Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020

Is this itinerary feasible?

Country forums / UK & Ireland / Ireland

Hi everyone, I'm visiting Ireland for the 5th time and I've read a lot of previous posts, so I think I've taken into account everything you've explained: weather conditions, roads...
We'll be arriving at Dublin on the 24th June quite late.
25th & 26th - Dublin (3 nights)
27th - We are planning to rent a car. Trip to Cork. Is the Rock of Cashel worth visiting? We are planning to visit Cobh and to stay in Cork for the rest of the day.
28th - Cork (2 nights)
29th - Trip to Galway. We are planning to visit the city.
30th - Connemara, Kylemore Abbey, Sky Road. Is it too much for one day? Back to Galway. (2 nights)
1st - Trip to Doolin. We're planning to spend the night there so we have plenty of time to see the Cliffs. Should we stop for a while to see the Burren? Should we take the seaside road?
2nd - What would you recommend us to do this day? Maybe the Burren area? An island?
I have seen that there is a good motorway from Galway to Dublin -we have booked a hotel near the airport because our plane departs at 13pm on the 3rd- so it would be no trouble for us at all to arrive pretty late.
I have skipped the south west -Killarney, the Ring of Kerry, the Dingle peninsula and the Beara area- on purpose because we don't want to spend too much time driving. So there'll have to be a 6th time!

Maybe it doesn't make much sense but we really want to visit Cork and Galway.

Thank you very much.

Your plan sounds good. You might be pushing the travel thing a bit much and trying to do too much but I think you should be okay.

I think you should visit the Arann Islands and The Burren is also very impressive. I am not sure what 13pm is but you are right, the motorway to Dublin is a great piece of road (apart from Athlone which is a roadworks joke) and can be done in less than 2.5 hours to Dublin but I would allow three to the airport plus time to return your rental.

You are driving past the Ring of Kerry and Dingle Penn to get to Galway but I guess Galway is important to your visit and so be it.

All in all, I think your itinerary is well planned and not too stressful. Do prepare to adapt because of potentially rubbish weather.

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Thanks for your reply markfawkner.

I've just read again my previous message and I guess it's not very clear.

We'll be flying out on the 3rd July at around 13 o'clock, so it doesn't matter if we get to the hotel late on the 2nd July -it is near Dublin airport- ; hence, I would like to know what you'd advise us to do on the 2nd July, the Burren or an island? Which island? I've read that just a few hours in Innismore might not be enough.

Thanks again.

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You can easily see the Burren either on the way to Doolin or on the way back. There's nothing there that will take you all that much time - the main point of interest is the landscape, there's also the Poulnabrone Dolmen and Corcomroe Abbey which might be worth stopping at.

My main suggestion would be that you are not giving yourselves much time in and around Conamara/south Mayo, which are one of the most fascinating and distinctive regions of Ireland. It's worth seeing the coast out towards Lettermore, where there is a chain of semi-islands running south, and also around past Carna and Moyrus up to Roundstone, as well as the areas inland. If you are going all the way to Ireland, I would say you should take a good look at Conamara! In my view, it has much more of interest than Galway city, pleasant though the latter is, and you might consider spending a night somewhere in Conamara instead of two in Galway. I would recommend you also consider when visiting Conamara, to drive out along the coast and then head up past Clifden as far as Leenane, heading back to Galway via the inland road past Lough Nafooey and Louch Corrib. This is very scenic - but it might be a long day's driving if starting and ending in Galway. Equally, if you don't need to be back to Dublin til late on your second-last day, you can easily see both the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher from Doolin before heading back to Dublin.

A few hours in Arann would be fine. I've never been to either of the smaller islands, but in Arann itself three hours would be enough, and four hours plenty. But it looks like you could spend a whole day island-hopping from Doolin if you felt like it: http://www.doolin2aranferries.com/ There are also ferries to Aran from Ros a' Mhíl in Conamara, about 40km west of Galway. My choice, if it came down to it, would be to give Conamara, west Galway and South Mayo extra time rather than the Aran Islands. But that's a matter of taste, in the end...

The Rock of Cashel is definitely worth a look. If you do find yourselves heading back to Dublin reasonably early on the second-last day, you could also make a slight detour to Clonmacnoise.

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We thought the Rock of Cashel was definitely worth a visit. The Romanesque chapel is terrific. And we liked the ruins of the monastery down below the rock, too.

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Thanks everybody, I really appreciate your interest and help.
We'll probably stop and see "The Rock of Cashel" on the way to Cork, and we'll spend a night near Clifden so that we can have plenty of time, as advised.

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Not at all. If you get a chance, come back on and give some feedback when you get back. Hope you have a great trip.

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