Trip in 2019 to Ireland

Love Eire. Not to put a damper on your trip but be forewarned public transport is time consuming.

I've driven the the entire island twice. Was there 3 years ago and drove from Belfast to Dingle and back. Took the bus from Belfast to Dublin airport and my flight back to the US. Born when Truman was in office so engaging a clutch was no problem, nor was driving on the left side of the road. Roundabouts take a few times to get the hang of but from then on easy as pie. On back roads slow down, watch for walkers, lorries and sheep.

I strongly urge you to reconsider getting a car rental. Driving allows to explore Ireland's beauty. Get an automatic 2 door or hatchback. I've used both via Hertz.

Oh, my drives were solo without GPS but that's just me. Have a preference for maps which I can peruse the night before and plan my route. Never got lost and saw some amazing places not on anyone's tourist list.

As far accommodation go the Bnb route. Lovely way to engage. Owners love sharing their wealth of information about the country's history, sites to see, etc.

Ireland is gorgeous. Take the time to let its beauty engulf you.

My 2 cents.

I would also strongly suggest you rent a car if you only have ten days, and you want to stay mostly in smaller towns. Getting around Ireland by bus and train is not hard, but it is time- consuming and it may be difficult to see some of the places you want to see without a car as public transit may not go there. Public transit carters to the locals, not tourists. I strongly suggest you start looking at bus and train schedules before deciding where to stay. You will find you will have to rely on guided day trips to get to some places you want to see, and it is easier to get day trips from the larger towns. B&Bs are better than hotels for that local experience, and trains are better than buses as they are more comfortable, and usually on time ( and faster). The problem you are going to have is that if you are going to use guided day trips to see the sights, and the train and bus to get from place to place is that their schedules don’t work well with each other. Sometimes the last bus to a particular town may leave before you get back from a day trip. These are things that made me decide to stay in places like Killarney and Galway instead of Dingle. I was there to see the sights, not sit on a bus getting from town to town.

Some places are very easy to get to by public transport. The train and bus system will get from Dublin to Northern Ireland, from Dublin to Galway, from Dublin to ........... fairly easily. What it doesn’t do quickly is move you from one destination to another quickly when it is not a direct shot.

We took quite a long bus ride from Derry to Galway. It had some pluses. I’m pretty sure we were the only Americans on it. We stopped in the center of several interesting towns and villages. I felt like I saw more of “the real Ireland”. The minuses- it took several hours to make a journey that could have been quicker, we were quite tired when we did arrive at our destination.

We took Dingle off of our itinerary for our last trip because it was one of the longer places to get to by public transport. It went on the “next time” list. A great place to go and stay that is a shorter journey and very accessible is the Aran Islands. Train from Dublin, shuttle bus to ferry, ferry to island and you have arrived at a beautiful spot. We stayed in the Glamping cabins just a few minutes walk from the dock. I highly recommend staying a night or two on the islands.

Also quick and easy to get to by public transport is the Causeway Coast area in Northern Ireland. Beautiful coastline with very efficient bus service between villages and towns.