When I go to Galway I ennjoy staying in Salthill, a coastal town just west of the city that is right on the water and on a direct city bus route into Galway.  Parking in Galway can be challenging, so this allows you to not mess with a vehicle, and yet get to city center in only a few minutes at an affordable price.

Not certain what tours go out of Galway, but as one of the larger cities in Ireland, I would suspect the variety would be ample.  I really enjoyed the Cliften area -- the sky road -- and a day trip to Cong, location of the movie "The Quiet Man." A wonderful little village full of history.

If you aren't comfortable driving, then the only other thing I can suggest is to hire a car/driver.  Organized day tours will not give you the luxury of pulling off to paint or sketch for a half hour or so, if you are so moved.

As a photographer who's top sales comes from the Photographs taken in Ireland, I learned to grit my teeth and do the driving myself. The first time it was clenched jaw and clenched hands for the first few days. However the rewards for being able to pull over any time and every time I wanted was well worth it.

Four days in Dublin before your tour would allow for a few days to explore Dublin and two extra days to grab a train or a car and driver and explore North of Dublin. The sticky wicket is what to do the final three days.  Do you fly out of Dublin for home? If so, then you will want your last night to be back in Dublin. That will give you four days for Galway and the surrounding area.  Again, a car would be an advantage because you will find many a brush worthy spot to stop and paint both in the wilds of Connemara and in the Burren.

Does your Mother have any place special on her must see list?

Leslie: My husband was our driver, but I'm a nervous "rider". Just based on our experience, I found it to be much more nerve-wracking driving in Northern Ireland. In NOrthern Ireland we drove to Hillsborough near Belfast, then we drove up to Bushmills near the Giant's Causeway where we stayed at the wonderful Craig Park guesthouse in Bushmills. Then we drove down along the Antrim coast back down to Dublin. All of that driving, especially going inland away from the coast, was very confusing. We had 3 maps and 3 back-seat drivers, and I thought it was very stressful. If I was you, I'd take the train from Dublin to Belfast...but I'm not sure how you'd get around after that.

But in contrast, driving along the west coast of the Republic of Ireland was pleasant and relaxing, and a lot less confusing.

My husband drove the whole time. If I was going to go to Ireland without him, and I had to drive, I would consider driving along the west coast...if you can see the ocean it's hard to get lost...but I wouldn't consider personally driving inland in NOrthern Ireland again on the northeast side of Northern Ireland...No no I wouldn't do it. Although it was less confusing when we actually stuck to the coast drive on the Antrim coast. When we tried to drive inland in northern Ireland we got so confused stressed and lost. What was stressful and confusing, to be specific, was trying to drive from Hillsborough, County Down, using the inland routes, up to Bushmills, County Antrim. We felt it was NOT a scenic route, and it was easy to get lost and we did get lost and didn't enjoy that part of our drive. In this inland drive, we were constantly confronted with circles in congested areas where you had to make a quick decision about which direction to head in...we kept taking the wrong turn at many of those circles which was very stressful and confusing.

In Northern Ireland we saw some scenic things such as the Giant's Causeway and the scenic ruins of Dunluce Castle and the Antrim coast. However while that was nice, I much preferred the west and southwest of Ireland. My favorites were County Clare, County Kerry, and Westport & County Mayo.

Have fun!

Hi Leslie: Contrary to Melissa, I found the driving in NI no more difficult, if not a little easier than the Republic. I wouldn't be terrified of that at all. Your 1st day driving will be and adventure but you will adapt quickly after that. I agree with what the others have said about Antrim 1st half and north of Galway at the end. If you elect to drive to Belfast, you could stop at Bru na Boinne on the way up, but do it early in the day as it's hard to get tours later on.

Bill

I'm still finalizing my decisions, but what I'm thinking right now is to fly into Dublin and check into a nearby hotel to sleep for a few hours, then take the bus into the city center and do a few hours of sightseeing. Go to bed early that night and the next morning rent a car at the airport and drive north. That's as far as I've gotten! Now I need to figure out exactly how much I want see from Friday morning, 9/2, till Sunday evening, 9/4, when we'll drop the car at the airport and stay in the Dublin hotel where our tour will pick us up.

I would appreciate suggestions on planning those three days. How can we make the best use of our time in seeing northeastern Ireland? What towns should we stay in on Friday and Saturday nights as a base for sightseeing in the area? Which routes have the prettiest scenery and will still get me to the main points of interest?

After the tour is over on 9/12, we'll rent a car in Galway and stay in Salthill for the night. We'll tour the coast north of Galway for the next few days. Should I keep Salthill as our base and just do day trips? Or would would it be better to stay in different places? I can return the car in Dublin.

I'm thinking we might be tired of moving so much after the Northern Ireland trip at the beginning, then the 7-day guided tour that we're taking. I don't want to push too hard. It would be nice to stay in Salthill for a couple of days and do day trips, but, in a way that's more stressful, because you're doing more driving (out and back) each day, rather than just traveling to a place and staying there that day/night.

I'm hoping some of you who have experience with traveling in these areas can help me sort this all out. Thanks so much!
Leslie

Thanks for the input, Michele. Causeway Lodge is a bit out of our budget. We're looking for 30-40 Euros per person. What would your second and third choices be for Bushmills?

Is it going to be too much to drive from Dublin to Bushmills in one day? I'd like to take the coast road and stop at a few places along the way, not just rush to get to Bushmills, but, never having been to Ireland before, it's hard for me to gauge how long it takes to get from here to there. Mapquest says Dublin-Bushmill is about 3 hours with no stops. But that's on the main highways, not the coast road.
Leslie