Trip Itinerary, need advice please

Mel_J · Newbie

Trip Itinerary, need advice please

Michele Erdvig · Host

Melanie,

Welcome to my forum. I agree that your days are packed full. You are covering a lot more territory than most people might feel comfortable with. Plan on some things not getting done. Since you pretty much have everything planned to your satisfaction I will comment on just a few "tweaks" that might enhance your trip. See my comments below.

Michele

Thursday - fly out of Chicago * Fine

Fri - Arrive in Dublin, Sleep in Dublin * Fine.

Sat - Drive to Belfast, Sleep in Belfast * Fine.

Sun - Belfast again / Giants Causeway. Sleep in Belfast * Instead of backtracking all the way to Belfast, have you considered staying in Coleraine, Derry or Donegal?

Mon - Drive to Castlebar, sleep in Castlebar (this is really just a stopping point to break up the drive to Galway). * Westport is only 15 minutes from Castlebar and has a lot more to offer.

Tues - Drive to Galway / Cliffs of Mohar. Sleep in Galway * This makes no sense. The cliffs are south of Galway yet you are passing through, going 1 1/2 hours south, then 1 1/2 hours north just to sleep in Galway? You would be better off doing Connemara from Westport and ending your day in Galway.

Wed - Drive to Dingle. We have a connection to someone in Dingle who has agreed to act as our tour guide. Sleep in Dingle (any advice on the best way to get from Galway to Dingle?) * This would be the day to see the Cliffs of Moher on your way to Dingle. Go down the coast of Clare and take the ferry across the Shannon River.

Thur - Dingle again. Sleep in Dingle * Fine.

Friday - Blarney Castle, Jameson and Cork. Sleep in Cork. * Jameson is between Cork and Waterford. See it on Sat instead of all that backtracking. There is also a Jameson's in Dublin.

Sat - Waterford and sleep in Dublin * Are you going via Waterford for the crystal tour? Personally, I would route through Cashel and see Cahir Castle, Swiss Cottage and Rock of Cashel on the way to Dublin. Much more historic and interesting.

Sun - fly home * You will need a vacation from your vacation!

Melissa5 · Guru

Mel_J: Whew I'm exhausted just reading your itinerary! Truth is...I wouldn't take the trip you have outlined even if you paid me to do it! wink Way way too busy and stressful for me.

However...I understand how hard it is to get input from everybody and try to please everybody! Yep it's tough...I am usually the trip planner for my family group as well.

If I were you, here is what I would do. I would come up with a new plan, which covers less ground, but includes as many of people's choices as is reasonably possible. Then I'd present it to the group in a positive way...get them excited about the new plan...maybe email them some beautiful photos that they just can't resist...and I bet you will find some of them willing to change their minds.

My suggestion is that you skip the Giant's Causeway because it is so far out of the way. On our first trip, we too went from Dingle all the way up to the Giant's Causeway. Yes it's pretty cool, but if I could re-do our first trip, I would skip either Dingle or the Giant's causeway only because they are so far apart. I would choose Dingle over the Giant's Causeway, especially because you have a connection to someone in Dingle.

The best way to get people to change their minds is to be excited about something. Instead of focusing on missing the Giant's Causeway, you would want to show them what cool stuff they can do instead.

But if you stick to your original plan, Michele is the best! She has offered you great advice, as she always does. Have a memorable trip!

Maybe this will inspire you. On our first trip to Ireland, I agonized over skipping the Rock of Cashel. Just couldn't fit it in. It was agony leaving it out. I finally saw the Rock of Cashel on my second trip to Ireland recently...and guess what...I realize now that I've seen it...it wasn't as great as I had imagined...I could have lived happily ever after without ever seeing it at all! biggrin

tony2phones · Guru

We have done road trips and we have done week in one place. Each has its merits and each depends on circumstance. As you feel the road trip is the route to take then the hours behind the wheel need to be kept to a minimum.

You only have 9 days on the ground assuming an early departure at the end. Michele has given great advice but I would modify a couple of points.

The airport is North of the City so day one drive north to Belfast. Have your night in Belfast on the first day and put Dublin at the end.

Having taken in the Connemara before Galway take the motorway down towards Dingle. Under a day to see the Burren will take you along the coast cost you a fortune to look over a wall safely placed infront of some tourist cliffs and nothing of what the Burren realy has to offer.

The second of your Dingle nights could be spent in Killarney or Kenmare. No point spending 20% of a tight schedule in the smallest place. I would also skip the Waterford part, yes it is worth seeing the Crystal Centre but its a long way to go for a 1 hour tour when there is more to see and do taking a different route.

Sorry if this seems brutal but to achieve something worthwhile you will have to make some slashing blows.

egnolive · Veteran Member

If I were you, I would seriously rethink these plans. To me, your schedule is not a 'trip of a lifetime' but a shuttle bus viewing some less than noteworthy attractions without stopping to savour what Ireland really has to offer. Sounds more like a 'ticking off' of a list of mostly commercial things to see. Has anybody really looked at an Ireland guidebook or online information available in making their decisions about what to see?

IMHO the beauty of Ireland is its people and scenery. You don't have time built in to experience this. Cliffs of Moher is overrated. It will be packed with people. Blarney Stone the same. The Waterford Crystal factor will be underwhelming. The only worthwhile attaction on your list is the Giant's Causeway, but to detour north for that one attraction when most of what you want to see is in the southern part does not make sense. It does not seem that you want to see anything in Dublin or Belfast, so why spend any nights in these places?

You might want to consider dropping the Giant's Causeway and pick 2 or 3 spots, maybe Cork, Dingle and Galway. Your group can then do day trips from these places. Go to some pubs, meet some people, get lost and discover some beautiful spots and have a memorable experience. Focus less on the commercial and more on the natural.

Please take another look at your schedule. Everyone here will help you to truly make it a trip of a lifetime.

Michele Erdvig · Host

It is very hard to plan such a trip when everyone has their own long list of "must sees" and time is short. If you can take the advice here and pare back on things, it will make for a much better trip. As it is, your plans are the "green blur tour" of Ireland.

Michele

veek61 · Member

i'm not sure if it is kosher (what's the gaelic word for kosher?) to piggy-back on someone else's thread but we (5 of us) are planning our first trip to ireland next month and we have close to the same amount of time you are planning with your group of 10-15. while we are still working out our details, i thought i'd share what we are thinking of doing just for comparison. we sat in an irish pub here in austin tx with a nice fellow from ballybunnion and he provided some suggestions. of course, everyone has their own opinion and everyone also has their own desires for their trip. in our case, my ancestors were from kerry and our daughter is currently living in dun laoghaire while studying in dublin and my husband really wants to see belfast - and so our trip was born.

we are flying into shannon. there we will rent a car and head to killearney (or kenmare) for two nights. from there we will head to dingle for two nights. we will head back to shannon and drop off the rental car. then we are taking a train from limerick to dublin and will rely on trains and buses for the rest of the trip. we will spend 3 nights with dublin as our base with a day trip to belfast, another to dun laoghaire/wicklow. flying home from dublin.

things we want/don't want:
we did not want to have to pack up go to a different hotel or B&B every night
we did not want to be on the go every day (we want to sit and do nothing some of the time)
we do not want to spend more time in the car/train/bus than in the pubs and villages
we want some small town exposure and also some city sights
we want to use public transportation when it makes sense

our ballybunnion friend told us there are really only three big roads that we would consider highways: dublin-> belfast, dublin -> galway, and dublin -> limerick. other than those, it is slow going. i think he said probably 2-3 hours driving time from dingle to limerick, 5 hours from dingle to dublin.

anyway, that is what we are thinking right now - we have our flights and are now working on hotels/B&Bs and details like how will we get to limerick once we drop off the car at shannon airport (or do we need to? perhaps we can drop it in limerick and then hop the train to dublin)...

i welcome any critique of our plans or suggestions for alternates as all we have set in stone at this moment is flying into shannon nov 8 and flying out of dublin nov 15. the rest is up for grabs.

Wellsley · Guru

Hi Melanie,

I think your trip is doable except for the fact there is 10 to 15 of you. A couple could zip along but 10 people to get them all to move at the same pace is next to impossible. When does your flight arrive in Dublin. Many flights arrive early in the morning. So unless you have plans to do something in Dublin that day I would take Tony's advise and drive to Belfast. Then take Michele's advice and see Giant's causeway and stay in Donegal. Again take Michele's advice and drive to westport. From westport go to galway via clifden. Take in Connemara and the sky rd. in Clifden you won't reget it. We found the nightly entertainment in Galway to be the best in Ireland. Ok that's 4 nights. Again take Michele's advice leave Galway visit the Cliffs of Moher on the way to Dingle. Spend the two nights there and catch your breath. That leaves 3 nights before heading home. I can't see how anyone who has never been to Ireland could skip Killarney. Between Killarney national park, Ross Castle, Muckross folk park, and the Ring of Kerry there is just so much to see. Your not going to have time to see it all. I would leave Dingle and go to Killarney see some of the sites there. (pass on the ring you won't have time) Spend the night in Killarney or Kenmare. The next day go to Waterford via Blarney. Then the next day Waterford to Dublin. An energetic couple could do this, 10 people will have trouble agreeing on what to do and see. Good luck. I personally like my vacations busy and active.

Frank

Michele Erdvig · Host

Veek,

I believe the previously you were going to Ireland in Oct but it has now been pushed back to Nov. One thing to note is that the days will be very short. The sun will disappear by 5 or so. Dingle will be very quiet in November. Had you thought of 4 nights in Killarney? It is an excellent base for the SW and you could do Dingle as a day trip. That would give you more options if you happen to get dreadful weather. Killarney has a lot more going on such as a cinema, shopping, etc. Dingle will be rolling up the streets for the season. And much as I love Kenmare, I think Killarney has more to offer in Nov.

If you did that, you could drop the car in Killarney and take the train from Killarney to Dublin. No backtracking.

More things to think about.

Michele

veek61 · Member

michelle, you are exactly right. we were trying to plan a trip for this month but stuff got in the way and so we had to push it back to november. thank you for pointing out that the sun won't be sticking around for very long by then. i really like your idea about staying all four nights in killarney, using that as our base and taking a few day trips and then heading to dublin and doing the same from there. i am going to sell your idea to my traveling cohorts! a few more questions, if i may:

who has a favorite place to stay in killarney?
what should we expect for driving times for shannon -> killarney, killarney -> dingle, killarney -> kenmare?
where are your favorite places to go out on dingle peninsula?

i didn't even realize we could hop a train from killarney to dublin - so much still to learn - but that sounds great. darling daughter was going to take the train from dublin to limerick and we were going to pick her up there in our rental car from shannon - but now we know she can just take the train from dublin straight to killarney and meet us there!

thanks for all of the pointers.

Michele Erdvig · Host

Veek,

From the additional info you just gave, I think that Killarney is going to be perfect for your plans. It will greatly simplify everything. For places to stay check my Lodgings page. Do you have a certain budget per person per night for your accommodations? Do you want to be walking distance to town or in the country? Don't forget to check on my special discounts in Ireland. Since a lot of accommodations will start closing down in Nov it would be best to make your inquiries now to find out which ones will be open while you are there. And if you are staying 4 nights in one place they should be giving you a discount.

Driving times (all are approximate)

Shannon - Killarney: 2 - 2 1/2 hours

Killarney - Dingle: 1 1/2 hours

Killarney - Kenmare: 45 minutes - 1 hour

Michele