Just started planning self drive trip with my Mom-excited but overwhelmed with amount of info available.
Looking for tips / suggestions for planning and ideas for itenerary
7 nights in early September flying in/out Shannon
Nothing booked yet. Mainly wanted to do B&B... and maybe castle one night!?
If Dingle is on your itinerary (and it should be), I can recommend Milltown House B&B. Operated by RS tour guide Stephen McPhilemy, it is a great place to stay in Dingle.
Here's what we did:
Flew into Shannon, traveled to Adare Village for coffee and also visited Adare Manor (hotel w/ pretty grounds), then continued to the Rock of Cashel for a tour, then went south to Kinsale (stayed at the Old Presbytery Inn.....LOVED it...request the first floor room with the little balcony looking over the private parking courtyard....very quiet). Then continued toward the coast toward Dingle.
Without digging out a map to remind myself, so the order might be off on the following, we saw the following (and more that I don't recall the names of right now): Dingle, Caha (sp?) Pass (lovely), Connor's Pass, Kenmare, Muckross House (wish we could have spent more time there...beautiful), then on to Dromoland Castle for a two-night stay (don't miss the lovely walled garden, and it's nice to have one of your dinners there.
Then we went over to Doolin to see the Cliffs of Moher (stayed at a small B&B), then the next day headed north after a visit to The Burren, stopped in Galway for lunch (walked along Key Street, full of street performers, cute shops), then headed to the Connemara region (which is an absolutely lovely drive), stopped by Kylemore Abbey (we were short on time, but pace yourself so you can visit it...looked absolutely lovely). If I were to do over, I might add a night in Galway so as to arrive in the Connemara region earlier.
Then after the lovely drive thru the Connemara region, we had a two-night stay at Ashford Castle (which was incredibly wonderful). We made advance reservations for the Hawk Walk, which is an experience where one learns to launch and land their own hawks, after learning a bit about how the hawk lives and eats, etc. That experience is organized thru the School of Falconry at Ashford. We enjoyed most meals at Ashford, but walked into the village of Cong the first night for a meal at a local pub.
For a castle, it's a hard decision between Dromoland and Ashford...both are different. Try to do both (check their web sites for specials, and if they don't have one posted for your time, email them and likely they will offer a special to you), but if I had to choose just one, I would go with Ashford Castle. It's much larger and more castle-like. Both castles offer a variety of activities and both have lakes/water activities, too. We rode bikes one afternoon at Dromoland, which was fun, too.
After the two-night stay at Ashford, we met one of my Irish cousins for the first time, and we were then in their hands for the next two days to see the cottage where my grandmother was raised, etc. in County Roscommon. We overnighted in Tubbercurry at a nice B&B whose owners helped me to locate my cousin.
But, then we returned to the Shannon area the last day to be poised for our flight home. The drive more in-land back to Shannon showed us acres and acres of farmland all bordered by lovely stone fences. You'll see the stone walls all over Ireland, but the drive down to Shannon was different than along the coastal areas. The last night we stayed in Bunratty at the Bunratty Castle Hotel (it is NOT a castle, it is just a more modest hotel, but nice enough, that is located near the castle and close for an easy morning drive to the airport. But, while in there, we visited the Bunratty Folk Park, which as my cousin advised, is as close to what Ireland would have been like during the time in which my grandmother grew up. We thoroughly enjoyed the folk park.
You will have more time that we did, so you can go at a slower pace and absorb more. If I had more time, I would have stayed the a night in the Dingle area, too.
We hired two different drivers (in addition to my cousin's kind hospitality for that of family touring), and if you might be interested in doing that, we can send you info on Tony (who was the wonderful driver we hired for most of the journey).
Enjoy your time in Ireland, it really is beautiful and the people are so very kind.
When you're not at your B&B, are you planning to do some sightseeing, and possibly stay in more than one place over those 7 nights? Are you ready for narrow roads and driving on the left side of the road? Other options could include, hiring a guide company who can drive you in their vehicle on some days, or going by bus/coach (Bus Éireann), or other means -- we did it by bicycle & bus, but that took 2 weeks.
For northern County Clare, including the Cliffs of Moher and the wondrous Burren region, plus a truly fabulous breakfast, look no farther than the Crosswinds B&B a couple of miles outside of Lisdoonvarna (www.crosswinds-lisdoonvarna.com ).
Farther south in Clare, the Berry Lodge is a fine B&B, and you can even arrange to take a cooking class there from Rita, the owner ( www.berrylodge.com ).
The Dingle Peninsula and Dingle town are not to be missed!
If you can make it farther south in County Kerry, and if the sea is calm enough that boats are making the crossing that day, definitely go see Skellig Michael and Little Skellig - spectacular, isolated islands off the coast with puffins and other seabirds, and the remains of ancient settlements. With a bike or car, An Bonnán Buí in Cahersiveen ( I don't find an individual Website, but do a search and several booking Websites come up) was great for a B&B, but getting a room in Portmagee would be closer to the boat departure docks.
If you want a B&B close to Shannon for the night before your departure, look in nearby Sixmilebridge or Bunratty. The latter has a castle with castle dinners, but you can't stay in it overnight.
We have enjoyed the western side of Ireland several times. IMHO, a figure 8 route out of Shannon works well. (You can do this either direction. ) From Shannon, head north to Connemara. If you want a city stop, you could do an overnight in Galway. We stayed at Ballynahinch Castle Hotel out by Roundstone. It was lovely, not horribly expensive, compared to places like Ashford. Connemara is beautiful and rather remote (keep your gas tank filled for this part of Ireland - many of the gas stations in the tiny towns have gone out of business) .
For the southern part of the figure 8, split your time between Dingle and Kenmare. In Dingle, we loved Castlewood B and B ( very popular, needs to be booked well ahead). Kenmare is conveniently located for both the Beara Peninsula and the Ring of Kerry. We stayed at Tahila Cove, a few miles from Kenmare.
