We are planning a trip to Ireland next June. I originally planned to Fly into Dublin, rent a car and drive to the Cashel area to spend the night. After seeing the Castle there we would drive to the Dingle area for 3 days. Next we would leave for the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren area and spend the night in that area. Then drive back to Dublin to spend three days there before starting the rest of our trip. In looking at the map, the airport is north of Dublin. We arrive at about 7am. Should we rent the car and drive just north and go to Bru na Boinne in the morning, then drive to the Galway area in the afternoon? We would then do the itenerary in reverse order. Is any or all of that doable? Nothing has been booked yet, so any advise would be very helpful.
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9371 posts
Either way works fine. If you choose to stay near Dublin the first night and do Bru Na Boinne in the morning (good strategy for doing Bru Na Boinne, by the way), I can recommend a beautiful B&B in Navan, Killyon Guesthouse. On one of my trips, I drove straight from the airport to Bru Na Boinne, then saw Monasterboice (near Drogheda), and ended up in Navan for the night. In June, though, it would be best to do Bru Na Boinne in the morning to beat the tour buses. You could maybe do Trim and its castle on arrival day, then spend the night in Trim or Navan.
Posted by
Spring, Texas
635 posts
If you go right to Newgrange/Knowth, you'll be there when it opens and you'll beat the tour buses. I recommend you see both and that will keep you busy until noon or 1 pm. You can then see more sights in the Brun na Boinne area or go see the castle at Trim. I think it makes more sense to see these sights on your way out of Dublin rather than when you are coming back. I wouldn't recommend trying to drive to Cashel on your first day. That's a fairly long drive to try to make jet lagged and especially true if you are adjusting to driving on the "wrong side of the road."