My family of six (kids ages 15-21) will be traveling to Scotland and Ireland in June. I have most all of our accommodations booked, but can still make changes. We are spending 4 nights in Edinburgh at the start of the trip - plan to explore the city and perhaps a couple of day trips. Trying to plan for jet lag and not over plan Scotland, but wanted to see a small sample of Scotland. We will fly to Dublin on the 5th day of our trip arriving mid morning - 2 nights in Dublin (Buswells or Schoolhouse Hotel). I'm debating where our stay will be when we depart Dublin. I was thinking Kinsale instead of Cork. Is this too long of a drive for a day? I haven't done a lot of planning on this first leg out of Dublin, so welcome suggestions on spots to explore and stay. After this stop, we will head to Dingle for two nights (Heaton's) to explore there. Killarney National Park - perhaps a little hiking here on our way to Dingle. Planning to do the Slea Head Dr (perhaps biking) instead of Ring of Kerry (my kids have survived the road to Hana in Maui and are worried the Ring sounds like another all day in the car trip!). From Dingle, we plan to head to Cliffs of Moher and stay that night in Ennis (Old Ground) or maybe better place to stay? Perhaps travel on to Galway instead to be closer to next day's stop which is a night in Ballynahinch castle. From there, we will head to Connemara area - Cong, Clifton, Croagh Patrick, Kylemore Abbey of interest. We love to hike - just not sure what time will allow. Our last night was planned for Galway (Galway Bay Inn), but maybe we should just plan to stay in Ennis as we are flying out of Shannon airport. Perhaps our time would be better spent exploring more of Connemara on last day than Galway. Thank you for any lodging, restaurants, not to miss sites or activities suggestions! Obviously trying to make a good loop, but don't want to feel we are constantly in the car.
Posted by
Kansas, United States
1078 posts
I was in Ireland last May and here are my suggestions:
1) Buswells is awesome and very close to everything you want to see in Dublin, It's across the street from the natural history museum that the kids would like.
2) Book the Literary Pub Crawl (google it) we loved it, and it was a highlight of our time in Dublin.
3) Killarney National Park is beautiful, be sure to take the carriage ride to the waterfall, again the kids will like it.
4) While in Dingle there is an Aquarium on the main street by the dock that is fun and is something the kids will enjoy. Drive up to the top of Connor pass because the view is awesome, you can see the whole Dingle area.
5) When in Connemara Park book a half day session at the Ashford Castle Falconry School, IMPORTANT! your kids will have the experience of their lives as they learn how to carry and work with a falcon, I cannot express how amazing this class is and my wife and I had a wonderful time that was unforgettable!
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9363 posts
The quickest route to Kinsale will take about 4.5 hours, but allows for stopping at the Rock of Cashel, one of the iconic sites of Ireland. It's not too bad of a drive, since is it mostly on new highway.
When you are in the Cliffs of Moher area, I would suggest staying in Doolin instead of Ennis. Ennis is the wrong direction if you want to go on to Galway the next day, and Doolin has great music in the pubs at night. In Connemara, Clifden will be your farthest point - Kylemore Abbey and Cong are north - but it's well worth the drive. It's a cute little town, and the Sky Road to Kylemore from there has exquisite scenery. Since your kids are teens and young adults, I'm not sure how interested they would be in the little aquarium in Dingle or a carriage ride in Killarney, though it is pretty (I took my daughter at the same age, and there's no way she would have wanted to do that). I would not suggest trying to stay in Galway your last night! There are numerous B&Bs in the Bunratty Castle area, just six miles from Shannon Airport. You could see the castle and folk park, have dinner at Durty Nelly's, and have a quick trip to the airport in the morning instead of hours of driving to get there in time to return your rental car and get through security.
Posted by
317 posts
Loved to hear your "Road to Hana" analogy for the Slea Head drive, I make the same one all the time to my Tour-Members. "Divorce Highway"!
Biking it with your clan will be great fun. Take the obvious care, but its a lovely cycle.
Warm greetings from Ireland
Stephen McPhilemy
Ireland Tour Guide
Posted by
OP
60 posts
Thanks for the reply, Stephen. Yes, my family has done the Road to Hana TWICE - I talked them into it the second time as there as a hike to a beautiful waterfall we didn't get to the first time. We got the park entrance only to have the ranger tell us the waterfall was a trickle due to lack of rain....I didn't do my research!
I was thinking Ring of Kerry sounded more like road to Hana, so thought maybe Shea Head Drive would be better for family relationships:)!