I am with ya on that Tony. I try to avoid the motorways whenever possible. In my opinion, you miss far too much on those wide grey bands

Took a break from our Ireland planning to read up on other's  recent travels and ideas.  We have come a long way , and have many historic sites, breweries, castles, abbeys, walking tours, coach tours in all areas to choose from as we go along. The one thing we're not including and it's just because we'll be in Ireland October 8-23rd are any island ferry tours to islands or gardens as the weather could be much cooler by then. But that all can change when we get there, so won't completely toss those ideas out if we hit a beautiful day in an area.

We're considering another possible stop into our 15 day drive.  Wondering the suggestions of visiting Cobh after we leave Kilkeny and prior to getting to Kenmare.  We could "Borrow from Peter to pay Paul" and skip the Beara (if that is allowable) and visit Cobh instead. I think we have a lot of west coastal drives planned. We still are planning on Dingle, as well as driving through Doolin for the Cliffs, enroute to  Galway, Clifden and Westport, so curious as to opinions of taking the Titantic tour in Cobh. I have read possitive as well as negative reviews on spending a night in Cobh.   We have visited Titantic museums in the US, but hope this might be a little  different. (Plus I never tire of watching the many Titantic movies, even though I know the ship will always sink) (We have decided to skip Cork due to other stops we've chosen along our drive) The only pre-booked rooms at this time are Dublin's, so we're being flexible, so far, as to lodgins choices. But have our list and phone numbers for the one's we would prefer. To review our itinerary's nights -  with this change would be:

Dublin - 2 days

Kilkenney - 2 days

Cobh - 1day?????

Kenmare - 2 days (skip a full day for the Beara drive)

Dingle - 2 days

Galway - 2 days

Clifden - 1 day

Westport - 2 days

 

The Queenstown Story museum at Cobh is a small museum. It does not have actual artifacts from the Titanic. It has a section (with cleverly placed mirrors) showing what it was like on deck. There is another area where you can pick up an old fashioned phone and listen in on Irish conversations about the sinking of the ship. There is Titanic info, photos and storyboards. But nothing extensive or Disneyesque. The main target of the museum is immigration, since Cobh was one of the major departure points for that.

If you stay in Cobh I recommend the Watersedge Hotel. There is not a tremendous bunch of lodgings to choose from. Kinsale has a more tourist oriented infrastructure (lodgings, restaurants, etc.), which is why people generally head there.