Itinerary help please..SW & West Ireland

I'd just go down to SW Ireland and find a B&B to stay in and do day trips out of. We try to stay in one or two places on our trips.
We stayed outside of Waterville on the Ring of Kerry at a 5 star B&B. It's pretty quiet down on the coast. Dingle is not far so there's no reason you cannot see'em both.

Several things.....don't skip Glendalough.....it's one of Ireland's gems.

Then why drive to Kinsale then another 2 1/2+ hours to Kenmare ? Just drive to Killarney and down to Kenmare....why waste 4-5+ hours going down to Kinsale. It's a nice place and a good destination but not worth losing all that time looping around just to drive through it ?

Also if you are skipping the ROK why stay on the ROK at Kenmare ? There are any number of great locations on Beara like Ardgroom. But why skip the ROK ? If you stay in Kenmare you can EASILY do Beara AND the ROK......totally worth it. Then swing up to Dingle. Again very much worth the time.

What is definitely NOT worth the time is driving 4 1/2+ hours from Dingle to the Cliffs of Moher - a tourist overrun site with tons of tour buses and a tacky strip mall. It's a pretty spot but hard to fully enjoy compared to a great as pot like the Cliffs of Kerry.....right there near Portmagee ......Just off the ROK. Gorgeous, far better than Moher......and right there......and with the 4-5 hours driving time saved you could see Skellig Michael, or visit ring forts near Sneem or Caherdaniel, walk Bray Head on Valencia island or see the Abbey ruins and McCarthys castle on the beech in Ballinskellig......or spend 5 hours in a car to see second tier cliffs ....jostling with tourist hoards.

I urge you......stop at Glendalough. Skip going to Kinsale. Stay at Kenmare and see Beara AND the gorgeous Ring of Kerry.......then Dingle. And definitively skip the Cliffs of Moher. There are literally hundreds of amazing, diverse things to see and do in those areas more centralized that could fill months with magical memories and you won't spend the better part of a day driving to a destination that lags far behind one you would have just been next to.

Have a good trip !

Everything the very knowledgeable ewewoolknit said, especially the recommendation for Cliffs/Kerry over Cliffs/Moher.

From Kenmare you'll have easy access to the Beara Peninsula. Plan your itinerary so you'll traverse Healy Pass, a terrific ride. As for Conor Pass, unless the weather is awful, try to include that on your way in or out of Dingle; short but a memorable drive.

We can recommend a nice B&B in Kenmare if that makes your final itinerary.

Thanks for the suggestions! Kinsale was on my radar cuz of reviews about it. Didn't realize the drive time. We chose Kenmore because of access to ROK....our initial plan. We were both feeling tense about the ROK drive, traffic & busses (husband is driving), so when I discovered Ring of Beara it sounded comparable and so much more peaceful. ROK, COM and Dingle were both at the top of my to-see list. (love these abbreviations). Interesting thoughts about skipping COM and doing ROK instead. Maybe more satisfying? Will certainly consider that, tho I do also want to see the Burren. If we skip COM/Doolin, any recommendations for a place to stay around the Burren or somewhere between Dingle and the Burren area?
Also was wondering about Glengarriff as a place to stay instead of Kenmore?

Thanks again for suggestions...keep them coming please! Going at the end of May, so still have time to tweak plans. So many people benefit on this forum from input from you experienced travelers. I've learned so much! Planning has been an ongoing and continuously morphing process. And fun. And frustrating. Want to see it all!

We didn't find ROK to be particularly stressful, as far as tour busses and such. We did enjoy Killarney National Park; the waterfall there was one of my favorite spots.

We did COM and COK and thoroughly enjoyed both. I know COM gets a bad rap as being overly touristy, but that was another one of our favorite memories. We took a picnic dinner of wine, bread & cheese, spread a blanket out, and had a picnic on the cliffs. We walked a ways so the crowds weren't bad at all where we were.

Our itinerary was similar to yours. You are going to see so many beautiful places - I'm excited for you!