Ireland - No Car

How long will you have in Ireland? What places are on your list to visit? It will be easier to give you bus/train info if we know where you want to go and if you have enough time to do it by public transport. Driving is usually faster from place to place than public transportation and some places are very difficult to reach by public transportation.

Per your other post it looks like you only have 5 or 6 days on the ground. If that's still the case then my suggestion would be to spend 2 or 3 days in Dublin, exploring the city and maybe taking one or two day trips/tours to places like Newgrange and the Boyne Valley, to Glendalough, Powerscourt, and the Wiklow mtns., then taking the train over to Galway to spend 2 or 3 days there doing pretty much the same thing.

From Galway there are easy day tours out to the cliffs, the Burren, out to the Aran Islands, around Connemara, etc. Having a car would give you a lot more freedom of movement, but with the very limited time you have available you can still see many of the highlights via public transport and the train.

Suggest taking the bus down to Limerick your last evening to be in place for your flight out of Shannon the next day. Many here recommend Bunratty as an overnight stay before flying out of Shannon.

Contact TonyMcGann of Doolin Taxi to see if he can help you out with transportation in and around the Western part of Ireland. After taking in some sights around Dublin, you could take a train to Galway (have Tony pick you up there) and then do a couple of days touring around the Western side of the country. The Connamera (sp?) region, the Cliffs of Moher, Dingle, Connor's Pass are all great to see and best to experience by car. If you have time, the Bunratty Folk Park is fun to visit and very close to the Shannon Airport, so you could be dropped off at a hotel close by (Bunratty Castle Hotel, which is not a castle, but a typical tourist hotel is within a 5-minute walk of the folk park, and there are also two good, casual restaurants and a little shopping close by), then you could have the hotel arrange a quick taxi for your (likely) morning flight out the next day.

Tony
(00353)(0)65-7074790
(00353)(0)87-2422950
[email protected]

Not sure which of the above phone numbers is the best one on which to reach him, but I know the email address is still accurate.

www.transportforireland.ie can give you both bus and train schedules for most of the Republic of Ireland. Buy train tickets at www.irishrail.ie for a significant savings over the train station price, even just a few hours in advance.