Senior travel

Plan your trip around places that are easy to get to by bus or train. Budget for taxis/ride shares to get you to nearby sites. Consider organized day tours to more remote places. Consider flying not Shannon and out of Dublin, or vice versa, to avoid backtracking. Pack light.

Good advice, thanks! I was in Ireland years ago but my husband has never been. Any suggestions of “must-sees” for hum? We’d also like to get up to Letterkenny to visit family. Any advice there?

As a 73 year old with five back surgeries (one just three weeks ago), I find that Ireland is not that bad. There are places that require a walking investment (Skellig Michael, Carrowkeel, Slieve League, etc) but most "things" to see are pretty close to the carpark, and the trails are pretty mild - usually flat and well trod. We're headed for our fourth trip this May, and as always, we'll rent a car to get us to the places we want to go in the order we prefer. Even Connemara or Glenveagh NPs have loop trails in the 1-2 mile range if you don't feel the need to bag a peak.

After spending the winter in a wheelchair, I was worrying about our trip, and I even started looking at travel wheelchairs and cancellation fees. I think that's a much higher bar to travel, and I might give up when that time arrives, although we'll see about that in a couple of years.

Slow down and don't try and do everything! Ireland is a place to relax and enjoy.... Distances may not look that far but will take a lot longer to cover than you might expect.

How long are you planning to visit? Will you have a car or are you dependent on public transport?
what sort of things are you interested in seeing/doing?

Don’t be afraid to treat yourself to a taxi once in awhile and give your legs a rest. Save walking and standing for where you need it.

Thanks to everyone for your helpful suggestions! We will likely only be traveling around for a week or ten days and then spend a few days visiting family In Letterkenny! With a short amount of time- and anxious to see some lovely spots (but not too many - l love the idea of a relaxing trip) has anyone preferred or would recommend a guided tour (a la Rick Steves, Road Scholar, etc.? It seems it might be nice to have someone else figure out the travel, the accommodations, etc. Pros? Cons? Thanks again!

Lots of people have taken the RS Ireland tours. I'll let them chime in.

I have taken 4 tours in other locations and always find them to be of high quality. If you want to know more about their tours here are some places to start.
https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/ireland Talks about their tours.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVS6jZqluGI Video from recent presentation about Ireland

https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/scrapbooks/tour-alum-scrapbooks Look through the scrapbooks that people have made from previous Ireland tours.

My preferred guide is DK Eyewitnes Ireland. The pictures are superb and it covers many placces not in the other guides. There's enough information and the maps are quite good for planning purposes.