First time to Ireland. Need itenerary help!

:)

is Lisdoonvarna not a tourist trap par excellence?

Certainly during the match-making festival.

Thank y'all so much for all the information! I keep reading and rereading all of the advice.

I LOVE the AA travel website for travel times and directions. I'm hoping that the travel time is more accurate than not, because none of it seems too bad.

We want to see both sides of Ireland, the country life and the urban part. I think we will use the direct routes between most of the cities we'll be stopping in just to save time. We're doing the Dingle Pennensula and Cliffs to see the coastal aspect. We'll also pull over if we go through a cute, quaint little village to see the authentic Ireland. I think I've decided to do the second itenerary. If the driving times are accurate and there's no lashing rain, we'll use the little stops like Muckross Castle or Rock of Cashel, etc. to break up the drives.

Let me ask y'all this...

Assuming we land and clear customs in Dublin and are out of the airport by 11am--can we drive to County Clare, do the Burren and see the Cliffs and make it to Dingle that night? Or is that WAY too much?

That way we could do 2 days relaxing in Dingle...and then head to Cobh/Kinsale/Cork area?

We're flying in/out of Dublin because it's cheaper than Flying in Shannon and out of Dublin. We're going to Waterford because we're staying in the Castle there and it looks like a lovely town.

I'm sorry I have so many questions! I hope I'm not being too annoying. :) Are y'all from Ireland, or have just traveled there?

Thanks again!

The cute quaint village is increasingly the inauthentic Ireland, but let's not get into that debate. :)

You could get to Dingle that night but it would be pretty rushed. Bear in mind it will be getting dark quite early in mid-March. Also, your 11am out-of-the-airport time may be optimistic.

How about reversing the sequence of the trip and doing something like this?

Day 1: arrive Dublin, drive to Waterford, night there.
Day 2: drive to Co. Clare, night somewhere there.
Day 3: drive to Dingle, doing this trip in reverse: http://www.tripadvisor.com/GoListDetail-i20532-Dingle_to_Doolin_A_Day_s_Journey.html - night in Dingle.
Day 4: relaxing day in Dingle, night in Dingle.
Day 5: drive back to Dublin.
Day 6-7: in Dublin.

You could squeeze in a quick visit to Cobh or Cork on the way back to Dublin on day 5.

In answer to your final question, I'm not Irish but have quasi-family there (It's Complicated, as they say) and have spent about two weeks a year there for the last dozen or so years. Mostly based in Wexford or Cork city but travelling all over.

Edited by: barney_uk2

Heh you could certainly argue that the authentic Ireland is the kind of sprawling suburban housing estate that I and probably a few of the other posters here grew up in, but who'd want to visit that? Though even so, these days the authentic Ireland may be the sprawling housing estate on the outskirts of a formerly cute quaint village 90km from Dublin!

Agree with Iviehoff #15.

Assuming we land and clear customs in Dublin and are out of the airport by 11am--can we drive to County Clare, do the Burren and see the Cliffs and make it to Dingle that night? Or is that WAY too much?

Wayyy to much. Allow about 4 hours from airport to Burren. What is "doing the Burren" for you anyway? Driving along some scenic little roads? Going on a walk through the unusual landscape to see it close up and proper? Going to see some of the stone age sites? It's mid March, it's going to be getting dark at 6.30.

I haven't thought about reversing the trip. It's probably quicker to Waterford/Wexford from Dublin than to County Clare and we could relax a little more.

Between most of the places I've mentioned, are there major motor ways I can use?

I'm sensing that I might be looking in the wrong place for "authentic Ireland." :) What should people that come to Ireland see or where should we go to get a good glimpse of it? And, #14, what is the name of this "formerly cute quaint village 90 km from Dublin" you mention? :)

I think there is a motorway all the way from Dublin to Waterford now. Certainly most of the way (M9). There is a motorway all the way from Dublin to Limerick.

The AA website will tell you the quickest routes in any case, but as a general rule national primary roads (numbered N1-N33) will be the quickest, followed by national secondary roads (N51 and successive numbers), while regional roads (R numbers) will be smaller.

However, if you want to see the more scenic parts of Ireland (especially getting between Clare and Waterford or vice versa), you'll probably have to trade down on speed. As anywhere else, motorways are unlikely to be interesting.For these sections you might want to plan your route using a map and a guidebook. The AA route planner will give you the quickest routes but I don't think it has an option for the route with best scenery or most interesting stopping points en route!

As for authentic - well, I guess it's the same in any country. Which is more authentic in the US, the Appalachian mountain backcountry or New Jersey? (I should admit that anything I know of either of them is only from films and TV!) But I think your plan to see plenty of rural Ireland and the coast is a good one, and county Kerry and west Cork are very pleasant and scenic places, and as authentic as anywhere else in Ireland!

Edited by: fear_rua

#15- I'd like to do a little of both. Drive through it, and walk around also (assuming the weather will permit). As far as the Cliffs, I think a little bit of looking at picture taking is about all you can do there, right? So an hour tops at the Cliffs should do that, right? And then a few hours driving/walking around in Burren? So with 4 hours to get to Burren area from Dublin, We'd need to spend the night somewhere in County Clare.