Shannon - Dingle - Doolan - Dublin

I like the looks of it. I'd try to get a tour with Denis Ryan if possible in Dingle, we enjoyed a half day tour with him. We also enjoyed visiting the Doolin Music House while up in Doolin, hopefully they will be hosting an evening you are there. https://www.doolinmusichouse.com/ http://dingletours.com/ http://dalyshouse.com/ Daly House was a great host. Fun times, good folks.

We visited last September, and it was mostly fair weather, but we did get some rain some days, and that could affect some of your activities on some level. None of your days have hours and hours of transit driving, so it seems you’ll have a good amount of time to see and do things.

On an earlier trip, we’d based ourselves for a few days in Lisdoonvarna, and toured the Burren with Tony before he was recommended in Rick Steves’ guidebook. We were so impressed that we wrote to Rick (as did others, it seems) and Rick added Tony as an additional guide recommendation a couple years later - so you’ll have a good tour!

Are you driving in England before your Ireland stretch? Did you drive on The Left during your SE Asia or other trips? Even if you have experience with that, starting on a Tuesday (or even a Monday) without jet lag should be in your favor.

I’m guessing you’ll be enjoying music in Doolin. When in Dublin, be sure to stop in at the Cobblestone pub for their superior sessions, and Have a great trip!

Hi,
For a person thinking of exploring Dingle. It is small so you want to know where things are hidden. Get Peter Harbison's out of print book, Guide to the National Monuments of Ireland. Available in eBay for under $9.00.

wayne iNWI

Thank you all for your helpful suggestions.

I have never driven on the left. I remember my mom talking about landing at Shannon from Boston and renting a manual car and driving the Ring of Kerry in the rain with my father, a famously poor driver, in the early 80s. I think we will be OK. She said it reminded her of their honeymoon in Majorca driving cliff roads.

After reading and thinking this over, we are changing to one night (~2 days) in Doolin and one night in Galway. Then the train to Dublin. Ah, trains.

I really want to see Connemara, but that's a long day after 4 days of driving the Atlantic Coast, so I think we will save it for our next trip where we would start in Galway, get out to the islands, spend two days in Connemara, and then head clockwise to the north.

So, updated itinerary is

Monday AM
* Arrive at Shannon from London (no jet lag)
* Rent car
* Adare, Tralee
* See some of peninsula depending upon time
* Night in Dingle

Tuesday
* Tour Dingle Peninsula with a guide or book
* Climb the tower
* See if we can go on the boat tour to the island and STILL get to see the peninsula, maybe with a custom tour
* Night in Dingle

Wednesday
* Drive north to Doolin (3.5 hours)
* Conor Pass
* Tarbert Ferry
* Kilrush
* Kilkee
* Cliff walk
* Loop Head peninsula and lighthouse
* Lahinch
* Cliffs of Mohor walk or drive
* Night in Doolin

Thursday
* Explore The Burren (Tony Kirby)
* Afternoon boat tour or walk to of Cliffs of Mohor
* Drive to Galway
*Drop car
*Night in Galway

Friday
* Morning in Galway
*Train to Dublin

Saturday
* Tour Dublin
* Night in Dublin

Sunday
* Tour Dublin
* Howth or Malahide
* Night in Dublin

Monday
* Fly home

Have a great trip! We did the “south of Galway” trip on our first visit, and 7 years later (last September) did a “Galway/Aran Iskands then Connemara and clockwise to Dublin” itinerary. Still haven’t been to the southeast or far south parts at all. - third trip will have some of that.

Tralee has a great park in the center of town, and a notable smallish County Museum that’s worth an hour or two of your time, if you have the time.

You really can't go wrong no matter how you organize this, but I personally wouldn't sacrifice a day in the west of Ireland for an extra day in Dublin.
Just a suggestion, but you might consider extending one night in Galway to be able to spend a day out on the island of Inishmore. Aran Ferries runs a shuttle out to the landing at Rossaveal or, alternatively, you can fly and save yourselves the time and possible discomfort of a crossing in the occasionally rough seas. A day on the island is a real treat, whether you join one of the many van tours, take a pony trap, or bike it. This would be contingent on the weather - best to do it on a sunny day - but you could wait until the day or two before to make up your mind based on the most recent forecast.
And you could still turn your car in the day you propose. You wouldn't be needing it for the trip out to the island.
If this is indeed your first adventure driving on the left I'd strongly suggest booking an automatic rather than a manual (stick) ... which is the default rental in Ireland. You'll have to specify it at booking (and pay extra) but it'll be worth it for your comfort and general peace of mind.

Edited to add: We were pretty underwhelmed with Galway. As an alternative to your proposed Friday plan of exploring the town and then taking the train to Dublin, you could substitute the day out on Inishmore and then catch the train later that afternoon or early evening. That way you'd still get your 2 full days in Dublin which, quite frankly, will probably be more than enough to satisfy your curiousity about the place.
Safe travels.

I agree with Robert that you consider renting a car with automatic transmission. Even though you may be proficient with a standard, you may not have experience shifting with your left hand from the driver's seat on the right side of the car with the car driving in a lane opposite what is "normal" to you. Believe me it is worth the convenience in not having to concern your self with one more thing. Driving on the opposite side with cars entering from different directions on roads with little or no shoulders can be confusing enough. BTW, I also recommend paying for no deductible insurance to cover things that could go wrong. The peace of mind is great. I like the idea about your giving up the car and taking a train when you can. A car is necessary to tour like you plan, but we were happy to give up our car as early as we could in Ireland and Scotland which has similar driving challenges.

While in Dingle you might consider attending a concert at the St. James Church (7:30 on Mondays, Wednesday, and Friday). We found them entertaining and still had time for pub music.

While in Dublin you might consider a tour to Bru na Boinne or Newgrange, a UNESCO World heritage site that dates to 3.200 BC and is one of the oldest and largest Neolithic burial chambers with a guaranteed entry into a tomb older than the Egyptians pyramids or Stonehenge! Mary Gibbon offers tours from Dublin https://www.newgrangetours.com/. This visit was one of the most memorable things we did in our week-long trip to Ireland two year ago. It is not often you can still get up close and personal to such a historic place. We gave up some time in Dublin to do this, but didn't really miss much in Dublin which is a nice city to visit but then again another large town while many of the things that interested me and were memorable were in Ireland were outside Dublin. That said, you may want to tour Guinnes - it really does taste different in Ireland!.

I realize that I never posted a trip report.

Here are some images: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmH1VP72

We had a fabulous time. This was our itinerary

Arrive Shannon from London – rent an automatic car, get the drive on the left wristband to remind you what to do. Take photos of the left side of the car which is probably already scratched.

Drive to Dingle and explore for two nights
• Concert at St. James' Church (7:30, traditional music) – did not go, looks great
• The new Reel Dingle and the Fish Box are each excellent
• Ice cream, of course
• Visited many of the pubs and met locals. I won’t give recommendations: some people like the cats and rats and elephants, others like twiddledede, and others like a snug and a conversation. Get a half pint and move on until you find one that you like.
• O’Flaherty’s Bar for real traditional music – arrive a bit late and the music will be in full swing
• Slea Head Tour of Dingle Peninsula full day tour – worth the money. Sure, you can drive it yourself, but you will miss a lot while you focus on driving

Drive to Doolin
• We followed the Wild Atlantic Way signs for most of the drive – really enjoyed it.
• Connor Pass
• Tarbert Ferry – super fun
• Kilrush
• Kilkee
- Cliff walk
- Loop Head Peninsula and lighthouse- YES, YES, YES worth the detour on a nice day.
• Lahinch golf course – fun to stop for coffee in town and take a peek, you can play the inland course for not much money or the ocean course for $$$$
• Dinner at Gus O’Connors: we had two meals here, each excellent. Stick to the left side of the pub for a nice meal. The right side is packed, if that’s your thing. Dan is the manager and he’s a great guy. Ask him about his time in the US; turns out he lived in my tiny hometown and has many fans here.
• Doolin Music House – lovely evening
• Heart of Burren Walks with Tony Kirby - #1 thing to do in Ireland. Truly. Would have gone on a second tour or some of the hikes in his book if we had more time.
• We walked above town at sunset and had a lovely view of the castle and islands.
• Get to the cliffs an hour before sunset and walk off to the left. Don’t climb over the rock barrier. Really, don’t.
• Boat to Inis Mor from Doolin with a pass by the cliffs on a sunny day. Lovely.

Next time – we will start in Doolin (we just love it there, its magical), go to Galway, and continue around the country clockwise.

Tour Dublin
• We picked up Kells and Gaol tickets at the last minute.
• We had an awful (damp, unkempt, oddly laid out) AirBNB that we escaped. The owner was not super-fast about refunding our money until we sent him a set of photos. It’s a shame, with $1,000, some cleaning, and a few touches it could be nice. But for the damp. Lesson: always take good photos and be pleasantly insistent. His description in no way matched the place.
• Spent a few hours in the Post Office – fascinating and confusing history
• We walked all over the city. Should have contacted some of Rick’s recommended guides beforehand to get a better tour - Dublin is full of hidden history
• I realized that I don’t like Dublin much. I am not sure if it’s the people or what. I have been there three times, and I am Irish, but I just don’t find it that interesting a place to visit. Two of my kids went to Trinity; next time I will bring them along.

Overall, we loved Ireland and are already planning to return to The West.

john loved your photos and sounds like the trip was a winner. We also enjoyed Gus OConnors pub in Doolin, we stayed at the Daly House just up the alley and her Grandfather had the pub at one time. We enjoyed the music and food in the pub and were right in the fray on the "right side" lol. Glad you enjoyed the Doolin Music House, its a bit different and works well to start the evening there and then wander into Gus' pub! You might check out Daly's House when you return!