Ireland for 20th Anniversary - help with itinerary please

You could visit Galway, Connemara, and Sligo on one trip, skipping Dingle and most of Country Clare, if you would like to see both ancestral locations. County Donegal---right next to County Sligo--is supposed to be even more beautiful and much less visited. When you arrive, head north, spending your first night in Bunratty (castle banquet is fun)or Ennis. Then head up to Galway and Connemara, then further north to County Sligo and / or Donegal (which also has high cliffs), finally heading southeast back to Dublin. Check distances by using the route planner at theaa.co.uk which I have found to be very accurate.

Hi, Patty: Congratulations on your 20th! A couple of suggestions - (1) Pick up your car at the airport. Shannon is a smallish airport and getting on the highway from the airport is easy. (2) Do NOT spend your first night in Limerick. It is a city and not a particularly appealing one. Instead, visit the Cliffs, Doolin, and the Burren on your first day before spending the night in the vicinity (Doolin or Ennis would be great choices). (3) Cashel, while spectacular, is way out of your way. Concentrate your time on the West Coast before heading east to Dublin. (4) Given that it's your anniversary, why not splurge for one night (or more) at a castle? There are deals to be had, and it would certainly be a memorable stay. Perhaps Ashford Castle north of Galway? Hope you have a great time!

Several comments:
1. You might want to consider going directly to the Cliffs and spending night #1 in Doolin. There's nothing interesting in Limerick -- it's just a dirty, crowded city. You could visit Bunratty Castle after you leave the airport, before heading for the Cliffs. It's just six miles from the airport and would be a good first try at driving on the other side of the road.

1. If you spend night #1 in Doolin, you'll save time in getting to Dingle by taking the Tarbert-Killimer car ferry instead of going around through Limerick.

2. Two nights in Dingle means only one full day, which might not be enough for you.

3. You might want to consider going from Galway to Cashel, and spending the night there instead of Athlone. It's about an even drive from Galway to Cashel and from Cashel to Dublin, and that way you can more easily fit Cashel into your plan. What time is your outgoing flight? Cashel to Dublin, dropping off the car, checking in, etc., is going to take half a day, so if your flight is early this won't work.

Connemara is a large area -- what part were you interested in seeing? It's not exactly a day trip from Galway.

It's about 50 miles, 90 minutes if you drive directly from Galway to Clifden, but you would probably want to take it more slowly and linger. (see rac.co.uk) It can be done as a day trip from either area. Lake Nafooey is absolutely gorgeous. How much you will enjoy Connemara really depends on the quality of the light on the day you drive. We were lucky enough to have a day with intermittent sunshine and clouds and it was incredibly beautiful.

A couple things ...

-I also recommend not spending your first night in Limerick. We spent our last night there before flying out of Shannon and we weren't too impressed. There are plenty of other great towns close by that would be much better to stay in.

-If you choose to stay in Athlone, I don't think you'll be disappointed. We were there on a Sunday (stopped for lunch and had a pint at Sean's Pub), so there wasn't much open, but it was a great town.

-I think Connemara can be done in a day. We drove around it as a day trip from Galway and got to see a lot. Luckily, it was a beautiful, sunny day.

THANK YOU all so much for your advice and suggestions. I don't think I can change the arrival and departure as my husband booked that part of the trip and I would hate to change to work that he put into it. So unless I can figure out a way out of the Limerick part, I may be stuck with that.

He also likes the idea of Athlone and Sean's pub, so I will keep that in...ditch the Cashel side trip and head straight to Dingle. Keeping the 2 nights in Dingle; one night in Doolin (Cliffs).

So now I need to decide... do we stay 2 nights in Galway and take day trips to Connemara; or do we stay one night in Galway and one in Oughterard, or two nights in Oughterard and day trip to Galway?

Oughterard and Galway are only about 30 minutes apart. I'm not sure I'd go to the trouble to move location for one night only to go 15 miles. You might want to go farther into Co. Galway, since you want to see Connemara anyway, and spend a night in Clifden instead.

As for getting out of the Limerick part, why not tell your husband what we had to say about it? I mean, you didn't ask us, we volunteered the information that we wouldn't stay there. You could also stay someplace like Lahinch and go south from there the next day, still taking the ferry across the Shannon.

As it happens, we're going to Ireland in September to celebrate our twenty-fifth anniversary (which was actually last Tuesday). Here's our two-week plan:

Arrive Shannon. Take bus to Galway.

Visit Innishmore by coach/ferry

Day trip to Cliffs of Moher

Drive to Letterkenney, Donegal, looking at some things along the way.

Two days in Donegal, Innishowen.

Drive to Belfast, stopping at Giant's Causeway

Botanic Garden in Belfast, other stuff

Drive to Dublin, stopping at New Grange, Hill of Tara

Day trip to Powerscourt

Two more days in Dublin: Book of Kells, Museum of Ireland, other stuff

Leave via Dublin

That works out to 3 nights in Galway, 3 nights in Letterkennny, 2 nights in Belfast, and 4 nights in Dublin.

Dav, Sounds like a great schedule.Will you be going to Glenveagh National Park while in Donegal?

Probably. Exactly what we're going to do in Donegal is still up in the air. We don't want to overplan.