Could you assist with advice on this route please? My adult son and I fly into Cork from London at around 1pm in 3 weeks time. We plan on hiring a car and heading to Kenmare to stay that night (Friday) - then head to Dingle the next day for another overnight there (Saturday). We would head back to Kinsale for Sunday night and then spend the last night somewhere near Cobh before returning the car in Cork and catching the bus to Dublin.
We don't want to spend all our time driving - are we stretching too far to go to Dingle or should we do a smaller loop - stay in Kenmare one night, do the Ring of Beara, and then head back to one of the lovely villages like Baltimore etc for the 2nd night?
Our aim is to see some of the country side (not try to do it all), enjoy an easy paced drive (no more than 3 hours in any day - broken up by good stops for walking, lunch etc), really sample some great Irish hospitality - pubs, music, food etc.
If you can recommend some B&Bs or must see sights it would be appreciated. I'm not sure if there are any castles along the way, but we'd be very happy to splurge for a castle stay as well.
We are Australian so used to driving on the same side as you.
Thanks - I'm grateful for any advice, even is it's to come up with something completely different!
I suggest you spend two nights in Kenmare. Do the Beara Peninsula from there as a day trip and it will give you some wonderful scenery comparable to Dingle. Kinsale and Cobh are very close. Why stay in two different close towns when you can easily stay in either one for 2 nights?