We will be staying in a self-catering cottage in County Clare for the first 7 days of our three week trip to Ireland. After that we will stay in Clifton for 3 nights(County Galway), Glendalough for 3 nights(wicklow mountains), Mitchelstown 2 nights, north of Cork, Adrigole 2 nights(Beara Penninsula); then back to Bunratty before returning home. We do have one night before our last night in Bunratty and plan to stay somewhere on the route from Adrigole to Bunratty. Since we will be in Clare County the majority of our time, I am wondering how to best spend our days. We will be traveling by car and as Michele has mentioned, perhaps get very used to the ferry. We want to visit Ennis, Limerick, Killarney, the Cliffs of Moher, the burren, Aran Islands, the dingle penninsula, Killarney and maybe the Ring of Kerry. We also want to explore Galway, Connamara and north of Clare County. I guess I am wondering if anyone has any advice about which to visit during our first seven days and what to save for when we come from Adrigole north back to Shannon. Hope this makes enough sense for your replies. Dana
Well, it looks like the Loop Head drive would be very doable from where you are staying in Clare. We have not visited Loop Head, but it is reportedly a stunning area to visit. It looks to me like exploring the ROK from where you are staying in Clare would make for extremely long day trips.
You should probably do Killarney, Dingle and ROK when you are in that area. It would make for long driving days. However, if you decide to do some of it by taking the ferry I would skip ROK from the Doonbeg area. Dingle and Killarney are much closer your base than ROK.
Loop Head is wonderful on a nice day. Take a picnic.