Driving from the Cliffs of Moher to Dingle -

Posted by RR on 08/04/15 02:33 PM

We are landing in Shannon in the morning and was thinking of driving up to the Cliffs of Moher for the morning before heading to Dingle. Is this crazy to drive that much on day 1? According to aaireland, its about 3.5 hour drive to Dingle. Our options are to:

A) spend our first full day at the cliffs of mohor (area) and the night in doolin (or killimer) followed by 2 nights in Dingle OR

B) just drive to the cliffs for the morning, drive to Dingle in the afternoon, and spend 3 nights in Dingle OR

C) not go to the cliffs and just drive straight to dingle in a more leisurely fashion before spending 3 nights there.

I've heard such wonderful things about Dingle and we really wanted to have leisurely time there which is why we were originally planning on option C, but now I'm rethinking.

Posted by Steve

Massachusetts

08/04/15 02:51 PM

398 posts

My biggest concern is that you are probably going to be fairly tired (assuming you are flying in from North America). Have you driven in Ireland before? Many of the roads are quite narrow. From Shannon, you'll be fine on the M18 and N85, but they will be fairly narrow thereafter.

Assuming you arrive fairly early at Shannon, you could be to the Cliffs by lunch time, enjoy the Cliffs, there is a serviceable cafeteria there to grab food (or you can stop for something to eat on your way down to Dingle).

You could be to Dingle by dinner time, so that won't be the end of the world. But that is quite a bit of driving for day one, especially if you aren't accustomed to driving in Ireland, on the left.

What does the remainder of your trip look like? Any chance you can move things around?

If you do this trip, be sure to take the ferry from Killimer to Tarbert. It will save you a bit of time, and you'll be able to take your eyes off the road for a little bit.

Posted by Nick

Oak Park

08/04/15 03:00 PM

243 posts

RR,

This is a very personal decision as to what interests you the most. I am assuming that your flight to Shannon is from the US. This is a rather important detail as the drive to Doolin and the cliffs and then to Dingle is quite a bit of driving especially for the first day in Europe. Personally I would not do it. The music in Dingle is a huge draw and you would probably be too jet-lagged to experience it on your first night in Europe. When we visited, we arrived in Shannon in the morning, stopped for lunch and arrived in Doolin in the early afternoon. We took the ferry and saw the Cliffs from the sea which was amazing. (Please keep in mind that everything takes longer than expected: luggage retrieval, car rental, etc will add some time to your arrival time). On the way to Dingle the next morning, we experienced the Cliffs from top. This was interesting to see the Cliffs from two very different perspectives. If you wanted to see the Cliffs from the top, I would probably stay someplace between the Cliffs and Dingle to make the drive on the next morning a shorter trip. This is just my opinion as I like to linger at sites and limit my first day of driving in Europe to 3 hours or less. It is possible to do your B intinerary, but unless you have a very early flight, you may get to the cliffs later than you expect and then have a long drive ahead of you.

Posted by Dave

Eugene, Oregon...Formerly Ventura, CA

08/04/15 04:00 PM

2261 posts

The key factor, which only you can guess at, is how jet lag may affect you, some people are okay, some people are pretty much useless (and therefore unsafe as drivers) that first day. The second is the learning curve to driving the roads of Ireland. My suggestion would be to enjoy the Cliffs, stay in Doolin, get a good meal and some music at Gus O'Connors, and set out early the next day at a leisurely pace for Dingle. I suspect you'll remember the lovely drive south better doing it this way. Be sure to take in Conor Pass, you'll want to stop there, and at several spots, along the way.