Planning to travel to Ireland in May 2018. Here's the itinerary:
Fly into Dublin
Rent car at airport
Drive to Doolin via Waterford (know it's a long day but we land early)
Three nights in Doolin
Drive to Dublin airport to drop car
Three nights in Dublin
Fly home
Any ideas for worthwhile things to see/do during our road trip?
Perhaps a day trip out to the Aran Islands?
And of course, the Burren/Connemara area!
Yup Kevin, looks to me to 5-6 hours driving time at best, not much time for seeing the sights, stops for meals, etc. We enjoyed Doolin and spent an early evening at the Doolin Music House for some traditional music and stories, give it a look if it fits your schedule and with three days in Doolin it may hit you right. Try to do Pat Sweeney's guided hike if you are a hiker. We enjoyed the music and food at Gus OConnor's Pub and our stay at the Daly House was awesome. We drove up to the Burren and toured around as well as visiting a sheep dog demonstration. If you chck at the visitors center area in Doolin they will have maps and ideas for these things. We visited the Cliffs of course. Here is a link to the map program we used for planning our driving https://www.theaa.ie/routes/#/r/Dublin,Ireland/Doolin,County+Clare,Ireland/Waterford,Ireland and here is a link for the Doolin Music House. https://www.doolinmusichouse.com/ You might consider going from Waterford and driving the Beara Peninsula "ring" and then spending the night in Kenmare. Beara is more low keyed then the Ring of Kerry and not as busy so you could cruise it, spend the night in Kenmare, then get a really early start the next morning for Doolin, just my opinion on the whole jet lag, long first day thing. www.bearatourism.com I drove from DUB to Cong the first morning on arrival and it was ruff but I was able to do it okay, this was my second go at driving on the left though. www.doolincliffwalk.com Dave, Bedford, IN
Another option to avoid jumping behind the wheel immediately upon arrival would be to take the train from Dublin to Galway, then rent your car there for explorations in and around Doolin and Connemara, maybe returning it there as well and taking the train back to Dublin.
Waterford is an outlier whether you drive or take the train , ie it's way out of your way and can be saved for a future trip. There's plenty to keep you occupied in Connemara.
