7 days in Ireland- Base Camp Dublin?

Posted by slruderman on 07/29/16 06:00 PM

Taking a quick unplanned trip.

Land in Dublin and was thinking of staying Dublin and taking day trips to the sights. I will be traveling alone so did not want to rent a car.

Wicklow/Glendalough
Blarney Castle
Giant Causeway/Titanic/Belfast
Waterford?
Cliffs of Moher

Was wondering if you think it would be better to stay on west coast for 1/2 trip. 1/2 trip in Dublin. I'm running out of time to book/change... Would like to see Dingle PN/ Ring of Kerry. The Dingle festival will be going on during the time I will be in Ireland. Horse race. Not sure I can even find room/board :) Also worried that I will not have a car, possibly take a train or bus?

If stay in Dublin and take day trips it will be a lot of long bus rides.

Thoughts?

Posted by Northwest adventurer

WA, USA

07/29/16 06:31 PM

330 posts

Hi,
I was in Dingle and stayed at the Skellig Dingle Hotel. Very large hotel. Check and see if they have room.

Posted by stephenmc

07/30/16 11:31 AM

317 posts

Greetings from Dingle

Im afraid its unlikely you'll find anywhere to stay in Dingle during the race weekend. I have a B&B here and it has been booked out for year and we have 40 people on a waiting list!

I definitely would split the trip between Dublin and the West Coast, ideally Galway if you're going to use public transport. Dingle and the Ring of Kerry aren't easy to get to on public transport, though there are day trips of course and private tours to both.

Let me know if you need any specific questions answered.

le meas/with respect
Stephen McPhilemy
Rick Steves Ireland Tour-Guide
Dingle & Derry

Posted by Anita

RIchmond, BC,Canada

07/31/16 12:59 AM

933 posts

I would agree that it would be best to split the time between Dublin and Galway. Some of the locations you mention are going to be very long day trips from Dublin (Giant's Causeway, and the Cliffs of Moher for instance). I would leave them for another trip. Places like Wicklow/Glenalough can be done by a bus tour from Dublin (along with other locations such as Newgrange), and the Cliffs and other locations can be done by tour from Galway. The train from Dublin to Galway is easy.

Posted by epltd

07/31/16 02:28 AM

3123 posts

If you make Dublin your base, I would caution you about overnight noise from bars and nightclubs. A taxi driver clued us in that Dublin is a popular destination for "stag" and "hen" weekends. People fly in from all over Britain and even all over Europe to drink and carouse.

Recently we stayed at the Harcourt Hotel on a Fri & Sat night. It is a nice place and reasonably priced, and the seemingly quiet Harcourt Street is well away from the Temple Bar and Grafton Street chaos. BUT... After dark there are no fewer than 6 nightclubs, including one in the hotel. The noise from 1 AM to 5 AM was beyond belief.

Breakfast in the hotel restaurant was a very strange combination of ill-tempered staff who'd probably worked the overnight shift serving drinks, grumpy guests who'd been kept awake all night by the noise, and hung-over revelers who'd probably never been to bed. It is funny in retrospect, but may be an experience you'd want to avoid.