Hi, my family will have already spent about two weeks (in a home exchange) in Moycullen (10 mi west of Galway city), so we will have already explored: Galway city, the Connemara region, Inishmore, County Clare (the Cliffs, the Burren, Ennis, etc...) but we will leave the home exchange on July 28th and pick up a car rental at Shannon Airport. We need to return the car at Shannon Airport and fly out on July 31 at 12:30pm. That leaves us 3 days/3 nights to make the most of County Kerry. We are thinking of spending 2 days/2 nights exploring the Dingle Peninsula and overnighting in Dingle Town, followed by 1 day/1 night in Killarney exploring Muckross House and Killarney National Park. I have read negative things about staying in Killarney though. I'm wondering if anyone has a better suggestion than the above. I would love to hear your thoughts.
Posted by
1172 posts
We stayed at the Lake Hotel in Killarney and loved it. It is right next to the park. We rented bikes and biked the Park to Muckross House and farms, torc water fall etc. We also went to Kissane farms for a sheep herdring and sheering demonstration. There is some great hiking in the area too. To be honest, I never understand why people hate Killarney or advise to skip driving the ROK either.
Posted by
TX
502 posts
Glad to see someone saying something positive about Killarney and National park. We definitely want to visit this area because we love the outdoors and hiking.
Posted by
OP
Tinton Falls, NJ
784 posts
Thank you! Now I'm trying to decide if we should spend 2 nights in Dingle and 1 in Killarney or 2 nights Killarney and 1 in Dingle?
Posted by
Los Angeles, CA, USA
88 posts
Definitely 2 (I think 3) nights in Dingle!!! It takes SO long to get out there and you want to explore the town AND, more importantly, the peninsula (a day). To this day, and I've been twice, one of my most favorite places in THE world!!! Enjoy!
Posted by
2 posts
We are in Dingle right now. It is a fabulous little town. The views along the Slee Head drive are breathtaking, even on a day with not great weather, a mixture of sun, clouds, rain, and gloom. We ate at the Chart House and it was one of the best meals we have had on our trip. They do not have a kids menu but offered to make anything on the menu kid-friendly without any prompting from us.
We also really loved Kenmare on the Iveragh Peninsula. In some ways we found it even more inviting than Dingle, though I think that was influenced by the two days of sunshine there as opposed to the clouds and rain we are experiencing now in Dingle.
Further afield, our favorite place so far has been Kinsale and our favorite part was the town tour with Barry Maloney and then a walk to Charles Fort. We stopped at the Bulman's Bar for a pint in the sunshine and had a lovely 45 minute chat with a local brother and sister. Just magical with sun, sky, good conversation. We also had by far the best meal almost anywhere at Fishy Fishy. Phenomenal.