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Thoughts on itinerary for 11 day trip to Ireland

Posted by (Newfoundland,Canada) on

Will be visiting Ireland for the first time, late September/early October. Travelling with 2 friends(all in our 50’s). We will not be driving. Would appreciate your thoughts on our itinerary. 2 places I would also love to visit are Rock of Cashel and Newgrange but cannot see how we can fit either into our schedule.

Day 1: arrive Dublin at 0730. Take train to Killarney (2 nights), visit Muckross House.

Day 2: Gap of Dunloe

Day 3: take a bus tour from Killarney to Dingle Peninsula, stay in Dingle (2 nights)

Day 4: Dingle, hike and explore the town

Day 5: take bus from Dingle to Doolin , a long ride requiring 2 or 3 changes but gets us there around
1:30: Visit Cliffs of Moher

Day 6: are ferry from Doolin to Inishmore for the day, returning via Rossaveel to Galway ( 3 nights)

Day 7: day tour to Connemara and Kylemore Abbey

Day 8: Explore Galway, maybe take the bus to visit Dunguaire Castle, see Trad on the Prom show

Day 9: take morning train to Dublin (3 nights). Explore Dublin

Day 10: Dublin

Day 11: take day tour to Belfast and Giants Causeway

Day 12: return home

Does this sound reasonable or are trying to see too much??

Posted by
34 posts

The Dunguaire castle tour is very good, and we stayed for the medieval dinner show, a bit pricey but worth the splurge because it was a great show with really good food and unlimited wine. We were told it was full, but some people cancelled and we got in just fine. We really liked the Inishmore Island, had a great hop-on hop-off driver who was a local and knew some great history. You will have a great time.

Posted by
771 posts

I think that it sounds good. You seem to be alternating day tours with walking around days so you're not on busses all the time. I think that Cashel is too far out of your way to make a reasonable side trip. The only way to fit Newgrange in would be if you could find an early or late tour from Dublin on day 10, that would still leave you time to see some more of the city. But by then, you may be happy to not have one more thing scheduled. Enjoy, and if you don't do everything you planned, you'll still have a wonderful time.

Posted by
345 posts

Newgrange is pretty amazing if you can manage to fit it in. As someone mentioned, you might get a day tour on your Day 10. The Mary Gibbons Newgrange day tour was wonderful; also recommended by RS. There are also some half-day tours by other operators. You should be ok waiting to decide until a couple days in advance and see what you are up for.

Although this is well beyond my knowledge, from what I remember when I looked into various options last summer, your day 6 plan of going to Inis mor from Doolin but returning via Rossaveel sounds like an efficient idea but might get complicated. I believe you will be dealing with two totally separate ferry companies. If it is October, then the ferries have fewer sailings and perhaps more weather cancellations. If you are bringing luggage with you, do you have a place to store it while on the island? I hope it works out.

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