Dublin - Kinsale - Dingle: Possible without driving?

I spent some time looking into this because as a rule I like to take public transportation when traveling. Dublin is a no brainer with excellent public transportation available.

It is possible to get to the other locations by public transport, but there is some significant travel time associated with using public transport so you will want to consider how much time you want to spend in transport vs. exploring with a 9 day trip. Also, when you arrive at the destination, you must consider how you will get around there.

Here are some links that will be helpful to you in your planning.

http://www.buseireann.ie/

http://www.irishrail.ie/

Some on the forum have hired private drivers for parts of their journey. Others combine public transport with day tours to further explore specific sites in an area.

We ended up with a compromise solution. We are using public transport for most of our trip but hiring a car for 4 days where it seemed to be the most realistic option.

Dublin to Kinsale is fairly easy, just take the train to Cork, short walk to the bus depot to catch the bus to Kinsale which is only a one hour trip (and I think the bus is an hourly departure). I looked into Dingle by public transit for my trip and ended up scratching it off the list and staying in Killarney as the bus trip was going to take up too much of my time. You can get guided day tours to Dingle (and many other places) from Killarney, plus there is a lot of other things to see and do from Killarney. It is also time consuming to get to or from the Shannon airport by public transit depending on where you are. I seem to recall that the bus from route from Killarney requires at least one transfer, and takes a few hours. It might be quicker to backtrack to Dublin by train.There are some private bus companies that go directly to Shannon from certain places that are more direct than public transit, but google it to make sure they are still operating. I wouldn't skip Dublin, there's lots to see, even if you've seen the city before there are some great day trips you can take from Dublin.

I've lived in Ireland for 4 years, and one thing I've discovered is that there are MANY MANY smaller private bus companies that don't pop up so easily when a tourist is looking for tip on bus travel.....

Here around Iveragh peninsula (known as the Ring of Kerry) we hsave "Local Link" that supplements the Bus Eireann bus service. Bus E goes Waterville to Killarney at 7:00 a.m. yet Local Link goes 8:00, 9:00, 9:50; 11:00 and more to Killorglin!

I know they go to Dingle at least part of the season, from Killarney....

I was in Dingle, today for the Wren festivities. I actually paid attention to the drive, and it's not that exciting, really. So don't dish the Ring of Kerry area, too quickly!

Susan
Expat in Waterville, Ireland.

When I recently researched Kinsale to Dingle, I found the bus schedules to be more attractive than a train-bus combination. You'll connect at Cork bus station (to bus 40) and at Tralee (to bus 275). www.transportforireland.ie is another useful, multi-modal transport planner, where I found this info.

Suggest Train Dublin to Cork
Bus Cork to Kinsale

Hire private tour guide Kinsale to Killarney and stay 1 or 2 nights

Hire private tour guide Killarney to Dingle

Hire taxi Dingle to Tralee and Train to Dublin

Look up some of the tour guides on tripadvisor

https://www.tripadvisor.ie/Attraction_Review-g186612-d12205217-Reviews-Ring_Of_Kerry_Sightseeing_Tours-Killarney_County_Kerry.html

I go between Killarney and Tralee relatively often and there's a bus AND a train that does that. The suggestion above suggests a taxi - i had to taxi it once, going to get my broken arm x-rayed. it was more than 50 euros! Who knew there was no easy transport in the early morning to tralee from Killarney!? Now I know..... but 50 euros was crazy.....

Susan
Expat living in Waterville

This is all such wonderful and detailed information. Thank you all for your posts!

Happy New Year!