Slow & Steady Agenda - June 2018

My kids were older when we went last summer (11 and 8) but they really enjoyed Dublinia in Dublin as well as the playgrounds in st stephen's green. We did not make it to it but there is a leprechaun museum too. In Killarney, we took in a sheep herding demonstration at Kissane farms. We also rented bikes in Killarney national park. There is an aquarium in Dingle that gets great reviews. We did the fungi the dolphin cruise in the harbour and that was ok. Bunratty folk park was great fun as well.
Enjoy your trip!

Thank you Sharon!

These suggestions are great - I will look into them. I had read a little about Fungi the Dolphin and was curious to hear more about it from people who have done the cruise. The sheep herding demonstration sounds right up our alley - the parks too. Thank you!

Instead of moving around so much while on the west coast I would pick a location, maybe close to the Dingle Peninsula, and rent a house. That way you get a feel for how the locals live and with two cars you will have a lot of flexibility for day trips....or not. We rented a wonderful four bedroom house overlooking Inch Beach close to the village of Annascaul and settled in for three weeks. It was fabulous! I find being on the move all of the time exhausting and especially doing it with three small children. You would have room to spread out, a washer, full kitchen and a yard with Inch's sandy beach at your fingertips!

Hi Mary - on our June visit 6 years ago, we had a cottage just outside of Dingle which worked fantastically. It was tiny, big enough for 2 but not for 9. While you're in the area, one of the highlights (and this might be too much for the younger kids, and maybe even for the adults) was a trip to Skellig Michael island, off the tip of the next peninsula south of Dingle. After a boat ride out past Little Skellig (inhabited only by thousands and thousands of seabirds), we landed on "big" Skellig Michael, where puffins and other seabirds abound, and had time for a long climb up stairs to the isolated site of ancient monks' beehive huts and the remains of a small medieval church. Even if you don't climb all the way to the top, the views and the experience are unforgettable.

On the boat trip over, one young woman got seasick, so the water's not always perfectly smooth. Rick Steves' guidebook has recommended boat trip operators and other info.

Thank you all! Yes, we are looking at AirBnB in the Dingle area - we had planned to stay in one house for 4-5 nights on the Dingle peninsula (we also debated using Killarney or Kenmare as a home base...) and day trip while on the coast...rather than moving locations every other night.

We've found a nice option on the Dingle Peninsula about 20 min outside of the town. The views look spectacular - but, I'm wondering if we will want to be closer to town? I'll look into the Inch Beach area, it sounds lovely!

The boat trip to Skellig Michael sounds incredible - I'll look into that as well! These suggestions are great, thank you!

One note: the boats that have landing rights at Skellig Michael are highly regulated and tend to book up early, so if you have your heart set in searching for Luke Skywalker you need to book well in advance. There are several excursion boats that will take you out and around the islands, including one that leaves daily (depending on the sea state) from the Skellig Center over at Portmagee on Valencia Island. Those are quite nice too and you can typically wait until a day or two before (to check the weather) before you commit.

Either way it's a fun trip.

Mary....this is the property we rented

http://www.shamrockcottages.co.uk/properties/kerry/inch-350/

Oh, I didn't put Star Wars and Skellig Michael together - an added bonus! That is a great tip to know about the different options to see the island, thank you!

And, thank you for the link to the cottage where you stayed - it is charming! And, such a great location, especially for the kids. I haven't searched that site before, it looks like there are more options for the Dingle Peninsula than what I'm initially finding with AirBnB.

Robert's suggestions are right on. I'd phoned ahead from Dingle 2 or 3 days ahead and booked my Skellig trip while in Dingle with Des Lavelle (mentioned in Rick Steves' guidebook, and they also had flyers at the Dingle Tourist Information office). He's a long-time local historian, diver, author, and boat captain, and departs from the dock at Valencia Island . . . closer to Dingle and he gives you plenty of time to explore Skellig Michael.

Valentia Island is also worth a look while you're there. On the north shore are some Tetrapod tracks in the coastal rock . . . left hundreds of millions of years ago by a prehistoric creature. Be sure to get/take lunch with you if you go to Skellig Michael -- it was isolated 1300 years ago and still has no restaurants or other conveniences.