Short Ireland Trip Advi ce

dkitsos · Newbie

Short Ireland Trip Advi ce

Michele Erdvig · Host

dkitsos,

Welcome to the forum. How fortunate that you live close enough to Ireland to just pop over for a few days. First, if you do not have reservations for Dublin yet make them NOW!

I think you may be trying to do a bit too much given your time in Ireland. It does take a long time to drive anywhere on small winding roads. You would be much better off spending a night in Kilkenny instead of trying to get to Kenmare. I think you might want to skip Kenmare this time and maybe spend two nights in Kinsale, which is a charming harbor town.

Maybe next time you can fly into Cork or Kerry airport and do the southwest.

Michele

dkitsos · Newbie

Thanks Michelle, thats what we were thinking as well. We have no kinda narrowed it down to this:

Sat morning: Wake up, get our rental car, and either:

a. drive to kilkenny, see the castle, lunch and then continue onto Cork area.

b. drive to kilkenny and spend the night there and sunday continue onto cork area

c. bypass kilkenny altogether and continue on to kinsale/cork area.

Which out of these do you suggest? Is Kilkenny worth staying the night or is it feasible to continue onto kinsale after seeing a little of it?

Sunday we are considering going to see Skibbereen and monday seeing Blarney, Cobh, or Fota. Do you know anything about youghal? What do you recommend?

Thanks for your help!

Donna

Michele Erdvig · Host

Donna,

I really suggest an overnight stay in Kilkenny. It is a great small city surrounded by much natural beauty and interesting things to see and do. The Rock of Cashel is not far from there and well worth a detour.

Blarney, Cobh and Fota are three different things entirely. Blarney is a castle ruin in lovely parklike grounds. It is touristy and I actually enjoyed the grounds better than the castle. Cobh has a very interesting museum about immigration and a lovely cathedral. Fota is a drive-through wildlife sanctuary as well as having a historic house to visit, gardens and golfing. So it depends on your interests.

Yes I do know about Youghal. What do you want to know?

Michele

dkitsos · Newbie

I was just wondering if it was worth visiting as well. We really just want to see the "beauty" of ireland in our short trip. I have a friend in cork we are meeting up with thus our reason to venture down into that area. She said rather than taking the kilkenny route eventually down to kinsale/cork area we should take the route to cork through wicklow going thru Wicklow, Arklow, Gorey, Enniscorthy, Waterford, Dungarvan, Youghal, and Midleton. Which do you recommend, should we take her suggested route or go to cork/kinsale via kilkenny?

Michele Erdvig · Host

Donna,

Either route will get you there. Which one you choose depends on what you want to see along the way. I would deviate slightly from the route you friend mentioned to visit Powerscourt Gardens and Glendalough. Also on that route is the Dunbrody Famine Ship in New Ross, Waterford Crystal Factory, Queenstown Story Museum in Cobh.

Along the inland route is Kilkenny Castle, St. Canice's Cathedral & Round Tower, Kells Monastic Site, Jerpoint Abbey, Rock of Cashel, Cahir Castle (one of Ireland's best), Swiss Cottage.

Do your research on each place and make your decision based on what you actually want to see. As they say in Ireland "The road you're on will get you there." (Eventually!)

Michele

dkitsos · Newbie

Thanks Michele, you have helped so much in my planning. This is what I now have revised my trip to:

Thurs night- Fri Dublin

Sat: wake up, get rental car, drive to kilkenny. My question is should we drive along through wicklow and glendalough before? We will stay in kilkenny after seeing a few things around the area.

Sun: drive to rock of cashel and also cahir and end up in cork city

Monday: blarney stone and around cork before flying out that evening.

What are your opinions on this itinerary? Any other suggestions? I am particularly curious on your opinion of the dublin to kilkenny route.

Thanks in advance for all your help!

Michele Erdvig · Host

Donna,

You can go south and see Powerscourt and Glendalough, ending up in Kilkenny. Both attractions may take a couple of hours each, depending on weather and how long you linger. You will most likely get to Kilkenny in the late afternoon or early evening.

Since you will be in Kilkenny on a weekend, I highly recommend reservations. You will also be in the Cork area over a holiday weekend and reservations are wise. You might consider staying in Blarney since you want to do the castle in the morning.

Michele

Dking · Newbie

Wicklow is great for walks and scenery. However there are also alot of good walks in Dublin itself, esp around the bay. North Dublin is more rural and may be appropriate too but I'd say either Dublin city or Wicklow.

Otherwise, if you could send them into Shannon from Weeze or Charleroi, West Clare might be perfect for them, especially around the Burren. The other option there is the Arann Islands which are quite and are small enough for walking only! The boat goes from Doolin and Rossaveal, although Rossaveal is a better crossing. You can fly from Inverin too with Aer Arann. Galway is about 3 hours on a bus or train from Dublin or under an hour in the aer arann plane if they must fly in there.

-- Edited by Dking on Thursday 27th of January 2011 04:39:44 AM