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5 Day Itinerary: Dublin - ?? - Dingle - Shannon

Hi all -- would appreciate any help this wonderful forum can provide! My husband and I are planning a quick, first time trip to Ireland in May. Although ideally we would love to spend more than 5 days there, this is unfortunately all that our schedules will allow: arriving in Dublin Wed. morning and leaving from Shannon Mon. morning. We're going to spend two days in Dublin, and plan to leave early Friday morning to venture elsewhere. Our absolute must is spending one or two nights in Dingle, judging by everyone's recommendations on this forum.

My question is - what to do with the middle? Go from Dublin to Galway and spend one night there, and see the Cliffs of Moher on the way to Dingle? Cut across the bottom-portion of Ireland and see Kenmore/Rock of Cashel/something else on the way to Dingle? We don't plan on spending any time in Shannon, aside from arriving at the airport.

Would love any/all thoughts. Thanks!!

Posted by
9363 posts

Work backward a little. If your flight out of Shannon is in the morning, you will need to spend your last night near the airport. Bunratty Castle and Folk Park are six miles from the airport. Right across the road is a little shopping center, and behind the castle are a number of B&Bs, so it's a good area to stay. Dingle is a 4+ hour drive, so if you want to get to Bunratty in time to see it and the folk park, you will need to set out from Dingle by mid-morning on Sunday. Alternatively, you could start out earlier and drive to the Cliffs that morning, and still get to the Bunratty area for the night. So you would have Saturday, basically, to see Dingle

On the other end off the trip, you really only have about a day and a half for Dublin. You will not get out of the airport and into town much before noon on arrival day. And on the second day you will need to allow time to go get your rental car. Friday will be taken up by driving to Dingle, but it would relatively easy to stop by the Rock of Cashel on the way. In short, you don't really have a middle to worry about.

Posted by
398 posts

My flight from Boston landed around 7:00 a.m., and I was eating breakfast in downtown Dublin by 9 a.m. You could well have two full days there, which I think is a fair amount of time to see the highlights there. But, as Nancy wrote, if you aren't in until noon, you'll have to work a bit faster to experience as much as possible. You should devote two nights to Dingle, in my opinion. If you only have one night, it will be difficult for you to do the Slea Head drive, go out to some of the pubs for live music at night (doesn't usually start until maybe 9 p.m.), and to see the town. It was our favorite place on our Irish vacation, I can't recommend it enough.

If I were you - and this is just my recommendation, you should do more research to see what interests you most - I would do this: Dublin for two nights, leave early as possible on Friday morning, and drive to Cashel. Stop and see the Rock, maybe walk around the town a bit, then drive to Dingle. This would be a long day of driving, but you would be able to break it up with the stop in Cashel (and any other things that interest you along the way). Spend Friday evening going out to the pubs in Dingle. Saturday morning, do the Slea Head drive, and then you'll have the afternoon and evening to explore Dingle even more. Sunday morning, leave early and drive to the Cliffs of Moher (be sure to take the ferry from Tarbert to Killimer, it'll save you some time). After the Cliffs of Moher, settle in for Sunday night at a village somewhere between the Cliffs and Shannon (or alternatively, stay in Galway for the night). Both Galway and the Cliffs of Moher are about 1.5 hours from the Shannon airport.

That is two days with a fair amount of driving (from Dublin to Dingle via Cashel, and then Dingle to the Cliffs of Moher). It is pretty ambitious, but you'll be able to squeeze in a lot into your 5 days, and see some of the lovely scenery along your drives.

Posted by
9363 posts

In my opinion, driving all the way to Galway that last day, only to have to drive back very early in the morning, is a waste of time and energy. It would also give you no usable time to see anything of the city. Www.viamichlin.com shows it at just under a 90 minute drive, but it's really more like two hours - and you don't want to find that out on the way to an unfamiliar airport with a rental car to drop off. Save Galway for another trip.

Posted by
250 posts

All good advice, but be flexible! When we were there it was so misty and foggy there was nothing to see on our scenic drive! Loved it anyway! Dublin, less so but there is a full days worth of sights. We liked the Kilmainham ( sorry,can't remember how to spell it) gaols.

Posted by
15 posts

What do you think about when you think Ireland? Not just green cause we see that every St. Patrick's Day but rather CASTLES! We have green beautiful rocky or sandy coasts but we don't have many castles. Bunratty is a perfect sight to see near Shannon. Of course, there are castles and ruins a long the way from Dublin to Shannon. Save the West Coast for another return trip. There's so much to see and do in Galway alone; it's a shame to squeeze in so much in a few days. Bring your Rick Steves book and when you're in Dublin, see what the locals say. There are lots of B&B's....no worries to reserve. Drive and you'll see what fancies you and your husband. It's your trip. Breath, drink and have fun with the Irish. You'll always remember the people.

Posted by
8 posts

Thank you all so much for your suggestions! Steve's itinerary is exactly what I had in mind. I will let you know how it all turns out. Thanks again!