Base Camp suggestion in southwest Ireland

I suggest Killarney as a base. We did a similar route that you described a couple of years ago and stayed in Killarney (we had a rental car) and found easy access to everything. Killarney offers a lot of good restaurants/pubs, it has Killarney National Park (take the horse/buggy ride called Jaunting Car!), Muckross House, Ross Castle . We also did a Hawk demo with Killarney Falconry; this included not just hawks but owls as well. Lastly, Killarney is an actual stop on the Ring of Kerry so you are in perfect position for that and other stops you mention.

We stayed in a wonderful local Hotel, which I would highly recommend, Friar's Glen Country Home on the outskirts of Killarney. Here is their website: https://friarsglen.ie/ We were there in early July and the cost was around 125 Euros/night which included breakfast.

Dingle was our favorite Pub town, particularly Curran's Pub.

Enjoy!

If you are arriving in Dublin after a trans-Atlantic flight I would encourage you to reconsider renting a car upon landing, especially if you don't sleep well on the plane and are unfamiliar with driving on the left. Instead, you can catch a bus to Galway, https://www.citylink.ie/, which picks you up outside the Dublin airport terminal. Recover from jet lag and pick up a car in Galway the next day. As for your second place to stay I would suggest either Killarney or Kenmare. Kinsale and Cobh are particularly out of the way for accessing Dingle.

Definitely don’t hire a car the day of arrival off a transatlantic flight. Either catch the bus to Galway as Trotter suggests OR spend the first couple of nights in Dublin and then hire a car.

Don’t be too ambitious with your itinerary. Driving in Ireland is slow and it will take a lot longer to cover distances than you might expect. Also remember a 2 night stop only effectively gives you one and a bit days to explore.

Galway will need 3 nights as that will give a full day for Connemara and another day for Cliffs of Moher and chance to explore the Burren (with its limestone scenery this is very different to the rest of Ireland). Do this as a loop around the coast through Ballyvaughan, Doolin to Cliffs of Moher. Then head to Lahinch and back inland through Ennistymon, Kilfernora, Corrofin to Gort. This will let you see some of the best scenery of the Burren.

If you are planning on 1-2 nights for Dublin, this is only going to allow 2-3 nights more to play with . Effectively just another stop. The choice comes down to either Dingle/Killarney/Kenmare OR Cork/Kinsale/Cobh.

You definitely can’t do Dingle or Ring of Kerry from the Cork area or vice versa. You are talking about 4hours driving just to get there and back. You will need to choose between them.

Dingle/Killarney/Kenmare - Killarney is the most popular place to stay with lots of choice of accommodation. Kenmare is quieter and less touristy.

You could do either Rock of Cashel OR Kilkenny on the way back to Dublin but not both - there won’t be time.

My husband and I just returned from Ireland. We stayed two nights in Killarney at a hotel right in town. We did not have a vehicle. We took a Ring of Kerry tour via bus as my husband has ancestors from the Iveragh Peninsula. We could have spent another two or three days there. Would like to have spent more time in the National Forest. What we did see was beautiful. It was easy to get around town walking. Had the best vegetable biryani I have ever eaten at a restaurant there. Would go back just to eat there again! I think Killarney would be a good base camp for you, esp. if you have a car and can stay at a nice place out of town. However, staying in town was fine too. But I don't know how the parking situation is in town .

You are going to have a great trip!

Traveler Girl

Hey Mike, FYI Friar's Glen is now out of action; we looked at it too :(
But agree with others that Killarney is pretty central.

Wow, sorry to hear that about Friar's Glen. Hopefully it is just temporary. Thx!

Last year, we stayed in Macroom, which isn’t at the edge of the ocean, but was central enough for making visits to Cork, Cobh, and Kinsale on separate days, as well as places farther south. When we were ready to move farther west, Killarney wasn’t far, and it was a great starting point for driving the Ring of Kerry. We also loved Ross Castle - not crowded like the famous Muckross House was. If you want to do the entire Ring, stay in Killarney. Kenmare is a favorite of Rick Steves, but we drove through it and kept going - not a place we wanted to stay.

We’d been to Dingle on a previous trip, and had stayed there, rather than trying to squeeze it in on a trip from a more central base. Seeing Dingle would be tough, if you’re not moving to a new place reach day. If you have to drop something from your itinerary, Dingle might be the place. Staying near Cork/Kinsale would put you closer to Rock of Cashel, if that was a priority, than would staying on the far west side of Ireland.

This is a difficult one for me as Dingle is probably one of the most magical places I've visted. We stayed 2 nights and I could've stayed more. HOWEVER, Killarney is more central for both the Ring of Kerry as well as a day trip to Dingle. Kenmare is a really charming town but it is a really far drive to Dingle, and if it is important for you to visit Dingle then I'd suggest Killarney as your base.