February Trip to Ireland - Tuesday through Saturday

My husband and I traveled London/Ireland in mid September for two weeks. We connected from Shannon to London via Aerlingus. We hired John 0'Connor of Coastline Tours to guide us around the west of Ireland for 2.5 days. We did not have a car and John was very accommodating to travel to/from Shannon airport. He and his wife Elaine provide a wonderful service for a reasonable fee. They are well versed in the area and can take you to sights a tour bus cannot maneuver. We stayed at a BB in Dingle during our visit to the area. John and Elaine live in Dingle so it was convenient for them to pick us up each morning and drop off in evening. In addition, using a private tour service eliminates the worry about driving or navigating. Rental cars are small and may not have adequate trunk space to hold your luggage if there are three or four in your party. We began our trip in Dublin, then Galway, then Dingle; Dingle Peninsula was our favorite area for that visit. We rented an apartment in London for a week and were happy with that arrangement.

That sounds like a good visit, though I wonder if they can accommodate a group of 5 and I wonder if February would be a good time for that. An alternative is to spend all your time in Dublin, which has plenty to keep you busy, whatever the weather. See a play at the Abbey or the Gate, or both. Take the Literary Pub Crawl. Don't miss the archaeology museum. Do your own pub crawl through Temple Bar. Hands-on Viking experience at Dublinia combined with the cathedral visit next door. Get to Kilmainham Gaol early for tickets, only sold on the day.