Has anyone spent time at the Matchmaking Festival? Did you have fun? I will be in Lisdoonvarna Friday and Saturday nights and plan to do some day sightseeing in the area during that time. I'll be taking public transportation from Dublin since I'm by myself. My first day/night Wednesday will be in Dublin. The next day I was hoping to stop in Tullamore for a few hours, just to look around, since that's where my grandmother is from, but from what I can tell, the bus fare is higher just to go to Tullamore than all the way to Galway, which is where I'm planning to spend my 2nd night Thursday. Is anyone familar with the bus/train schedules and fares? I don't have any plans after Sunday day in Lisdoonvarna. Should I take a bus back to Dublin and do a couple of day trips south to Killkenny(which eveyone writes so well of) and Newgrange? Or take a bus someplace else from Lisdoonvarna? Dingle? I like to just hang out and don't want to spend a ton of time and money on buses trying to see too much but also don't want to spend all my time in County Clare. Sunday and Monday are open, but need to be back in Dublin Tuesday pm. Any suggestions on buses fares and travel time would be helpful. Thanks!
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9363 posts
I always rent a car, so I don't have firsthand knowledge of the bus schedules and prices but you can find them at www.buseireann.ie. What are your plans for Friday and Saturday?
Posted by
OP
az
6 posts
My only definite plans are to be in Lisdoonvarna on Friday (Oct 1)since I have a room reserved for Friday and Saturday nights. From what I've read, I figure I'll use Lisdoonvarna as a base to see the Cliffs and Burren and maybe pop in to Doolin. I'm sure Lisdoonvarna will be active and touristy on the weekend, so I'm just going to play it by ear. Since I'll be traveling alone, I don't have any desire to rent a car. I don't think I would be able to enjoy the scenery while trying to shift opposite of the USA and remembering to stay on the other side of the road. Yikes! Now if anyone reading this, flies into Dublin on the 29th(I get in early am)or 30th and wants to share the cost of a car, I'm open to going any which way. At this point I just have a hostel dorm bed reserved on Oct 5th since I leave on the 6th. I posted on "looking for travel partners" only for pub hopping at the Festival. Does anyone recommend taking the bus someplace other than Dublin, when I get in at 8am? I'll check out Dublin but I'm not planning to do a lot of just pubbing and "gettin' drunk"...I think I did enough of that 30 years ago... ;-)