Driving from Cork to Dublin, plus my ramblings

Hi. Yup....first skip Blarney Castle....it's on Rick Steve's Top Ten Tourist traps of Europe for good reason. Much better use of time would be stopping at Glendalough. The monastic settlement there is real Irish history and culture in an incredibly beautiful setting. It and the surrounding Wicklow Mountains are worth a full day.

Also nice for a stop is the beautiful Rock of Cashel. A couple hours is good for that and it's well worth the stop. You also might enjoy Powerscourt. It's very pretty.

The burial mounds pre dating the pyramids at Newgrange/Knowth are as close to a must see as I can come up with. But do recommend skipping Blarney entirely......literally scores of things better to see and do.

Have fun !

Thank you! Do you think the Rock of Cashel would be a good day trip from Cork on Saturday? Bc right now we’ll be staying in Cork Saturday night. Or should we leave Cork on Saturday instead of Sunday, stay near Rock of Cashel Saturday night (is there even anywhere to stay there?) and then drive to Glendalough on Sunday and continue with our plans stay in Dublin Sunday night?

I’d like to make the most of our time since we won’t have many days in Ireland and try not to backtrack.

Also is the whole Blarney Castle worth skipping or just kissing the stone? Would it be worth it to do like an hour there Saturday morning since we’ll be so close?

Good advice from ewewoolknit. I agree with skipping Blarney castle.
Would suggest arranging your itinerary so you can arrive at Glendalough early, ie well before the tour buses start to roll in at 9:30 (when the visitor center opens). The monastic site itself will be open, and having it all to yourself makes it truly magical. There are some very nice walks and hikes in the immediate vicinity too if you want to stretch your legs.
Then take the old Military Road up thru the Wicklow Mtns. to get back to Dublin. It's beautiful - lots of photo ops if you drive it on a sunny day.

I too will be driving from Cork to Dublin and this is great information. Thanks!

Thanks for the tip. Do you know if there’s places to stay near Glendalough?

No, but I just took a look on www.booking.com and there appear to be several nice B&B's and small hotels within a 30 minute drive.

The grounds at Blarney are nice but nothing amazing. Personally I'd skip it for more time at Cashel and Glendalough. There are plenty of places to stay near to both. If you Google B&B 's for each you'll get options. Near Glendalough we stayed about a half hour away in Tinahely which was very nice country....but there are many options. Cashel has great pub food. We've eaten there for lunch a couple times and the soups and seafood chowder were insanely good. Glendalough is a truly magical place and as mentioned a drive to Dublin from there through the Wicklow mountains is spectacular scenery.

We drove from Cork to Dublin over 2 days, doing the Rock of Cashel and other sites (but not the Blarney stone). Stayed at a place called the Lawcusfarm Guesthouse, do a google image search of them and then you'll want to stay there too.

We stayed at the Ferndale B&B in Enniskerry, five miles from Powerscourt Gardens and about 40 minutes from Glendalough. It was a really nice drive to the monastery, but we got there around 2on the last really nice Saturday afternoon in October, and the place was so packed the parking lot was full and spilling out onto the street. We looked at each other and decided to skip it and drove back for a needed mid-afternoon nap and then an early dinner in the pub right across the street from the B&B, which was really good!