September 2012 - 16 day itinerary

kimmyontheinternet · Member

September 2012 - 16 day itinerary

tony2phones · Guru

I would head to the Arans (assuming Inis Mor) from Galway so free a night from Doolin. Add this to Galway or use it for the 1st night staying in Dublin.

Two nights in Dingle would be ample to explore what is a small peninsula.

I would use Kenmare rather than Killarney as a base for the rest of Kerry and the south west corner including Beara and the Sheeps/Mizen Head's. (another option night from Dingle to use elsewhere?)

Cashel and Cahir are worth visiting between the Cork and Kilkenny nights.

Other than that, if your times fit with Clifden Arts Week 20-30th Sept I would be tempted to have 2 of your Galway nights out there. (I am tempted and will be there)

Andi · Senior Member

If coming from the states, you might want to consider staying in Dublin the first night, or at least a change from your plan to travel to Galway via Clonmacnoise. That's a lot to do the first day, considering jet lag.

I've been to Inis Mor and Inis Maan. Inis Mor is by far the easiest island to get to and is the largest. It has many more, and larger, "sights" to see. Getting to the smaller islands for a day trip is more difficult.

Probably I should add that my personal preference is for the more out-of-the-way ambience on the lesser visited islands, but there is less to "keep you busy" in the accepted tourist sense.

-- Edited by Andi on Sunday 22nd of April 2012 11:49:16 AM

Roy · Guru

Curious why Inis Mor is assumed and is the most popular destination. Ironically, it is the only Aran Island I have not been to.

Michele Erdvig · Host

Kimmy,

Welcome to my forum. Glad you found your way here. I agree with Tony that it is best to do the Aran Islands from Galway. The ferries that go from Doolin are often canceled because of rough seas or weather. There is also a flight to the islands on Aer Arann. So take a day away from Doolin and add it to Galway.

Andi makes a valid point about the amount of driving the first day. Will you be off an international all-night flight? If so, think about driving two hours or less on your first day. It is three (maybe a little more) hours to Galway from Dublin. The stop in Clonmacnoise will add more hours onto your sightseeing day.

Two nights in Dingle is sufficient. That will give you an extra day for either Dublin, Killarney or Kilkenny. Your choice.

Since you want to see Cork and Kinsale, I suggest you stay in Kinsale.

Seems you are interested in Kenmare. Consider it as an alternative to Killarney. They are only about 40 minutes away from each other.

If you want more time in Dublin maybe skip Newgrange and drive from Kilkenny to Dublin? That will give you a day and a half in Dublin.

Let us know if we can help in any other way. Hope we haven't confused the issue.

Michele

kimmyontheinternet · Member

Thank you everyone for your assistance.

I'm curious about the ferry from Galway as opposed to Doolin. Why is the Galway ferry less likely to be canceled (as opposed to the one in Doolin)? Originally I had planned on an Aran Islands trip from Galway but was then advised to make the journey from Doolin instead on another forum, due to the ferry ride being shorter (??) and the ferry being closer (5 minutes away from where we'd be staying, as opposed to an hours' drive). I suppose that's what I get for not coming here to ask first. :(

I think we can stay our first night in Dublin. We would be flying all night and arriving at 8:15am Dublin time, which would be about midnight on our bodies' clocks. Perhaps we are being overly optimistic about the ability to drive from Dublin to Galway. :)

-- Edited by kimmyontheinternet on Sunday 22nd of April 2012 03:11:52 PM

tony2phones · Guru

There are Three Islands in the Arans. The big Island Innis Mor the middle island Innis Meain and the smaller island Innis Oirr.

Innis Orr is accessible easily from Doolin and as you are staying close you can do this with a Cliffs cruise If you want the Big Island then its a long way on a smallish boat from Doolin and best done on the larger boats, shorter route from the Galway side.

I am not a fan of Kinsale myself but many are and there is no harm using the town as a base for a couple of nights bit of backtracking verses a two night stay?

Which other forum?

-- Edited by tony2phones on Sunday 22nd of April 2012 04:19:25 PM

tony2phones · Guru

Now I know why I hadn't seen it before. Probably the only Ireland forum I don't view and I would probably be less well received on there than I am on Frommers.

The Arans

http://www.aranislands.ie/

Ferries.

http://obrienline.com/

http://www.aranislandferries.com/

-- Edited by tony2phones on Sunday 22nd of April 2012 04:23:48 PM

kimmyontheinternet · Member

Another question as well.

I was trying to avoid multiple "one night stands" but staying in Kinsale and Cork separately, instead using Kinsale or Cork as a base to explore the surrounding area. An individual on another forum said that it seems we're doing quite a bit of backtracking here. Now I'm not sure which one is more worthwhile to weigh -- avoiding backtracking, or avoiding so-called one night stands.

I'm wondering if it's worth it to go from Killarney -> Clonakilty -> Kinsale with a night in Kinsale on day 11. Then we could explore Kinsale and Cork on day 12, spend the night in Cork, and then continue onward on day 13. I'd love to hear some feedback on whether this would be better than using Kinsale as a home base on both nights to avoid backtracking.

kimmyontheinternet · Member

Thank you for the tips, Tony. We were thinking about going to Innis Mor, so you advice is well taken.

I also posted my itinerary to the Rick Steves forum before I discovered Michele's page. It sounded like Doolin was a better jumping off point, but in retrospect I hadn't specified which island we were considering.

Michele Erdvig · Host

Tony,

Some forums are not "user friendly". wink

Michele

tony2phones · Guru

Frommers is the only forum that has emailed me threatening to, and has, removed my answers because I have mentioned other forums. They don't permit private messaging so any minor problems or disagreements are aired in public view.

I will say that this is generally the friendliest most light hearted (whilst still serious) of the 6 places I visit and participate on.

Andi · Senior Member

I guess my feeling about the difficulty of getting to the smaller Aran islands is due to the fact that on my 2 visits to western Ireland, the weather prohibited boats sailing from Doolin. This was in June and July. When I was on Inishmaan, which we approached through Rossaveal, we wanted to return through Doolin. Not only was the boat cancelled, another woman had been there for several days waiting for the boat not to be cancelled to get back through Doolin. It may be very common for weather to be ok, but it's certainly very possible for it not to be.

kimmyontheinternet · Member

Good point, Andi. This is the reason why we decided not to stay overnight on the Aran islands. I'm a plan-in-advance kind of person, and the thought of being trapped on one of the islands wouldn't be so bad if we didn't have the rest of our trip laid out in advance. I think I'd definitely rather leave it as a day trip to Innis Mor rather than getting stuck!

I've got another question, if anyone wants to bite:

Is it worth cutting out a night in Kilkenny and using Dublin as a home base for 3 nights instead of 2? Then Kilkenny is essentially a day trip on our way from Cork to Dublin. Thoughts? Too much driving for one day? Too much to see in Kilkenny to skip spending the night?

tony2phones · Guru

If you skip Kilkenny it will give you the option of Cashel and Cahir which are both just off the M8 Cork-Dublin motorway.

kimmyontheinternet · Member

Thanks Tony.

This is probably highly subjective, but is Kilkenny skippable for an Ireland trip first-timer? We were interested in Kilkenny Castle and St. Candice Cathedral, but that was the extent of our research so far. Any tips on what you like in Cashel and Cahir?

tony2phones · Guru

Cahir has the Castle and Swiss Cottage and Cashel has the ancient seat of the high kings known as the Rock of Cashel. Kilkenny has a fair bit in it's favour but with 16 days something has to go on the back burner. You have a good itinerary and are covering a lot of ground but 40years of Holidays then work followed by living here for 5 years and there are still places I haven't spent enough time on and some I still haven't seen.

Michele Erdvig · Host

Kimmy,

There are always trade-offs...unless you get to visit Ireland for a year. Then you can see it all (maybe). biggrin There are other castles and cathedrals to see. Kilkenny can wait for another trip.

Michele

kimmyontheinternet · Member

Hi everyone!

Thank you so much for all of your helpful advice and feedback. We just got back from our trip last week and it was amazing!

Some of the choices we made:

- 16 days instead of 13
- Rent a car. (Exception: we took the bus and LUAS in Dublin.)
- We scheduled everything up front for our accommodations. We made two restaurant reservations in advance because we knew there were two places we absolutely wanted to eat (Out of the Blue in Dingle, and Fishy Fishy Cafe in Kinsale.)

Our final itinerary (home base in parentheses):

Day 1: Fly to Dublin
Day 2: Arrive in Dublin (Dublin)
Day 3: Pick up rental car. Dublin -> Galway via Clonmacnoise (Galway)
Day 4: Galway town exploration (Galway)
Day 5: Connemara scenic drive: Clifden, Inagh Valley, Kylemore Abbey
Day 6: Galway -> Doolin (Doolin)
Day 7: Inisheer, Cliffs of Moher (by ferry and by land), Doolin town exploration (Doolin)
Day 8: Doolin -> Dingle with Conor Pass scenic drive (Dingle)
Day 9: Dingle town exploration and Slea head drive (Dingle)
Day 10: Dingle -> Kenmare via Killarney: Muckross House (Kenmare)
Day 11: Kenmare -> Kinsale: Kinsale town exploration (Kinsale)
Day 12: Charles Fort, Desmond Castle, Kinsale town (Kinsale)
Day 13: Kinsale -> Kilkenny via Cobh and Clonakilty (Kilkenny)
Day 14: Killkenny -> Dublin, but first stopping at Kilkenny Castle, St. Candice Cathedral. Drop off rental car. (Dublin)
Day 15: Dublin town (Dublin)
Day 16: Newgrange with Mary Gibbons tours (Dublin)
Day 17: Fly out

I can't emphasize enough what an amazing trip it was. Incredible food, wonderful people, beautiful scenery.

If you're interested in reading about how our trip went, I'm writing about it here: http://sixteendaysinireland.blogspot.com.

I'm doing a day-by-day account, plus I've posted (or will be posting) about Irish food, driving in Ireland, more about our itinerary and planning process, and also where we stayed. :)
Thanks again for your help!

Edited to add: Please let me know if posting my blog link here is a problem. I just wanted to say that I am strongly against advertising on blogs and have no desire to make money, just to share my story. For this reason I made the decision to not allow any advertising on my site. However, please let me know if it is a problem and I will happily remove it.

-- Edited by kimmyontheinternet on Friday 28th of September 2012 01:03:43 PM

-- Edited by kimmyontheinternet on Friday 28th of September 2012 04:26:37 PM

Geno · Guru

Kim:

Am really enjoying your blog. Well done!

Geno

kimmyontheinternet · Member

Aw, thank you so much! I'm having a blast writing it. It's been such a long time since I had something to write about! :)

tony2phones · Guru

Thanks for the link make good reading.

kimmyontheinternet · Member

Thanks Tony!

kmurph22 · Newbie

Kim thank you for the blog! I'm really enjoying it as I work on my own itinerary for next summer.

I am also famous for epic binders of epicness. My family makes fun of me but nothing in the world makes me happier than printing and punching holes for the final product!

kimmyontheinternet · Member

kmurph22 wrote:
Kim thank you for the blog! I'm really enjoying it as I work on my own itinerary for next summer.

I am also famous for epic binders of epicness. My family makes fun of me but nothing in the world makes me happier than printing and punching holes for the final product!

kmurph, it's so true! It's incredibly satisfying to go through and print out all your plans. It also ended up being very useful. I had Google Map directions for between landmarks (though sometimes they would say "turn left on road" or "turn right on lane" which wasn't helpful at all), restaurant reviews (thanks to Jason), scenic drive recommendations, travel confirmations, etc. We ended up supplementing with maps from tourist offices (these were surprisingly good).

It was really nice to be able to keep everything in one place and we just tucked our boarding passes and additional maps into the binder pockets.

Where are you thinking about going next summer? Is it a return trip to Ireland for you?

And thanks so much for reading the blog. It's really gratifying to know people are enjoying it. :)

kmurph22 · Newbie

Hi Kim, it's our first trip to Ireland and even to Europe for that matter! It will be just DH and I and we are very excited.

I hit upon the binder idea for a wine tasting trip to Napa a couple of years ago. I printed out maps of the different parts of the Napa/Sonoma area and then highlighted wineries I thought would be best for us to visit in each area... DH thinks I should start a business LOL! I too like having everything in one place and tuck tickets, etc. into the pockets.

I usually print out a daily itinerary with all of our travel confirmations (air, car rental, hotel, etc.) and then slip related info behind each day's tab. I insert pictures to make it pretty/entertaining :) For this trip, I am trying to keep our itinerary flexible. We will be 1 night in Dublin, 2 in Kilkenny, 3 in Kinsale, and 3 in Kilarney before heading back to Dublin for the homeward flight. So my tabs will probably be by location rather than daily, as I think that each day we will decide what we want to do based on the weather and our mood, from a list of options I will have prepared.

I also make a separate section for restaurants in each of the towns I know we will stay in. We may not even use it, but if one day we want to know of a well-recommended pizza place, I'll have the name! And maps... many maps. Marked up as best I can to show the places we will stay/go. Honestly I rarely end up using the printed maps on most trips... relying on GPS, instinct, and signs instead... but by preparing them it helps me get the "map" in my head if nothing else!

Looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip on the blog!

kimmyontheinternet · Member

Kmurph, that sounds like an amazing trip. This was also my first trip to Europe (or even outside the US and Canada). I agree about starting a business - you're already most of the way there to travel planning as a profession! Although, I imagine it's a bit more fun when it's your trip that you're planning as opposed to someone else's (and when you know your own preferences.)

Your trip sounds very similar to ours, with Dublin being sandwiched on either end. I really like that we did things that way because it gave us time to recover from jetlag and didn't put pressure on us to drive straightaway. Public transit was all we felt up to and that was fine.

Yes, we had location-based tabs rather than day-based tabs as well, and I think that worked well because who knows what you will or won't be able to fit into a given day. Now, mind you, "relying on signs" is a trickier proposition in Ireland. ;) We were really glad that our phone mysteriously had data/GPS. It was really helpful. But the locals are really helpful, too, and getting lost in Ireland wasn't scary like I worried might be (thus the overpreparation). We, too, found that we were more likely to use maps that we acquired along the way (from B&B hosts or tourist offices) as opposed to the ones that were printed out, but I suspect you and I are alike in that we take comfort from all the preparation and knowing that, if we need it, there's a map somewhere in that mega binder of awesomeness.

Anyway, thanks for reading and let me know if you have any questions from one newbie traveler to another. I've gotten a few questions in PMs on another forum so I'm thinking about doing a Q&A post!

-- Edited by kimmyontheinternet on Thursday 4th of October 2012 10:59:04 PM