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Should I tweek or keep my itinerary!?!?! Help!

Posted by (Spring Hill, TN, USA) on

Hello all!

I am trying to decide if I have bitten off more than I can chew! I am headed to Ireland in the Fall. I fly in to Dublin for one day and fly to Scotland for a week. From Scotland, I fly in to Cork (already purchased) and rent a car (already booked).
(All below are one night stays).
Day 1: From Cork airport, I plan on driving to Macroom and staying the night just as a stopover.
Day 2: Drive to Kenmare.
Day 3: Drive to Tralee.
Day 4: Drive to Dingle.
Day 5: Drive to Cashel.
Day 6: Drive to Kilkenny.
Day 7: Drive just outside of Trim.
Day 8: Drive to Dublin airport, drop off car and fly home.

I know there is lots of driving involved and I plan on seeing sites along the way. I am an early riser so the drive doesn't bother me to stop during the day at whatever sparks the interest! :) This trip was also invested in the southern portion of Ireland. All accommodations have been made. The only one that required payment at the time of booking was my last day outside of Trim. I can cancel any or all to tweek the itinerary if needed. Any ideas as this is my first time to Ireland.

Posted by
398 posts

What time do you land in Cork? If it isn't too late, I'd just drive straight to Kenmare, skip Macroom. It's less than a two hour drive to Kenmare, and you'll be on a good secondary road for most of it (N22). So then your first two nights are in Kenmare.

Is there any reason why you want to stay in Tralee? Nothing against it, but I'd stay two nights in Dingle any day over splitting them up like that.

Definitely go to Cashel, but I don't see much reason to stay there. Personally, I'd rather drive the extra hour or so to Kilkenny and stay two nights there. I strongly prefer avoiding one night stops if possible.

I would do: nights 1 and 2 in Kenmare, nights 3 and 4 in Dingle, nights 5 and 6 in Kilkenny, night 7 Trim, day 8 fly home.

Posted by
81 posts

Hello Steve!

Thank you for all the information. I get in to Cork around 3:30 in the afternoon. I wasn't sure if it would get dark early to drive all the way to Kenmare. I also was hoping to look around Cork as well!

I will definitely look in to your ideas and you are right about staying 2 nights in one place. Day trips would be better.

Thank you!
Natalie

Posted by
9363 posts

I'm a little confused by your itinerary. You speak of stopping during the day at whatever, but most of your drives are very short. For example, Kenmare to Tralee is only about an hour or so. Cork to Macroom is an hour. Macroom to Kenmare, maybe an hour and a half. If it were me, I would not move from town to town every day unless I was driving a significant distance. You might want to consider cutting down on the number of destinations and doing some of the sightseeing as day trips. I don't think the area you are trying to cover is too big, but you are moving place to place unnecessarily.

Posted by
1189 posts

Hi from Wisconsin,
I think your length of drives is excellent. Too many people spend too much time driving. That said. There is no good reason to take the shortest route on these short drive days you outline. Get good maps of Ireland (Ordnance Survey Maps, they split the country into four sheets. You might only need two of the maps. They will show some of the megalithic tombs, castles, round towers, etc that you could spend a lot of time observing and absorbing.

I agree that Tralee never held any reason to spend a night. And Dingle plus the peninsula south of it called Beara sure does.

Cashel is impressive but is a one trick pony.

You don't mention the Ring of Kerry, and that I think is good. The ring is excellent for tour buses but not for cars. While Dingle and Beara are the reverse

wayne iNWI

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