JULY 16 - Arrive Dublin (overnight here). Check in somewhere and hire a local guide planning to tour St. Stephen's Green, Grafton St. (street musicians and shopping), O'Connell Street (statue lined), possibly Dublin Castle*, Christ Church Cathedral, Old James Distillery (Irish Whiskey tour). Perhaps have high tea at the Shelbourne Hotel on St. Stephen's Green. Michele's Answer: The earlier you arrive in Dublin the more you can do. I advise you to make your hotel or guesthouse reservations well in advance of your trip. There is really no reason to hire a personal guide (unless you want to) but if you do this should be reserved ahead. The hop-on hop-off bus tour will give you a good overview of the city and then you can get on and off all day at your desired sightseeing attractions.

JULY 17 - Depart Dublin and head west towards Galway with stops at Muligan for the Belvedere House with its jealousy wall and at Clonmacnoise with its nteresting cemetary, great stone crosses and whispering arch? Then, travel onwards towards a B&B in the Ballyvaughan area. That evening I'd like to attend a midevil banquet at Dunguaire Castle with celtic harps and poetry reading! Michele's Answer: Drive time alone will be 3-4 hours and stops will add more time. This will be a day for an early start. You can easily spend a few hours at both Belvedere House and Clonmacnoise. Make your reservations well in advance for Dunguaire Castle Banquet. It is a small castle and fills up fast.

JULY 18 - Traveling south through the Burran Region with it's peculiar geology and explore Poulnabrone Dolmen, the town of Ennis, Adare with it's thatched roofs (extremely picturesque) and onward to the Ring of Kerry Drive. Time permitting hopefully we can make it to the Bantry House for an overnight in that area and a late afternoon or early the next morning beach stop at Mizen. Michele's Answer: This is a problem day. The problem is that you cannot do and see everything you have outlined. First you do not mention seeing the Cliffs of Moher, south of Ballyvaughan. If the weather is halfway decent you should make a stop there. Ennis is a fine workaday Irish town and shouldn't take long to walk around. The row of thatched cottages in Adare, which are shops and restaurants, are picturesque but the town itself is touristy and will be crowded in July. A photo stop shouldn't take too long. By the time you reach Killarney you will have used up perhaps 3 1/2 to 4 hours of your day. The Ring of Kerry will take another 4-6 hours, depending on if you make any stops for sightseeing, lunch, etc. Whoever is driving at this point will be completely exhausted since driving on the left on tiny winding roads (some of then of the edges of cliffs) is a very intense experience. I would not recommend trying to do all that in one day. You will not be able to make it to Bantry or Mizen on this day unless you drive well into the night. I would not even suggest doing the Ring of Kerry on this day, but seeing the Killarney area instead.

JULY 19 - Onward towards Blarney, you may visit the town or the Castle and kiss the stone. Probably bypass Cork and move on towards Waterford and take a tour of the factory which includes Eric's favorite - glass blowers! We may chose to stay in the Waterford area or move towards Kilkenny that evening. Michele's Answer: Fine.

JULY 20 - Tour Kilkenny (picturesque town and castle) or just drive onward through the countryside and back to Dublin for return flight to London later that day. Fly Ryan Air nonstop Dublin to Gatwick at 8:15, 11:40, 2:45, or 7:10pm for $16.29 USD. Michele's Answer: Choose a later flight.

Please re-think your itinerary or you will just have a green blur tour of Ireland. I don't mean to throw a wet blanket on your plans but merely to give you a reality check. If I can help as the date of your vacation approaches, feel free to post more questions.

Michele



Anita
Unregistered User
(8/30/03 1:32 pm)
Re
Too much!

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There's no way you can cover that much ground and really enjoy yourselves. Michele has made some very good suggestions. You need to get into Dublin as early as you can. All of the sights you want to see can be seen from the hop-on hop-off bus tour. You will find that once you hop off you will spend a lot more time wandering around than you thought. I would highly recommend the tour of Kilmainam jail if you have time, but this tour does take about an hour and a half to complete when you add in the walking time from where the bus lets you off. I did a tour of a brewery, not the one you're thinking of touring, and found it quite boring. They just walked us from one warehouse-style building to another, and they tend to charge a pretty penny to get in the door. Clonmacnoise was well worth the visit. I spent about two hours there. There is a lot to see and do in the Galway area. I heard some of the best music in the pubs in Galway. You could easily spend all of one day exploring the Burren area. I originally wanted to stop at Blarney and kiss the stone, but after reading in many guide books that it's simply not worth the effort I skipped it and was glad I did. It gave me more time in Killarney. I didn't make it to Waterford, either, because I was travelling by bus and train and it ended up being too far out of the way. Something to do on the next trip. Instead I spent more time in Kilkenny. I think returning to Dublin to fly out would be wasting time you could use elsewhere. Why not fly out of Shannon? Remember Rick Steeves advice: plan your like you are going to go back again, not as if you will never get the chance again or you will find yourself with your itinerary too full and you won't enjoy yourself.

Fletcher921
Registered User
Posts: 2
(8/30/03 7:32 pm)

Thanks to you!

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We are doing some revisions on our itinerary - this board is wonderful! Thank you so much for the input!!

Is there a board like this somewhere for us to ask our questions about Scotland too??

Babs

Michele Erdvig
ezOP
Posts: 1806
(8/31/03 5:25 pm)

Always Glad to Help

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Hi Babs,

I don't know of a travel forum dedicated to Scotland only. Perhaps a good Internet search will find one.

I'm glad that you are re-thinking your Ireland itinerary. You will be glad you did.

Michele