Up coming Trip to Ireland

robbieq · Newbie

Up coming Trip to Ireland

Michele Erdvig · Host

Welcome to the forum, Robbie and congrats to your wife. Considering time of year, you may want to pare down your itinerary a bit. At the end of October and getting off daylight savings means shorter days. Especially if you have a dull or rainy day it can seem that at 4:30 or 5 pm you run out of daylight and cannot squeeze more into your sightseeing day. Plus you are covering quite a bit of territory.

It depends on what type of traveler you are. If you don't mind a whirlwind trip where you try to cram in as much as possible, your current plan would work. However, the majority of travelers to Ireland find that they enjoy it more when they slow down a little bit and don't try to frantically squeeze too much in.

What are your "must sees"? What do you feel you might cut out and still be happy?

robbieq · Newbie

Hi there Michele so beside Dublin (Book of Kells, Guiness storehouse etc etc) our must sees at this stage are at least stopping in to visit castle at Kilkenny and Rock of Cashal on drive down to County Kerry. The Ring of Kerry (Killarney included) and Dingle are must sees for at least two days/nights. Stopping in at the Cliffs of Mohar on way to check out Galway (wild atlantic way) would also be a must I think. We are in two minds about Cork as we have had mixed reports but personally I think it looks more interesting than sleeping over in Kilkenny I like the look of the town, the English market and Cobh. at this stage if I were to cut out something it would probably be sleeping in Kilkenny keeping a night in cork and an extra night in the Kerry/dingle area thanks for any further reflections

Michele Erdvig · Host

Basically you have 3 nights in Dublin and 5 elsewhere. 40% of the trip is Dublin based. Dublin is in the east, then you want to go SW and west. FYI, it will be a whirlwind trip. Also, Galway is not the only place to see the Wild Atlantic Way. That name is a brand name for most of the coast of Ireland from Co. Cork to Co. Donegal. So if you don't actually see the WAW in Galway you will definitely see it in Dingle, Ring of Kerry, Cliffs of Moher, etc. Perhaps you will choose to only drive one of the peninsulas instead of both Dingle and ROK?

Since it can be very tiring doing one-night stops, you can optimize your trip by a multiple-night stay where it makes sense to do day trips from. I suggest Killarney as a good base for the SW. Why not get the Cliffs of Moher out of the way and drive from Dublin to Clare after Dublin? The drive alone will take a good 4 hours or more. Stay in Doolin (also on the WAW) or Ennis. Spend 3 nights in Killarney and do day trips from there to Dingle, ROK, Gap of Dunloe, the Killarney area (note: Dingle, ROK and Gap are all whole day trips each so choose what you want to do and see during those 3 days or let the weather determine it).

Skip Cork and spend the night in either Cashel or Kilkenny.

What time is your flight from Dublin to home? Is it a trans-Atlantic flight?