Dingle Peninsula, the Burren, or both?

skb250 · Newbie

Dingle Peninsula, the Burren, or both?

wojazz3 · Guru

You can certainly see them both in that amount of time. Good weather especially with low winds is very important for getting to the Arans from Doolin. If the winds are high, the boats can't land on some of the islands. It's possible to fly to the Arans though it's not real convenient. Probably about a 3 hour drive around to Inverin on the Galway coast. I suggest spending a night there, especially during August as tourism will be very high at that time. Once the boats leave for the mainland, the islands becomes much quieter. Inishmore will be the most crowded. If you decidee you want to stay, you'd best try to book a room now and they may be hard to come by.

You could easily spend 3 days in each area and see a lot. Dingle is about 3 hours from Shannon.

Bill

skb250 · Newbie

Thanks very much for the advice, Bill! Any suggestions on which town we should stay in while in Co. Clare that would be the best launching point for exploring the area? Ennis, Doolin, Lisdoonvarna? I was thinking Ennis only because it's close to the airport and after arriving at 6:30am we may not want to drive too far to our first destination.

Tentitive Itinerary (Aug. 22-28)
Day 1: arrive in Shannon, rent car, head to Ennis, Doolin, Lisdoonvarna(?)
Day 2: Burren/Aran Islands
Day 3: Burren/Aran Islands
Day 4: Drive to Dingle (approx. 5 hours?)
Day 5: Dingle
Day 6: Dingle, Drive to back to Shannon area
Day 7: eary departure from Shannon

Thanks again for your help. We are doing this very last minute because we had to cancel a planned trip to Tel Aviv for security reasons.

Michele Erdvig · Host

Shauna,

That itinerary will work nicely for your trip. Since you are arriving so early into Shannon do you realize that your room may not be ready for you to check into? If you feel that you may need to rest immediately on arrival, I suggest pre-booking the previous night. That way your room will be empty and ready to occupy. You can arrive, check in, freshen up and have breakfast. If you need a nap you don't have to do it in the car or sitting up in the lounge of a B&B.

If you don't mind a drive of about 1 1/2 hours you can reach Doolin. If you are taking the ferry to the Aran Islands from there you might as well stay in the area.

Michele

Melissa5 · Guru

skb250, I have a ton of photos on the Burren area, since hubby is a biologist and he hogged the camera. Amazing and unique area. Now if only I can learn how to post them on this web-site (I'm learning how, with the help of advice from this forum!) If it helps you decide, I recently posted a trip report on County Clare which has info on the Burren, and another trip report chapter on Dingle Peninsula...see trip reports section.

We found enough to do in both the Dingle Peninsula and in County Clare to fill up 3 nights in each region. It would be hard to choose between them! Good luck.