We will have about 2 weeks in May to travel Ireland. We can rent a car, take trains, not set on any of those.
We will fly in and out of Dublin.
I really want to do Belfast and Dublin but not sure on how many days.
Id like to do 2 nights in cork to do some family genealogy research.
that leaves us about 6 nights...im not sure what to do...there are so many options. I need to know what are the must dos! Any help would be appreciated.
Start with an honest definition of what “about 2 weeks” means. Are you including travel days? If so, you really have less than 12 days on the ground. Then start a list/spreadsheet of the days you have to work with, based on where you’ll be sleeping.
Figure out what you want to see in each area. Check out some guidebooks, watch some videos, etc. Then factor in travel days between locations. Remember that 2 nights in a location = 1 full day of sightseeing. You want to be in Dublin, or very nearby, the night before your flight home.
Something like this:
Day 1: depart from home (US overnight flight)
Day 2: arrive Dublin
Day 3: Dublin
Day 4: travel to Belfast
Day 5: Belfast
Day 6: Belfast
Day 7: travel to Cork
Day 8: Cork
Day 9: Cork
Day 10: travel to?
Day 11: ?
Day 12: travel to Dublin
Day 13: Dublin
Day 14: depart Dublin
Thank you
Yes, 14 days including 2 days from travel so 12 actually exploration days
“Yes, 14 days including 2 days from travel so 12 actually exploration days”
Really probably 2.5 days for travel as you’ll arrive sometime during day 2. Depending on how you cope with jet lag you may ir may not get much in that arrival day.
We get in at 7am
plan on a couple hours of walking around, and afternoon nap, and back out for the evening
Our flight out is 11 pm so nothing that day
Hello from Wisconsin,
Genealogy in Ireland. I believe the site to visit before you head off is 'rootsireland.ie'. I hired an Irish researcher, and he did a lot, found little but used rootsireland for much of his work. I don't know how far back in time you want to search, but records before 1810 are scarce, and other records were destroyed during the revolution.
For rootsireland You have to a pay to play, but a day's membership or a week's might be well worth the time and money so when you actually get to Cork (or where ever) you are doing more than basic research. I think you might find yourself paying to be on rootsireland while you are in Ireland. Each county of Ireland has a genealogy research center. You could contact the county you are interested in ahead of time.
As for visiting Cork and Belfast. They are at opposite ends of the country. Think five hours without breaks to get from one to the other. The really pretty area near Belfast is NW of Belfast away from Dublin, the Green Glens of Antrim and the Giant's Causeway. From Donegal head south to Connemara, a beautiful area of Ireland from Westport ( pretty place) to Leenaun then Clifden and ending at Outherard. from there head for Cork if your time is short.
wayne iNWI
If you go from Dublin to Belfast you could continue on around the top of the island getting into Donegal.
Thank you.
I think I figured out my days in each place. I realize that cork and Belfast are on opposite ends so i was thinking of doing...
Dublin
Belfast
Galaway
Cork
Dublin
In that order or the reverse
That way I'm circling not zig zagging.
Thoughts?
Thank you for your help on the Geneology
I will look into that :)
That sequence makes sense, and doesn't matter which way round. How many nights are you planning for each stop as you may need to allow virtually a whole day (plus any sightseeing) between destinations.
If it helps, Aircoach has direct bus service between Dublin Airport and all the cities you mentioned, so you don't need to go into Dublin to connect with them. For example, on your arrival day you could take a two-hour bus ride to straight to Belfast, then another bus or train back to Dublin itself, with easy connections to Galway and/or Cork. Between Galway and Cork you might want to drive, with lots of rural beauty in between. You can rent a car and drop off in another Irish city, but you'll have a big fee to rent in the Republic of Ireland and drop in Northern Ireland, or vice versa.
You might want to look at "Explore Europe," the Ireland link, on this website for ideas about how best to use your limited time. Dublin, Belfast, Cork, and Galway are pretty far from each other and might be too much for the time you have.
