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May Driving Itinerary

Hi all,

yes, it's another driving itinerary. :) My husband and I will be visiting Ireland next May and are trying to nail down the sketch of an itinerary in order to reserve some hotels. My husband has been to Ireland before and done plenty of driving around Galway. He's not put off by the driving which is good because I don't plan to do any!

We are skipping Dublin and the north and focusing on the west instead. After a lot of reading and studying of other people's itineraries, we've decided to focus on two places - Connemara and County Kerry. To this end, my current itinerary has us parked in those places for quite awhile.

We are flying in and out of Dublin (airline tickets are already in hand). Arrival is a Saturday morning and departure is Sunday noon a week later.

Saturday - Arrive, drive to Galway. Overnight in Galway.

Sunday - Galway OR Cliffs of Moher/Burren. Overnight in Galway.

Monday - Galway OR Cliffs of Moher/Burren. Overnight in Clifden.

Tuesday - Connemara area. Overnight in Clifden.

Wednesday - Drive to County Kerry with list of potential castle stops in hand. Overnight in Killarney or Kenmare?

Thursday - RoK/Skellig Ring. Overnight in Killarney or Kenmare?

Friday - RoK/Skellig Ring. Overnight in Killarney or Kenmare?

Saturday - Head toward Dublin via Rock of Cashel and Cahir - Overnight at Dublin Airport

Sunday - Fly Out of Dublin

My questions for you all -- should we skip the Clifden overnights and base ourselves in Galway for the whole time in Connemara? I definitely want to stay there for the first night at least because my husband is very confident about driving there from the airport and already familiar with it. It'll give us a soft landing for our first night/morning. But I'm not sure day trips northwest of Galway would be too overloaded with driving from/to Galway. On the other hand, a Galway base would give us more flexibility in choosing which way to travel on any given day so we could save Cliffs of Moher and the Burren area for a nice day even if it was later in that leg.

Second question - I think the drive from Galway to Country Kerry will probably take quite awhile but since it is the worst drive of the whole trip and pretty isolated in the middle, it should be okay. If it's going poorly we can skip sights and just bear down on getting to Kerry. We watched the RS show that featured Dingle and my husband said, "Meh" so I think having a solid base in Killarney or Kenmare to do the RoK slowly and pick and choose from other sites to the south or east would be best. But I can't decide between the two. Are we overlooking any other options? Killorglin? Tralee seems too far north and heading to the west side of the RoK would seem to cut us off from options outside of RoK.

Finally - on Saturday we make for Dublin Airport to drop off the car and stay in a hotel near the airport. On the way we visit Rock of Cashel and Cahir. Would it be more reasonable to stay around those sights and then drive to the airport Sunday morning? Or is that too risky? Or we would even be better off going into Dublin for Saturday evening? Our flight is at 1pm on Sunday.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts and experiences.

-Sarah

Posted by
2791 posts

In general it looks like a very well planned itinerary. Just a few suggestions:
If you're arriving from the US after a long overnight flight you might consider just taking the train from Dublin to Galway and picking up your car there, if only to avoid having to hit the road immediately after arrival when you'll likely be pretty fatigued. Explore Galway on day one, get a good night's sleep, and start driving after you're both more refreshed.
Although we love Clifden, basing yourselves in Galway would be more central for day trips both north and south.
The coastal drive from Galway south towards Dingle is quite pretty - lots of pretty seascapes along the way, and the pretty villages of Kilkee and Kilrush are good stops for lunch. There's a nice cliff walk in Kilkee that's a good place to stretch your legs. Pretty views too. Then the Tarbert ferry across the Shannon would get you on your way to Kerry. Not the faster route but certainly more scenic than the motorway south.
Personally I'd suggest staying near, but not necessarily in, Killarney. Even in May you'll be dealing with the crowds, and the traffic congestion getting in and out of town can be a real bear. Kenmare would be a good alternative. You could also consider staying somewhere between Castlemaine and Glenbeigh to be centrally located for exploring the ROK, the Gap of Dunloe, the Skellig Ring, and Dingle.
We prefer to stay near the airport the night before we fly out, and I like to have turned the car in too in order to minimize the stress of the last day ... but that's just me. To each their own. There's nothing wrong with doing it as you propose if you get an early start and plan for unexpected delays.
It'll be great.

Posted by
3183 posts

I just got done doing all the driving for 12 days in Scotland and I am currently in Ireland also doing all the driving. It has taken longer to get everywhere than I expected and one does want some days with no or minimal driving. I say that even though I don’t think the driving in Scotland or Ireland is difficult.
Also, you don’t mention it, but if you love Irish trad music like I do, Dingle is a great place to hear it! Went to a fantastic concert at the Dingle Music Shop the other night!❤️

Posted by
4 posts

Thanks, Robert and diveloonie, for your feedback!

After going through these ideas and several more hours of research, we settled on the following itinerary. We picked up the train to Galway suggestion and left the rental car to handle at Sunday lunch. I elected to add in an overnight halfway to Kenmare just to give us flexibility to go slow that day and the day after. I think I might splurge on a castle stay here.

We also selected Kenmare because of the great restaurant reviews and discovery of some information about the Ring of Beara. Finally, we will overnight at a Dublin airport hotel after dropping off the car. We will run into Dublin if we have the energy but I bet we just want to take an extra nap by that point!

Saturday - Arrive, train to Galway. Overnight in Galway.

Sunday - Galway/Clifden/Sky Drive/Connemara. Pick up rental car this day (lunchtime). Overnight in Galway.

Monday - Galway/Clifden/Sky Drive/Connemara. Overnight in Galway.

Tuesday - Cliffs of Moher, The Burren. Overnight north of Limerick.

Wednesday - Castles on the way to Kenmare (or something further afield). Overnight in Kenmare

Thursday - RoK/Skellig Ring/Ring of Beara. Overnight in Kenmare.

Friday - RoK/Skellig Ring/Ring of Beara. Overnight in Kenmare.

Saturday - Head toward Dublin via Rock of Cashel and Cahir. Drop off car. - Overnight at Dublin Airport

Posted by
2791 posts

Good moving choosing Kenmare.
Beara is indeed a pleasant alternative to the ROK. If you want to make a meandering day of it you could drive out to the end of the peninsula to the only cable car in Ireland over to Dursey Island - capacity: 3 people and a cow, which will give you some idea of what you'll be in for. West Cork was extremely hard hit by the famine years and Dursey was essentially deserted, so there's not much there today but the ruins of several stone cottages, an old church, and grazing sheep and cattle. It's a very evocative place. The word has gotten out about it, however, and on our last visit there was a line (and a long wait) to cross so we gave it a miss and just hiked around the head of the peninsula - still a very pretty hike.
If you're comfortable driving on the left, and on narrow rural roads, you could drive up and over Healey pass either going into or returning from the village of Adrigole. It's not for the faint-hearted though - it gets narrow and twisty turny at the top. Beautiful though, with many spectacular vistas as you descend.
And if you really, really want to get off the beaten track there's an abandoned famine village tucked away in a remote valley that requires about a 2 mile hike up and over a gentle ridge to access it. It was home to about 30 families back in the early 1800's but was abandoned around 1850. For my wife and I it was like hiking into Brigadoon - liked it so much we went back twice. Let me know if you're interested and I'll try to dig out the directions.
Safe travels.