Pro’s please help April 2-9 2019 Ireland

You'll be able to see plenty but you'll experience little besides the inside of a car. My first trip was a race around Ireland and it stunk. My second trip we saw huge amounts of things but restrained ourselves, thank God and focused on a couple areas which allowed us not to sit in one spot but not drive 5 hours to see one thing and instead used that time to see lots in a smaller area.

For example if you stay near Killarney in a place like Castlemaine for 2-3 nights....one day you can explore Dingle which is right there.....see Slea Head....maybe go to Great Blasket island, see stone age huts, forts, the Gallarus Oratory and gorgeous Connor Pass. Then the next day you can do the Ring of Kerry/Skellig Ring...see ring forts, go on an eco tour of Skellig Michael, walk Bray Head, go to the Cliffs of Kerry which is a MUCH better cliff experience than the pretty but strip-malled, tourist overrun, tour bus magnet of the Cliffs of Moher which is five hours in a car away....and then the insane scenery above Caherdaniel with the time to stop, look and taken a picture or two rather than fighting traffic. Then the third day you could see all the amazing sights near Killarney, the incredible Gap of Dunloe, Ladies View, the Black Valley, Ross Castle, Muckross House and much more. All without spending 5+ hours in a car seeing virtually nothing enroute and only one or two things once there.

You can actually see AND experience far more of Ireland by picking a couple of smart locations and mining many world class sights in that region rather than wasting super valuable time in a car racing around to see one or two so called "must sees". I'd much rather see six incredible things than two after an exhausting car ride.

Regardless of choice hope you have a great trip.

You basically have 8 days and 7 nights (that is assuming you land in Dublin early in the morning on the 2nd and will be able to take advantage of that first day - some people can and some people can't after a redeye). If you feel you can, I think this would be a feasible itinerary (also note that I strongly recommend avoiding one night stays, but I'm trying to help make a reasonable solution):

April 2: land at DUB early, get rental car, drive to Kilkenny - spend the full day in Kilkenny, and don't bother trying to do anything else along the way. Stay in Kilkenny.

April 3: get up pretty early, and right after breakfast, head from Kilkenny to the Rock of Cashel. From there, drive to Dingle. Note this is a long day of driving. Stay night in Dingle.

April 4: do the Slea Head Drive and spend additional time in Dingle. Stay night in Dingle.

April 5: get up pretty early and drive from Dingle to the Cliffs of Moher, then drive through the Burren, and end in Galway, where you'll spend the night. This is a lot of driving too.

April 6: Aran Islands day trip, spend night in Galway.

April 7: drive to Dublin early in the morning, and spend the rest of your trip there. Drive from Galway to Dublin is one of the few that is fast and connected by highway all the way, so if you get an early start, you can be there mid-morning and get all of the 7th and 8th in Dublin before you leave on the 9th.

I am cutting Waterford and Kinsale from the list you proposed. I don't honestly see how you can do those too - what I am proposing is already pretty whirlwind.

Tyvm both of you Steve urs seems doing very much so. May I ask if u know where we should stay. You seem very knowledgeable on the area. Or should I wait till there and stay at first b&b I find. Thanks so much again. We arrive in Dublin April 2 at 11 am. And I’m checking on rental car now. Idu all these extra insurances.

I can tell you the places I stayed - I am not an expert. In Kilkenny, we stayed at the Lyrath Estate. The grounds were gorgeous and we had an amazing breakfast there. But I would note that it is not really walkable to the city center, so up to you. It was a great hotel though. In Dingle, we stayed at Browne's B&B. I would highly recommend it - John and Camila were wonderful hosts, and the breakfasts were awesome. This was about a 15 minute walk to the center of Dingle - there are closer B&Bs. But I will definitely stay with John and Camila again next time we are in Dingle. In Galway, we stayed at The Connacht - I would not recommend it. Felt like an American Best Western, the walls were thin, and I didn't care for it at all. In Dublin, we stayed at Staunton's on the Green and I loved it. The location was great - on the south (quieter) side of St. Stephen's Green, so it was walking distance to everything. We stayed in Dublin on our arrival to Ireland, having landed early in the morning on a redeye. We stopped at the hotel first just to drop our luggage off, as we were there way before check in time. They invited us to stay for breakfast (free) and prepared our room while we ate - which was amazingly generous. The rooms there are a little dated.

You won't hurt for places to stay in any of those locations though, and given that you're going in early April, I don't think you'd have any problem if you chose to just find a place to stay when you arrive. Personally, I like having those details worked out before I travel, but you shouldn't have any issues if you choose to wait.

On the rental car, I took out full insurance on our car. Although most credit cards offer free insurance, Ireland is excepted from many such policies (and it was excepted from my Amex's coverage). Check your own credit card policy. For me, it was worth the extra money and peace of mind. I would also recommend paying a bit more to reserve an automatic. Although I am very comfortable driving a stick shift, I did not want to shift with my left hand and deal with that. I thought it was money well spent.