Ireland

If you are flying in from the states, majority of people use Dublin. Shannon is lovely and an easy airport but there are not as many flight arriving there. Not sure though if I would want to use either as a base for touring.

We had a friend meet us in Ireland. She flew from the US to Dublin and then took a small plane to the Kerry airport. Her ticket ended up costing the same as ours and we only flew to from the US-Dublin. Kerry County would be a great place for a "home base". There are short drives to towns close to Dublin or Shannon in which to use as a base as well. It also just depends on which area of the country you want to concentrate on seeing.

Depends on what you want to see. We have done numerous trips to Ireland, several Dublin and home from Shannon, several Dublin and home from Dublin. What do you intend to see? If is just coast, Dingle, Kerry, then Shannon. If want to see Cashel, Cobh, then Dublin. Let us know what you want to see and maybe can give better advice. It is great country.

I am toying with the idea of flying into Dublin,using mass transit for a couple days to see some things and then renting a car to drive down to Shannon to fly out. We have two weeks.There are three people in their sixties in our party. First time in Ireland. What would be a good itenerary on our drive down to Shannon that includes some quaint historic rual villages with plenty of Pubs.

That would be a good plan. I've done it that way myself twice (well, in the opposite direction one of those times). You would benefit by checking out a variety of guidebooks to see what interests you along the way. We don't know your interests, so we can't guess what might be a good stop for your party. You can use www.viamichelin.com to see the estimated driving times from place to place (add about 25% to their time estimates to get a more accurate picture, since Irish driving can be slowww). As far as "plenty of pubs", you won't have a problem there. :)