Please sign in to post.
Holiday Sale! Save 20% Storewide!

South/southwest itinerary help please

Posted by (USA) on

My husband and I are planning a 10-12 day trip to south/southwest Ireland in the summer of 2023. We want to have a good mix of traveling in our rental car and exploring shops, pubs, restaurants, sights, etc. We know we'll need at least 2-3 home bases but where?

We'd like to see the Dingle Peninsula, Ennis, the Ring of Kerry or the Ring of Beara (can't decide), Kinsale, maybe Cobh or Cork, and Galway.

We have an idea of towns/areas we want to see but we're not sure what routes we should take or the order to see them in our travels. I feel like we're all over the place. I'm pretty sure we'll fly into and out of Shannon and skip Dublin this visit.

Are there other must see towns in those general areas that I didn't mention? Should we narrow it down a bit more? How many days/nights would you recommend per area or home base? We don't want to overdo it and spend all day in the car just to get to the next place, if that makes sense.

Thank you!

Posted by
1930 posts

Hi Maggie,

We went south and bypassed Kinsale. It is a cute town but it seems like so many people go there and we wanted to get off the tourist track. Instead, we stayed in Castletownshend. We loved staying in the castle on the bay and going to the little pub up the street. But, we like very small towns/villages.

You might have to move more to see all the places on your list. I'm not sure you can see all you plan with just 2-3 home bases. Driving is difficult, narrow roads, curves, and slow going. Your GPS will not give actual times because the speed limits are actually much faster than you will actually drive (on smaller roads) so it may take hours longer. It might make more sense to just move more often and not worry about a home base. We moved every 2 nights and couple 3 nights stays and still felt like we did way too much driving. Hubby was exhausted by the end of our 15 day trip. We will plan more home bases on our next trip, but that being said, we'll also have to limit how far and wide our desire are. You could cut down your plan and stay longer, or drive more and move more often. Your desires seem too spread out for just a couple home bases.

You can stay in Kenmare and then see the Ring of Kerry and the Ring of Beara from there. Not so sure you can do a day trip to Dingle, that seems too far.

Not sure that is actually helpful, but I wanted to reply to your post.

Posted by
27 posts

Thank you so much, SusanandMonte. I apologize, I'm just seeing your reply to my original post. I appreciate your thoughts!

We've decided to fly into Dublin and spend the first 2 days there. Then we'll spend 2 days in each of these towns: Kinsale, Kenmare, Dingle, and finally Ennis for our last 2 days. We can't wait!

This topic has been automatically closed due to a period of inactivity.