Driving Times

Try to stick to the main roads. Program the map app to take you to the central car park rather than the restaurant address. Otherwise, you’re likely to find yourself directed to a situation where you’re going to have to parallel park on the wrong side of the road while shifting with the wrong hand and looking over the wrong shoulder. The walk from the car park will do you good. My experience is that the time estimates are optimistic even for the main roads.

I was on a tour, seemed like we were rarely on the highway. Even the "main roads" in much of the country are 2-lane roads. We never got bogged down on the highway. Country roads always seemed to be pretty slow. Why do you think you'll get bogged down on a major road?

Other than roundabouts, like Chani I want to know why you are assuming you'll get bogged down on the major highways.

Before the existence of cellphones, laptops and map programs you bought a paper map and went from point A to Point B experiencing whatever did or did not happen in route. Using the M7 I drove from Belfast, Northern Ireland to Dingle in 5 hours. Stopped twice in route. Never went over 70 mph.

Be adventurous.

Traveling in Eire is all about slowing down to enjoy it's beauty and the people.

What's the rush?

Just wondering if there was a way to pick "biggest roads" directions in case the family gets tired of riding and are ready to arrive at the next destination. Presumably there are some occasions (like the current weather in Eire) when the main roads would be a better choice.

Apologies in advance for doing my trip incorrectly if this offends.

Thee really aren’t that many highways in Ireland, so unless you only want to see the towns they pass by, be prepared for small winding 2-lane roads that aren’t always a full 2-lanes.

Whereabouts will you be heading? People might be able to offer some suggestions on the most direct/fastest route. In general, the M roads (motorways) are the quickest. They might be very busy in the city areas but zip along fairly quickly elsewhere, we have found. The N roads are the ones you will find most often. In all of our trips, traffic has never been an issue.

As mentioned above, paper maps still work well. That’s all we use.

No one said you were doing anything incorrectly. Merely asked why you assumed the “major” thoroughfares would get bogged down. As explained the Motorways are the safest and easiest routes.

When I wrote that there would be "less of a chance of getting bogged down on major roads" i didn't realize that it could be interpreted somehow that I meant the exact opposite.