Week Long Western Itinerary Without a Car

Posted by Kate (New York, NY) on 09/03/18 02:08 PM

Hello! I’m planning a (rather last minute) week long vacation to western Ireland and am looking for itinerary guidance plus any food/special experience/lodging recommendations you might like to share. I’ll be there in the second week of October, traveling without a car, as a single female tourist.

My current plan is:
Day 1: Fly into Cork Airport (I could also travel to Shannon Airport, if preferable), explore Cork (or other town you recommend), and travel to Killarney for overnight stay
Day 2: Day Tour to the Dingle Pennisula on tour bus TBD
Day 3: Low key morning exploring town and self-directed travel from Dingle or Killarney to Galway
Day 4: Day Tour to Connemara with Lally Tours
Day 5: Day Tour to Aran Islands with Lally Tours (just transport, tour is self-directed)
Day 6: Day Tour to Coast of Moher with Lally Tours and bus to Dublin
Day 7: Fly home from Dublin (Dublin is significantly cheaper than the West Coast airports and the Lally Tours package includes the three day tours and journey back to Dublin for what seems to be a reasonable $118.)

I enjoy cultural sights (Museums! Old homes! Churches! Ruins!), stunning vistas, and trying to get a sense of the actual place I’m visiting. I’ve attempted to design this itinerary so I can utilize the preplanned tours to access the gorgeous nature, cultural sights, and maybe a couple of the smaller Irish towns without a car, while also not just running from location to location and spending all day, every day on a coach bus.

Does this itinerary hit on the sites you’d recommend for this length of time/season/region? Do you have any particular guidance on Days 1-3? Sub-questions include: Should I skip Killarney and find a tour to the Dingle Pennisula from Cork for Day 2? Is skipping the return return coach from Dingle, staying overnight, and making my way to Galway the next day a nice way to slow down the journey and add some actual engagement beyond the coach journey or an unnecessary travel headache? Is there a different smaller town I should try and visit/overnight at along the way? Is there a great special experience I should sub-in for one of these days such as a guided hike (I won’t hike alone) or a cooking class?

Thank you very much for any guidance!

Posted by Anita

RIchmond, BC,Canada

09/05/18 03:41 PM

933 posts

It seems you really only have five full days on the ground, and you are trying to cover a lot of ground without a car. Cork is the better place to fly into if you don't have a car as getting from Shannon airport to Killarney by bus is quite time consuming, and Cork has the train which will make it easy to get to Killarney or other places. Personally, I wouldn't spend any time in Cork, but you might consider taking the bus to Kinsale as it only takes an hour. Once in Killarney you can easily use up your three day tours from there including one to Dingle. Getting to Dingle from Killarney on public transit is also going to take up too much of your limited time so I would suggest just staying in Killarney. Trying to get to Galway from Dingle would be a travel headache and eat up most of a day. Getting to Galway from Killarney is also time consuming but I would suggest taking the train from Killarney and maybe making an overnight stop in Kilkenny to break up the journey, but you have limited time for too many stops. To simplify things it might be best to just go to Killarney as soon as you land, spend enough time there to do a day trip to Dingle, and maybe one to the Gap of Dunloe, then take the train to Galway and do a day trip from there to the Aran Islands. Personally, I spent four days in Killarney and still didn't get to see everything I wanted to so don't be afraid to spend your entire time in Killarney. A lot of people will tell you to avoid Killarney as it's very touristy, but I quite enjoyed it, and it's not like you are going to be hanging around the town all day. If you are flying out of Dublin you might want to allow time there to do a day trip to Newgrange or somewhere else and skip the Galway area on this trip. Just try to limit the time you spend on public transit in order to spend more time seeing the sights. Take a look at the bus and train schedules before making any decisions about where to go. You can`t sign up for a day trip if you have a bus or train to catch that leaves before the tour is done.