3 Day Self Drive Tour ??

Posted by pldarche on 04/03/17 02:02 PM

I see lots of 3 day tours from Dublin down to Cork, then onto the cliffs of Moher , then from there to Galway and back to Dublin.

My question...am I being unreasonable thinking that I could drive and stop and see some sites after arriviing in Rosslare, spending a night in Wexford, picking up a car there in the AM when they open...drive down towards Cork and perhaps stay there one night, drive the second day up to Galway...(on route see the cliffs of Moher), stay in Galway then on the last day return back to Dublin....

maybe just too ambitious.. this would be in July as well.

thanks in advance....

Posted by pldarche OP

04/04/17 06:26 PM

3 posts

No one want to throw their 2 cents at this ?

Posted by Frances

San Diego

04/05/17 04:49 AM

1540 posts

When we were in Ireland a couple years ago - flew into Dublin and stayed in Adare.
We found that going just about anywhere was a looooong drive.
They don't have freeways that we are used to, so from the airport to Adare , with a very brief stop at Powerscourt.....was most of the day.

Posted by Barbara

Indianapolis, IN, USA

04/05/17 02:38 PM

154 posts

Years ago our family did something similar but we stayed in Waterford and then made our way to Spidal which is not far from Galway where we had rented a house for a week.

If it were me with the short amount of time you have I would not go to Cork. I would probably spend my time in the Southeast/west section of Ireland. Maybe Kinsale?

It is about 179 miles from Wexford to Galway but that may not include mileage for a stop at the COM. If your destination is Galway you could drive that in one day since you would not be jet-lagged. A stop at the Rock of Cashel would be possible. It would be a full day but doable.

Posted by Hilary

Seattle, WA, USA

04/06/17 01:43 PM

40 posts

We just did a driving tour similar to what you're proposing.

Day 1: Dublin to Kilkenny via Glendalough
Day 2: Kilkenny and area
Day 3: Kilkenny to Dingle via Lismore/Fermoy (a more northerly route, chosen to visit to family history sites)
Day 4: Dingle and Slea Head Loop
Day 5: Dingle to Dublin via Cliffs of Moher (a long day)

We spent a lot of time in the car. While we saw a lot of Ireland (and we chose backroads on purpose) and it was all lovely, we still spent a lot of time in the car.

The drive you mention from Galway to Dublin is almost all motorway and would take about 3 hours. That would give you some time in Galway or Dublin, depending on where you spend your time. But you wouldn't get much done in Dublin in a half-day.

Perhaps the question is not how much of Ireland you want to see, but how much you actually want to spend time in. This was our first trip to Ireland and we loved every minute and I'm glad I have the overview. However on our next trip, I would choose to spend more time in select places to fully appreciate that area and spend less time in the car. That's just my experience, I hope it helps.

Posted by pldarche OP

04/06/17 01:56 PM

3 posts

Thanks so much for everyone's input. I think it would make for a long day and too much windshield time. I'm not sure how some of these tours do the 3 night tour out of Dublin and cover so much. They get good reviews too but how they are able to leave Dublin and do the entire loop in 3 days is amazing. Maybe you just get off the bus and back on at the stops they make, I'm not sure.