Ireland/Europe First Timers

Do the 9 days include the day you land and the day you leave? Or, is it 9 whole days?

A good start would be to go to your library, and get out as many travel books about Ireland as you can. Rick's will have the most details about nitty gritty, but you should look at others as well.

Since it's your first trip to Europe, also get a copy of Rick Steves Europe Through The Back Door. This book will teach you all about things like finding hotels, money in Europe, getting around, etc.

In addition, it's often helpful to look at travel videos. Rick's are here; scroll down and click Ireland: https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/video/tv-show.

Next, don't book any plane tickets until you've sketched out your itinerary. For many people flying into Dublin and out of Shannon, or the reverse, works better than a round trip to Dublin. To find these flights, don't look for two one-way tickets; instead, use the "multi-city" function of airline websites, Kayak, Google Flights, etc. This is called an "open jaw" ticket; it's usually not more expensive than a round trip ticket, and saves you time and money because you don't have to backtrack (especially important on a short trip like yours).

When planning, remember that you land in Ireland the day after you leave the United States, the day of arrival is often a jet lag haze, and the day of departure is taken up with getting to the airport. Also remember that two nights in one place leaves you less than one full day in that place. It's better to count nights rather than days.

I haven't been to Ireland, but one thing that everyone emphasizes is how much longer it takes to get between places than we're used to in the US, due to smaller roads and slower driving speeds. On a short trip, you will have to be brutally selective. Assume you'll be back, and don't run yourself ragged trying to do too much.

Thanks for the replies! 9 days would be from when we land till the day we leave. After reading and watching some videos I think we have decided we would like to foucus
On Southern Ireland. We would prefer to fly into Shannon but from watching prices it seems Dublin might be substantially cheaper to fly into. Also I think we have decided that the ROC might be better left to a longer trip and we would like to explore the Dingle peninsula this time around. Thanks again!

My wife and I used Rick's book for Ireland this past May and recommend it highly. Don't spend more that three night in Dublin. Kinsale, Kilkenny, Ennis and County Clare are great stops. Dingle peninsula is wonderful with good weather but the town itself has about the same appeal as the others I mentioned. Definitely try and fly open jaw. You can also get a direct bus from Dublin airport to some cities like Galway if I recall correctly. We took the bus directly from Shannon to Galway and a couple of days later back to the airport to pick up the rental. This was to minimize time with the rental car since with super CDW it was $70 per day. (Driving in Ireland is a challenge, but manageable if you focus and take your time). Be aware there are speed cameras everywhere. To me Ireland is not an easy country to travel in due to the stress around driving. It is a great place to visit though with very friendly people and the B&B experience is fun with generally great breakfasts compared to many countries where breakfast can be hit to miss.

Sorry, what is ROC?

Ahh sorry typo ROK RIng of Kerry.

I traveled on a similar itinerary in June/13- landed at DUB, picked up a car at the airport, and drove about 2 hours to Kilkenny (1 night). Then Kinsale (2), Dingle town (2), with a drive around the Ring of Kerry en route (is that possibly what you refer to as ROC?). Then to Galway (3) and Dublin (3), for a total of 11 nights. We stayed in B&B's in all except Dublin, where we had an apartment. I felt the pace was good, as the longest point to point drive was no more that three hours (plus stops). I also thought the cities and towns we stayed in served us very well as bases for daytripping as well as for enjoying local culture.

I should mention though that our flight to Dublin was from Edinburgh, and we'd already had a week to get used to driving on their side of the road. I'm not sure I'd want to get off a transatlantic flight and immediately get behind the wheel on the "passenger side" of a car for the first time. If you are able to fly open jaw using Shannon for your return, then you can start off with two or three nights in Dublin before driving. Even just walking around town, you'll be more used to the way traffic flows by the time you pick up the car.

Thank you for the great responses ! One odd question my husband is 6'9 so I am a little concerned on bed sizes in the B&B's ? Also for our car rental size I need to make sure he would be able to drive ... we have never had experience with European cars.

Thank you!

We were going to skip the ROK as well. The manager at the hotel we stayed at in Killarney strongly encouraged us to rethink this... we listened to him and we were so thankful that we did. We all loved it. It was a great way to see a lot of the small towns while making our way to Dingle for the night.

Have fun!

It all depends what kind of weather you get on the day you intend to do a ROK drive. We ended up with a foggy, misty day so there was nothing to see, and we couldn't try again the next day because of the length of our trip. We ended up spending the day in Kenmare. Just have a Plan B for a day that you plan a scenic drive in case the weather doesn't cooperate.

Hi Sonyamb,
I've thought about your post for a couple of days, and my first question to you is why have you chosen Ireland as your introduction to European travel? Is is because you are thinking it might be an easier place to start, or do you have a burning desire to travel there? I've traveled in Europe a few times, the first time was in my 20's as a backpacker, most recently in my 50's now with a manageable smaller backpack and b&b's (thanks to Ricks encouragement). Having driven on the 'wrong' side of the road in the U.K., I've got to be honest and say I don't know if you should think driving there is that easy. Roads can be very winding and narrow, and locals sometimes drive aggressively. I was there a few years ago with my daughter in November so it was hardly tourist season but still took quite a while to get from one area to another. Our rental car was tiny, a Nissan Micra I think it was called. And driving through a few villages was frightful due to cars parking on both sides leaving a tiny passage! Having such a tall husband gives me reason to think you might rent a larger car.
Ireland just didn't have great coverage for buses and trains the way a lot of European countries do. if it's your passion to see Ireland then absolutely go with good planning in place, and allow some flexibility in your schedule. It is quite a beautiful country. However, it might be easier to travel on the continent the first time to gain some experience.

Something else to consider with the rental car is that manual transmissions are much more common in Europe than in the US. If you need an automatic you will need to confirm with the rental agency that one will be available.

Also pay attention to the previous comments on small car size and tighter driving conditions. I am not sure how true this is in Ireland, but I have seen comments about driving in Scotland and on some rural one lane roads when you meet another car, one of the cars has to back up until they get to a wider passing zone.

Don't let the fear of driving on the other side of the road put you off. When Mom and I picked up our car in York, England in 2012, it was my first trip abroad. But, I made sure to get an automatic trans, made sure I knew which roads I wanted to take (we didn't have a GPS for that trip), and had Mom to help me overcome my occasional veering away from the center line and towards the ditch (bigger car than I was used to, smaller roads). I only forgot about the wrong side once, and there was no one else coming towards me and Mom reminded me right away. Having the car got us to places we would have had to skip, and meant that my elderly mom could see a lot. I enjoyed the driving, even though I did all of it over the ten days we had the car. But then, I like driving at home too, and go from Chicago to New Jersey frequently.

Get the GPS, though! We did in Ireland in 2014, and it was worth it.

For B&B and hotel recommendations, I would strongly advise looking at TripAdvisor and seriously consider the top ranked places in the locales you decide on visiting after researching a few travel books. I have found really amazing places through that site. The one place I chose without checking TripAdvisor on the Britain trip was for our last night, near Heathrow, and it was a lousy choice made on purely financial grounds. I apologized to Mom for that place.

Our planning methods for a European trip are first, research with lots and lots of books. Write down every place you are interested in. Then, narrow that list down to what you can reasonably see in your timeframe, and put them into an itinerary. Only then should you research places to spend the night. For a city like Dublin, do consider an apartment for a multi-evening stay. We had six people for three nights and only spent 777€, and we were just a ten minute walk to the hop-on, hop-off bus that we used for the two days we explored the city.

I don't think anyones intent is to scare you, but rather just to see you well informed so that you can have the best experience. Having driven in the U.K. twice, in cars with manual transmissions, I think youre better off if you are well prepared. Being jet lagged is not the best time to try to take the plunge. We landed in Shannon and it was good to have a small town to get acclimated to the strangeness of having to use my left hand to shift. Entering roundabouts and driving clockwise takes a little getting used to....for me anyway. I didn't rely on our cars GPS until I really needed it, approaching Dublin, only to find it wasn't working!
As others have suggested, open jaw is the way to go to see as much as possible. We flew out of Dublin, so we were able to take the northern route to visit Galway, Sligo, N. Ireland, making our way to Dublin where we spent a few days before flying home. Ireland is breathtaking, it's part of my heritage so very meaningful to me.
Read as much as you can before you go, and that includes brushing up on what the traffic signs mean so you won't be guessing if you are safely parked, or entering a one way road! You will find lovely people, charming pubs and amazing scenery!