Doolin to Portrush

Laura,
You are always so helpful. This is our only LONG trip that we have planned. I appreciate you sharing your experience of the route from Doolin to Dublin then north. I agree that so far Sligo, Donegal, Letterkenny, looks like the preferred route unless I hear otherwise. I have been reading about Donegal Castle, Sligo Abbey, and Newman's Flax and Corn Mill. I hope to hear some responses to "must do's" along the way to help break up the journey. Thank you

I just used Google maps to get driving suggestions; 3 routes came up. I'd go with the one that has you take N17. All 3 routes come up with similar times, too. One of the other choices have you take M6 and then a couple of other motorways & go from Galway to the loop around Dublin and then north via Belfast. We drove from Dublin to Galway, and frankly, that part of Ireland was the least pretty part of our whole trip. The third route has you go up through the center of the island. The one that is identified as N17 looks the best. N roads are fun to drive (similar to the Old Glenn & ER River road; sometimes wider, sometimes narrower). It takes you near the coast between Sligo & Donegal which might be a good place for a detour/stop. That looks like a really long day of driving. We never could have done that :) because we tend to see something intriguing and stop. We did that a lot! on our trip. You'll have to make a decision to just keep moving. I'd suggest you pick an interesting town for a lunch break and look at the sites there. If you leave Doolin early & plan on arriving in Portrush for dinner that leaves you some "oh we must stop for just a bit" stops besides your mid-day break.

We were disappointed that we couldn't fit in Northern Ireland in our 2 weeks. I guess we'll just have to go back! But first we want to go to Scotland and see more of Wales and England.