Hello, we will be traveling to Shannon Airport from London (we are from the US but heading to London before then going to Ireland) this August. My plan is to fly into Shannon airport then head to Galway for 3 nights...then Killarney for 3 nights before heading to Dublin to finish out our time in Ireland. I'm not opposed to renting a car but my initial thoughts are just use public transportation and we will then do small group tours or private cars for our excursions. For those who have been to these places what do you think would be our best option? There are 3 of us, my husband, youngest kiddo who will be 17 and myself. Also...this is our first time to Ireland, are Galway and Killarney for 3 nights in each place too much? Should we move around more to see more places or enjoy these two areas before heading to Dublin. Thanks in advance!!
Sincerely-Marcy
Posted by
Land of La
9471 posts
Rent a vehicle. Public transport in Eire IMHO is a PIA.
Posted by
OP
19 posts
ok, thank you for this
Posted by
Lake District, England
9078 posts
My opinion first of all to suggest reviewing the order of these locations before filling in any more gaps of further possible locations to visit.
To make a more logical order I would suggest flying into Kerry airport (for Killarney) then going up the west coast to Galway and then across to Dublin to end and presumably flying back to the US from there
Kerry is served from London by Ryanair- depending on the day of the week departing from London Luton or London Stansted airport.
If these are your only three locations then of course they can be visited by train. Local buses link Kerry airport with Killarney.
Killarney to Galway is about 4 hours 30 minutes routing via Limerick on the mid morning train and the west coast (ie not via Dublin).
Inter City bus via Limerick is a bit faster- every two hours Killarney to Limerick, every hour Limerick to Galway.
Driving is about 3 hours.
Galway to Dublin (if going to the city, not direct to the airport) has a pretty good and frequent rail service.
If doing tours locally to each centre then the local bus services don't much matter but there is a rapidly expanding network of rural bus services round the country. See the Transport for Ireland website- https://www.transportforireland.ie/
It is very difficult to keep up with what is happening as the rural bus network especially has been growing exponentially since the pandemic.
Posted by
OP
19 posts
Thank you so much!! This is super helpful!
Posted by
Bellingham, WA
709 posts
You don't need a car for that itinerary.
Posted by
OP
19 posts
Thank you!!
Posted by
RIchmond, BC,Canada
969 posts
As suggested above, you don’t need a car for this itinerary, and the above advice on the order in which to do it is sound. There are many options for guided day tours out of all of the three cities that will get you to many of the popular sights, so that won’t be an issue, either. Enjoy!
Posted by
OP
19 posts
Can I ask, if I stick with my itinerary, only because I've already booked lodging and some excursions (I could re-arrange) but fly from London to Shannon---bus to Galway---train to Killarney---then train to Dublin from Killarney....is that going to be more of an adventure then if we did the suggested reverse? Fly into Kerry and start in Killarney? thanks so much!
Posted by
Lake District, England
9078 posts
If you want to stick with Shannon that's fine. The idea was to minimise travel times, so as to maximise times at destinations.
Starting with Killarney you were doing a sideways L shaped itinerary.
Now you fly into Shannon then go north to Galway, then back past Shannon and a good way further south. Then you come back north again past Limerick (almost Shannon) and past the junction to Galway on your way to Dublin.
You've probably added an extra day (in aggregate) of travel time.
Hopefully this thread puts the idea of Kerry in other people's minds- it often crops up on here for connections with long haul flights at Dublin, but also has connections with a surprising number of other airports.