After leaving Dublin, we have 5 nights to tour Ireland. Yes, we will rent a car. While we know we want to go to the Dingle area, and likely the Doolin area, we do not know where to begin....we rent the car in Dublin and leave for...??? We prefer beautiful scenery, quaint towns, rather than cities. Can anyone give us a day by day type of agenda as for driving and where to spend the nights? We will need to fly to LOndon at the end of the 5 days. All this from June 16 through June 21 (fly to London).
Thank you...
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9363 posts
You should start by going to your local library and looking at several different guidebooks. Many offer "sample" itineraries of varying lengths. Once you determine what you might like to see we can better help you determine where to stay and what order to do things in. There are so many possibilities that your question is difficult to answer as it is right now. Good luck!
Posted by
Gig Harbor, Washington, USA
1819 posts
Check out the website irelandexpert.com. It has a Q and A section, similar to this one, plus loads of other information, all specific to Ireland. While most Irish roads are slow going, you can still see quite a bit of the western more scenic side in five days. Keep in mind that the entire country is about the size of Ohio.
Posted by
Kansas City
30 posts
You haven't given much of idea of what you prefer but I'll take a swing at your request:
I did a similar trip last year. For me, five days is only enough time to cover one region. I agree with your choice of Dingle- great scenery, music and people.
The shopping and food are fairly good but weren't as high on my list of "wants".
Unless you have extensive experience driving abroad, on the other side of the car/road, I would keep my driving to a minimum, especially in Dublin- which has a pretty decent public transport system.
I took the train from Dublin (Heustin Station- not downtown) to Kilarney where I rented a car.
The train ride is few hours with a few stops and slices through the heart of Ireland. Not the most dramatic or best scenery but a nice sample of the interior.
Kilarney would make a nice base for the Ring of Kerry and/or Dingle. I stayed one night here and had a good time, very good food.
Car rental prices and driving in Dublin was not an appealing option to me. Not to mention, the driver would miss a lot scenery. Kilarney offered a rental bargain and comparatively easy road to get used to the "backwards" nature of driving on the left side.
I chose to spend a night in Dingle- glad I did.
I prefer the Ring of Dingle and Dingle town to the Ring of Kerry. ROK will be very busy in June. Ring of Dingle will be busy but less so and fairly easy to drive- especially if you get GPS navi.
Dingle is a small fishing village that seems to need and appreciate visitors. Don't miss live, trad music and brace yourself for genuine Irish friendliness.
Posted by
OP
coral springs, FL, USA
15 posts
Thank you for your reply. after dingle, where did you go? where /how did you leave ireland?
your trip does not seem to have been 5 days...??
thank you