Here is our rough draft of our itinerary:
Arrive Dublin, pick up rental car and drive to Kilkenny
2 nights Kilkenny
2 nights either Cobh or Cork
3 nights Killarney
1 night Dublin
Trying to decide if we should stay in Cobh or Cork. We are not into big city, but want to be close enough to places to eat/pubs.
I would not recommend driving right away unless you are familiar with driving in Ireland.
1 night in Dublin is not enough time to see sites.
I would pick Cobh ~ didn't like Cork too much-big, busy city.
Why 3 nights Killarney? I would suggest 1 and do a couple more in Dingle.
West Coast is the most beautiful in my opinion.
Your proposed itinerary looks fine to me. It's motorway just about all the way from Dublin to Kilkenny. Your biggest driving challenge (IMO) will be getting out of the airport. Use the Google maps street view feature to help you preview the route - always helps me immensely, even having done it several times.
My personal vote in the Cobh or Cork decision would be "neither" - spend the nights in Kinsale instead.
With so little time available you'll need to prioritize to preclude spending all of your time on the road. Either Dingle or Killarney, but not both (again- just my opinion). And build some flexibility into your schedule for rainy days in March. Short days too - will need to get an early start each day to maximize your available daylight that time of year.
If you based in Kenmare for the 2 or 3 nights you'd be centrally located for exploring the ROK, as well as our favorite - the Beara Peninsula...one of Irelands hidden little gems.
You really can't go wrong no matter how you organize your trip - it'll be great.
And assume that you'll return someday. Ireland does have that affect on people.
Thanks for your input. I will be tweaking it a lot before March, I'm sure.
Incidentally, both of you are from Colorado and so am I, I'm from Colorado Springs :)
For what it's worth....
After much research I have decided on the following itinerary.
Dublin -3 nights
Kilkenny( Stoneyford)- 2 nights
Cobh- 2 nights
Killarney-3. Nights
Galway- 3 nights
Bunratty- 1 night
We decided on Cobh because we wanted a smaller town and something on the water. I am hoping that no matter what I have chosen I can't go wrong.
We might take the train to cork to visit the English Market.
CSprings here too.
Linda, You're right that you really can't go wrong no matter how you choose to structure your itinerary. It's all Ireland, which means that it will be great. There is no "perfect" way to do this - it's whatever works for you.
That said, I would offer the opinion that while Cobh is a nice day trip to occupy a few hours, staying there two nights would be massive overkill when there places like Kinsale so close by. There's much more to see and do there, and it's only a short drive over to Cobh, or up to Cork for the market.
Safe travels.
