Hi...I will be traveling Aug 1-22 to Ireland and Scotland with my husband and another couple. Could we do 3 days in Dublin, 2 Cork and 2 Belfast. We intend on booking day trips from each of these cities with the following venues....Glendalough, Ring of Kerry, Dingle Peninsula. We could add days in Dublin, then onto Scotland. Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen will be our sleeping spots. We intend on booking day trips from each city. Are we dreamers or is this possible. We do not want to rent a car (but will if needed) since they are so expensive and sparse. Can we wing most of this trip?
Posted by
Tunbridge Wells
6113 posts
I doubt that you can wing any accommodation for your destinations without pre booking asap. August in Edinburgh means Festival and places often get booked up a year in advance.
Posted by
1585 posts
If you know where you want to sleep why not book lodging now? With all the revenge travel occurring it seems like it would be rather risky to "wing it" especially since you need two rooms. And you're travelling during peak season. As for your itinerary, it is possible to visit your enumerated places as day trips but I think the back to back day trips to Dingle and Kerry from Cork would be a little rough. That's a lot of time spent riding in a car. Could you maybe rent a car in Cork (I'm assuming the plan is to bus or train to Cork from Dublin) and stay in Killorglin, which is between the two peninsulas, Kenmare, which is on the RIng of Kerry, or Killarney, another Ring of Kerry town that would be convenient but not necessarily picturesque?
Posted by
OP
4 posts
Hi and thank you for your quick response to my email. I was not clear on how I wanted to book the accommodations, but yes I am booking all before we leave. Do I need to book the day trips before we leave? When I said can I wing some of the trip I meant the day trips...do they also get booked up? Perhaps I need more days in Dublin and Cork and forget Belfast. One of our group wanted to see the wall murals and I think that they have lots in Belfast....and Derry. Can we not do a day trip from Dublin for that? Thank you for your help!
Posted by
Colorado Springs
2980 posts
If your main interest is in seeing the ROK and the Dingle peninsula then it really makes no sense to include Cork in your proposed itinerary. Better (I think) to just head for Killarney and base yourselves there for a few days in order to do justice to the area.
One option that might streamline things a bit would be to see if either of the daily RyanAir flights between Dublin and the Kerry airport near Killarney would fit your plans. There's one in the morning from Dublin departing around 9 AM and the other is later in the afternoon I think. Takes about an hour, and from Kerry airport you can taxi into Killarney town - usually a place to be avoided due to it's carnival-like congestion but in your case it's probably the easiest option for connecting with day tours around the Ring and over to Dingle.
Returning to Dublin on the RyanAir flight would enable you to jump on the express bus from the airport up to Belfast, making the logistics of the relocation pretty straightforward.
With all of the pent-up demand for travel post Covid we're likely to see bigger crowds than normal everywhere in Europe. Point being that in order to avoid disappointment you'd be well advised to book your day tours in advance once your plans have solidified to the extent that you're comfortable committing to specific dates. I certainly wouldn't want to wing it this summer.
Posted by
Yorkshire
1339 posts
Hi
If you are looking to explore both the Dingle and Kerry Peninsulas, then staying there in Killarney or Kenmare makes more sense than out and back trips to them. Plus having driven to Kenmare from Dublin it will be a long old day with not a whole heap of time to see what you’ve driven so long to view. Personally I favour slower transport in the area having hiked both the Dingle and Kerry Ways (marvellous!) but understand time may be of the essence. That said stay near to maximise what you can see and do. I’m not sure how you’d do Dublin to Kerry without a car - while it’s a while ago, we couldn’t find a better more economic way.
As for the murals, the Hop On Hop Off bus tour of Belfast follows a route where you can see lots of them - sit upstairs on the bus for best results. We were told we could get off the bus and wander to look closer but if I’m honest the areas felt like they were saying “This is ours. Keep out. That includes you” but that also could just be my being English. It’s not an uncommon feeling! Mind you, the sobering ‘Peace Wall’ didn’t help.
That said, the rest of the tour was interesting and I would recommend that you visit the Titantic Quarter exhibition (fascinating) and the Crown Liquor Saloon, for a pint of the black stuff (or whatever). You can’t miss it, it’s just opposite the Europa Hotel, once the most bombed hotel in the world!