Okay, my adult daughter and I will be in Ireland from July 8 through 17. What to do? I need advice because I have no idea what to do. Here is what I was thinking:
We'll fly into Dublin on Friday morning, I was thinking Friday and Saturday nights in Dublin, Sunday drive south for a night and then Monday into Galway city. I really like the idea of staying in Galway city most of the week, little side trips around during the day: Aran Islands, Burren, bicycle rides, walks, archaeological sites, rugby games. Then late in the week do a one day drive northward, stay a night then finish in Dublin again the next Sunday to fly out.
I would prefer to stay in one place, get the feel for it rather than drivedrivedrive the whole time. I think we'll rent a car but would also like to cycle. I would love recommendations on B&B or cottages or inns in Galway City or County to stay at for probably five nights.
Please let me know what you think of these ideas. Thank you.
You need to be restrained in how far you travel. Off the motorways and N roads travel can be very slow, even some of the N roads are single lanes.
If you actually have 'no idea what to do' then you should buy a guide book.
I think your plan is pretty good but I think your better bet might be to do your couple of days in Dublin and then head to Galway - a nice straight trip on motorway almost all the way about a fiver in tolls. Spend four/five days in Galway and then head to Dingle Penninsula and Ring of Kerry for a couple of days before returning to Dublin. An alternative is to go straight from the airport to Galway and do the three nights in Dublin before your return flight. If you do want to go 'north' (and I am presuming you mean something like Donegal or Belfast) just remember there is a lot of hours in driving involved.
Ireland can be great for walking and The Irish Independent has a walk in it every weekend. Unfortunately the independent.ie website search engine is rubbish but most of them are written by Christopher Somerville so a search for his name will produce the walks, including, at a glance, five or six for Galway Co and a couple in Burren in Co. Clare.
Galway has very high occupancy rates in the accom industry, allegedly the highest in Ireland, so don't dawdle on that front.
The plan suggested by the previous poster sounds good.
Galway would make a great base for travelling around the west- you could easily fit in a trip to Sligo (Yeat's county) from there. Staying in Galway city will allow you to eat in the very nice restaurants and wander around some great pubs if that's your thing. Salthill is a sea side spot beside the city but its a bit tacky. Otherwise, you are best staying out in Spideal or Connemara somewhere which would give you lovely countryside and close for trips, (but fairly limited on restaurants/food). It would be nice to spend a night on the Aran Islands- there is a pub- Tigh something on Inis Mor which has accommodation and normally fairly good sessions or the inis meain restaurant and suites would be a real treat. What is your budget? The Georgina Campbell website (google Georgina Campbell to find it) has the best hotels/ b&bs but you could get a perfectly nice b&b for less too.
I agree that you need to get moving on the accommodation front- the end of July is race week in Galway-very hectic time.
Also, you could fly to Galway with Aer Arann, if you wanted to speed your trip up.
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