I am in the early stages of planning a 2019 trip to Ireland with a group of friends. Our group size will be 5 couples. No one is retired yet, and two people in our group are teachers, so we’ve got to travel in summer and probably can stay only about 10 nights (not including the overnight flight to Europe). I’m thinking we’ll fly into Dublin, spend two nights there, then rent cars and drive across southern Ireland, and up western Ireland, flying home from Shannon Airport. One night stays are always heavily criticized on this forum . . . too much packing and unpacking, the whole vacation is too rushed, there’s no quality time to get to know an area, etc. I think three night stays have the disadvantage of seeing the same scenery over and over as you return to your inn at the end of each day of exploration of the area towns. I’d like to plan for a series of two night stays. I realize this will just be a “taste” of Ireland trip, as we’ll be covering a lot of ground in a relatively short time frame. That’s exactly our intention, to see a lot. My husband and I know we can always go back in the future to delve more deeply into the places we most enjoyed. Our group is not interested in spending this trip visiting one major crowded tourist site after another. We’d like to get into the small towns and villages, experience the pub culture, enjoy the music. Nature and outdoor activity are important to us. Has anyone traveled independently in Ireland with a group this size, who might have recommendations on wonderful places to stay? It would be fun to have a variety of accommodations. Maybe a B&B in one place, a castle stay in another, self-catering cottage rentals for a couple nights. Small, comfortable family-owned inns are more to our liking than large, fancy hotels. I don’t know whether a hosted farm stay is an option, but if so, it would be a great experience. Any recommendations or thoughts would be appreciated!
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