My wife and I would like some ideas about our first trip to Ireland this coming June. We're in our mid 60s, and I'll be driving. We plan to hit Dublin and Kilkenny, but not necessarily in that order.
I seems to make sense to fly into Dublin from JFK and land later in the morning than the flight to Shannon. I'll get the car there and head to Kilkenny for three days and two nights.
Return to Dublin, turn in the car at the airport, get the pass that covers all ground transportation, and stay in Howth or Dun Laoghaire. Spend three days and two nights there, then off to Edinburgh, Wales, and England.
Stansted to Dublin on the way home, thereby making Dublin my roundtrip hub.
Is there a compelling argument for landing at Shannon instead of Dublin?
Is there anyone who thinks it's feasible to travel without advance lodging reservations, which is something we were able to do in Germany and Austria 30 years ago?
Sure, it's a lot to hit in a couple of weeks, but England has a long anticipated visit with a friend near Llangollen, Wales. And why not go to Oxford to see Morse, Lewis, Endeavor territory and a side trip to Midsomer Murders, as well.
As we say in Hawaii, Mahalo Plenty.
Posted by
NY State
72 posts
I am the type of traveler who likes to know in advance where I will be staying. We are going in April and were not able to reserve our first choice of B&B in Galway, and had to rearrange our itinerary a bit to get into our second choice. We have not had this happen in the past, so it sounds like tourism is picking up, despite the lousy exchange rate for us.
Therefore, once you have your plans in place, I would recommend booking ahead.
If you plan to visit the Dublin area and Kilkenny, flying into Dublin makes perfect sense.
Posted by
OP
Ventura, California
3 posts
Thanks much. I've been validated.
Posted by
Last Frontier aka Alaska 🏔️
3227 posts
I’m not sure what kind of ideas you are looking for. Lodging, accomodations, food, etc?? If you can be more specific, we can try to be helpful! I would definately recommend advance reservations. If you are circumnavigating the island, then round-trip from Dublin makes sense. If not, then flying out of Shannon makes more sense.
Posted by
OP
Ventura, California
3 posts
Hi, We were going to start in Shannon or Dublin, depending on various factors, one of which is that landing in Dublin at 0830 seemed preferable to landing in Shannon at 0530. Actually, I never gave any thought to going back to JfK from SNN since I had figured how to connect from Stansted to Dublin by Ryanair (ugh, I know) then Aer Lingus back to JFK. It's a few hours to Kilkenny from either SNN or DUB. Based on Rick's book, Kilkenny sounded great, and Dublin is a must, and seems like a better jumping off point for Edinburgh. When I started planning, I wasn't aware that I could book "multiple cities" and still book it as a round trip. I want to get this thing past the planning stage soon in case mid-June takes on the characteristics of the high season. I appreciate your thoughts.