Melissa,

Your itinerary sounds wonderful, but may I offer one piece of advice?

Since you will have a car and will be doing some exploring, allow some time for getting lost and finding unexpected treasures.  I'd planned and re-planned my itinerary, so sure that I had everything all thought out.  Then I got to Ireland. 

Part of the fun is getting lost and finding that little village you hadn't planned to visit.  I found some gorgeous scenery and quirky little towns that were off my planned routes, and I believe they made the trip even more of an adventure.  One of the things I'll always remember from my trip is having a dear little man stop while I was looking at my map.  I knew I'd missed a turn somewhere and wanted to get my bearings.  After asking, "Are ye lost, then?" he gave me directions to back to the last little town and make a turn that I'd missed (rain, wind, narrow roads, non-existent signage).  When I got to where I should have turned, there he sat in his car, tipping his hat as I turned onto the correct road.  All the planning in the world couldn't have anticipated that moment.

So my advice is to leave room for the unexpected.  You'll be glad you did.

Jojo

Michele, at least I have spiced up something...my son says I don't use enough spices in my cooking. Sometimes he cooks for us, and then, Holy Tamales, it's very...flavorful!

Wow, Ennis is further from Shannon airport than I had realized. 30 to 40 minutes...I'm glad you told me. At least I won't be surprised, if we decide to spend the 1st night there. Though it's going the opposite direction from Dingle where we're headed next....

Bunratty is that close, only 10 minutes...no wonder it's so popular. Michele, are any of those shows at Bunratty really worth it for a first night in Ireland (with jet-lag), or are they very touristy and crowded? Hard to say whether, after a long flight from Los Angeles, we will head to bed early, or whether we'll be all excited and want to join the throngs at Bunratty, or whether we'll enjoy strolling around a real Irish town at Ennis (which also has musical pubs I understand).

Cashel is the furthest away, perhaps not a good stop for 1st night for four jet-lagged travellers.

As always you have the best info. Westport to Belfast is a 4-hour drive...not too bad. I know what you mean, if we stop a lot to sight-see, the hours will fly by. (I do check aaroadwatch.ie for drive times, but everyone says to add time on, and there's nothing like asking an experienced Ireland traveller how long it REALLY takes!

Though I had my heart set on staying in Dublin, it's just not turning out to be practical. Malahide makes more sense...close to the airport, there's the DART that goes into Dublin (right?), and Malahide sounds big enough to have some nice restaurants for dinner. Does Malahide have a fun pub or two? Also, Malahide would be a convenient base to drive to Trim Castle or Newgrange. (If we try to stay in downtown Dublin, I am just complicating life in several ways...)

I might have to give up the Book of Kells though, as with the summer crowds, if we stay in Malahide, after a fine Irish breakfast, we'll never get to the Book of Kells at opening time, and I'd rather not stand in line and fight crowds to see one book...Maybe if we take a day-trip into Dublin from Malahide, it makes more sense to visit the National Museum of archaeology, Killmainham Gaol, and spend time strolling and shopping. And of course the hop-on, hop-off bus! But there's also the long room, which if I understand correctly, is a big old library at Trinity college...libraries and bookstores are where I live .

I had considered staying in Trim, but it sounds like the food is boring for 3 whole nights in Trim! I need a base for 3 nights where the food will be yummy and hopfully there's a fun and entertaining pub for my daughters and hubby and I who will be ready to party for sure after a day in Dublin. (Yes, it's true, one of my daughters is purple, and the other is bald.)

Thanks for the great info and advice, Michele!

Irisheyes, how is your trip planning coming? Isn't this a great web-site? Nice talking to you.

IrishEyes, sounds like a fun plan. We're going to fly into Shannon and out of Dublin, so we'll end in the big city. We're not planning to drive while in dublin, the hop-on, hop-off bus sounds easier.

I hear it's easier to rent your car near the airport and not have to drive it through the center city.

Good luck with getting acclimated to your new job(s). I like to read a bit about Ireland before going to bed each night, a nice bed-time story. Hubby leaves the planning to me as the family have learned to trust me after the last 2 trips turned out great! But I always give them some info and some choices.

Dingle sounds like a great place for everyone. We're going there too.

I originally wanted to stay right there in the heart of dublin but with the way our plans are turning out it might be more convenient for us to stay near the airport on the north side of dublin on our last 3 nights (going to see dublin, Trim Castle, and Newgrange at the end of the trip.) Michele has recommended a good B&B in Malahide. Originally I was thinking of staying in Kilronan House, a B&B just south of St. Stephen's green, or in Bewley's hotel in Ballsbridge area, wich has good prices and a good reputation plus is near public transportation. But you see if we stay in Dublin on our last 3 nights we will have to drive out of the city to see Newgrange and nearby sites...not so sure I want to hassle with driving out of a big city and driving back in. Can be stressful. that's why Malahide is looking good.

If we were starting the trip out in Dublin, I would spend our first 2 nights in the city without a car, then get taxi to the airport and rent a car there when moving on.

Oh well I'm getting boring! I'd be interested to hear your plans as they progress! Kilkenny sounds good too. We will miss it this time.

Happy Irish dreams.

Melissa,

I think you should either choose Dublin city center or Malahide. With either choice there will be sacrifices and different plans made to compensate for either location (cars, transportation, tours, etc.). Flip a coin and go with it.

Malahide has some very good restaurants and pubs. The restaurants in my book are middle of the road in price. For lower prices go with pub grub or an early bird. If you are looking for a splurge I understand that Bon Appetit is excellent but is 50 euro per person for dinner. Ouch!

Fun pubs in Malahide that have trad music on some nights:

Smyth's
 
Gibney's: http://www.gibneys.com/
 
Duffy's: http://www.duffys.ie/
 
Other interesting links:
 
Malahide map: http://www.malahidechamber.ie/map.htm
 
What's on in Malahide: http://www.fingal-dublin.com/calender.htm
 
Michele
 
 

Michele, thanks for being the voice of sanity for me today. Your advice and your terrific info links have set my busy mind at ease. I will eliminate all those endless options that were cluttering up my mind, and decide between Malahide and Dublin!

Your info links for Malahide were great. I saw nice photos and learned Malahide did manage to snag the Tidy Town title for a couple years. What a cute award! Only in Ireland... And getting to see the menus for those 2 pub/restaurants in Malahide was very helpful...you're right, the prices are fine, and the menu is "regular folks" food, the kind that makes hubby feel comfortable. Right now I wish I had a bowl of home-made soup and brown bread.

I also checked the links for what's going on, and was reassured there is trad music, sometimes in Malahide, sometimes in Howth.

And I followed a link for the DART. Looks like from Malahide you would want to exit at Connolly station in downtown Dublin? Do you know how far a walk is that from centre city Dublin? Or is it too far to walk? (We would want to see Trinity College, National Museum of Archaeology, and St. Stephens' Green area, Grafton St. area, etc. in centre city. Unless I am very confused it looks like the DART takes about 22 minutes from Malahide to Connolly station.
.
Thanks very much, Michele! I always enjoy my year of planning our big trip, and then I get a little crazy right before I book the B&Bs. It's commitment time! Then I am fine and I settle down after that, becoming normal again, maybe reading a bit about Ireland at bed-time. I think I will get off the computer now at a decent time.

I'm not at home with all my Ireland stuff (shh. Don't tell the boss) but when I get home this afternoon I'll dig out the leaflet from the ho-ho tour (there are more than one) and see if they have a website. If not, I'll list the stops on the one we used (I'd guess that they are pretty much the same). I'm not familiar with Connelly Street; I wonder if it's O'Connell Street which is pretty much Main Street. The tour bus offices are along there, but you can buy a pass at any of the bus stops from the driver of the next bus along.

We took the bus in from (here I'm drawing a blank, but it's a big modern shopping center north of Dublin where we left the rental car in a parking lot and caught the bus) and ended up right downtown near O'Connell Street and spent the whole day walking or using the ho-ho bus.

In my humble opinion, the only way to see Dublin: sleep outside the city, preferably north, catch the bus or DART into the city centre (see, I'm spelling like the Irish) and use the ho-ho bus for sightseeing and shopping. Then just make sure you're on the right bus at the end of the day and go back to your car. We were pretty tired so we ate at TGIFriday's. It was fun to be in the American ambience and hear those charming Irish accents all around. Plus flirting with the good-looking waiters. One of our party was actually single so we used her License to Flirt.

Okay, I had the brilliant (another Irish word) idea of doing a Dogpile search and here's what I found:

http://www.irishcitytours.com/hop_graylinedublin.htm

http://www.irishcitytours.com/hop_citydublin.htm

http://www.dublinbus.ie/your_journey/dublin_city_tour.asp

I forgot about the coupons; the maps that you get with your pass have coupons for some of the attractions. And at least one of the above sites has "buy your ticket online." Isn't the internet a wonderful thing?

Dude: Wow, you mean you need a license to flirt in Ireland? You're funny! Thanks for the links for the hop on hop off bus in Dublin. I will check them all out. I PROMISED not to be on the computer right now. Shhhh...don't tell.

Thanks for your vote for staying north of Dublin and DARTing into the city. but where did you leave your car? Apparently there's a car park at the Malahide DART station but I'm worried it might be full by the time we get there...after a full Irish breakfast we'll come rolling in by 10:00 am maybe! Do you really think 1 day-trip is enough time to "get" Dublin or will we end up feeling befuddled?

Melissa,

Since Joe at Beechwood is a former taxi driver (in Dublin!) he will be able to advise you about transportation to the train station. You can ask his advice about the parking. If the parking will be difficult ask him what he suggests as an alternative way to get there. This gives him the option of offering you a ride if he can or offering his opinion on the best way to do it. In my other posting to you I suggested getting an early start on this one day. As a last resort you can take a taxi to the train station. I don't think it would cost any more than about 5 euro for the bunch of you. Beechwood is a bit more than a mile from the station.

Michele