Critique this Ireland itinerary, please?

[v]

Arriving in Dublin (jet lagged and in need of a nap) on a Friday morning; departing from Shannon the following Sunday at noon.  So we have 9 nights and, essentially, 8.5 days.

Friday-Sunday (2 nights): Dublin -- do Dublin sites

Sunday afternoon: take train from Dublin to Cork (alternative: pick up rental car and drive from Dublin -- otherwise, we'll pick up a car in Cork)

Sunday-Tuesday (2 nights): Cork City
See Cork; visit Blarney Castle, Cobh, Kinsale 

Tuesday-Thursday (2 nights): Killarney or Kenmare (which would you stay in?)
See Killarney National Park, Dingle Peninsula, etc.

Thursday-Saturday (2 nights): Galway
See Cliffs of Moher, day trip to Aran Islands, The Burren

Saturday-Sunday (1 night): Ennis 



Are we missing any important stops along this route?  Are there towns that we're staying in that you didn't like/should we be staying elsewhere?  Too much or too little time anywhere?  Also, I'd be happy to hear of any hotel/restaurant/attraction suggestions along the way (note: we prefer hotels to B&Bs generally).  Thanks!

[rubytue]

Oh another who prefers hotels to b&bs! I always feel like the odd one out on that.

We stayed at Jury's Inn in Galway. The location was perfect! We parked the car in the attached garage and left it for 3 days. It is right by the pedestrian area downtown, and overlooked the river. I'll see if I can pull up some pics. It was very reasonably priced (I think the cheapest hotel we stayed in), but it didn't feel that way. Not a Marriott, but maybe courtyard quality. For the price, it couldn't be beat.

In Killarney, we stayed at the Lake Hotel. Couldn't walk to any pubs or anything, but it overlooked the lake and had some ruins to walk around. It was H's favorite place. We stayed in a cheaper room on the older section, and while we had a balcony and a huge room, it felt a bit older.

[rubytue]

Ugh. It's only letting me do one pic per post. Let me know if you want more.

View of lake and ruins from our room at the Lake Hotel in Killarney

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[rubytue]

View of Spanish Arch from room in Jury's Inn in Galway. The pedestrian section starts at he lower left corner of the pic.

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[frlcb]

Apr 26, 2015 17:34:25 GMT -5 rubytue said:

Ugh. It's only letting me do one pic per post. Let me know if you want more.

View of lake and ruins from our room at the Lake Hotel in Killarney

We stayed here last summer, it isn't the most updated hotel but we liked it, location and the cool ruins on the property on the lake. I would do Killarney over Kenmare.

[mbcdefg]

Apr 26, 2015 10:38:49 GMT -5 v said:

Arriving in Dublin (jet lagged and in need of a nap) on a Friday morning; departing from Shannon the following Sunday at noon.  So we have 9 nights and, essentially, 8.5 days.

Friday-Sunday (2 nights): Dublin -- do Dublin sites

Sunday afternoon: take train from Dublin to Cork (alternative: pick up rental car and drive from Dublin -- otherwise, we'll pick up a car in Cork)

Sunday-Tuesday (2 nights): Cork City
See Cork; visit Blarney Castle, Cobh, Kinsale 

Tuesday-Thursday (2 nights): Killarney or Kenmare (which would you stay in?)
See Killarney National Park, Dingle Peninsula, etc.

Thursday-Saturday (2 nights): Galway
See Cliffs of Moher, day trip to Aran Islands, The Burren

Saturday-Sunday (1 night): Ennis 



Are we missing any important stops along this route?  Are there towns that we're staying in that you didn't like/should we be staying elsewhere?  Too much or too little time anywhere?  Also, I'd be happy to hear of any hotel/restaurant/attraction suggestions along the way (note: we prefer hotels to B&Bs generally).  Thanks!

Our Dublin hotel: www.ashlinghotel.ie/ (very close to the light rail)

Kinsale hotel: tridenthotel.com/ 

Our dinner restaurant in Kinsale: www.jimedwardskinsale.com/ 

This is where I wanted to eat in Kinsale, but it was closed for the day by the time we got there. If you like seafood this is supposedly *the* place to get it: www.fishyfishy.ie/ 

Killarney hotel: www.killarneyplaza.com/ 

I remember Killarney being very touristy. I don't remember if we stopped in Kenmare. 

We stayed in Spanish Point as well. That area doesn't appear to be horribly far from the Aran Islands, although IDK where the ferry leaves from: www.armadahotel.com/ 

We didn't go to the Aran Islands but we got some sweaters and throw blankets from a shop on the mainland. Friends of ours have gone to the islands for sweaters. They make good gifts. 

Irish dairy products are awesome. Any time we had ice cream, it was heavenly. Chocolate, too. 

[sporky]

I personally didn't think Kinsale was all that great. We stayed their for one night I think, and I wouldn't necessarily return. While we didn't stay overnight in Kenmare, I adored the little town. We visited the stone circle there and did some shopping. We drove into Cork one afternoon to visit a church and traffic was a nightmare. I preferred staying in smaller towns, but that's totally personal preference.

I think your overall itinerary looks great. I can't remember if you said on MM whether you had been before, but just in case, don't miss Kilmainham Gaol and St. Michan's Church in Dublin!

[wanderlustfoodie]

Apr 27, 2015 10:22:16 GMT -5 @sfgal530 said:

I've never been to Ireland but my mom has always wanted to go so I booked her and my dad a trip as their Christmas gift this past year. They haven't gone yet so I don't know how the hotels actually are, but their itinerary includes:

-Ballyfin outside of Dublin (too far to use for Dublin itself but this hotel looks amazing)
-Sheen Falls Lodge in Kenmare
-Adare Manor in Adare (access Cliffs of Moher from here)
-The Westbury in Dublin

I don't know how much these cost individually because I got them as part of a package from my travel agent, but they are supposed to be lovely hotels, so If they are in any of the areas you plan to visit you might check them out.

H and I attended a wedding at Ballyfin a few years ago. It was lovely, although I'm sure the fact that the entire property was for the exclusive use of the wedding guests helped.

v:
Restaurant recs in Dublin (caveat: these were from a few years ago, whereas I always prefer to research current "best" restaurants): l'ecrevain, Thornton's, Pearl Brasserie

While I love train travel, I would recommend driving from Dublin to Cork, since most of the appeal of Ireland is driving through it (although in full disclosure, Ireland, while nice, has not been one of my most memorable destinations, and I've been twice).

[madisen]

Beteren Killarney and Kenmare it's personal preference on if you want to stay the night nearer to nature and not much else or a little local town.
I'd do one night in Killarney/Kenmare and one night in Dingle personally.

[CloudBee]

If you want the name of a private driver who can take you through Dublin and the surrounding area, I have a great contact.

[mrsilovekeith]

Looks like a good itinerary. Definitely check out Trip Advisor. It was very helpful when we planned this trip. They really promote it there as well.

We took a red eye flight into Dublin- we were told to stay up if possible, and we did without too much problem.

Dublin- Of course visit the Guinness Brewery, Jameson Distillery. If you want to be amazed visit St. Michan's church for the crypts. We took the hop on hop off bus, and felt it was a great way to see the city sites plus you get a good map. For a fun night, check out the Irish House Party on Trip Advisor.

Killarney- We also stayed at the Lake Hotel and enjoyed it very much. Great views and quiet.

We went to Inis Oirr- Aryan Islands and loved our day. We walked around, but you can also rent a jaunting car. We also got the view on the ferry on the way back of the Cliffs of Moher, which some people don't get to see. The sea was very rough though, but still fun. We used Doolin 2 Aran Ferries.

Not sure if you will be close by, but the hike we enjoyed the most was at Connemara National Park.

We loved Galaway. We stayed at Hotel Harbour. Rooms were large. We did the Viking Pub Crawl one night- good way to check out bars. Spanish Arch. We also did the Museum for a brief history.

[v]

Would three nights in Galway, nixing the Ennis night, be overkill? It sounds like it is pretty central to a lot of stuff (cliffs, Aran Islands, The Burren, Connemara) and I prefer not to switch hotels all the time if we can avoid it...

This trip is trickier to figure out than I originally thought!

[rubytue]

What time is your flight out of Shannon? The advantage to Ennis is closer to the airport. We spent the last day driving from Galway to Shannon, by way of the Burren, cliffs, etc. We got to the hotel (Oakwood arms, right by the airport) around dark and just chilled there for our morning flight.

I don't think I'd want to drive from Galway to the airport in the morning. But I dislike mornings and don't want to cut it close.

[v]

May 5, 2015 9:28:51 GMT -5 rubytue said:

What time is your flight out of Shannon? The advantage to Ennis is closer to the airport. We spent the last day driving from Galway to Shannon, by way of the Burren, cliffs, etc. We got to the hotel (Oakwood arms, right by the airport) around dark and just chilled there for our morning flight.

I don't think I'd want to drive from Galway to the airport in the morning. But I dislike mornings and don't want to cut it close.

Noon, 12:30, something like that.