Thank you in advance for any suggestions. My husband and I will be flying in/out of Dublin and staying in Ireland for 15 days from Mid-May to early June. We will have a car and I have been to several countries where I've driven on the left side of the road. We plan to take some small group tours to places of interest because we enjoy the information provided by guided tours. Should we stay in 3-4 cities and take day tours (either self driven or tours) or drive to new cities/towns every 1-2 days? This is our first trip to Ireland.
Posted by
Chicago
1281 posts
To me, the answer is obvious, with some qualifiers....
If you can do day trips (which means you're not in it for the evening hours or nightlife)
then doing day trips will save a lot of time that would otherwise be spent packing, moving,
checking in, getting the lay of the land, etc.
Staying longer in one place might allow you to rent an apartment, which would save on
meal expenses, allow you to do laundry, etc.
Of course, if your itinerary as constructed would involve a lot of backtracking, then more cities
in a linear progression would save time as well.
I would think that if you based in the right 2-3 cities, you'd have a good selection of day
tours available to you.
Posted by
Mountains of S. Oregon
1144 posts
You've asked the question that is one of the more fought over issues of the travel world. In our younger days, we made exclusively one night stops (except Dublin). Now looking forward to our sixth trip, it's almost all two night stays. We did spend three nights in Cork and Belfast, as glaring exceptions. I'll let the other camp speak for themselves.
Most of the "things" we want to see/do are between the towns, and we don't really need to do much in an overnight spot except find a good pub with music, sleep, and breakfast. "Settling in" means opening our carry-on suitcases to get the toothbrush and fresh clothes. Definitely a more hectic approach, but we see far more and return home exhausted, which is why we take vacations.
Posted by
RIchmond, BC,Canada
1135 posts
I don’t think there is a hard and fast rule. I think it will depend on what you want to see in a particular area. So, places such as Dublin, Killarney, Galway that have a lot of things to see and do in close proximity will require longer stays. Smaller towns that may only have one or two sights of interest may only need one or two nights. I would suggest first making a list of the places you want to visit, then look at a map and see if there is a town that is central to enough sights that it would make sense to base yourself there for several days. Maybe take a look at the itinerary for Rick Steves Ireland tours to get an idea of where to start. Also look at other tour company itineraries that interest you and use them as a guide. Start your planning with what you want to see the most, and then figure out how many days you will need to stay in a location. Not the other way around. You will likely find you will have to shorten your list of sights because Ireland has so many wonderful things to see.
Posted by
OP
Oregon
2 posts
Thank you so much for the replies and suggestions. The planning is overwhelming, but doable. I just want to make sure we make the most of our time while there.
Posted by
Bellingham, WA
1767 posts
Anita is right on about making a list of the places things you want to see and do. Or just follow Rick's recommended 2-week itinerary:
https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/ireland/itinerary
This itinerary heavily favors the southwest. The most sensible approach is to do a loop, whether clockwise or counterclockwise. Ending up in Trim (or Malahide or Drogheda) does make a lot of sense for rental car return.
Have a great trip.