Ireland in 10 days - itinerary overloaded & needs editing down
Replies: 14 - Last Post: Aug 6, 2012 7:44 AM Last Post By: aliucus
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Ireland in 10 days - itinerary overloaded & needs editing down
I am planning my first Ireland trip for the first week in September of 2012 and tjis is my first rental car sight-seeing trip anywhere. When planning the itinerary reviews for everything show up as a 'must-see.' This makes planning a SW driving trip for 10 days very difficult.I'm well aware of the driving difficulty, and I know my route has a LOT - I just don't know what to cut and I would really appreciate some recommendations!
- Are some of these similar enough to skip one?
- We wanted to spend a little more time in Galway than I currently have worked out.
- I also have 2 empty days! I was considering Saltee for one, but I also think with both Dingle and Beara peninsula on my route (and perhaps other sites) that I just need to spread things out - where though?
- Should we see Burren? and if so - where is it exactly? I've found at least 5 different addresses online - do we just go to the national park? If so, it seems like the visitors center is on the west side, is that right?
- I also saw another post about an itinerary saying to avoid Cork as the stopover (b/c it's busy, that's all), any recommendations on a nearby town to stay in instead?
Any advice and tips would be wonderful. We aren't history buffs, but appreciate a good story. We like nature, animals, cute towns, a good pub and beer.
Sat: Arrive and tour Dublin
Sun: Tour Dublin
Mon: Dunmore cave, Kilkenny sights and overnight
Tue:
• Rock of Cashel
• Cahir Castle
• Ardmore cliff walk
• Blarney Castle
• Cork overnight
Wed: **SALTEE**? but head for Kilmore Quay (Saltee) from Cahir castle instead
Wed
• Kinsale
• Mizen Head
• Beara peninsula
• Killarney overnight
-
-
- THU/FRI open depending on Saltee
-
Saturday
• Dingle Peninsula
• Conor’s Pass on way to Cliffs of Moher (via Ferry at Tarbert)
• Cliffs of Moher
• Cliffs of Moher area overnight OR **fit Burren in and go directly to Galway this night?
Sunday
• Burren (if stay near cliffs of moher)
• Connemara Natl Park
• Connemara to Bunratty Castle
• Shannon hotel overnight
Monday: Depart Shannon airport very early
Thank you again!!
1
Forget Blarney and go to Cobh (say cove) insteadand visit the heritage centre.
You will be in Killarney so drive the Ring of Kerry.
Connemara, check this out , Youtube the following
"AT YOUR SERVICE PART 1"
followed by PART 2 and then PART 3
In county Clare go to Gus O'Connors public house, Doolin
in the evening for some traditional music.
and finally use Google MAPS using the features
STREET-VIEW and SEARCH-NEARBY
Enjoy your trip.
3
It seems a shame not to do Dingle Penninsula or the more popular (but IMO not as good) Ring of Kerry. You could stay in Galway and visit the Aran Islands unless there is a particular reason to visit Saltee.Your plan looks fine but busy; you'll get an idea if you are personally up to the challenge as you kick into (and get an idea of what driving in Ireland is like) and can modify what you see as you go along but you seem to have done some pretty good planning.
5
Kerry Is amazing make sure you do the ring of kerry Im from Ireland and i go to killarney every year for 3 nights and its amazing. stay in killarney for a night or 2! And definitely take a trip out to dingle! views are amazing! the rest of Ireland is blahhhh , ohh and the Aaran islands are amazing too. Drive safe6
In our opinon, none of the views in Ireland has been blahhhh. We do agree that Dingle and the "loop" are great!Take Conner pass back to Killarney from Dingle for fantastic scenic driving....just be ready for a VERY narrow road.
Killarney is a great party town....live music in the pubs and fantastic restaurants....we came for one day and stayed three.
We are off to the ring of Kerry loop tomorrow.
Firefly
7
Thanks for the responses! We are definitely doing Dingle (Saturday day above). We are also doing Beara. It sounds like I really need to work some extra time in for Killarney. I spread things out a bit by removing the caves, and moving the Cahir castle to another day. Still deciding between Aran islands or Saltee. Not sure how the birds/plants are on Saltee at that time of year.Thanks again!
9
I dont mean blahh in a bad way the best place to visit is kerry. I live in Ireland and when Im going on holiday in Ireland I always go to kerry same with most other people I know! because kerry is very different from the rest of Ireland. But yes do try get some extra time in killarney its very nice. I would definitely choose Aran Islands! you'll miss out if you dont! Yeah the weather here is miserable but thats Ireland for you most tourists come here for the rain because Ireland is famous for its rainy climate! They would be disappointed if it didnt rain. But for Irish people we hate it haha Thats why I went to dubai then Beijing for 2 weeks at the start of june :)10
@made_in_ireland (or anyone!)- what's your opinion on Aran Islands vs Saltee?There's no real reason for Saltee I suppose. I hear the birds, flowers and seals are wonderful. I'm not sure how much of each will be visible in early September, but it seemed promising to have a lot of nature. (I think the seals should be there and various types of birds - no puffins).
11
In my opinion I would prefer the views and landscape of the Aran Islands. Im not interested in Bird sanctuaries! So I would prefer the Aran Islands also there would be alot of different spiecies of sea birds there too! Logically speaking wexford /saltee is way out of your plans! you will waste too much time stick the connemara side of Ireland forget the south east!12
TO cdffirefliy: You posted on July 10, 2012, saying you had arrived in Ireland on July 17th. Not sure if you meant the 7th or what??? I have a friend in Ireland NOW, just in their 6th day of a 15-day tour. They have had sun and rain both. Just hope that July doesn't outdo June with rainfall!13
I updated the itinerary and removed the caves, Ardmore and Saltee.We have a tiny bit of extra time in Killarney or Galway and incorporated the Aran Islands.
Are we crazy to do all this?
Sat: arrive, explore Dublin
Sun: Dubin
Mon: Rental car, Kilkenny, Rock of Cashel, Cahir overnight
Tue: Cahir Castle, Cahir to Kinsale to Mizen Head area overnight (Try to go to Mizen Head)
Wed: Mizen Head if didn't see on Tuesday, Beara Peninsula, Killarney overnight
Thu: Killarney until lunch, Dingle/Conor's Pass, Ferry to Doolin (Cliffs of Moher) & Doolin overnight
Fri: Cliffs of Moher, Burren & Galway overnight
Sat: Galway to Aran Islands & Galway overnight
Sun: Connemara National Park, head to Shannon for overnight before flight (Bunratty Castle maybe)
Mon: Depart 9:30 am
14
If anyone happens upon this thread later I thought I would leave an update that we modified the itinerary a little more.We dropped Mizen Head due to distance and time. This also made the driving route to get to Beara shorter. Previously when going to Mizen Head we were going to stay overnight in Skibbereen which is a longer route on the way to Beara.
Some may be surprised that we dropped Aran Islands, but the thought is if we make it back to Ireland, this would be easier to see next time and we just didn't have a lot of time to really enjoy some of the towns when trying to pack so much in.
New itinerary is:
Sat: arrive, explore Dublin
Sun: Dubin
Mon: Rental car, Kilkenny, Rock of Cashel, Cahir overnight
Tue: Cahir Castle, Leave Cahir around lunch time and head to Kinsale (have afternoon and evening), stay overnight
Wed: Beara Peninsula, Ladies view (on way to Killarney) Killarney overnight
Thu: Killarney day and overnight
Fri: Dingle/Conor's Pass, Ferry to Doolin (Cliffs of Moher??) & Doolin overnight
Sat: Cliffs of Moher, Burren & Galway overnight
Sun: Connemara National Park, head to Shannon for overnight before flight (Bunratty Castle if we somehow leave Connemara really early)
Mon: Depart early am
