Accommodation - to prebook or not to prebook?

Don't waste your precious time on such a short trip trying to find accommodations! Definitely plan ahead and pre-book!

Have a great time!
Lisa

Thank you Lisa. So would you just choose a base or two and then just do day trips from your base? Would you recommend B & B's or pubs? I know it's not much time, but we are time poor and that's the best we can do.

I second what Lisa said and would for sure pre-book so that you are not wasting your precious time.

What are you interested in doing while in Ireland? Any must sees/dos?

Prebook. Use an informative source for recommendations after you figure out your itinerary--we used TripAdvisor on our 2014 trip and stayed at wonderful places all 17 nights.

Because we are there for such a short time we would base ourselves in one or two locations and then do day trips from there. The Ring of Kerry is very appealing this far as this takes in small villages, coastline and National Parks. We would rather concentrate our limited time in a smaller area and get to see more of this area rather than trying to see everything and not seeing all that much. We are also interested in the pub and music scene and I have come across a walking/pub/music tour in Dublin which looks great.

We are from Australia, so driving is not an issue for us as I have noted it is in other posts.

I have just begun researching this so am open to suggestions. Our time is limited as we are flying directly to London to visit our daughter and then to France to visit her partners family.

Any suggestions, thoughts will be very much appreciated. Thank you.

Landing in Dublin and picking up a rental car - then driving to Adare (not even the west coast) took most of the day. There are not many, if any freeways as most people know them.

So as you mention if you have a chance to land in Shannon, that would put you closer to some wonderful sights.
Dingle Peninsula is one of my very favorite locations, Cliff of Moher are also pretty close.
Just my opinion I thought I was really in Ireland while on the west coast....more than near Dublin on the East coast. When we flew out of Dublin, we stayed in Howth on the coast at a B&B named Ann's,
and took the train into Dublin to do sightseeing..... so no traffic and parking fees.

Thank you Frances for your thoughts. I will certainly add this to my list.

If you want to tour the Ring of Kerry, you could stay in Killarney or Kenmare. Killarney is about a 2 ½ hour drive from the Shannon airport, and it puts you close to the Muckross House and Traditional Farms as well as the National Park and the Gap of Dunloe Drive (or you can rent a pony cart or hike). With an early start you can drive the scenic Ring of Kerry loop without too encountering too many tour buses. On the loop, Portmagee has excellent seafood, with several restaurants right on the harbor where the fish are brought in that day. Killarney does get more tour bus traffic and has more hotels that cater to them, but I enjoyed the town. I stayed at the Kingfisher Lodge Killarney which was easy to get to from the bypass road, but also a short walk to the city center.

https://www.kingfisherkillarney.com/#home

Kenmare is a smaller town and considered more scenic; it’s about a 3 hour drive from the Shannon airport, but is closer to the start of the Ring of Kerry loop than Killarney.

Thank you for this information. I am starting to formulate an itinerary so very grateful that you have taken the time to respond.