Itinerary review

Dondo · Newbie

Itinerary review

Shawn · Senior Member

Don,

I really liked Kells Priory outside of Kilkenny. It is a large monastic ruin that is worth exploring. Nobody was there but my wife and I and we loved having the scenery to ourselves. Powerscourt Gardens was a really beautiful detour between Dublin and Kilkenny. We also caught Cahir Castle on the way to Killarney. Killarney National Park was awesome (be prepared to walk... A LOT!!!). But, Dingle and the Cliffs of Moher were probably the best times in Ireland. In Dingle I couldn't give a higher B&B review to Emlagh Lodge...awesome!

My only tip...take advantage of good weather when you have it! We passed up a sunny day in Dingle to check out the town, and got much rain and fog the next day which made the Slea Head Drive tough and Connor Pass impossible.

have fun,

Shawn

Michele Erdvig · Host

Don,

Welcome to the forum! Shawn's advice to make hay while the sun shines is excellent. You never know when the weather will change in Ireland. I also agree with his recommendation of Kells Priory outside Kilkenny.

You will encounter a Bank Holiday at the end of your trip. The first Monday in June is the holiday, however Fri, Sat & Sun will be the heavily booked nights. But you have plenty of time for making reservations so don't worry about it.

For drive times you can take a look at AA Roadwatch: http://www.aaroadwatch.ie/routes/ Get the mileage and divide by 35 to get approximate drive times.

Instead of going all the way to Westport from Dingle, had you thought of going to the Galway area instead? It is a shorter drive. Another option would be to take a day from Galway and insert it into the long drive and stay somewhere like Doolin or Ballyvaughan. You can easily see Galway City in one day.

As far as spending the night on Inishmore versus doing it as a day trip, I think you will have a more genuine and unique experience by spending a night there. Once the tourists have left it is a different place. You can also fly to the island for not much more money than the ferry.

Killarney and Kenmare are both good central places to stay. Kenmare is my favorite small town in Ireland. Killarney gets a bad rap because people claim it is touristy. The fact is it has been a tourist draw for over 250 years for a good reason: it is set smack dab in the center of some of Ireland's best scenery. If it it falls on a weekend I think I would choose Kenmare. Otherwise go with whatever you want.

Oughterard is a very small village. If you are going to Galway to see the city, you might as well stay there. I like staying in Salthill, which is a suburb overlooking Galway Bay.

You are right that the Park Hotel is on the formal side. For a more casual but elegant experience try Sallyport House (pictured on my Lodgings page).

As for castle hotels in proximity to your route try Ballyseede, Glin, Dromoland and Ashford. You will find links on my Castle Hotels page.

If you are making your reservations in Sept 2006 you should have the pick of whatever you want. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if some places ask you to book after the first of the year.

On the whole, I think it looks good. Try tweaking the Dingle to Westport trekk to see what you can come up with. Sometimes a little changing around will give you good results.

Michele

Dondo · Newbie

Thanks for the tips Shawn.

Michele, thank you for the suggestions. Looking at my map, perhaps we could travel from Dingle to Doolin and stop at the Cliffs of Moher on Day 9. That would break up the long drive to Westport. Then, we would have Day 10 & 11 in Westport; Day 12 in Inismore ( I like your comments on staying the night to get the flavor of the island after the tourists leave ); Day 13 in Galway as you suggested that one day is enough; Day 14 in Bunratty; and depart from Shannon on Day 15. While this ends our trip with three one-night stays the distances do not appear to be outside of the 2 to 3 hour drive target.

Don

China Cat · Veteran Member

Hi Don,

your itinerary is very similar to mine, and a similar length. You can check out my trip report if you like (Green Hills, Grey Stones and Guiness, in the trip reports forum). I made the choice to not go as far as Westport/Galway in order to have more time in Cashel and Killarney. I'm not sorry at all. In fact, if I could have added a day, it would have been in Kilkenny most likely. There was SO much to do and see in that area that we didn't get to. And we had 2 nights in Kilkenny plus a night in Cashel!

I agree with Michelle that Killarney gets a bad rap. We visited Kenmare, and it surely did look like a more charming place. But Killarney is just so convenient. There is lots to do right there in the park...Muckross House, Muckross Abbey, Torc Waterfall, Ross Castle, Innisfallen, Gap of Dunloe. We spent 2 full days just sightseeing in the immediate vicinity. Earl's Court Guest House in Killarney was one of my favorite places to stay.

I found the AA Roadwatch site to be very accurate for drive times. We took consistantly, slightly longer time than it estimated, like perhaps 20%. If it said 2 hours, it probably took us about 2 1/2 to make the drive. And the directions were VERY accurate and useful. I printed out pages of them, and had them in a notebook along with a good map book. We never got lost.

What Shawn said about the weather is so true too. We missed out on Inishmore, because we didn't go when the weather was okay. then it was horrid the next day and we couldn't risk the ferry not coming back (we were going from Doolin, where the ferries are much more weather dependent).

Michele Erdvig · Host

Don,

That would work. I generally advise people to have multiple-night stays but sometimes it just works out better to have one-night stays during certain parts of any itinerary.

Michele

Melissa5 · Guru

Dondo, I am glad you are considering Michele's advice to break up that Dingle-to-Westport drive with a stay in either Galway, Doolin, or Ballyvaughan...

We drove from Dingle to Ballyvaughan, County Clare, taking the car ferry, and it was plenty long enough! On this route we also stopped in Galway for a quick shopping stop...bad idea I thought, since Galway does not work well as a "quick" stop...because of traffic and parking problems, Galway will bite a 2- to 4- hour chunk out of your day before you know it!

Somebody above said 1 night is enough for Galway, and I would have to agree with that, although as I mentioned all we had was a stopover in Galway along the Dingle to County Clare route. Ended up wishing we had just skipped Galway and stopped in some little town instead.

We stayed in Ballyvaughan in County Clare because it was centrally located between the day-trips we were taking. That worked out well.

Westport is great, and County Mayo is very scenic! One good thing about breaking up the Dingle to Westport drive by staying in County Clare or County Galway... You will also be able to enjoy your drive to Westport more. Once you pass Galway, the drive to Westport can pass through any of a number of lovely areas... Since we were driving from Ballyvaugahn in County Clare to Westport, we were able to detour over to Killary Harbor, which is gorgeous. It's a beautiful fijord in Ireland.

Here I am blabbing away. You can tell I am squeezing every last bit of enjoyment out of our July trip that I can! Have a wonderful time making happy memories in Ireland.