My wife and I are taking our first trip to Ireland during those days and renting a car in Shannon. So far we have confirmed our reservations for Ennis, Galway, Doolin, Dingle. We will be driving thru Connemera, Cliffs of Moher, the Burren, Dingle Peninsula, Ring of Kerry, Blarney Castle, Rock of Cashel and the Wicklow mountains. We are thinking about Kenmare, Kinsale, and Kilkenny for our next three nights before our last two days in Dublin before we fly out of there. I hope that I have not been too ambious about this trip with all of our stops we have planned. We really want to see some of the sites, enjoy some traditional Irish music, and of course bring back some things for our family. Any suggestions would be most appreciated.
Posted by
Last Frontier aka Alaska 🏔️
3227 posts
Kenmare, Kinsale and Kilkenny are not THAT far apart from each other. The drive from Dublin to Kenmare can be done in a day (albeit, a long one).
So, since you are already staying in Dingle, I would suggest Kinsale. This gets you far enough away from your last destination, but also, much closer to Dublin. Kinsale is great for trad music and good food!
Posted by
Tennessee
112 posts
They drive on the left side of the road and pass on the right in Ireland. If you're not accustomed to that then you may want to add a little more time to your itinerary for safety. I prefer not to drive in a new place simply because I want to sight see and not have to pay attention to traffic.
Have a fun trip.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Thanks for the information. We may pass up one of those and stay two nights somewhere then.
Posted by
bedford, indiana
459 posts
I did the drive from Kenmare to the Dublin airport in about 4 hours, no big deal most all of the driving on "interstate" highways, pretty low stressed. I suggest when you go to Dublin you turn in your car when you arrive and take a taxis or the bus into the city center, driving there will be a challenge. I used this map site for trips I took in Scotland and in Ireland, it is pretty good. https://www.theaa.ie give it peek. It may be too late to book for your dates but I would consider hiring a private driver/tour for the Ring of Kerry or Dingle. We took a full day tour on the RofK and it was awesome. I can see u will be doing a lot of driving and it was a real treat for me as the driver to take a couple of half days or a full day (RofK tour) off of driving so I could sit back and enjoy the scenery. The roads are very doable in Ireland but out in the countryside they demand much of your attention be on your driving and the scenery is so beautiful you will miss a lot if you don't take a day or two to let someone else drive and share stories of those great locations. We did Cong, Doolin, Dingle, Kenmare, and then back to Dublin. If I had it to do over again I would have tried to work out a flight into Shannon as you have done, that area is easy cruising and it is much more difficult to arrive after a long flight to Dublin and have to motor to your chosen sights! If you stay a day or two in Kenmare you should add a self drive tour of the Beara Peninsula, it is really cool and much less traveled. I also suggest you try to see if you can book a evening at the Doolin Music House near Doolin, it is really fun and trad music is the thing! https://www.doolinmusichouse.com/ If you decide you want to try a private tour hit me up on messager and I'll send along the guys I used.