Non driving itinerary from Shannon

You are just the right ages for Ireland! Your itinerary seems very busy to me. I suggest leaving out Cork, if possible, and spending another day in Galway and two nights in Dingle (town). For. Hearing Irish music, Dingle is excellent. There are pubs in town with music in the evenings. I heard music in Galway, too. It is possible to stay overnight on the main Aran island. I did that and felt the magic of the island. It's been about 16 years since I was in Irelend, but trust it is still the same magical place!

I don't know of a castle for overnight, but there is a castle near Shannon airport, close to Limerick. Folk park, nightly banquets, castle tours are possibilities (I think it is Bunratty). Definitely check it out (find a good guide book for
Ireland). The banquet required reservations when I was there. If you stay in Limerick the night before your flight home you can probably use a public bus to get around. A taxi ride to the airport may make sense.

You may have a reason for taking a taxi from Shannon to Galway, but there should be good bus service that way much cheaper. There is limited train service in Ireland; you may find it handy for one or two of your trips.

I wish I were going, too!

It's been 12 years, but my wife (girlfriend at the time) did exactly what you are trying to do: seeing Ireland without a car, flying into and out of Shannon. I agree, do not take the taxi to Galway. As I recall, Galway is 30-45 min from Shannon, so a taxi would be WAY expensive. The buses in Ireland are good, I highly recommend them.

On our trip, I had already been in Ireland for 1.5 months as part of a class, so I was adjusted to the time. I met H at Shannon and then we took a bus to the nearest "big" city and then connected to a bus going to Killarney. I forget the name of the "big" city, but I'm sure that you could do the same for a bus going to Galway.

Oh, Limerick, that's it! I should have read the previous reply more closely...

I'm going to propose a different route that may save you some time and money, but I don't know why you have left certain towns off your list so feel free to tell me you don't want to go there. From Shannon I would take the train to Killarney. It's a small, touristy town, but from here you can do a day trip to the Ring of Kerry, Dingle Peninsula, or Gap of Dunloe. All are worth seeing. From Killarney ( I would also skip Cork) take the train to Kilkenny and spend a couple nights there, I stopped off at the Rock of Cashel on my way to Kilkenny, but it did require a bus trip combined with the train. From Kilkenny take the train to Galway and use as a base for more day trips. From Galway I would just take the train to Dublin and fly home from there. This will save you back-tracking and cab fares. But, the first thing you should do is check all the bus/train schedules to see what makes the most sense.

Update, apparently the bus is faster, but you have to transfer at least once whether you are going to Killarney or Galway. This according to a people on Trip advisor. Someone did mention a company called Silver Bus that specifically does transfers from the airport to several places, but it's expensive. It really is best to start with looking at the schedules to see what will work best with your arrival and departure times:

http://www.journeyplanner.transportforireland.ie/nta/XSLT_TRIP_REQUEST2?language=en

I live near Killarney

Suggest: For 12 / 14 days pick 3 or max 4 locations. Take time to get to know the area
Bus Shannon to Galway its about 2 hours.

You can get boat to Arann Island from City centre. day trip. get mini bus trip around island or hire a bike
You should also get day trip to Cliffs of Moher, but if you get to see Dun Angus on Arann Island I would skip the Cliffs of Moher

Get train to Kilkenny via Dublin or faster might be by bus . See Castle in Kilkenny

Get train to Killarney . Day trips to Dingle , Ring of Kerry, Gap of Dunloe, Local hop on hop off bus around Killarney to Muckross house , Torc waterfall etc.

Get bus via Limerick to Shannon

I don't know if this would fit into your schedule or not. We totally enjoyed visiting the Ashford Castle, in Cong. You will find fantastic reviews of the castle on Trip Advisor and on Rick Steves. It used to be the summer home of the Guinness (Beer) Family. It is absolutely lovely. I don't know if you could get there without a car though. If we ever get back to Ireland, that is the first place we are going to visit. We were only able to stay there for two nights, three years ago. We were on a TAUCK Tour. You will adore Ireland. It is so very, very, very pretty. The people are fantastic.

You don't want to do the ring of Kerry from Galway. Kenmare, which you will be visiting later, is at one end of the ring.

The comments above suggest not going to Cork, and I'm not a huge fan of Cork city. However, the Cork coast has some very pretty areas.

Regarding finding family roots, I found that staying in that area, or preferably that village, is most effective – pParticularly if your relatives immigrated in the last century so that someone might remember them. The one grandparent I knew came to the US shortly after 1900. On both trips to Ireland, I found family about which I did not know – one time walking in the county near her village (in Kerry), and on the next trip by talking to some people outside of her parish church after mass.

Enjoy your trip!

Well the trip is BOOKED!!! We made a few changes due to public transportation being a challenge in some areas..

I was working with a couple travel companies that kept providing me with travel quotes that we absolutely outrageous, one was $4200 Lodging only and the other $2800 lodging only.. So I did ALOT of research via google maps and trip advisor as well as this sight to find lodging that suited our needs and budget and were public transport friendly and I saved A BUNCH of MONEY!!

Fly to Dublin from USA
Take Gobus to Galway for 3 nights- Daytours to Cliffs of Moher, Aran Islands and Cong and Connemara
Take CitiLink to Adare for 1 night- visit Adare Heritage and Bunratty Folk Park and possibly castle dinner show
Take Bus Eirann to Tralee for 1 night at Balleyseede Castle
Take Bus Eirann or train to Killarney for 4 nights-Day tours- Ring of Kerry and Dingle as well as Gap of Dunloe
Then for the splurge- Hire a private driver from Killarney to Cork Via the scenic route N71
3 nights in Cork- We are considering day tours Kinsale/West Cork and Rock of Cashel and Kilkenny or Blarney/Cohb undecided so far, which do you recommend?
Take Go Bus back to Dublin for 2 nights- Thoughts on day tour to Wicklow Mountains, or just stay in Dublin?? Opinions??
Then it is back to the Dublin Airport to end our trip of a lifetime....

9 months from right now my rear end will be flying to Ireland!!! WHOOP!!!

Kinsale is a neat little town, and Charles Fort is an interesting place with a ghost story. It takes about an hour to do the guided tour. You can walk to the fort from town along the water, but it takes about 45 minutes. Kinsale is only about an hour on the bus from Cork. Cashel is a must see, but also easy by bus. It's a bit of a walk from the bus stop. You will see the castle as you approach town, but then it disappears from view, then reappears all of a sudden as you walk around a corner. I wish I had more time at Cashel.

We just returned from a 2 week trip to Ireland using public transportation. It is much improved. We took Galway tours (12 euros one way) from Dublin to Galway (3 hours). We took 2 one- day tours from them out of Galway, 1. the Connemara and Cong tour, and 2. the Cliffs of Moher and Aran Island Tour. Both were great.

We took City Link a very comfortable private coach company from Galway to Killarney (3 hours). about 26 euros.

In Killarney we took tours of the Gap of Dunloe and a Ring of Kerry Tour from Corcoran Tours. We wanted to stay of the Ring of Kerry and Corcoran tours dropped us off at our B and B which was right on the road, and picked us up there 2 days later. We got the ring of kerry tour for less than the public bus, and were picked up at our hotel and dropped off at the train station.

We then took the train back to Dublin. There is an airport bus that runs from the Dublin train station (6 euros) and if you are staying at an airport hotel your last night, you may be able to get a complimentary pick ups from the airport. (This cost 90 euros for the three of us. The airport express from Killarney would have been 300 euros.)

We were 2 days in Dublin, (3 days with family), 4 days in Galway, 4 days in Killarney (including 2 on the Ring of Kerry), one night in Dublin airport hotel.
It was a fabulous trip.