We arrive early AM in Dublin from US renting a car and heading to Dingle for the 2 & 3 night. Need help with the route & sites. Thoughts are Kilkenny Castle & Rock of Cashel spenting the night somewhere. Continue to Dingle thru Killarney. Thoughts are this route? I've read others who thought skipping these and seeing Rock of Dunamas, King John;s Castle & Adare with the route to Dingle thru Limerick. We will have a night to spent on the road from Dingle to Galway (nights 5 & 6) and then to Dublin for the last 3 nights. We don't want to spent all our time in the car, is this too much driving? Shopping & Dinners are not important to us. Looking forward to the history, beauty and music of Ireland. thanks for the help.
Posted by
23 posts
9 nights is a decent amount of time for your itinerary. Would you consider spending first night or 2 in Dublin before renting a car and heading out? If not, I would not want to drive too far on the first day - no further than Kilkenny. It's also a long drive from Kilkenny to Dingle, so I would consider another stop before Dingle, perhaps in Adare (stopping at Rock of Cashel on the way) if you don't mind 1-night stops. Nights 3 and 4 would then be in Dingle. Night 5 you could stay in Doolin or somewhere else near the Cliffs of Moher. 6 and 7 in Galway, before heading back to Dublin for final 2 nights.
Just an idea given your initial itinerary. There's so much to see you can never do as much as you'd like. Enjoy the trip!
Posted by
OP
29 posts
My adult son is the driver and he wanted to start driving the 1st day. With that said I have booked nights 2 & 3 in Dingle (Dingle Harbor Inn) and had a very hard time finding a triple room available. Night 4 would be a Sat. night and everything seems full or expensive. I was thinking about trying to stay near Rock of Cashel the 1st night after see Kilkenny or would that be pushing it. Should we skip Kilkenny and go directly to ROC. Also, I have looked around Doolin for the 4th night (Sat) which also seems full. Any other suggest fun towns between Dingle and Galway?
When driving from Rock of Cashel would you suggest that driving thru Limerick is the best route? Thanks for the help.
Posted by
23 posts
I understand the difficulty with accommodations in Dingle and Doolin. As a result, we stayed in Tralee as a base for the Dingle Peninsula for 2 days and stayed in Lahinch (a beach side town just South of the Cliffs of Moher) rather than Doolin. If you prefer to stay on the Dingle peninsula itself rather than in Tralee, there are a few nice b and b's near Camp or Castlegregory in northern part of the peninsula which have a better chance of being available and more reasonable than in Dingle town itself. Alternatives to Lahinch or Doolin are Ennistymon, Lisdoonvarna, or even Ennis.
If you are not sold on Kilkenny, I would cut inland more on the first day's drive to cut out some driving while still seeing remarkable historical and beautiful sights. You could drive down N7 to N8 and stop at Rock of Cashel and Cahir Castle (a family favorite), staying in Tipperary region. Or a shorter and faster route would be just take N7 through Limerick, stopping at St John's Castle in Limerick and other sights along the way (such as Rock of Dunamase and Nenagh Castle), then onto Adare for the night.
If you stay in Cashel/Cahir/Tipperary area, I suspect the route through Limerick would be fastest way to Dingle, though not the most scenic.
Between Dingle and Galway: all along the coast in County Clare (through towns of Kilkee, Milltown Malbay) is incredible. On our drive from Lahinch to Galway, we loved driving through the Burren seeing the prehistoric sights and one of a kind landscape.
Hope this is helpful
Posted by
OP
29 posts
Very helpful . Will investigate your suggestions this weekend and may have a few more question. Again thank you so much.
Posted by
OP
29 posts
I'm thinking of skipping Killkenny and going directly to Cashel and then on to Cahir Castle and maybe Swiss Cottage. Staying the 1st night in the area. Would the scenic route to Dingle be the M8 & N72 going to Killarney? If so we would stop at the Killarney National Park. Anything else we should see on our way to Dingle? Staying in Dingle for our 2nd & 3rd night. Will plan to find someplace to stay on night 4 on our way to Galway. Thanks for your previous suggestions. Any additional advise. Thanks again for your help.