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input on 17 day itinerary

Posted by (California) on

I have done quite a bit of research so here is my plan. I have a friend where we can stay in Doolin so trying to use Doolin as a base for as many days as possible. Any suggestions are welcome.

1 arrive Dublin

2 Dublin book of kells in the trinity old library & trinity college & national museum of archaeology
3 Dublin day trip from Dublin - Boyne valley -Bruna Boinne - OR or do this at the end of the trip and stay in Trim
4 Dublin kilmainham gaol and guinness storehouse -
5 Kinsale drive to Kilkenny(finest medieval town) and the Rock of Cashel; 2.5 hours drive from Kilkenny to Kinsale;
6 Kenmare drive Ring of Kerry,
7 Dingle drive around Slea Head (tip)
8 Dingle Dingle Peninsula Loop & Blasket Island, Dingle town,
9 Doolin day trip - bunratty castle, volk park, banquet is 5:30 or 8:45pm
10 Doolin Aran Islands (3 islands, visit Inishmore)
11 Doolin Cliffs of Moher
12 Doolin Galway - the Burren, Dunguaire Castle banquet (rec a few times)
13 Westport Leenaun, Cong and Kylemore Abbey are places to visit in Mayo
14 Westport Carrowkeel is a cluster of passage tombs in south County Sligo, Ireland 1.5 hours from Westport
15 Belfast or Bangar - the Coiste tour and republican museum
16 Bangar

17 Trim (45 min from Dublin airport) If we don't take a day trip from Dublin at the beginning of the trip
18 Fly to Scotland

Posted by
602 posts

I have a couple of thoughts:

1) When you do the Ring of Kerry, stop at the Kerry Cliffs which are, IMHO, as nice as Moher and no tour buses. Modest 8 euro fee to the farmer that owns the land.
2) If you're there in May/June, consider Skellig Michael instead of Blasket Island because the birds are astounding. The beehives are also impressive without the puffins underfoot. My wife's all time favorite.
3) The risk of weather cancellation to Inishmore are much lower from Rossaveal. Move one Doolin night to Galway to use Rossaveal or consider overnight on Inishmore (much more pleasant after the daytrip crowds have left).
4) Don't give up when you're looking for Carrowkeel - they're wonderful, but the signage is deceptive. When you get to the carpark, you can go through the gate and park much farther up the road and avoid a long hike. One of my all time favorites.
5) I'm not sure about two banquets. I've been to both places without doing either banquet so don't trust my opinion. We re-visited Bunratty and were blocked at 3pm by the upcoming banquet. I'd much rather listen to trad with a Guinness in Doolin or Galway.

We're headed over this May, doing a similar route except CCW to pick up the places we've missed in our prior trips. We're taking the coast from Westport to Belfast, so there are a couple more stops (Clifden, Donegal, Dunfanaghy, Portrush) We'll be back in 2025 to dig deeper yet. 2024 is a Scotland re-visit.

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