Itinerary help

We are currently in Ireland at end of two week stay. You will love it here.
Some suggestions: If you are animal lovers: National Stud Farm; Irish school of Falconry at Ashford Castle. If you can, put a stop in at Rossnaugh Donegal Bay. We stayed at the Sand House
which is directly on the beach and saw the most amazing sunset ever.
Don't neglect the Dingle peninsula for Rings of Kerry. Dingle much less crowded.

The west coast drive is called "The Great Atlantic Way." There are brochures, maps and a smartphone app promoting it and the route is well signposted in both directions. There are a few spur routes to scenic points and the like so having a map or the app might help you determine whether to take a 20 km detour off the direction of travel. Going south to north places the scenic coast closer to the passenger side of the car.

Your itinerary is very similar to what we just did in May, but we didn't include your Northern Ireland section in our plan. Two weeks was enough to go from Dublin around the southern section and up to Doolin & the Cliffs and fly home from Shannon, unless you plan to spend just one night in a lot of the places, and combine touring and driving on your travel days more than we did.

We've done a pretty similar loop twice now, and have gone clockwise once and the otherway once. I prefer the clockwise way -- it just seemed more logical for some reason! I see that you didn't mention New Grange. I thought that was pretty spectacular and would put that in over Killarney. Have a wonderful time!

Thank you all for your help. And Sherrie we are definitely going to Newgrange when we leave /Dublin on our way to Kilkenny.

Hi RK,
I second the Newgrange over Killarney. I would stay in Kilkenny two nights (plenty to see and do) and skip Killarney altogether. We stayed at Butler Court in KIlkenny recommended by Rick and it was great. Not exactly a B&B but a really nice continental breakfast and wonderful king size bed and beautiful, new rooms. About 90 euro per night. John and Yvonne are wonderful too.

Newgrange is above Dublin as you may know (about 30 to 45 minutes) , so not really on the way to Kilkenny. You need to leave 2 to 3 hours for Newgrange. We got there and had to wait awhile for the next bus which drives you to the actual site. The snack bar is fabulous and there is lots of stuff to look at the visitor center. Monasterboice is only a short drive from there and has some of the best (if not the best) preserved high crosses.

How can I post a new thread on the Ireland Forum? I can't seem to find the Post a Question button or some such.

I think you need to log-in in order to post a question or a reply. When you go to Travel Forum, select Ireland and look for the log-in icon found in the upper right corner.
Barbara

Is this the order you are planning to go? It would make more sense to stop at the Cliffs of Mohr on your way from Dingle to Galway. Make sure to take the Tarbert-Killimer ferry to save time.

While I like all your destinations, it's a lot to squeeze in to two weeks. I don't think you need to spend a lot of time in Dublin. It was my least favorite place, although the Killmainham Gaol and Trinity College Library are very worthwhile. You might want to skip Kilkenny, which was just okay IMHO.

Ireland is beautiful! I hope you have a great trip.

Here are a few more thoughts:

Taking the advice of a wise travel forum contributor, we drove to Kilkenny the first night and saw Dublin at the end our trip.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Dublin. I would have enjoyed a second full day seeing Dublin. It doesn't feel like a big city because there are no skyscrapers. We felt very comfortable there and we are from a small town in the US.

It is hard to go wrong, wherever you end up staying. Staying at least two nights in each place is a really good idea.

holamaui, in every forum section, there is a "Start a new Topic" button on the upper left of the topic list. You are obviously logged in, if you asked the question. :)