One day driving itinerary

Hi

Unless you want to spend 18 hours in the car, without getting out of it, I humbly suggest that you need to scale back your ambition.

There's no way you can get to see all the points on your list in a single day - for planning purposes, assume you'll make no more than 50mph on average, and once you're closer to areas like Dingle or Ring of Kerry, you'll be lucky to make 40mph. Some of the places you mention group naturally on a route (Galway-Cliffs of Moher; Cashel - Kinsale; Kilkenny; Cashel), but you have chosen a number of places very far apart also (e.g. Kinsale to Cliffs of Moher = 129 miles or a 3 hour drive)

Consider also that, for example, Dublin to Kinsale is 172 miles so about 3½hours drive - a 7 hour return trip. Pick two, maybe 3 locations and focus for a more enjoyable day.

hebbs, are you planning to mount a GoPro camera to the dash and review the footage on the flight home?

Seriously, as Mark has politely pointed out, this is not doable-or healthy. Will you post back with some info like how many days on the ground will you have in Ireland? From what you know, what are your top 3, or 5, or 10 sightseeing objectives, in order of priority? Do you have flights purchased already?

There are lots of people here who will be happy to help out, but I'm afraid that your first stab is not realistic. Giving some background as to your time and interests will help.

As the others have said, you literally cannot accomplish all of this in one day. Frankly, probably not even in two days. Those destinations are almost all spread out too. Driving in Ireland is not like driving in the US or most western European countries (France, Germany, etc.). You could do Galway and the Cliffs or Moher in one day. You could do Kilkenny and the Rock of Cashel in one day.

I'm sorry, I obviously did not communicate my intentions. What I was looking for from the forum was out of those sites, which in your opinion, could be done in one day and which route would you take. My daughter who will be traveling with us and who has been there before says there are "non-negotiable" sites we must see, but I do not want to spend 18 hours in the car. She says we must see Cliffs of Moher, Ring of Kerry, Galway. I have been told that Kinsale is a "must see" -- so I think you all are right, we cannot see it all. In your opinion, which are the most important for us to see and in what order.

Let me add that we will arrive in Dublin on Tues night late and will Wed, Thurs, Fri & Sat. Our first thought was we would go early Wed morning and drive down the east coast to Kinsale, stay the night and then drive up the west coast and back to Dublin Thursday afternoon.

Thanks for your responses -- I love Rick Steves -- and this forum!

I think anything but Kilkenny or the Rock of Cashel is too much for a day trip, and those two are a very long day trip, probably with more time in the car than out. Instead of Rock of Cashel, Glendalough is way more suitable for a day trip from Dublin.

Based on our experience in 2014, I must second Archimedes' thoughts. Any one of those places is too far from Dublin for a reasonable 1 day trip where you actually see something besides road. You might also consider whether you will really be able to get a very early start out of Dublin the morning after you arrive. If you're arriving from the States, it will be getting up VERY early in the morning according to your body clock. Archimedes' suggestion of Glendalough is good. Drive south from Dublin, stop at Powerscourt for an hour to soak up the garden and reflect on that piece of Irish history. Then continue to the Glendalough area to see St Kevin's and the other ruins for a few hours of looking at another side of Ireland. If you still have some time, continue on to Avondale House, or go back to Dublin via a scenic route like Sally Gap where you can see peat bogs and overlook the Guinness estate.