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14 day Itinerary - Chicago to Shannon

Posted by on

Hello from Chicago! My husband and I are hiring a driver to take us along the west coast at the end of May and we want to see all the highlights - Kinsale, Cobh, Dingle, Cliffs of Mohr, Galway, Connemara, Ashford Castle, etc. We're not in a race and will spend a few nights in each town along the way. If we miss a thing or two, no big deal. The biggest thing for me is to stay 1 night at Ashford Castle(unless you have a better idea) and I want it to be at the end of our trip, the grand finale before we return to Ennis/SNN for flight home. How does this itinerary look? We are open to your expert suggestions:)

Day 1 - depart Chicago 6pm
Day 2- arrive SNN, hire driver to Kinsale(250E, $265 ouch! Suggestions welcome)
Day 3-4(2 nights) - Kinsale & Cobh - Charles Fort, Titanic
(Start private driver in Dingle, days 5-14)
Day 5-7(3 nights) Dingle - Ring of Kerry, Dingle Peninsala, Kilarney National Park
(Drive from Dingle to Galway - see Cliffs of Mohr & the Burren)
Day 8-10(3 nights) Galway - Galway City, Aran Islands, Connemara
Day 11-12(1 night) Westport
Day 12-13(1 night) Ashford Castle
Day 14(1 night)- Ennis
Day 15 - depart SNN 9:30am

Posted by
7974 posts

My first thought is that there is an hourly bus #51 from Shannon Airport to Cork City bus station, where you have 30 minutes break to catch the hourly bus #226 to Kinsale. Total journey time 4 hours.
Yes a private driver would take 2 hours, so it depends how much time is worth to you.
Probably too late now but did you look at flying into Cork, by connection bus say Amsterdam?

Posted by
446 posts

I'm not sure I would go all the way to Westport for one night. Will you still have the driver?
How will you travel between Kinsale and Cobh without the driver? You might want to just hire a driver for the whole trip, Shannon to Shannon. This is not within my financial means, so I have no way of knowing how this is done.

Posted by
2304 posts

I'd agree with the comment about Westport for one night. It can easily be done as a day trip from Galway.

Posted by
2996 posts

It might simplify your logistics a bit, and maybe save a little money too, if you opted to fly into Dublin and out of Shannon - it's what's known as an Open Jaw (or multi-destination) flight plan. There's an Express Bus from Dublin airport down to Cork and from there you could connect via taxi or another bus down to Kinsale. Would probably cost a lot less than 250 Euros.
You could then arrange your private drive thru Dingle and the ROK, and thence further up the coast for your night at Ashford Castle.

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