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4 full days, Dublin to the West Coast?

Hi there! My wife and I will be headed to Ireland in late October, on our way to Italy. We land in Dublin at 0730 on 24-Oct and leave at 0600 on 28-Oct.

The short stay is unfortunate, but I would like to experience a bit outside of Dublin while we're there. I was contemplating taking the train from Dublin Heuston to Farranfore after landing, and then renting a car in Kerry to drive to Dingle. We'd stay the evening and entire next day in Dingle, and then drive back to Farranfore on the morning of 26-Oct, where we'd drop the car, and catch a train back to Dublin. That would give us the evening and entire next day in Dublin before taking off for Italy.

Is this feasible? Or are we stretching ourselves too thin with the travel across the country?

Posted by
1172 posts

I do think that you are stretching yourself too thin. I would stick to Dublin and surrounding areas if I had 4 days especially since day 1 will be a write off after an overnight flight.

Posted by
2 posts

Thanks for the input, Sharon! I certainly don't want to waste too much of our time traveling. Would it be worth it to try to stay a night or two in some southern towns (like Waterford or Wexford)? I'm not opposed to renting a car for days away from Dublin.

Posted by
346 posts

Agree with Sharon - going clear over to Dingle is too far in such a short trip, even though we love that area. But I wouldn't choose Waterford or Wexford to base, either. I would consider a day in the Boyne valley (Newgrange), then Cashel, and the Kilkenny area before returning to Dublin.

Posted by
933 posts

I also think it would be best to just stick to Dublin. You can easily spend a couple of days seeing things in Dublin then grab a day tour to Newgrange or Glendalough. It will take time to get out of the airport and into the city so that will probably use up half a day. If you want to get in to Kilmainham Jail you have to book in advance now, so that will restrict you on one day. To see the rest of the interesting places in Dublin you can use the hop on hop off bus and easily use up two days. I think you would regret trying to go to far afield as you would spend most of your time travelling to get somewhere.