Itinerary help with South of Ireland 8 night holiday

Don’t underestimate how long it will take to travel between places in Ireland.

Day 3 you are leaving Kinsale to travel to Dingle visiting Ring of Kerry and Muckross Castle and then talk about spending the afternoon in Dingle...

Kinsale to Dingle is going to take 3.5 hours to drive ... Ring of Kerry , if you do the full Ring is virtually a full day. Do you just mean the bit between Kenmare and Killarney? Muckross Castle will be at least an hour plus time to park up etc. Not sure where lunch and comfort breaks fit in ?

There’s a lot more to Galway than Cong and Ashford Castle... Do at least try and see some of the coastal area. The drive to Clifden goes through some fantastic scenery and the Sky Road drive from Clifden is one of the most scenic drives in the world on a sunny day.

Drive from Galway to Dublin - the route you are proposing is Kilkenny is very much the long way round and you are looking at nearly five hours driving without any stops. You aren’t going to have a lot of time to see Kilkenny let alone Cashel.

Are these set in stone? If not, can I suggest a more direct route which will take you via Athenry with its ruined castle, town walls and ruined priory. Then head to Clonmacnoise which is an early Christian settlement on the River Shannon, with round towers, ruined churches, carved crosses. Then head direct to Dublin.

If Kilkenny and Cashel are must, then it makes sense to fly into Dublin and drive down through the Wicklow Mountains possibly consider a stop at Glendalough, another magical Early Christian site and then Kilkenny and spend the night there.

Is Kinsale a must (and if so why?), if not scrap that and head via Cashel to Dingle. You could also include Cahir with its castle as you will be going past.

Killarney with Muckross House and the Ring of Kerry can be done from Dingle, although it would be a long day.

Then head to Galway.

The extra night from Kinsale could be added to either Dingle or Galway.

Thanks so much Wasleys. The only things set in stone are flying direct from Edinburgh at the beginning of our Ireland leg, flying out of Dublin at the end of our 8 night itinerary, a stay in Dingle, and that's it. I was just trying to include places that others had enthused about in other travel forum posts.

Just because someone else has enthused about a place doesn't necessarily mean you will too!! You have plenty of time to think about this and plan YOUR ideal itinerary...

What sort of things do you want to do/see while in Ireland? DK Eyewitness Ireland is one of the best guide books. It has lots of colour pictures and covers many places (and hidden gems) the other guide books forget about. It has suggestions of things to do and see as well as ideas of places to eat and accommodation ideas.

I also find google images searches a very good way of getting an idea of what places are like.

Some suggestions of what we've enjoyed...

The SW tip of Ireland is lovely with Beara and Sheep's Head Peninsulas. They are equally as good as Ring of Kerry but a lot quieter. Take the cable car from Beara Peninsula to Dursey Island... Take a trip to Garnish Island for its gardens (do a google image search...) Base yourself in Glengarriff or Kenmare.

The Cliffs of Moher are tourist central and always busy. Rather than viewing from above, think about a boat trip instead. They are much more impressive from the sea! Several companies do trips, gooigle and find out. Check out reviews on Trip Advisor. Think about a trip which also takes in the Aran islands too... You may need to plan on a night at Doolin for this.

This would also give you chance to see something of the Burren on your way to Galway. This is a massive expanse of bare limestone and scenically very different to anywhere else in Ireland. Check out the beautiful Dungaire Castle on the way to Galway.

If you do go to Cong (where the John Wayne Film 'The Quiet Man' was filmed) , there is also the ruined Cong Abbey. Walk down to the river to find the Monk's fishing station, complete with bell to ring to let the cook know they had caught a fish!

In Connemara (do-abale from Galway) - there is Kylemore Abbey and gardens.

If you decide on Clifden mentioned in my earlier post, include a trip to Roundstone, a small village with harbour and possibly one of the best views in Ireland...

There is so much to discover. Don't be afraid to go somewhere different to the rest...

Thanks again Wasleys. I will certainly do as you have suggested, those ideas sound very appealing, I've still got plenty of time since I'm a bit of an early planner!

“ • Spend afternoon in Galway 2nd September and morning of 3rd September
• Maybe trip to Cong to see Ashford Castle and School of Falconry in the afternoon of 4th September”

You have to pay for the School of Falconry and it’s not inexpensive. We tried to see the castle in August and they wouldn’t let us get past the bridge. Unless you plan to do this I wouldn’t waste your time, since you have very little of it. https://ashfordcastle.com/experiences-and-activities/falconry

We were just in Kinsale and enjoyed it, but we had 2 weeks in Ireland. On our first trip we had 7 nights and we did this -

Picked up car in Dublin and drove to Kilkenny. Spent one night.
Drove to Dingle, stopping at Rock of Cashel on the way. Spent 2 nights.
Drove to Galway, stopping at the Cliffs of Moher. Spent 1 night.
Drove to Dublin and turned in car. Spent 3 nights.

It was a fast pace, but we made the best of it. Driving will take longer than you expect. With an extra night I would add it to Dingle or Galway.

Remember that if you have 1 night somewhere it is just a partial day. For a full day you need 2 nights, 3 nights for 2 days, and so on.

Thanks Andrea. Far more simplified itinerary I agree. I now have some great suggestions!

Seems to me that Kinsale is the outlier in your itinerary, unless there's something there that really interests you. We enjoyed it but we only went there on our 3rd trip to Ireland and had already seen just about everything else on your list. I like Wasley's suggestion of flying into and out of Dublin and spending your Kinsale time doing Kilkenny, Glendalough and Cashel. Then head to Dingle via Muckross and maybe see other parts of Killarney National Park. If you do Slea Head you could probably skip the Ring of Kerry. You really don't need to do both. Bear in mind that Dingle town is at the far western end of the Dingle Peninsula. Regarding Kilmainham Gaol, book your tickets as soon as the website allows - I think you can book up to 30 days in advance.

Many years ago Kinsale marketed itself as 'the food town of Ireland'. This was very successful publicity for somewhere no-one had heard of and never visited. The visitors arrived in their hordes and Kinsale was very much on the tick list for everyone. Let's face it, you hadn't been to Ireland if you hadn't been to Kinsale! I think some of that reputation still lingers, although to be honest there are other equally as good, if not better places to visit....

We did a similar trip a few years ago. One of the coolest things we have ever done was a trip out to the Skellig Islands. We got there from a town named Portmagee on the southern tip of the Ring of Kerry.

Personally, I would break up the trip to go: Kenmare (start of Ring of Kerry) to Portmagee (Skelligs) to Dingle (Slea Head Drive) to Doolin (Cliffs of Moher, Burren) to Galway.

Thanks Clancy for your suggestions. I've definitely included Slea Head Drive, Cliffs of Moher and Burren in my itinerary! We've decided not to do Ring of Kerry since my husband has already done that many moons ago, so although Skellig indeed sounds cool, I don't think we can fit that in. Instead we are doing Clifden and the Sky Rd Drive to Connemara. We're content with our itinerary now I believe.
My latest issue is finding a good car hire company at Dublin airport. It's certainly proving extremely expensive which everyone is saying. Especially when you add the excess reduction to zero option so we're not caught out...