Ireland’s Best Three Week Trip by Car

My first comment is that there are a lot of one night stays. This means you may only have a few hours in a place and may waste a lot of time unpacking and repacking the car.

For example Day 4 - Rent car, drive through Glendalough (sleep in Kilkenny)

Depending on where you pick the car up, this is probably a good three hour drive. Glendalough is an early Christian site with round tours, ruined chapels, lake and some lovely walks as well as an interesting visitor centre. It deserves a stop rather than just a 'drive through'. You could easily spend a couple of hours here. That isn't going to give much time by the time you get to Kilkenny and again there's a lot to do and see there too. It deserves more than an overnight to do it justice.

Day 5 - I'm not sure that Waterford is worth a stop. I'd be inclined to spend the day in Kilkeny and that night there.

Day 6 Head to Kinsale, calling in at Rock of Cashel. Do Cohb if time allows

Day 9 Again I'm not sure about a one nighter in Kenmare (unless you are planning on driving Sheep's Head or Beara peninsulas, in which case you may need to stop there). I'd be inclined to push on to Dingle.

Day 10 Try and fit in Kerry Cliffs this day. I'm disappointed the itinerary doesn't allow another day to see more of Killarney National Park (Ross castle,Boat trip and jaunting car through Gap of Diunloe, Muckross House and gardens and the traditional farms...)

Day 15 again I think you are short changing Connemara here. It is scenically very beautiful and there's lots to do and see in the area from the hawk walk at Ashford Castle, Cong and its Quiet Man museum, Roundstone with is harbour, Clifden and the Sky Drive (possibly one of the best short drives in the world), Kylemore Abbey Gardens, Killary Harbour and a boat trip, the ruined Aughnanure Castle or the lovely ruined Ross Errilly friary.... It deserves a full day with another night in Galway.

Also, any chance of extending it to an overnight on Aran for a unique experience?

Day 16 From Wesport you hot foot it off to Derry, completely missing Donnegal, which is one of the neglected parts of Ireland as far as the visitor is concerned but has some dramatic scenery - Slieve league cliffs for example which I much prefer to Cliffs of Moher... There are some delightful small towns and villages and the coast is worth exploring.

Day 19 Drive to Belfast - don't ignore the wonderful Antrim Glens. Each is very different and it is a shame to rush past and not stop and explore. At lest try and do the waterfall walk in Glengariff BUT then you won't have much time to see Belfast ... (I can't make out why RS gives you a full day in Derry but not in Belfast... In fact I'd question whether it is worth trying to include Northern Ireland and allocate those days to Ireland...

The itinerary is very much a glimpse of what Ireland has to offer (although having said that I've seen a lot worse!) Ireland is a place to slow down and enjoy. There is so much more to discover than is covered in the RS guide book.

Use the itineray as a beginning and do your own research. The DK Eyewitness Guide to Ireland is excellent and covers many places not mentioned in the other guides, including so me real hiden gems. It has super pictures and the maps are good enough for planning purposes.

There is also DK Eyewitness Back Roads Ireland too which has 25 different itineraries lasting from one to five days. Use this to design your own itinerary to suit the things you enjoy doing and want to see. (These may be completley different to mine!)

Remember driving in Ireland can be quite slow and it will take longer to cover distances than you might expect. Build in plenty of time to just stop and stare...

Although Wasleys and I mostly see eye-to-eye, my wife and I's first trips to Ireland were mostly one-night stays, with at least a few hours of driving between stays, interspersed with stops at "things to do" along the drive. We travel with just carry-ons and daypack/purse, so packing/unpacking luggage or the car takes zero time. We've always scheduled stops for laundry so we only need a week's worth of clothing. With age, we're slipping in more two night stays and even some threes.

I look at time spent in an area as an onion. With a one night stay, you see just a few things (you're probably only near your lodging for late afternoon/evening and an hour in the morning). If you stay two nights, you get a full day of "things" in the next layer of the onion. Three nights means another layer. There's plenty of layers to burn your entire three weeks. I prefer to see/do the things I'm most interested in, and reserve any things revealed in the onion slicing for a future return trip.

We don't tour Ireland to "relax". We get home exhausted. And we're usually up late enjoying trad music whenever we can.

I've never seen the RS guide, so I can't comment on the specifics. Circumnavigating Ireland and N.Ireland in three weeks is probably too much to see anything but the car dashboard. Start with considering what you're most interested in - Neolithic sites, castle/church ruins, occupied churches/castles, history/art museums, gardens, sheep herding, falconry, hiking, spectacular views, food, music, craic, bicycling, horseback riding, and on and on. All those things are everywhere in Ireland.