Hello, looking for tips on best 12 day itinerary in late June with as little hotel hopping as possible. We are an adventurous family (kids ages 13, 16, 18) all healthy mountain bikers, hikers & runners. We are accustomed to long road trips and not afraid of a drive, but I am trying to balance car time /hotel hopping with actual experiences. Our priorities are Dublin, the Dingle Peninsula and Skellig Michael. (I have already booked the landing tour so fingers crossed on weather). We have a 7 night stay in Trim purchased at an auction but I only plan to use it for 3 nights. Current plan is to fly in and out of Dublin
Days 1-3: Land in Dublin and rent a car. Spend 3 nights in Trim to cover Dublin & surrounding area sights.
Day 4: Drive to Kinmare, seeing the Rock of Cashel along the way
Day 5: Drive half of the ROK, stay in Portmagee for the night.
Day 6/7/8, Skelling Michael landing tour until early afternoon, then drive rest of ROK to Dingle late afternoon afterward. Stay in Dingle. Do some biking, relax, drive the loop, Sheepdog demo?
Day 9/10: Drive to and stay in Galway or Doolin? See Cliffs of Moher and Aran Islands
Day 11: Drive back to Dublin
Day 12: Flight home.
Any tips on Doolin or Galway? Is Aran Islands overkill if have have done Skellig? Any must sees in Dingle?
Posted by
Irving
2950 posts
Instead of renting a car after a night of no sleep stay in Dublin your first night. Remember, you’re driving a car you’re not familiar with on unfamiliar roads where you drive on the opposite side of the street and the steering wheel is on the other side too. There is no room for error here.
Can you fly in and out of Dublin and Shannon (multi-city) instead of flying round trip in and out of Dublin?
Day 1: sleep in Dublin.
Day 2: finish touring Dublin then rent your car later in the day and sleep in Trim.
Day 3: visit castle and sleep in Trim.
Day 4: drive to Brú na Bóinne (45m) and sleep in Trim.
Day 5: drive from Trim to Rock of Cashel (2h 30m). From Rock of Cashel drive to Killarney (2h 15m) that’s closer to Portmagee than Kenmare and sleep in Killarney. No need to drive the 112-mile ROK because the scenery is rundundant.
Day 7: drive from Killarney to Portmagee (1h 30m). Sleep in Portmagee.
Day 8: visit Skellig Michael. Drive from Portmagee to Dingle (2h) and sleep in Dingle.
Day 9: tour the Dingle Peninsula and sleep in Dingle.
Day 10: drive from Dingle to the Tarbet Ferry port (2h) and take the 20m ferry that departs every hour on the half hour to the Killimer Ferry port from 7:30a to 7:30p. Drive from Killimer port to Cliffs of Moher (1h 15m). Drive from the Cliffs of Moher to Galway (1h 45m) and drop off car. Sleep in Galway.
Day 11: take a direct train from Galway to Dublin and sleep in Dublin.
Posted by
TX, USA
4080 posts
Mary Pat has given you 13 days instead of 12, but has thrown out some different ideas.
Personally, although I usually discourage car rental immediately after a flight, if you are arriving during the day, I wouldn’t worry as much about a drive of about an hour. What I am trying to figure out is your plan for Dublin since it is a priority. Will you plan to drive that hour + back to Dublin to sightsee, also finding a place to park? Or take public transportation of over an hour each way? It really might be worthwhile to stay in Dublin your first night so that you have a whole day to sightsee - then get your car and head on to Trim.
It might be worth your while to look at Killarney instead of Kenmare - I happen to like it, although not everyone does, and it will save a bit of driving time. And since Skellig Michael is a priority, are you able to be ready to flex if trips are cancelled on your date? Just a Plan B to consider.
I don’t have a comparison of the Aran Islands and Skellig Michael for you; but if you decide against the Aran Islands, you might consider Ennis instead of Galway or Doolin.
Your trip will work as is - so these suggestions would merely be potentially fine-tuning.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Super helpful- thank you. Dublin is really only a priority bc I have paid accommodations “near” Dublin in Trim. I’m planning a 45min drive to Dublin and surrounding sites but I guess that doesn’t factor parking. Ennis hasn’t been on my radar but I will check it out.
Posted by
1 posts
I could have posted this description of our family that is planning a 12 day trip in March! Differences are I'll be with the kids for 5 nights in Dublin till my husband flies over to join us and then we are doing a driving tour. My 14 year old boy's only ask is to move as little as possible. The different place every night drives him crazy (as we learned in Italy and France.) We are also from the US mountain west so driving 2-5 hours a day isn't a big deal - would rather do longer day trips than have to pack up and move all the time. Here is what we are doing in case it helps. (I do wish we had thought of flying into Dublin and out of Shannon, but oh well....)
--Day 1 - 6: Arrive and have 5 nights and 6 days in Dublin. Doing a long day trip by bus to Belfast and the Causeway for one of them.
--Day 6: Pick up rental car and visit Newgrange. Then drive the highway to Galway. Spend night.
--Day 7: Full day in Galway, possibly drive the Sky Road, ebike tour, oyster farming
--Day 8: Drive Galway to Killarney, hopefully seeing the Cliffs of Moher, Cave Tour in Doolin, Poulnabrone Dolmen Tomb
--Day 8 - 10: Spend 3 nights in Killarney to do Dingle and Ring of Kerry.
--Day 10 - 12: Drive Killarney to Wicklow via Cork, staying at an alpaca farm for 2 nights. Do all the Wicklow things we can and drive straight to the airport in Dublin the third day.
Good luck, hope is goes well!