Traveling to Ireland early May. Have flights and 3 nights in Dublin booked. Want to travel to Dingle and Galway with possible stop in smaller town along the way. Will need to use public transportation only. Any suggestions would be great. Not sure how to get to Dingle. I believe train will get us to Tralee. Planning 2-3 nights in Dingle and 2 nights in Galway, will try to ferry to Aran islands. Would love to hire reasonably priced driver for tour around Dingle Peninsula. Maybe stay longer in Galway, take day trips from there? Any tips appreciated. We will be in Ireland for 10 days. It’s our first time.
Posted by
RIchmond, BC,Canada
932 posts
Galway to Dublin will be very easy by public transit, but Dingle will not. It will take you most of a day, with several transfers to get there from either Dublin or Galway. I gave up on trying to accomplish it and instead did a guided day trip from Killarney, but I had three weeks to play with. I went from Dublin to Killarney, and spent four days there, and used it as a base for day trips. Even getting to Killarney will eat up a few hours, and then to get to Galway you will have to go back up through Dublin. With only ten days, this may not be the best use of your time. Too much time on transit. Dublin and Galway are great bases to see a lot of the country from as they both have a wide variety of options available. You could split your time between the two and manage to see quite a variety of places. The less you move locations, the more you will see. If you hit bad weather in Galway, the boats may not go to the Aran islands if the water is too rough, so you should plan more than a day there. Plus, there are a lot of other things to see around Galway.
Posted by
Mountains of S. Oregon
741 posts
RyanAir has twice a day flights from Dublin to/from Kerry, which is then two hours by bus to Dingle.
You might be better returning to Dublin (by same route) and then heading to Galway. Ireland public transit is really unfriendly towards north/south travel in the west.
Posted by
Bend, OR
1035 posts
Just my opinion but Ireland seems to be one of those countries where joining a tour group seems to be the most efficient use of your time to see a lot, especially if you haven’t been there and are unable to drive a car.
Posted by
Seattle
114 posts
Our trip is not until Aug 2024. We also rely on public transport and local tours.
We have 15 nights.
For Dingle, i plan to join group tour from Killarney, either Deros tours or Wild & Happy Adventure. The later is a smaller group, but only goes to Dingle twice a week.
I booked a private driver for one day Burren tour with drop off in Kinvara. We will base in Doolin for 3 nights)
Obviously i haven't gone yet, but the driver Tony Woods Chauffeur based in Ennis had excellent reviews. His rate is also reasonable.
(Still expensive but reasonable for private driver in Ireland)
I think he also does tour in other area including Dingle.
Posted by
Corona, CA
24 posts
Following, as my husband & I are also planning a trip to Ireland in late April/early May.
Posted by
California Central Coast
180 posts
Spent 2 weeks in Ireland in August/September of this year. All public transportation. It worked just fine for us.
Getting to Dingle: we took a train to Tralee and a bus from there to Dingle.
Driver in Dingle: we took tour around the peninsula with Slea Head Tour Group. It was a small van, great driver/tour guide.
Enjoy!