I started planning my Ireland trip last year but had to cancel because of Covid. Starting to think about it for this next September. Below was the itinerary I had settled on but I am starting to rethink the Doolin stay. I’ve come across several posts that say it is too small to merit a stay. Any thoughts
Arrive in Dublin for 2nights
Kilkenny 2 nights
Kenmare 3 nights
Dingle 2 nights
Doolin 2 nights
Ashford Castle 1 night
Shannon 1 night
Do you have thoughts of visiting the Aran Islands? Doolin is one of the places for catching a ferry to them. Perhaps you could spend one night in Doolin and another on one of the Islands. The other place for ferries is Rossaveel, so maybe you could go there from the Islands and from there to Ashford Castle.
Doolin makes a good base to explore County Clare from. You can visit the Cliffs of Moher, the Burren plus Ennis.
Doolin is the "capital" for traditional Irish music (trad), offered most summer evenings in its four pubs. That and easy ferry access to the Aran Islands make it worth a night in one of its wonderful B&Bs.
Oops - I just realized the Aran Island ferries are for pedestrians only, so if you have a car, my plan with Rossaveel wouldn’t work. Sorry! Still think you might want to see the Aran Islands, though.
For June 2019, I tried to make a reservation at a B&B on InshMor and the owner wouldn't accept it if I was coming from Doolin. I took her advice about the cancellation odds due to weather and came via Rossaveal, so I skipped Doolin altogether on that trip. The trip is half the distance and the ferry is twice the size.
In the late 90s we meant to spend one night in Doolin, but enjoyed the music so thoroughly that we stayed a second night. The trip was early in April and we had had bad luck finding trad music up to then. The music in Doolin was made up of more US and EU players than locals which changed it's character slightly. Since then, I've learned that there's better music in many other places.
Things have no doubt changed in 25 years. Traveling without lodging arrangements has certainly changed!
Doolin is a great place to base if you want to see the Cliffs of Moher, Aran Islands, the Burren, Ennis and Lahinch - and experience trad music. We spent 3 nights there back in 2018 - two would have been enough to fully experience the town; however, the ferry doesn't run in high seas so we would have missed our trip to Inis Oirr with only a two night stay. In considering your itinerary, I think you may be spending too much time moving around. I'd try to cut it town to 4-5 different places to overnight. Maybe you won't see as much but what you do see you'll see better.
I’ve been to Doolin many times. Only ever in the Summer months. Music and pub scene is exactly what you’d think when envisioning ireland. This is a great base town when exploring Cliffs of Moher, etc.
Thanks for all the input. Think I will keep Doolin on my itinerary.
