Ireland - Help Me Love It!

[artnbarb]

As I've posted previously, I'm just not being pulled by Ireland, altho Art would really like to go. Unfortunately I'm the one who does all the research, planning, reservations, itinerary, etc, and not feeling much of a connection is making it quite difficult to get excited!

Our tentative plan for next October is to fly from the U.S. to Dublin, spend 1-2 weeks there, then fly to Italy for several weeks. Art knows about my lack of enthusiasm, and I know that he wants to go, so we're trying to reach some sort of compromise. I don't want to spend so little time in Ireland that I miss the important stuff - and maybe for us the important stuff is just the scenery, the people and the experiences - so now I"m trying to figure out a simple and not overly long itinerary that will suit us both.

Not counting the day we arrive, since that's pretty much lost to jet-lag, checking in and getting settled, would 7 days be a reasonable amount of time? And if we start in Dublin (or somewhere else?), can we plan for no car for the first day, or even 2-3 days? I have to admit that driving on the left really bothers me, so if we can take a bus for a day trip out of our base city that works for me. I do realize that we will want a car for part of our stay, and I'll just have to get comfortable with that.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm (trying to be) open to all suggestions!

 

[Pauline]

We went to Ireland in 1992 and I would love to go back but am having a hard time convincing Steve. That trip was in September and it was very cold and wet. We spent a week in a cottage on the coast north of Galway (Connemara) because we were traveling with my father and that is where he wanted to go. We had a good week exploring that area. After we spent a few days inland from Galway where my father lived until his me 20s. Then a few days in Dublin. We had a car and Steve did all the driving. Back then the roads seemed very narrow and fast.

If I were to go again I would go to Cork, which I have heard is sunnier. Also they have a famous vegetarian restaurant. Then to Dingle Penninsula which is supposed to have good hiking.

If I were you I would go for a week, to see how you like it, and see just a few things. If you love it, go back another time. You could even stay in Dublin for the week (@Felicity has an apartment there that she rents out) and do a few day trips by train and not get a car.

@Shannon and @Colleen had a good trip to Ireland, staying in Dublin.

 

[Felicity]

I am coming in to answer but slightly embarrassed as I don't want you to think that I am at all selling my apartment! In answer to your question about car/no car: you absolutely do not need one in Dublin. I have tons of people staying with me who do hire one, even in two or three weeks of stay. In fact, as the traffic can be pretty terrifying to the right hand drivers, you are better without one. The public transport is excellent (although the buses did go on uncharacteristic strike for two days 10 days ago ) and there are day tours to all parts of Ireland from the centre. Because the roads are so upgraded, you can cover a lot of miles in a day.

Staying in Dublin, the Dart railway takes you speedily north and south along the coast. Half the fun of getting there is the ride as it goes by the sea - you can visit Howth harbour and Malahide to the North and Dun Laoghaire, Dalkey, Killiney to the south. And then there are trams. Also you can get a mainline train for day trips to places like Kilkenny although I think if you were going to Galway, it would be better to stay a night or two and perhaps preferable to be driving yourself so you can see more. We quite often do a day's drive ourselves to Connemara and cover a fair bit of ground but it is a long day. If you wanted to go to Cork and Kerry then it would be better to have your own car and you would definitely be better staying a couple of nights there as it is a long trip to places such as Dingle or Killarney. It is really a question of working out what the 'must sees' are for you and Art (although I gather these are close to nil for you ) and then go from there. It might mean a few days in Dublin and a few days in the West or the South or somewhere in between. Or stay a week in Dublin and hire a car for a few days and explore the Wicklow mountains (a very easy drive from my side of Dublin, at least) at leisure - Enniskerry, Glendalough, Newtownmountkennedy and the like. The East coast is generally sunnier but everything changes from year to year so nothing is fixed, weather wise, ever. If you decide to go to Kerry, I can recommend a lovely B and B in Dingle we stayed in (at the end of September/beginning of October and it was sunny and warm!), but it is, unsurprisingly, terribly popular and gets booked up months in advance.

 

[artnbarb]

Thank you both for your insights. I wouldn't say that I have no interest in any of the sights because the countryside looks gorgeous, but I 'd just as soon go back to Scotland for that, rather than researching something new. Maybe I'm just getting lazy!

I will do some research about Dublin and the surrounding area, but if I go to Ireland and don't get a good dose of scenic views I'll be bummed.

Once I've read about Dublin and the Dart railway I'll have to decide if that will be enough, or if I need to get over my fear and dislike of driving on the left.

If Norway wasn't so expensive I'd just push for Norway instead of Ireland and avoid the driving issue entirely.

 

[artnbarb]

OK, I've got to start somewhere, so here's a sample itinerary I found. I would stay the first 2-3 days in Dublin before renting a car, but other than that, the obvious flaw is that you move every. single. night!

Day 1: Drive from Dublin Airport to Kilkenny City. Visit St. Canice's Cathedral and Kilkenny Castle. Dinner and stay in Kilkenny.

Day 2: Drive from Kilkenny to the Rock of Cashel. Lunch in Cashel. Drive from Cashel to Dungarvan. Dinner and stay in Dungarvan.

Day 3: Drive from Dungarvan to Kinsale for lunch. Drive from Kinsale to Killarney. Dinner and stay in Killarney.

Day 4: Explore Killarney National Park. Lunch en route or in Killarney. Drive from Killarney to Dingle. Dinner and stay in Dingle.

Day 5: Drive from Dingle to Cliffs of Moher (via Tarbert ferry). Lunch en route. Drive from Cliffs of Moher to Lisdoonvarna. Dinner and stay at Lisdoonvarna.

Day 6: Drive from Lisdoonvarna through the Burren to Dublin airport for return flight.

Are these stopping points ones you would pick? And is there any way to do this 'tour' from one or 2 bases, or is moving the necessary evil of this tour?

 

[Chris]

That's very similar to our route through Ireland several years ago. We spent a few days in Dublin, then a few days in Kilkenny, then a few nights in Kinsale, then Killarney. We flew home from Shannon instead of returning to Dublin. I loved Ireland. The countryside is SO beautiful, and the people are so nice, that it's worth driving on the wrong side of the road.

 

[Felicity]

The route is fine, Barb but one night in each place really won't do your destinations justice. I think you will be exhausted. Granted, that Ireland is a different place with the new fast motorway routes (albeit these are two lane, not three) but a lot of your driving will be on little sl-o-w roads. You will spend an awful lot of time in the car, especially in the Kerry region. I think you should spend at least two nights in that region in order to be able to relax and enjoy it. The roads are particularly slow (and pretty, so you won't mind) around there. You could perhaps cut out Dungarvan and 'save 'a night there to make two somewhere else. You could visit Kilkenny from Cashel or vice versa to save a move? They are only about an hour's drive apart.

 

[Chris]

I agree. I think we spent 3 nights in each place and wished for more. I hate spending just one night in a location and then moving, because it seems like half your time is sucked up by the logistics of moving.

 

[artnbarb]

I agree about staying more than one night, but didn't know how realistic it was in Ireland, given the small and winding roads - I was afraid that we'd spend more time driving back and forth on the same windy road each day on our way to our day-trip destination - but them packing and unpacking takes up time too, so at this point I'm still trying to gather more info about what we want to see and do. I know, for example, that I have zero interest in kissing the Blarney Stone!

I think flying into Dublin is our best bet, but I need to see what's available from Shannon to see if that would work for our flight to Rome.

 

[Felicity]

You will most likely find it easier to fly to Rome out of Dublin (by either Ryanair or Aer Lingus) but could you fly into Shannon easily? Then you could do the whole thing in reverse - into Shannon, out of Dublin?

 

[artnbarb]

It seems to be a lot cheaper to fly to Rome from Dublin, so that decision is easy!

 

[Felicity]

Relevant to your planning around airports (into Shannon and out of Dublin?), coincidentally, I recently received an email from someone who stayed with me and was 'doing' Ireland in much the same way as you plan to. This is what she said: "We really enjoyed ourselves on this trip. In retrospect, I'm so happy we chose to stay at the flat our second week. It was a better flow for the trip and felt more relaxing. So, if anyone else asks you that question, my advice is explore the countryside first then stay in Dublin, not vice-versa".

 

[Chris]

Was that person arriving from the U.S.? I've always found it easier to deal with jet lag in a city where I don't have to drive, then venture out into the countryside. I'd kill myself for sure if I hopped in a rental car and took off on the "wrong" side of the road immediately after a flight from California! I'm sure it's not so much of a problem coming from the east coast, though.

 

[Felicity]

She was coming from Colorado, Chris. They flew into Dublin and then stayed their first night in Trim (which I had pointed her towards as it has an interesting Norman Castle), between 40 and 50 mins from the airport. Then they went West.

But that is a good point. Certainly, just off a plane, it would not be wise to drive far on your first day and perhaps have a big notice on your dashboard (Think Left!!!) with your passenger, chanting that at every junction, roundabout etc. That is what we do when we drive on the Continent (although of course it is then 'think right'!

If you, (or Artnbarb in this case) were to fly into Shannon, perhaps stay your first night somewhere like Ennistymon, less than 50 mins drive from the airport, and explore the Burren/Cliffs of Moher from there? It does mean you are going a little bit North before you head South to Kerry if that is the planned route round Ireland, but you can go a different route when you turn South for Kerry. Or if you flew into Dublin, you would see a bit of Meath and then drive through the Midlands in a westerly direction, although being flatter in the Midlands (more green fields and lakes) it will not fulfil the wow scenery requirement detailed in this thread! I come from this part of the country, myself.