Itinerary Help - Where to Stay Longer?

This seems way too fast and too many one night stays. Where are you flying out of and is the flight already booked? I gather you are flying into Dublin--assuming day one is the day of arrival, I would skip it and fly into Shannon. You will not have a very worthwhile stop in Dublin in a partial jet lagged day. It's hard to comment on where to spend an extra day because generally you should reevaluate trying to do so much in so short a time, in my opinion. But you should probably stay somewhere very near the airport that you are flying out of. I would consider doing Galway (3) Dingle (2) and Ennis (2) with the Connemara part as a day trip out of Galway. That said, rental cars are very expensive in Ireland, mostly because of the insurance, and my strategy would be take the bus directly to Galway to start (you can even do that from Dublin airport in a reasonable amount of time, I think). We took the bus directly from Shannon to Galway and it saved us two days of rental and was generally less than a headache. You could do two days in Galway instead and just a single one night stop in Connemara, but the drive all the way to Dingle would be long. I would stay in Kenmare over Killarney, the latter is known for overly pandering to tourists. I think you should drop one of the three from among Connemara, Ring of Kerry, and Dingle on such a short trip. Check driving times on Google maps and add 25%. Ennis is a good stop to end in if you are flying out of Shannon. It's only half an hour from the airport. Lastly, get Rick's book, or another reliable guidebook.

Hi - thanks for your reply! I will be in Ireland for ~1.5 weeks already as part of a work assignment and so will already be in Dublin, no jet lag. I am planning to fly out of Dublin on day 9 but have not booked a departing flight or hotels yet.

Dublin did not seem very interesting to me so I was going to do a quick sightsee and then get to the countryside. I'm not sure if Galway is worth staying - people seemed to either love it or hate it so I built in ~2 days to see Galway/Kylemoore Abbey but maybe i should skip Galway?

Thanks for the tip about Kenmare over Killarney, I'll look into that!

I did plug all the driving times in Google maps and it seemed pretty reasonable, about ~2 hrs of driving per day. For example on day 6, the drive from Adare - Dingle is 2 hrs according to Google. Did you find driving in Ireland difficult? We are American so I am slightly nervous about the "opposite side" and perhaps I should build in wiggle room for driving time.

Just curious where you rented a car / what season you went? I searched on Auto Europe for my exact dates and pickup/return areas and its quoting me $60-100 for the entire week for a 4-door compact car, which seemed quite reasonable to me.

Dublin has a lot to offer, it's not London or anything but it's good for two full days. That rate on the rental car sounds great, I am guessing it's for a manual transmission without CDW. We rented through AutoEurope and paid $70 per day in May 2016 with super CDW and we needed it as there was a scratch on the underside of the bumper that may or may not have happened on my watch (I know I did not hit anything). Driving is not as hard as you might imagine, but I would not want to drive into or out of a city like Galway and certainly not Dublin. Into and out of Ennis is fine. It really helps to have a navigator. Check the car very carefully upon pickup. Our rental company was very lax in documenting any damages up front, but they suddenly became very vigilant upon drop off. The pictures they take in between rentals are poorly lit and not high resolution, so don't provide much evidence one way or the other. We were informed by the drop off agent they can charge "anything we want" for any damages. Get the super CDW. We paid a $70 one way fee for picking up at Shannon and dropping at Dublin airport (included in the ~$70 per day above approximate cost). An automatic will cost more but it's highly recommended. I am seeing prices a lot more like we paid for October when you search for an automatic with super CDW. (Regular CDW comes with a 1,500-2250 Euro deductible). I can drive a manual but not on the left. Galway is worth two nights (one full day). Dingle is worth two nights (one full day) at a minimum, and we could have used another day there. I still think this seems like too much, but it's your trip so go for it!

When looking at driving times on google times it by 1.5 ...

I personally think that you are trying to cover way too much and will spend all your time in the car rushing to and from things The best part of Ireland is its people, lingering in cafes, pubs, shops and talking to them. Stopping along the road to take in the gorgeous scenery.

I'd skip Galway, spend more time in Connemara. We stayed two nights at Ballynahinch and loved just exploring the area around. We actually went down to Galway for a morning, planning to spend the whole day, but we didn't really find much to enjoy, so we ditched it and headed back up after lunch. We did have a delicious lunch, though. We drove the Sky Road near Clifden and explored the town instead. We also did the Falconry at Ashford Castle one morning. The peninsula is beautiful.

Personally, I also enjoyed the Dingle peninsula more than Kerry. I would have spent 2 nights there, if I could change my itinerary. The Gap of Dunloe is a must-see for me. We drove it quite late in the afternoon (there's a lot of debate about driving it), but I'd also recommend the hike, if you can do it!

I'd add, we did pretty much this same itinerary with no problems regarding time.

Thanks Georgia! That's so helpful to hear you did a similar itinerary and felt it was fine. I of course would like to linger longer if I could but I just don't have the time and want to see as much as possible.

I've heard great things about Ashford and will look into the falconry as well as more time in Dingle. I think I'm going to do a quick peek in Galway too and just keep driving until Ballynahinch. Thanks so much for your tips!

I agree with others that you are trying to cram too much into a short stay. I would pick just a couple of locations to spend a few days each. You say you are already going to be in Dublin so you may have tired of it by then (unless you haven't had time to see the sights, and it really is an interesting city) so I would recommend just getting the train to Galway. From Galway you can get a day trip out to the Aran Islands, Connemara, Burren/Cliffs of Moher. If you want to rent a car from here then I would suggest just heading down the coast to either Killarney or Dingle area. Some say skip Galway, but it was my favourite town. Look up the Crane Pub and see what music is on while you are there. I also enjoyed Killarney, even though some say to skip it, there seemed to be a lot going on, and it was close to a lot of the sights, and if you have a car you can do your own tour to Dingle quite easily. You save more time, and see more places when you base yourself somewhere and aren't having to pack up and move on every day, and worry about finding your next lodging location each day. If you haven't booked your return flight yet then fly out of Shannon if you can so you don't have a long drive to backtrack to Dublin.

Strongly urge you to cut back. My wife and I tried to see as much as possible and were exhausted - "saw" a lot and experienced next to nothing. Then we scaled back the frantic itinerary and enjoyed Ireland thoroughly. We met very casually amazing people and were able to experience the culture and real Ireland. While driving isn't as hard as some made out - it does require max concentration. Unless you are a super experienced driver in Ireland you aren't driving Dingle or Kerry and gazing out the window at scenery - you are avoiding major accidents - and if you are stopping to admire the scenery - throw those estimated driving times out the window. Even my wife and I, reserved quiet people easily had great encounters with friendly, joyful laid back Irish folk - THEY are what turns a travel list into an experience of a lifetime.

That being said. Dingle over Kerry.......but if you do Kerry .....do the small offshoot the Ring of Skellig. It's FAR more amazing than most of the Ring of Kerry - REAL wild Ireland.

Have a great time but seriously consider cutting back. Best Wishes

Thanks for the all the feedback!