Help with itinerary

jeannie1962 · Member

Help with itinerary

Michele Erdvig · Host

jeannie,

Welcome to my forum! I think you need a bit of help. First, you are going to be on the road most of the time since you are only planning on one multiple-night stay. Even though you are overnighting one night in Dublin you have not given yourselves any time to see the city, so I am wondering why you even bother to go to the east coast? Since you are flying into and out of Shannon it would make a nicer trip to not try to see all of Ireland and concentrate on a few less places.

I suggest you run your itinerary through the computer generated driving times at this link: http://www.aaroadwatch.ie/routes/ Find out what the mileage is for each day and divide by 35. That will give you the approximate time for each drive.

Perhaps you actually want to be on the go for your whole vacation and in that case you will be pleased with a fast-paced trip. However, Ireland is best seen at a slower pace. There are few motorways in Ireland (mostly around the larger cities) and the little winding roads really take a lot out of you.

I have visited Kinnitty Castle but a wedding was on and I couldn't see the bedrooms. The public rooms were very "castle-like" and filled with antiques. Kilkea Castle has nice rooms and public areas. Have you looked into Glin Castle?

Personally, I think you should give your itinerary another try. People rarely get it right on the first (or second or third) try. It takes a lot of thinking, research, time and work to fine-tune it.

Feel free to post whatever else you come up with and I will be happy to comment.

Michele

P.S. You might stop in Adare on your way to Tralee.

jeannie1962 · Member

Michele,

That is what I was afraid of....to much driving time....You are right, the itinerary changes constantly. Originally, we wanted to do a cirlce around the whole country, then realized with 10 days that was too much.

So, we changed and decided to loop around the bottom half from shannon around and up towards dublin and over to galway and back to shannon.

Could you suggest a better itinerary. Like I said, the first 2 days are already booked, tralee and dingle. The only other things we really want to do is stay in a castle one night (doesnt really matter where, but affordable!) We want to stay in Dublin and could do it for 2 nights and Galway for 2 nights also. We want to do the Ring of Kerry, Blarney Castle/waterford (although I hear it is a tourist trap, but figured since we were there we should go), and my hubby wants to stay in Doolin our last night (he is in an Irish band and hears it is a great place for music).

Thanks so much for your help!

Jeannie

yesiree · Guru

I'm glad you are testing out your itinerary here rather than learning things the hard way.

You've got some great areas listed on your first draft, so even if you have to cut many of them, you will not be missing out on a great Irish experience. You'll find that once you let go of some of these areas, you'll start looking more closely at the areas that haven't been cut and you'll be so pleased with the new discoveries you get to add. Plus, when you have more breathing room in your itinerary, you actually have room to add some of the suggestions people will offer on this board.

I'd suggest cutting down on the amount of ground you are covering. Some focus areas might be the West, the Southwest, the South, Clare/Galway to Dublin.

jeannie1962 · Member

Thank you so much for the suggestions;it really is great to test it out here and get opinions and then redo.

so, here is another redo: Tralee, Dingle, Kenmare,Cork, Dublin, Dublin, Offaly (kinnity Castle~have to get one night castle stay somewhere), Galway, Galway, Doolin.

What do you think? Still too much?

Thanks!!

Michele Erdvig · Host

jeannie,

Did you know there is a castle hotel near Tralee? It is Ballyseede Castle Hotel. Is Dublin on you "must see" list? The reason I ask is that it is all the way across the country from your arrival and departure points.

May I ask what time your flight is? Doolin is about 1 1/2 hours from Shannon Airport. You may want to be a bit closer but it depends on your flight.

Michele

jeannie1962 · Member

Hi

Okay Here is a bit of tweeking in the itinerary:

Mon: Arrive Shannon head to Tralee, (will stop in Adare on the way thank you for the suggestion Michele) Spend night in Tralee

Tues: Head to Dingle spend night

Wed: Ring of Kerry , spend the night in Kenmare.

Thurs: Head towards Cork and spend night

Fri: From Cork head to Dublin , I know this is about a 3 1/2 hr ride, but we figured we would stop along the way too and this would be our driving day (any other suggestions.) Spend the night in Dublin

Sat: Dublin and spend the night.

Sun: head to Kinnitty Castle spend night (we wanted to spend the night in a castle and this seems to be the only place available on the itinerary. unless someone else has other suggestions. I know there is a castle in Tralee, but we already booked a B & B. Maybe somewhere near

Mon & Tues: 2 nights in Galway

Wed: Looking for suggestions to say near shannon airport a nice area to head from galway and spend the day and night thinking of bunratty area (any b & b suggestions) also it would be fun to spend our last night at their banquet.

Thurs flight leaves Shannon @ 11:40 am

So, this is the next rought draft!! the only thing that is definate is tralee and dingle since we booked rooms already. next is interchangeable if is doesn't work... it made sense to head to the ring of kerry and someone suggested to stay in kenmare. next is cork and spend the night and head to dublin. We were going to try and hit waterford on the way, but is it out of the way? So, we thought we would drive from cork to dublin...not sure if that would work.

We have friends in dublin and want to do anyway and decided to spend 2 nights. We also want to spend to nights in Galway. AND stay in a castle somewhere and Kinnitty seemed 1/2 way between dublin and galway.

We decided to nix doolin for the last night and spend it somewhere near the airport.

Thank you so much for helping us with this confusing planning!!!

Jeannie

Dude · Guru

Jeannie, between Cork and Dublin is Kilkea Castle. go to www.kilkeacastle.ie and check it out. We stayed there on our last trip and enjoyed it. That would definitely break up that long driving day. Think about Cahir and Cashel as breaks in that day, also.

Michele Erdvig · Host

Jeannie,

You are really on the go for most of your trip. If you cut out staying in Galway you could slow it down a bit and have a couple of 2-night stays near the beginning of the trip as well. Just a thought. It is doable but lots of driving.

Do look into Kilkea Castle also.

Since your flight is before noon you are wise to stay nearby the airport the night before. You will just have time for breakfast and returning the car. For your last night try Bunratty Lodge or Headley Court in Bunratty.

Michele

jeannie1962 · Member

We were thinking of Kilkea Castle also (have you been, what do you think?), if we do kilkea it would be before dublin, if we do kinnitty it would be between dublin and galway.

My hubby has his heart set on dublin and galway for sure, so they cannot be nixed from the itinerary. We could cut out the castle completely and spend 1 more day in Galway. Or cut out staying in Kenmare or Cork and keep the castle in the mix.

We may be flexible after dingle we were going to kenmare 1 night and cork the next night and then to dublin. Is it doable to cut out cork for the night and drive from kenmare to dublin, or would we be better taking our time and spending the night in cork? i know that would be alot of driving time.

Keep all your wonderful suggestions coming, i love it!!!

Jeannie

jeannie1962 · Member

Guess what? That quick another change.

I spoke to my hubby and we have now decided to cut out dublin completely. He said he would be ok with not doing it this trip and we can save it for next time.so......looks like the south and west.

Mon Tralee

Tues Dingle

Wed Kemare

Thurs Cork

Fri, sat ?

Sun mon tues Galway area

Wed. Shannon area

Thurs home

Any suggestions now for an itinerary? Also Castles, if possible, but we could save it for the next trip if necessary.

Thanks once again!!

Jeannie

Michele Erdvig · Host

Jeannie,

I would add another day in Kenmare. It is really a lovely village and there are many things to see in the area. Cork is only a couple of hours from Kenmare on the main roads. Have you looked into staying at Carrigeen Castle in Cahir? Bill has stayed there and liked it. Everyone agrees that the owner is eccentric but that it is clean. It is a B&B castle/jail so is not expensive or upscale like most of them are.

Michele

jeannie1962 · Member

Hi Michele

I did look at Cahir after you suggested it, sounds interesting. However, I think we are leaning on heading towards Galway after Cork. Any suggestions, we looked up and saw it was about a 3 1/2 hr drive. If we get us and leave after breakfast, we can make a day of it. OR... we could stop along the way, not sure of what towns..or we could spend the night somewhere in between if you have any thoughts on where.

Thanks again for all your help:

Jeannie

Michele Erdvig · Host

Jeannie,

You could drive from Cork to Galway in a day on the main roads. Some other castles in the vicinity of where you will be are Ashford Castle, Dromoland Castle & Glin Castle.

Michele

jeannie1962 · Member

Hi

After all this planning, I think we are going to scratch the staying in the castle for a night, It would cost us about 140 euro for 4 of us for the night , plus dinner and taxes, that is a bit more than what we want to spend for the night, 800. for a night is alot.

So, we are back to replanning the schedule again! We did email Cregg Castle and they told me it is up for sale and they are not accepting reservations after April 30th. oh well

Thanks again

Michele Erdvig · Host

Jeannie,

Back to the drawing board!

Michele

cbuchwa1 · Member

Hi Jeannie,

You mentioned in your most recent draft that you'd be doing Cork on a Thursday and then aren't sure about the following two days. May I suggest spending some time around Cork? I spent a few days there, traveling outside to Blarney and Kinsale and loved it -- especially Kinsale. It's true that there is not much to do there aside from the fort (unfortunately I got there later in the day and by the time I reached the fort, it was closed, but the walk itself was well worth it). However, it is a fabulously charming town and on the walk to the fort you pass by a very tiny cluster of houses and a pub filled with absolutely wonderful people. Not sure if it's what you're looking for, but it's a part of southern Ireland most people I know tend to overlook and it was probably one of my top three places in Ireland to see.

Carrie

jeannie1962 · Member

Wow, thank you for the suggestion about Cork. We are still planning and changing, now we are thinking of not staying in Kenmare and staying in Killarney and then to Cork and then to Galway.

So much research involved, but these boards are great to bounce ideas off of, keep them coming and thank you!

Jeannie

Michele Erdvig · Host

Jeannie,

When you think of staying in Cork think County Cork not Cork City. Many people enjoy Kinsale (a cute harbor town) or Blarney village with its famous castle. Others go for the wilds of the west Cork coast.

Michele

tully · Member

I would consider rebooking and heading into Dingle for a two night stay. Good music/pubs/restaurants in Dingle and a nice town to spend some time looking around or taking a boat ride to see Fungi the local Dolphin (even my husband got caught up in the corny fun of trying to catch a glimpse of the local "flipper"). A must see is the slea head loop drive!

If you are only spending one night in Kenmare then I would opt for spending the day enjoying the park/muckross house/abbey and ross castle and the spectacular drive from killarney to kenmare with a stop at ladies view. we did both slea head and whole ROK and no comparison...slea head is a better use of time (if you had more time, you could do both...but the section of the ROK between Killarney and Kenmare, park/lakes, is the most scenic anyway).

I would not stay in Killarney. Kenmare also offered good restaurants/pubs/music...plus the stone circle on the edge of town!

Kinsale has a pretty harbor and charles fort is interesting...good restaurants, enjoyed the campy/fun not scarey ghost tour. since you will spend a good part of the day just getting to kinsale from kenmare...I would suggest spending a 2nd night in Kinsale...in a day trip from kinsale we toured blarney(morning), midleton distillery (noon/nice lunch) and cobh (afternoon) and back to kinsale (there is a car ferry connection).

I would consider previous post suggestions of the castle/jail stay in cahir...tour cahir and Rock of Cashel...could also stay in cashel...great sight and you may want to check to see if Bru Boru Centre show has started...we were there in June and it had...a great night of entertainment and the session afterward is wonderful...an opportunity for your husband to join in and show his talents...my husband did (also in an "Irish" band) and it was a highlight...this is a tourist place that was full of Irish tourists!

(if you take my suggestions...adding a night to kinsale and cahir or cashel, that would take care of your fri and sat)

galway area suggestion would be to tour connemara and spend two nights in westport...haven't stayed, yet (on our itinerary for this june!), but have heard great things about it and it is the home of matt malloys' pub...your husband should recognize that name!

personal aside...we did not enjoy galway that much...music was truly secondary in this college town...pubs jammed full of youngsters on the hunt...of course your kids might enjoy! driving was not fun, have you seen the movie european vacation... "look kids, spanish arch...jury's...did this a couple of times too many before we found our way out.

and you may notice that I sayed 2 days...

I would spend next night in Doolin (picked up some local music cd's here)...not only for music...but you must leave time to see the cliffs of moher...a must see! would also give you a chance to see the burren, wasn't our favorite...but others love it, maybe take a walking tour with a guide to highlight what makes this area special.

then spend your last night in ennis-also known for good music (your husband will enjoy a stop at custy's music shop) or bunratty (banquet/traditional night/or lots of shopping)

Michele Erdvig · Host

tully,

Thanks very much for your recommendations. All of them are good. I think that Jeannie is loath to change her reservations for the first two days. Perhaps the B&Bs have a strict cancellation policy or something.

I see you are off to Ireland again in June. Westport is a very nice town and I think you will enjoy it more than Galway. It doesn't have the college kid scene going on. I have to admit that I loved Galway 25 years ago but it has changed a lot and given way to urban sprawl. I do like the fact that the city center is for pedestrians now.

Do you have your itinerary set? If you have any questions please let me know.

Michele

Irisheyes · Senior Member

TULLY - What is the stone circle on the edge of town in Kenmare. We are staying there, so therefore, I'm curious.

Michele Erdvig · Host

Irisheyes,

It is the Druid's Circle and is just a short walk from Kenmare town. It is a stone circle with a dolmen in the center. Ask at the tourist office and they will direct you there.

Michele

cryogenine · Veteran Member

One thought if it was not mentioned...Driving the Ring of Kerry can be problematic since the driver needs to be on constant watch and, at times, the road is so high, you can not see the view.

We took a small tour bus out of Killarney and it was great! I got a break from driving and we were up high enough to see everything. I think it was from Olympic Travel and the driver was
a true Kerryman named Eddie Phillips. He made the trip!

Hope to look him up again on our trip this coming May.

Michele Erdvig · Host

cryogenine,

Thanks for your recommendation. You're right. Taking the occasional day tour does give the driver a break. I'm glad you enjoyed your time on the ROK.

Michele