Northern Ireland and County Donegal in November

econnor · Newbie

Northern Ireland and County Donegal in November

Michele Erdvig · Host

econnor,

Welcome to the forum. In November the days are shorter. At the end of October Ireland goes off Daylight Savings Time. It will be getting dark around 4:30 to 5 pm. You won't be able to do quite as much sightseeing as other times of year. You could probably do all you mention if you get going first thing each morning. As for Malin Head, it really depends on whether it is windy and rainy. Let the weather determine if you will do that.

Since you are traveling off-season you really don't need reservations except for Dublin. You can just see how far you get each day and then determine your route or if you want to go farther.

Michele

econnor · Newbie

Thank you Michele - this is a great website you have. Do you know of a good way to avoid Belfast traffic? Will we have to go out of our way to avoid the freeway traffic that skirts Belfast? At this time we don't think we have enough time to stop there. I have made reservations for the Jury's Parnell St. hotel near Parnell Square in Dublin. Are you familiar with that hotel? Thank you again.

econnor

Michele Erdvig · Host

econnor,

You might want to consider the Jury's Christchurch location instead. Parnell St. is not the best location.

You can avoid Belfast when going to the Giant's Causeway. However, it will require a detour through another part of the country. Take a look at a map to see what I mean. If you are going through Belfast when it is not rush hour the drive is not bad.

Michele

Melissa5 · Guru

econnor, have a great trip to Northern Ireland. We had no trouble at all with Belfast traffic. We also found driving along the coast of Northern Ireland to be fine (at least you know where the ocean is.) But trying to navigate from a point on the Antrim coast (Glenariff forest park) using the inland route and ending up in Hillsborough (south of Belfast) was stressful and confusing, involving a great number of round-a-bouts. We don't have roundabouts in our part of southern california and we found them very confusing. We had good maps but with roundabouts, you are driving along what seems to be a nice straight road...and then, wow, you find yourself coming to a roundabout, where you cannot go straight any more, you have to choose one of the arms... That, for us, was the most stressful part of driving in Ireland. There seem to be quite a lot of roundabouts in Northern Ireland.

Anyway enjoy the Giant's Causeway, it's very unique and a memorable experience. We also enjoyed the Dunluce castle ruins on a clear day.

We had a detailed road atlas and without it, we would have been lost all night...because of the detailed road atlas we were able to get back on track by navigating from city to city using the road atlas.

We didn't see Dublin (flew into Shannon and out of Malahide, near Dublin.)

Good luck! Ireland is great!

wojazz3 · Guru

The drive from Dublin to Belfast is greatly improved since the opening of the mortorway. You would probably get to Belfast at mid-morning. I think a drive up the Antrim Coast road is a highlight of any trip to Northern Ireland and of course, it leads you to Glenariff, the queen of the glens. Roads in Northern Ireland tend to be better than those in the Republic, though the gap is closing.

You will be doing a lot in 5 days and will spend a lot of time in the car, but you can certainly have fun. Plan to play it by ear and have a flexible schedule. There are probably some things that you'll want to do that you won't get to, but it only means you'll be back.

Bill

econnor · Newbie

Thank you to those of you who replied to my post. I will take your advice and get a good map and be flexible about expectations. It's one of the advantages of going to Ireland at this time of year. Our departure date is drawing near and we're eager to get there.

econnor

Michele Erdvig · Host

econnor,

Wishing you a wonderful trip to Ireland. Do let us know how it goes when you return. If you can find Thornton's Mini Carmel Shortcakes in No. Ireland ... buy them and indulge. I am dreaming of them now!

Michele

-- Edited by Michele Erdvig at 17:05, 2006-10-31