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Thoughts on Itinerary

Posted by (Florida) on

Hello! This is my first post but have read through many questions and recommendations on itineraries. I'd love input on mine. For starters, my husband and I are near 60 and live an active lifestyle. We love off the beaten path (if such a thing exists) areas, hiking, culture, some museums and off course, food and pubs. Is this itinerary too aggressive? Is there anything we shouldn't miss? This trip all started with our desire to go the Isle of Man to see the TT motorcycle races. So we booked three nights there early last year. I suggested we go spend time in Ireland along with doing this, so here is what we have planned out so far. Oh yes, should I go ahead and book hotels/B&B all ahead of time or can we just book as we go?

3 nights - Dublin (no car; ferry to Isle of Man)
3 nights - Isle of Man
2 nights - Belfast (the ferry only goes here on the day we leave Isle of Man; late arrival hence two nights) Pick up car
The nights above are fixed due to traveling to Isle of Man. The rest below is "open."
1 night - Portrush
2 nights - Donegal
2 nights Clifden ( is the distance from Donegal too far; am I missing something we should see?)
1 - night open?? We were thinking of taking the flight to the Arann Islands so we just need to decide where to stay.
3 nights - Killoglin to visit Dingle Peninsula and Killarney National Park
2 nights - Killkenny
1 night - Dublin, fly home the next day

Any ideas would be truly appreciated.
Thank you!

Posted by
49 posts

You should make sure you can pick a car up in Belfast and return it to Dublin since those are 2 different countries.

Posted by
2980 posts

There's a pretty substantial one-way drop charge for picking up the car in Belfast and then dropping it in Dublin. You'll want to sort that out first to see if it's really worth it to you, otherwise consider relying on a day tour from Belfast up to the Portrush/Giant's Causeway area and then taking the train down to Dublin to collect your car there. You could also continue on the train to Galway and pick up your car there. Either way I think you may want to trim things down a bit to avoid running yourselves ragged trying to see everything on your list.
Donegal is the outlier so I'd start there. If you took the train to Galway you could drive up to Clifden and base there for a few nights, which would allow you to do your day trip over to Inishmore as well as exploring Connemara.
From there it's a pretty easy drive down to Killorglin (good choice), thence along the south coast to Kilkenny and returning the car in Dublin. One-way drop charges within the Republic are pretty cheap so logistically that might be the way to go.
Booking ahead for accommodations is our preference, but everyone travels differently so you may be comfortable winging it. Keep in mind that the big influx of travelers from the US will be arriving as soon as schools let out for the summer, so things will start to get crowded in early June

Posted by
5 posts

Thank you both for the replies!

I was able to hold a rental car in Belfast and return it to Dublin for an additional 120£. However, I do like the idea of the train back to Dublin or the Galway route. I'm going to check into it and see what the difference in cost will be.

The trip will overlap into June, so I am inclined to at least have reservations on hold. I currently have accommodations held for the first part of the trip.

Again, thank you!

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