Ireland Trip

A few pointers:

1.) you will have jet lag. NEVER a pulse getting in a car and driving any distance when you are tired.
2.) ever drive on the left side of the road?
3.) negotiated a roundabout?
4.) driven a clutch?
5.) understand kilometers instead of miles
6.) drive times will be longer than “relatively close.”

What do you know about Kilkenny, Kenmare, Dingle and Ennis?

Most importantly what do you really want to experience in Eire? It’s history? The beauty? The people? The music? Museums? Go hiking?

All of the above?

Thanks for the pointers.

1) fair point.

2) I have not driven on the left side of the road. At least not purposely.

3) I have negotiated roundabouts

4) I do know how to drive a manual but we’ve rented an automatic.

5) I do understand km vs Miles

6) by “relatively close” I meant somewhere in the direction of where we are headed that isn’t extremely far but also worthy of spending at least a day.

I don’t know a ton about Kilkenny, Kenmare, Dingle, and Ennis other than a little bit of travel research which is why we are considering them - to learn more about them. Is there something I should know?

Interested in the beauty, landscape, the people, the pubs, the towns/villages, maybe some hiking.

It's not an insane pace though a little quick. With what you listed as interests I would cut out either Dingle or the Kenmare Ring of Kerry area and spend your time really exploring one. I'd opt for the Ring of Kerry personally. So much to see, 3-4 days doesn't begin to exhaust it. Being relaxed and not flying all over....even at a fairly reasonable pace......offers so much reward. Check out the Dunquin or Valentia thread for thoughts on composing a trip and the merits of Dingle or the Ring of Kerry/Skellig Ring area.

Hope you have a wonderful time !!!!!

Instead of driving your first day why not stay in Dublin for the first night.

Early the next day shuttle back to the airport to pick up Your rental car and head to:

1: Powerscourt Estate and then to Glendalough
2: From there drive to Cobh and stay the night
3: Next day Cobh to Killarney. Visit Killarney National Park and Muckross House. From there Gap of Dunloe. From there Dingle. Stay 2 nights
4.) Drive Slea Head. Climb the hill above Cumeenoole Beach for a lovely view of the Blasket Islands
5.) have a pint at Foxy Johns
6.) From Dingle drive over Connor Pass in route to Doolin. Stop and see the Cliffs of Moher. Spend the night in Doolin.
7.) Doolin to Galway. 2 nights
8.) drive back To Dublin. Another night in Dublin.
Fly home.

Think a far more interesting route.

I would say in Dublin the first night and would be tempted to do you Dublin days at the beginning of your trip.
Day 1: Dublin
Day 2: Dublin
Day 3 pick up car on way out of Dublin and head to Kilkenny
Day 4: Kenmare

Day 5: Kenmare
Day 6: Dingle
Day 7: Dingle
Day 8 : Ennis or Galway

Day 9: make way back to Dublin
Day 10: head back to Seattle

Based on what you said about liking the pubs, villages, landscape and people, I would not skip Dingle or Kenmare/Ring of Kerry

It will be a busy trip but very doable. Enjoy!

pshaw! Skip Dublin and head West right away! :-)

I'm with ewewoolknit - one or the other as for Dingle/Kenmare.... Kenmare is a great base, though getting quite touristy as RS has put it into his guidebooks (though certainly not as touristy as Dingle!!!). Not so big but close by is Sneem - also good hotels and B&Bs and restaurants - smaller town/village than Kenmare.

That said, Kenmare has a real foodie feel, it's closer to the start of the peninsula so it's easier to wander Beara if you decide that's a good add on.....

Kilkenny is a really lovely CITY. The county of Kilkenny is lovely!! The castle in City center is impressive. Don't miss the horse stables/converted to artists galleries behind (across the street) from the castle. A nice place to wander and meet the artists yourselves!! Graiguenamanagh, Kilkenny is one of my favorite off-the-coast villages! Great walking along a path along the river; hardware stores and are pubs at night (like Dick Mack's in Dingle only more authentic). Nice converted mill that's also a hotel..... in general, if you're not a city person, i'd enjoy Kilkenny COUNTY!

Hope this helps!

Susan
Expat living in Waterville, Ring of Kerry

Then right when I hit SEND I thought of this:

Easter weekend is also horseracing in Mallow/Cork Racecourse. It's a lovely race meeting, not too crowded, easy to get to from town via shuttle near the health club or easy parking lot at the racecourse, too.....

Susan
Expat in Waterville, County Kerry

Thank you all for your feedback. We’ve decided to make some changes based on you help. We really don’t want to split up our nights in Dublin since that will mean we won’t have an entire day to explore there. Instead of driving after little to no sleep where are going to take a train from Dublin to Galway immediately upon arriving. After two nights in Galway, we will rent a car (automatic) and go to Doolin for a night. From there, on to Dingle. That leaves us with two nights somewhere between Dingle and Dublin (maybe Killarney, Cobh, Kinsale, Kilkenny....who knows). We will finish with two nights in Dublin before leaving.