Hi All, we are planning a return trip to Ireland (1st trip many years ago), but also feeling the tug of Portugal for this 3 week trip to celebrate our retirement. We love meeting locals and hearing what they love about their culture; trad music, good food, good wine and beer, long walks, beautiful sites. We are thinking 2 weeks in Ireland, limiting the driving in favor of diving deep, with Dublin and Dingle as our bases for various day trips. Toying with the idea of spending the third week in Portugal, either Porto or Lisbon. Flights there look pretty reasonable. Does this make sense, or is this less doable than it seems? Any suggested side trips? Good tips for comfortable, reasonable accommodations? Thanks for any good advice!
Flying from NYC to Shannon Airport would be your best bet if going to Ireland first. From Shannon airport take a direct bus to Ennis (45m) and sleep in Ennis your first night. The next day you’ll need to go back to the airport to rent a car and drive to Dingle (2h 30m). From Dingle you can drive to Dublin (4h 45m).
There are no nonstop flights between Shannon airport and Portugal but there are between Dublin and Porto / Lisbon.