1 week in Ireland with 2 kids

[ErinK75]

Hi there! (New here)

We are going to Ireland with our two kids, who are 7 and 11, in mid-October. None of us have ever been to Ireland. We're flying in/out Dublin and plan to spend one night there before heading into the countryside. We are renting a car. We've thought about Kilkenny, Killarney, Cork/Cobh, Cliffs of Mohr, Limerick, and maybe Galway. But we don't want to do one night stays in cities. I'd rather find a kind-of-central location near a town to base from for 2-3 nights, doing day trips from there...

So, any suggestions given the above on where we might look at staying? We're prone to "towns" where we can walk to dinner.

We've seen info online that there are only 5-6 hours of daylight--is this true?

Any of the above that it doesn't make sense/not worth visiting? (I've heard for instance by some that Limerick isn't worth stopping in...)

Any tips/advice/guidance would be MUCH APPRECIATED! We've just bought both the DK and Rick Steves' Ireland books to help out...but I find first-hand guidance on forums like this are so beneficial. (We used SlowTrav for our family trip to Italy last year.)

THANKS!

 

[Eleanor]

Welcome to Slow Europe ErinK75, and lets see if we can help...

I’m not quite sure where you got the 5-6 hours of daylight from. In mid October you are going to get about 10.5 hours daylight. This website gives you sunrise and sunset times for Galway. Times for Dublin are going to be about 10 minutes earlier.

On dull dark days you are going to lose daylight quicker than on bright sunny days but even so you should have plenty of time for sightseeing.

What are the two kids interested in? I am concerned that the itinerary is going to involve a lot of driving and you are going to be spending a lot of time in the car seeing Ireland through the car windows. Driving in Ireland is an experience and can be very slow as there are few motorways. Distances may not look long on a map but it is going to take a lot longer to cover them than you might think. In the countryside roads are narrow and overtaking isn’t easy if you get stuck behind slow moving traffic (tractor or the little old lady who drives at a steady 20mph regardless of the traffic conditions and freezes if she sees a car coming towards her - I'm not joking as you do find them). Locals can stop in the road and chat away regardless of traffic building up and then there is the funeral which is big business in Ireland and can bring a town centre to a standstill... You need to keep a sense of humour and relax to the pace of the countryside.

Don’t rely on the times on google maps - they are widely optimistic and you probably need to allow an extra 50% for traffic, breaks, meals, toilets etc... I use the AA Route Planner.

Unfortunately it isn’t realistic to work from one or two central locations to cover what you are wanting to do. You will spend all your time sitting in the car and will hardly have anytime at what you are going to see. You need to devise a circular route.

There is a suggestion below but even so there are still a lot of one night stands

Where are you coming from and are you likely to be jet lagged?

A day in Dublin isn’t very long. Are you planning to visit Newgrange from Dublin. This is an amazing site 5000+ years old and guided tours take you into the heart of the tomb. If you do this you may need to allow 2 nights for Dublin.

From Dublin head to Glendalough in the Wicklow Mountains which is wonderful early Christian Monastic site and then head to Kilkenny for 1 night. Make sure you visit the castle - either the day you arrive or next morning.

Next head for Killarney. It would be possible to include Cobh BUT that is going to mean a late arrival at Killarney. Scrub Cork which is a big town. Rather than Cobh, think about making a stop in Cashel, which is on the direct route. The castle and monastic building are on top of a hill and look stunning - do a google image search. Cashel is also a nice small town to explore.

Allow yourselves 2 nights in Killarney. This will give you a full day in Killarney. Check out whether the Jaunting cars are running in October or the boat tours. The kids might love these. Even if they are not make sure you drive the Gap of Dungloe. The scenery is superb. You could easily spend a day around Killarney with Ross Castle, Muckross Abbey, Torc Waterfall... Alternatively you might want to drive the Ring of Kerry.

After Killarney head north. Forget Limerick, although the kids might enjoy a day at Bunratty Folk Park. If you decided to scrap this, then head straight for the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren. Plan to spend the night possibly in Ennis which is probably more attractive than Limerick, and head for the Cliffs of Moher the next day.

I must admit I was terribly disappointed by the Cliffs of Moher. There is a steep drop so you won’t want to let the kids get too close to the edge. I’ve always felt the are better seen from the sea on a boat trip. This is going to take a full day so you will need two nights in say Ennis as you are not going to want to drive back to Dublin after a full day round the Burren.

This brings me to 6/7 nights, so I am assuming you will need to head back to Dublin now, which means you will need to scrub Galway...

Hope this is useful, if not it's back to the drawing board. It can often take several goes to get an itnerary right.

 

[Ian Sutton]

No a lot I can help with, but I did catch the train from Dublin to Galway 3-4 years ago with work. Although it might cost a little more than an extra day on the car hire, perhaps that might be a nice way of cutting down on the road miles? Alternatively if you skip Galway, the same idea might work just as well for putting the long miles in somewhere else.

In Dublin, the bridge which people put their locks on might appeal in a quirky way. There is a nice ice-cream shop on Exchequer St (near Fallon & Byrne). Plenty of good solid history in the city as well. It's a good place to walk round and there are some good parks if they need to let off steam

 

[ErinK75]

Thank you both! Eleanor, we'll be coming in from Atlanta, GA, so there will be some jet lag on day 1. What we found works is to see a site or two, then short nap before dinner...so that's roughly our plan on day 1.

We've got kids who are used to long drives (we drive on long trips in the states so they are used to covering 8-10 hours in the car)...but we want to allow breaking it up in Ireland with stops/sightsees.

Your itinerary sounds about right-ish and kind of what we've been going around about...I've got one child (the older one) who is an academic and into catholic history and also history in general. Her brother, not so much. He wants to go/see/do...keeps us parents on our toes with two very different children!

Sounds like we may be good staying in Cashel, Ennis and then one other...which is where my head is too at the moment. Hoping to spend one night in a castle as something fun for the kids as well.

Also appreciate the distance/travel time tips...I read last night for planning purposes assume 40mph in any of your driving travel in the countryside...so we'll just use my kiddos least fave mom saying, "Sit back and relax."

 

[Eleanor]

I'm a bit twitchy about the estimte of 40mph "in any of your driving travel in the countryside". This should be achievable on the fast main roads but I feel could be very optimistic elsewhere. An average of 30mph may be more realistic. I'm assuming you won't want to be driving after dark.

Thinking of castle accommodation, there are three that sit within your itinerary.
Clontarf Castle in Dublin
Dromoland Castle, Newmarket-on-Fergus, Co. Clare
Ballyseede Castle, Tralee, County Kerry

There is also Kilkea Castle in Kildare but you would need to plan your itinerary to fit this in, although it could be a last night stop before flying out of Dublin. Make sure you are booked into the rooms in the castle and not the lodges.

 

[ErinK75]

Thank you so much!