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best plan to drive the ring

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Early stages of planning a trip to Ireland. Flight look like they get in at 5am. So pretty much have the better part of the day to sight see. By most accounts one would figure jet lag but we seem to handle it pretty well and actually do better being active than sleeping. We went to Scotland last year and did the same plan. We drove from Glasgow to Oban making stops. So driving in Ireland would be similar to Scotland.

I have been going back and forth about the following 3 options
1. arrive in Dublin and stay in Dublin that day and night then leave going toward Belfast on day two and up to Porthrush.
2. Arrive in Dublin and rather than stay the day and night start driving toward Belfast as the airport is north of the town center, see a few things in Belfast and then on to Porthrush
3. Arrive in Dublin and go south to Wicklow mt, stay in Kilkenny
4. Arrive in Dublin and drive across to Galway

We plan on driving the entire loop but trying to figure out best starting plan.

Posted by
72 posts

Jet lag affects everyone differently. On our last trip we landed in Dublin and immediately drove to Galway. Another time we went directly to Kilkenny. Yet another time we headed to Belfast. (We fly out of Boston or JFK.)

My vote would be to head toward Kilkenny, since that is the shortest drive. You can make the drive in about a couple of hours or you can head south toward Glendalough where you might be ahead of the buses . Second choice would be Galway, and Portrush last. That would be too much of a drive for the first day.

No matter which direction you choose, be sure you make lots of stops to get out of the car and move around a bit.

Posted by
8 posts

When looking at total driving distance for the day according to Google maps they are about the same amount of time.

Posted by
350 posts

I am usually uncomfortable driving on the first day in Britain or Ireland, which I understand you feel more comfortable with. One possibility is however to arrive in Dublin and take the train the same day to Belfast (or even on to Portrush), Kilkenny or Galway. You could use your day of arrival in your 2nd city to explore there and then begin the road trip from there the next day after better rest. The train connections to each place are pretty easy . It certainly takes away from the flexibility to see sights along that first leg of the journey with all the freedom that a car gives you, but it gets you to where you're headed safely and quickly and with little additional expense or perhaps even a savings relative to the cost of renting a car that day.

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