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13 day Ireland Itinerary - August

Fly into Dublin, 2 nights in Dublin, drive to Powerscourt, Sally Gap, Glendalough and spend night in Kilkenny. Would like to check out Waterford the next day but Is the Rock of Cashel a must? Want to spend nights 4 and 5 in Kinsale. Debating whether to do the ROk or the Beara?? Will spend night 6 in Kenmare in either case. Plan on 2 nights in Dingle and then I need to be in Abbeyfeale for a day or two as this is where my relatives live (about 1 hour from Dingle). Would like to take ferry to the Cliffs and see Doolin, spend night 10 there or Galway. Need to spend night 13 in Shannon as we fly out from there the next morning. Is this too ambitious? Should I do the ROK or the Beara?

Posted by
9110 posts

The schedule will work. Cashel was not a highlight for me. Beara beats Kerry any day. We skipped Waterford sinc my wife's understanding was that the factory has moved to Poland and all that reamined was a store.

Posted by
1814 posts

I would suggest altering your itinerary so you have two nights in Kenmare. That would allow you a full day to enjoy the Beara Peninsula. The day you leave Kenmare, do the "jogging cars through the gap of Dunloe return by boat" tour (we got tickets for this in Killarney) and then drive on to arrive late afternoon in Dingle. We are not usually fans of organized tours but the scenery on this one was spectacular.

In County Clare, spend an hour or so seeing the Burren, very unusual and lots of wildflowers.

While in County Galway, give yourself time to take the boat out to Inishmore where you get to see Dun Aengus and the ruined seven churches. The scenery is also beautiful when driving around in Connemara. IMHO Galway City was good for shopping but not particulary interesting otherwise.

Your last night, enjoy the banquet at Bunratty Castle. Touristy of course, but it was lots of fun.

Posted by
635 posts

We took the small ferry out of Doolin to see the Cliff of Mohr from the water. It's a good 1 hour trip if you don't have a full day to see the Aran islands.

Posted by
253 posts

I was at the ROK last week and it was spectacular. I actually prefer it to Beara. Torc waterfall and Muckross House and Ross Castle are all worthwhile.There is a reason it is so popular. No reason for Waterford anymore, factory is gone, just a big gift shop now. I think Cashel is surreal and a must(tour is excellent) and Cahir Castle , 15 min away, is a great castle day fix and both can easily be done in 2 or 3 hours. Then off to Kinsale. I always spend the last night at a B&B on Bunratty Rd and dinner and Music at Durty Nelly's next to Bunratty Castle.