Need help with our Itinerary please

Ireland can have variable weather espec in fall. If u cannot chg your schedule then it will be go with what happens. Not having a car leaves u less flexibility to chg your plans with the forecast while u are there. So plan on packing fpr cold , rain and wind. My spouse was there for 2 wks of golf and 2 days were fair in september. Golf Tour was prepaid so it turned out to be a bad gamble of dates in the end. The wk after was a full wk of sun. That is ireland.

Just bring plenty of lightweigh layers that you can add or take off as the weather changes. I would also bring a wool pashmina and lightweight hat and gloves... If it is windy and damp you will be happy to have these. I was there in Feb. and the weather went from pleasant to rainy and cold. Just expect it and you won't be disappointed. I only have traveled there by car, so can't give advice on public transportation. Are you opposed to a tour since you do not want to drive?

Hi,

We were there last Oct. There days where it poured and other days were sunny and warm. One of the days it poured we were touring Galway City. They did call off the bus tours, we just went around ourselves, shopped, had lunch, stopped in a few pubs. I bring a waterproof jacket, with a hood, baseball hat, scarf, waterproof shoes (last time it was Merrels). I will wear a fleece under the jacket if it gets colder. We also bought an umbrella there. I always go expecting the worst & if the sun shines, enjoy the moment. We were treated to a few wonderful rainbows, unfortunately didn't find the leprechaun. :)

I would go to Galway, tour Connemara. You may be able to get a tour that covers both the Cliffs of Moher & Connemara. I thought I saw something in the RS guidebook. I also like Kinsale over Cobh.

Have a good trip.

Mary

When travelling by train and bus the most important thing is to look at all of the schedules for the towns/sights you want to visit, then figure out how to do it most efficiently, otherwise, you will waste a lot of time travelling from place to place. I spent a lot of time researching schedules when planning my three weeks, and finally came to the conclusion that the best thing to do was to spend from two to four nights in each town I stopped, otherwise my trip was going to be about catching trains and buses. Since you are flying into Shannon why not go first to Killarney and spend a couple of nights there, see the Gap of Dunloe from a jaunting car or do a day trip to Dingle or the Ring of Kerry, then move on to Kinsale from there (train then a 1 hour bus ride). Kinsale is the gourmet capital of Ireland, and a photogenic little town, and you can take a long walk out to see Charles Fort. From Kinsale I took the bus back to Cork, then had to catch another couple of buses to get to the Rock of Cashel, this took about half the day. From here I went to Kilkenny by bus/train, and spent a couple of nights there then moved on to Galway by train. From Galway you can do a day trip to see both the cliffs and Burren area, and probably stop in Doolin for lunch. From Galway there are many other day trips you can do to the Connemara region and the Aran Island. I spent four nights in Galway. Then from Galway you can just catch the train to Dublin where you can spend a few days seeing the city and doing some more day tours. The reason I didn't stay in smaller towns like Doolin was because it was going to take up too much of my getting there by bus. So, start with researching the bus/train schedules and connections, and then decide which towns you want to stay in based on that information. On days that you are moving from one town to the next try to get going as early as you can in the day so that you get to your new destination with as much of the day left as possible. You should still be able to get a bus/train pass that will give you unlimited travel within a certain number of days.

Layers, Umbrella/rain slicker. A good sense of humour and 'just go with it' attitude. These things you need to bring with you in October for a trip to Ireland. Our weather is notoriously unpredictable. You could get some lovely weather and some nasty weather! Even us locals can't tell what we are going to get. We could go out in the morning in a winter coat with an umbrella and come home in the evening lugging said coat and just wearing a t-shirt!

A thing to bear in mind re Irish public transport. The whole country is not equal. Big cities such as Dublin, Cork, Galway will have the best choice, Dublin the best of these. Then intercity transport will be reasonable. BUT... getting to/from/around the smaller more remote locations can be 'interesting' to say the least. For example a location in my county only has TWO busses a day! So bear in mind when planning your itinerary.

We were all over the country for 15 days in May. It was unseasonably cool according to locals. Temps in the 50's and 60's. I wore 3 layers every day but 2. A long sleeve tee, a light jacket and a mid thigh length raincoat/windbreaker. Many days I added a lightweight hoodie, making 4 layers. I wore an accessory scarf most days which really added to my overall comfort. I had gloves and a warm ear band which I didn't use a lot, but was really happy to have waterproof shoes. We took rain pants which we didn't use, but wished we had a couple times. We did use an umbrella several times to protect the camera while taking pictures in the rain. I also used a headband to keep my hair from blowing in my face. Ireland is wet and windy but beautiful.