itinerary help

ember · Newbie

itinerary help

Michele Erdvig · Host

ember,

First, welcome to the forum. I'm glad that you found it for planning the Ireland portion of your trip to Europe.

You might want to look into flying from London to Ireland since it generally costs less and takes a lot less time than taking a train and ferry. You will want to note that Stonehenge is in England not Ireland. Make your plans accordingly.

Seeing Blarney, Cliffs of Moher and Antrim in less than a week would mean a very fast-paced trip. You would be traveling from the very southern coast to the very northern coast. Travel in Ireland is slow, to say the least. You might optimize your time by flying into Cork and starting there.

I do customized itineraries but not on the forum. For more info see this page: http://www.irelandyes.com/itinerary.html I have a free tour finding service. You can read more about it here: http://www.irelandyes.com/findtour.html

Most castle hotels in Ireland are very expensive. You get what you pay for and if you want all the amenities and the feeling of being treated like royalty in posh surroundings it will cost a lot. You can click through to many castle hotels from this page: http://www.irelandyes.com/castles.html When most people realize what it will actually cost to stay in a castle, they change their plans. However, it is always possible to visit a castle and have tea or a meal there. That is a much less expensive option than spending the night.

That should get you started. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Michele

ember · Newbie

Hi Michelle,

yes i realise the stonehenge is in england, sorry i accidently put that in, was thinkin about something else :)

anyway thanks for your help. i'll look at starting from cork, seems only logical. we will definitly be flying in. can u give us an idea on how long our trip will take covering all these places?

the castles do seem a bit on the expensive side, we could perhaps do one castle but not for all our stops. do you have any suggestions on hotels in the places we are stopping?

Thanks

Ember

Michele Erdvig · Host

Ember,

If you will click on IrelandYes Index and then on Lodgings you will find a list of places that I personally recommend. There are many more listed in my book along with reviews. I generally recommend B&Bs and guesthouses but with some hotels thrown in. For a complete listing of Ireland hotels: http://www.irelandhotels.com/

If you start in Blarney and finish in Belfast you will obviously have several stops along the way. Once those are determined you can think about lodgings. Many people do just the one night in a castle for their splurge and then economize by staying at lower cost accommodations for the rest of the trip.

Michele

ember · Newbie

Michelle,

thanks for that. our plan is to try and fit our tour of ireland into 4 days (if possible). theres not a whole lot we want to see, just specific points that ive mentioned, however i realise the travel between these points will take up most of the time. do u think it is feasible or even possible to fit what we want to do into 4 days?

i have also emailed you for an itinerary request on the email you provided on your website. have u received that email yet?

apart from that i think we've sorted our accomodation out, your help with that was fantastic, thanks.

we're really excited about our trip now, see we're comin all the way from australia, so its a long trip for us.

if i have any more questions i will definitly post them on here. thanks for your help again.

Ember

Michele Erdvig · Host

Ember,

I did receive your email and replied to you. I think that four days is a bit optomistic. Since you are from Australia I'm sure you are used to driving great distances all the time. However, Ireland is a bit different. The roads are mostly small and winding and you will share the roads with sheep and cows. There are few super highways except around a few of the larger cities like Dublin, Galway and Cork. You are going to average 35 mph in Ireland. If you don't mind spending all your time in the car you probably could do it in four days. But if you want to enjoy the trip you should try for a few more days. After all, you are going from the very south coast to the very north. You will have to make some overnight stops along the way. Ireland is a place that must be savored not rushed.

Michele