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Ireland for 5 days, is this doable? :)

Posted by on

Hi there,
We will be arriving in Dublin on May 7th from England. I've never been to Ireland and have been reading all the forum posts to get ideas. We will be renting a car once we leave Dublin. I am a bit of an over planner but I can't help myself! :)
Does this look doable? I could use some help with drive times and suggestions on places to stay. I am using http://www.theaa.ie for estimating drive times but not sure how accurate it is. Should we rent a GPS and/or Wifi Hot spot?
Thanks so much!

1️⃣Saturday May 7th Dublin arrive 8:30pm check into hotel visit a pub?
2️⃣Sunday May 8th tour Dublin, hop on and off bus. Guinness tour. Temple Bar...
2 nights in Dublin
3️⃣Monday May 9th Drive Dublin to Dingle 4.5-6 hrs Travel via Limerick or Cashel?
4️⃣Tuesday May 10th tour Dingle Loop & town
2 nights in Dingle
5️⃣Wednesday May 11th Dingle to Killarney 1.5-2.5hrs 65 miles Visit Muckross House & Killarney Nat'l Park
1 night in Killarney
6️⃣Thursday May 12th Killarney to Dublin stop at Rock of Cashel, stop in Kilkenny total drive time 3.5-4 hrs 333 miles
Killarney to Rock of Cashel 2hrs 141 miles
Cashel to Kilkenny 1hr, 63miles
Kilkenny to Dublin 1:45hr 129 miles arrive Dublin around 8:00?
last night in Dublin? Or somewhere less expensive?
7️⃣Friday May 13th need to be at Dublin airport by 11:30am, flight leaves at 1:40pm

Posted by
317 posts

Greetings from Ireland.
The timings are all generally right, I do Dingle to Killarney in just over an hour with my Rick Steves Groups, but it never does any harm to allow extra time for these journeys. Keep the pace nice and slow and safe.

"Better to be late in this life than early for the next" as my Grandfather always wisely told me.

Regarding the wifi, best thing to do is to unlock your smartphone before you come, then buy an Irish sim card at Dublin airport and gets tons of cheap wifi and use your smartphone for a GPS, which is always way better than those clunky awkward devices they charge you top dollar for at the rental car desks. Though in a worse case scenario that would be fine too. I really think the GPS is important for you.

Delighted your coming to Ireland and maybe cross paths with you all in Dingle.

Safe driving and as we always say to tourists in rental cars in Ireland - "Keep her between the ditches!"...

Slainte/Good health
Stephen McPhilemy
Rick Steves Ireland Tour guide
Dingle and Derry

Posted by
3 posts

Loved traveling in Ireland. Please take time going to Dingle.. Perhaps spend a night in Kilkenny on the way. Also if weather is a problem your travel will be much slower around the peninsula . Roads are not like here in the states at all. Very narrow and twists and the a and may not have guard rails plus get a small car so it is more easily navigable . The sites you plan to visit are difficult to tour quickly in a meaningful way so maybe plan fewer stops and longer at each one. Ireland is beautiful and not to be hurried through or you will miss the point of it. I love Ireland.

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