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Itinerary Planning advice for our 21 day trip to Ireland

Posted by on

My husband and I are planning a trip to Ireland from May 16th to June 5th or 6th and after much consideration, and reading so many suggestions on not hurrying through this lovely place, I have come up with what I hope would be a suitable plan for us. I might add that we have visited Ireland only once when we took a 15 day British Isles cruise a year ago, in which we visited Dublin, Belfast, and Cobh, We plan on renting a car and driving...so here goes, I welcome any suggestions.

Fly into Shannon - rent a car
First night either in Ennis or Bunratty Castle
Day 2 drive to (97 Miles) to Kilkenny spend one night
Day 3 drive (111 miles) to Kinsale stay for 4 days, using this as a home base for sights in and around this area,
Days 7 - 9 drive (60 miles) to Kenmare staying for 3 days again using this as a home base for exploring the ROK, etc.
Days 10 - 13 - drive (66 miles) to Dingle area 4 days
Days 14 - 15 - drive (157 miles) to Galway area 2 days
Days 16 - 17 - drive (48 miles) 2 days Westport
Days 18 - 19 - drive (148 Miles) to Derry, UK or Portrush, UK staying for 2 days
Days 20 - 21 drive to Belfast
Fly home from Belfast

My husband's grand parents were both from Ireland, his grand mother was born in Carrigaline and Grand Father was born in Coleraine, so this is why we wanted to visit both areas this trip...we have not made any reservations, nor purchased air yet. But, I am set on flying into Shannon airport.
Car rental one way to expensive?
Too much driving? Should we focus just on the West?
Thank you for any suggestions...

Posted by
3225 posts

I would cut out Kilkenny for one night. That is a long ways to drive for one night and then you are heading to Kinsale. I don't think its worth it to drive that far for Kilkenny one night. Just my two cents.
Otherwise, I think it is a lot of driving, but maybe you don't mind.

Posted by
72 posts

In Bunratty there is a castle but it does not offer overnight accommodations. There is a Bunratty Castle Hotel, but it is not a Castle. There are also many lovely bed and breakfasts.

The scenery around the Dingle Peninsula is wonderful but Dingle is a small town. I think you could take a night from here (or even two) and add it to Galway or NI.

As for the car, I believe you will get socked for dropping it off in Belfast, as it is in another country. If you can add a day, it might make more sense to fly home from Dublin. (You mentioned leaving on the 5th or 6th of June, so I am guessing you have a little flexibility here?)

You are lucky to have such a long time to be in and enjoy Ireland!

Posted by
359 posts

Excellent overall ! I to would drop Kilkenny unless there is an overriding reason for going. There will be some long drives but since you aren't rat racing from one spot to another those drives can be loads of fun to.....and give a great sense of modern Ireland.

I might tweak some things ....a little less Dingle....more ROK and the Skellig Ring. A lot depends on what you like. Do you prefer a city...than if so yes Galway and its surrounds.......or a large town that offers everything and provides more chance of immersing yourself in calm relaxing time interacting with Ireland and its people then Kenmare and Dingle........or a wonderful small village where you can experience wild Ireland and really get to know Ireland, then Ballyferriter, Portmagee, Ballinskellig, Derrynane or Waterville would be great spots.

My wife and I prefer using weekly rental bases to explore and really delve into an area (it's also far less expense and much calmer)....and so nice staying in a great Irish home, with spectacular views, by ourselves.. So on our three weeks upcoming we are spending a week in Castlemaine, a week in Caherdaniel and a week in Tinahely. From these spots we can really cover the southwest and southeast without any rush. We sure won't exhaust the areas in the least but should have plenty of time for everything we enjoy.

But if you enjoy more moving around your itinerary looks great ! You avoid the pitfalls of 1-2 night stays and are ambitious at what you want to see without overdoing it. Less is definitely more !!!!! Great job.....have a great time and avoid the car drop off in Belfast ....I've heard the charges are high as stated above. Have fun !

Posted by
509 posts

Haven't yet been, but are knee-deep in planning a similar trip in May. Based on hours combing the Forum, we have planned 5 nights in Kenmare and only 2 in Dingle. Further, as we start to build the to-do list, I'm not sure 5 days/nights is enough in Kerry! Posts by "Ewewoolknit" and others have been very helpful, so I'd consider those carefully. We'll be watching this to see what the other experts have to say.
Be sure to post your final itinerary -- it looks like we may cross paths.

Posted by
3 posts

Thank you everyone for your input, these comments have really made me think about tweeking our plan a bit.

@ewewoolknit ... thank you for the Castlemaine info! That location looks like an area we would really enjoy and is in close proximity to both Dingle and the ROK areas. Maybe a great home base, for 5 days or so. Looks this area is a bit removed from the high tourist areas of the ROK and Dingle. So we can explore those areas and then retreat to a much calmer area...as it looks to me anyway. Do you have any suggestions for a quaint place to stay within a short drive from Shannon Airport, just because I'm sure we won't want to drive too far that first day due to potential jet lag and a new experience of driving in Ireland. We are not really interested in staying in large cities, we like the idea of small "Irish" villages or towns, with close proximity to those beautiful and touristy areas. I'm really trying not to overload us

I have rethought the Belfast departure also, due to the car expense. Looking at flying home via Dublin.

Still working on the plan...this info has really helped.
Thanks again! kajbennett1

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