Ireland Family Vacation Itinerary - Summer 2018

We did something like this in reverse this summer with a few more nights. For twelve nights and your stated desires, I'd try this:

2 nights in Dublin

3 nights in Kinsale

2 nights in Kenmare

2 nights in Dingle

2 nights in Galway

1 night in Adare near Shannon-- no need to stay in Shannon

We did 3 nights stays in Kinsale, Kenmare and Dingle this summer and found that time fairly generous to see most things on our list. We stayed longer in Galway in order to see the Cliffs of Mohr and other great archeological sites to the south and Connemara and areas to the north.

Near Shannon, you and your kids might like to visit the Folk Park and castle of Bunratty on the day before you fly home.

Thank you Mona. That's helpful information. Was two nights in Dingle just right or too much/too little? Did you have a favorite place to stay there?

We were there last summer with our kids ( 11 and 8 ) at the time and did:
Dublin 3 night
Kilkenny 1 night
Killarney 2 nights
Dingle 2 nights
Galway 2 nights
Cong 1 night
Dublin 1 night before flying home

Some of our highlights:
- Kilmainham gaol In Dublin
- Dublinia in Dublin
- Dunmore cave just outside Kilkenny
- Renting bikes in Killarney national Park and biking to Muckross house and farms, torc water fall etc.
- Sheep herding demonstration at Kissane farms outside Killarney
- Driving the ring of kerry and stopping for picnics ( and even swim!) at the beach
- Driving the Dingle Peninsula
- Cliffs of Moher
- Bunratty castle and folk park
- Falconry school at Ashford Castle in Cong

In Dingle, we stayed at Garvey's farmhouse... it is actually in Ventry just outside Dingle. The Garvey's were great hosts. It is a working dairy farm and it was so great to watch the operations. Kids loved it!

MJ. Depending on your interests 2 nights may be enough in Dingle. We stayed just on the outskirts of the town in a B&B overlooking the bay at Cill Bhreac House. It is located right on the Slea Head Drive. One thing that we did that I thought was going to be corny was to take a 10€ harbor cruise to see Fungie the resident harbor dolphin but it was a beautiful day and the 1h cruise went outside of the harbor and along the coast a ways to see the stunning cliffs on the sea side of the harbor. Beautiful and we would have missed it if we had only stayed on the green rolling hills land side.

Sounds as if you already have a lot of this booked, but if not I would suggest ending in Dublin rather than starting there. Dingle is well worth a stop, and is the logical stop to insert into this itinerary. That said, the Slea Head Loop makes it special more that the town itself, in my opinion. Four days would be a lot just just for Dingle, three would be about right. At the stop that you label Shannon, I strongly recommend staying in Ennis. It's about half an hour from the airport. (Also recommend Grey Gables B&B, where my wife and I stayed on both our 2002 and 2016 trips). Easy access to the Cliffs, and generally County Clare is pretty special. we found the traditional music scene better in Ennis than Dingle in 2016, but maybe that was just luck of the draw.

Bunratty folk park gets mixed reviews here, but i love it. With a flight out of Shannon, its possible to check into the bunratty hotel, unload the car, have one adult return it and bring the airport shuttle back to the hotel, saving a bunch of hastle on departure day. I love the park itself, (watch the reinactors, pet the burro, take photos!) they have a really nice gift shop, as well as many of the artisans selling items. I'm more lukewarm on the castle, and did pay for the medieval banquet there once.....im not sure i considered it worth the cost. There are some other restaurants/ pubs on the grounds.