Ideas for Western Ireland

Have you travelled with the 3year old, how is the toddler with a lot of driving? That would be a factor for me. A friend of mine with two kids (about 6 & 8) rented a house in Clare & did day trips from there. That worked well for her. They saw the cliffs, the burren, Connemara area. Actually wound up buying a place and go back every summer now.

I would take a look at RS guide books and come up with a plan of exactly what you want to see, then schedule out the drive times, cut as you need or add on as you need to. There are a lot of outdoors for your toddler to run around.

If you google driving times in Ireland, double them.

Does this itinerary look workable? Our toddler actually does pretty well in the car for 2-3 hours, usually. I know RS says to avoid Killarney and do Kenmare, but it seems like a little touristy would work better with a toddler as far as accessibility, plus most things we want to see seem closer to Killarney. I don't know if I'm trying to do too much here?

Monday - Land in Shannon at 11am; drive to Galway and settle down

Tuesday - Aran Islands (Inismore) day trip; back to Galway for the night

Wednesday - Drive to Cliffs of Moher, Bunratty Castle, then head to Adare for the night (other recommendations for a place to stop would be helpful; or if we should just drive straight to Killarney?)

Thursday - Drive to Killarney - check out local sights

Friday - ROK bus or private car tour

Saturday - Dingle & Slea Head day trip

Sunday - Flight out of Shannon Airport at 7pm

We loved Killarney National Park. We rented bikes and biked to Muckross house and farms as well as Torc waterfall. Our kids are older ( 9 and 12) and had there own bikes but they had bikes with trailers for toddlers.
In the Killarney area, we also really enjoyed our visit to Kissane Sheep farm. They do sheep herding and sheering demonstration.

We had to cancel our Aran Island trip as the weather was terrible. Just play that one by ear I would say

The Ring of Kerry is a four day drive in the Lonely Planet guide to drives in Ireland. So doing the bus tour - with a child at that! - is not my recommendation at ALL.

There are some great cliffs off the Skellig Ring (off the RoK) called The Kerry Cliffs, and if you've seen other recent posts you'll know the details on that vs. the Cliffs of Moher.

I like Killarney for many reasons, but my sister (an avid traveller) hates it. It's touristy, and has been since 1880's. Kenmare is becoming what we call "a little Killarney" so you may want to try a smaller village rather than either of those! I just ran into a woman, today (I'm in Baltimore Maryland for a week) who stayed in an apartment on the coast and she raved about the ofriendships and intimacy she experience pf in a smaller town/village..... if those kind of connections are important to you....

Susan
Expat in Waterville, Ireland

Hi Kay,

My recommendation if you love history is to swing inland after Bunratty and take 'the road less traveled'. You could come off in Gort town on your way northward and spend some time there. Coole Park in Gort is really lovely (Lady Gregory, WB Yeats etc). Portumna is only a half hour or 45 minutes from there and has a lovely castle (operated by the OPW) and a great heritage centre (Irish Workhouse Centre). You can go from there to Ballinasloe or Loughrea (two fine towns, with huge history, and good places to eat and stay) and be in the city in 45mins on the motorway.

The City has a nice museum and will hopefully not be too busy for you in April. Likewise, if you want to do the Cliffs of Moher and Aran, it's before the busy period so your 3 y/o will not be too stressed. If you stay in the city you can travel to Rossaveal for the ferry. It's so great that you are renting as the 'bus on-bus off' tours are really failing to capture the real Ireland. You have to go looking for it.... A lá John Dunbar 'before it's gone'.

Hope you have a great holiday.

BH.

Kay,

In reference to the comment above about Gort (my grandmother was born there in 1884!) be aware that there is now a highway that opened a few weeks ago, near Gort. So be sure to check out current maps so you're prepared, and don't end up on that highway and miss scenic areas you may want to pass along!

Susan
Expat in Waterville