Hello - my friend and I are planning on doing the 7 day RS Ireland tour, October, which meets/ starts in Ennis. First time in Ireland.
We are most likely flying into and out of Dublin .we plan on trains to get from Dublin to ennis.
we want to add some days to beginning of trip , get acclimated and see a little more of Ireland that isn’t on our tour.
if come 3 nights early, trying to decide where/how to spend the first 2 nights (plan to use the 3rd night to be in Ennis a night ahead). Based on train routes and times, Thought about getting on direct train to cork after the flight, spend 2 nights, check out the town and cobh, blarney castle?
Is cork worth a visit?
Perhaps we should instead go north to Belfast ?
Will spend 2 nights in Dublin at end as part of the tour, plus 1 more, before we fly out.
I’ve thought of Galway also as a possible initial destination, but maybe too close/similar to ennis?
Posted by
Lincolnshire, UK
2851 posts
It depends on whether you want to be based in a city or see more of the countryside. County Galway and particularly Connemara is wonderful and scenically I prefer it ti Dingle and Kerry. Assuming you won't have a car for those days there are a couple of excellent day trips you can do from Galway itself.
https://wildatlanticwaydaytours.com/tours/connemara-national-park-day-tour-from-galway/
https://wildatlanticwaydaytours.com/tours/connemara-national-park-day-tour-from-galway/
Posted by
Mountains of S. Oregon
1038 posts
I don't know the tour itinerary, but I assume you'll see lots of the countryside.
We passed on visiting Cork until our fifth Ireland trip, and we were pleasantly surprised. We thought it would be just a smaller Dublin.
Two nights only gives you one day, so Cobh would gobble all you time up. Taking the train to Cobh is fairly scenic and it will consume most of a day, seeing the Titanic Experience, Queenstown Walk, and we took a walking tour called the Titanic Trail.
Whatever else you do in Cork, get to Sin é (check http://www.theleesessions.com/index.php) for the music, usually at 6:30pm. Get there early and don't sit in the very back corner, because you'll lose the booth to the musicians. Cork has several nice self-guided walking tours (although the signage is less than impressive). English Market is cool and we were impressed with The Butter Museum (of all things!).
I think Belfast would be wonderful but for just two nights, you're travelling across the entire country? At least Cork is sort of on the way to Ennis. Galway and Kilkenny are both on the Irish Rail routes, so either would be easy to consume two nights. Ennis is also very nice. You'll enjoy anywhere you end up, as long as you don't collide with the tour stops.
Posted by
California Central Coast 🐚
464 posts
We found lots to do in Cork for a day before we flew out of Cork to London. Butter Museum was actually fascinating, especially the video at the beginning. We explored the English Market. We saw St. Finn Barre Cathedral and had an amazing meal at Pardiso.
Posted by
Bellingham, WA
1541 posts
My recollection is that the tour starts in the afternoon in Ennis. You could stay all three nights in Cork and take the train to Ennis in plenty of time. A quick check of the Irish Rail site suggests it takes about 2.5 hours with a change in Limerick.
With two full days, you could see both Cobh and Blarney. I swore I would never kiss that stupid stone (and I didn't), but my friend insisted, and I have no regrets about visiting the castle and its beautiful grounds. We were lucky in that we had a near-cloudless sky on a brisk day in March, so no crowds, no rain. Great conditions.
Agree about Sin-é for music. We stayed around the corner. As luck would have it, the bus to Blarney picked us up across the street from the pub. I think the bus ride is about 30 minutes. I think we went to the English Market for lunch after we got back, so it wasn't an all-day excursion.
If went to Galway instead, you could do an Aran Islands visit, as well. I'm not familiar with Galway, so I can't offer much advice there.
You really can't wrong with whatever you decide to do.