First International Trip in Years! | Ireland - Lonely Planet Forum

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Tue, 15 Apr 2014 16:52:34 +0000

I haven't been out of the country since 2002 so am quite excited to be in the early planning stages for a trip to Ireland in July.
So far, all we have confirmed are our flights in and out of Dublin. We will have 5 1/2 days in Ireland to explore. Not nearly enough time, I know, but I want to try to make the most of it. We are really only planning on spending our arrival day (we get in at 10am) in Dublin - so drop off our bags and go see the sights for the remainder of the day.
Since we are just starting with our planning, I am hoping the experts can give me some ideas on the most important "must see" places.
The only thing that we have on the list so far is Blarney Castle (I am a true tourist at heart!).
We have not decided yet if we are going to rent a car or try to get to the places we want to see via public transporation (trains/busses) so options for both possibilities would be great.
I know we would love to see some of the countryside and some of the coast, find some quaint little towns or villages to explore and see some historical sights. Some of the places we have been tossing around are Cork, Limerick, the Dingle Peninsula, the Cliffs of Moher, and the Ring of Kerry.
We are fine with changing cities/hotels each night if it will get us closer to the next destination on our list, or if one particular area is a good base to hit multiple points in two days we could make that work too.
I figured we would take the train out of Dublin to maybe Cork to start and if we chose to get a rental car we would pick it up/return it there vs trying to drive out of Dublin itself.

Any ideas, suggestions, places to see or avoid, best places to stay - all would be wonderful to help us get the ball rolling on this trip!

ONLINE

Wed, 16 Apr 2014 06:06:54 +0000

5.5 days, blimey, this is a short trip. I don't envy you guys in the US with such incredibly mean vacation allowances. I get 29 days and that's not enough for me.

Anyway. Dublin needs 2 days (well it needs more, but 2 is all you have time for). I'd skip Limerick given the time. Taking a very early train down to Cork (consider also http://www.buseireann.ie which is excellent) is a good start, you can skip that (no time) and simply move on the rest of your itinerary - hitting Blarney Castle en route to the Ring of Kerry before finishing day 3 halfway around it, say somewhere around CaherDaniel.

Pro tip: Do the RIng of Kerry Clockwise, because all of the buses do it anti clockwise due to narrow roads - that way you don't get stuck behind them.

Day 4 - finish off the rest of the Ring of Kerry before moving on via a few hours in Limerick to the Cliffs of Moher. Consider taking a boat out to appreciate it at its ultimate glory.

Day 5 - from the Cliffs of Moher drive the 3 hrs back to Dublin airport (via Galway), dump the hire car, fly home.

Another tip - some motorways in Ireland are tolled. Google for information in advance, particularly for the M50 which is contactless and very close to the airport - you need to pay once you've used it or attract fines.

Copy and paste the url below to share the link.

ONLINE

Wed, 16 Apr 2014 11:44:26 +0000

In terms of fwoggie's RoK tip the flipside of that is you do get them coming at you and you aren't going to want to be flooring it anyway so getting stuck behind them is hardly a problem and they clear the path for you.

My suggestion would be two days Dublin and three days Galway to reduce the time lost to travelling. In Galway do day trips taking in Cliffs of Moher, Aran Islands, the Burren and Connemarra. An alternative similar to fwoggies, I would suggest Dublin (2), Killarney (1, take in Dingle Penn and Ring of Kerry), (Galway 2) - there's a lot of driving though.

In terms of the M50 toll, if you are renting a car check with your rental agency as, at least in the case of a relative, they pay it for you (and presumably stick it on your card or something).

Copy and paste the url below to share the link.

Pro tip