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Best home-bases for travel without a car

Posted by on

Hello!

I will be (hopefully!) traveling with my older parents to Ireland April 2022, and am trying to decide on good home-bases for day trips to avoid renting a car. For sure my first base will be Dublin with lots of opportunities for day trips. I am struggling to choose a 2nd city to use as a home base for day trips, too. On my list so far are: Galway, Cork, and Killarney. I chose these based on ease of train travel, but would be open to other ideas, too. I am hoping to maximize opportunities for day trips or day tours. I think that my parents would really like to get to see the west coast of Ireland, so trying to think of ways to do that. I appreciate the help and advise!

Posted by
2822 posts

Galway would be my personal choice - easy to get to from Dublin and central to all of the beautiful scenery in Connemara (our favorite area), as well as a pleasant ferry ride or short flight out to the Aran Islands. There are lots of day trip opportunities from there.
Depending upon your parent's personal interests you might also consider Belfast as a potential base. The city itself is beautiful, pedestrian friendly, and has a fascinating history. There are day trip and tour providers from there to take you up along the Causeway Coast and over to Derry - probably the best-preserved walled city in Europe.

Posted by
1366 posts

I haven’t done it but I believe you can take a train from Dublin City Center to Killarney. The train station in Killarney is centrally located. FromKillarney you can take day trips around the Ring of Kerry and Killarney National Park. You could also make private arrangements to go to Dingle and Beara.

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