Only 3-4 nights outside of Dublin

Starting and must end in trip Dublin for a short visit(2 days in Dublin) and have to spend the last night(night 7) near the airport but can arrive late evening. Initial Thoughts: 1st Day: Friday - Rock of Cashel, Lismore then spend the night in Kinsale 2nd Day: Sat. - Leave Kinsale in afternoon, thru Killarney to Dingle to spend the night in Dingle 3rd Day: Sunday - Dingle 2 nights, or stay somewhere in Clare area(Cliffs of Moher-Doolin,Ennis)
4th Day: Monday - Galway & Apparitian site in Knocks How much driving is that? Too much? Should we forget Galway and just stay in Lismore, Kinsale, Bantry, Dingle but then the drive back to Dublin might be long? Help

Small island. Give or take traffic and your speed the time between Dingle and Dublin is a little over 4 hours. From Galway keeping mind the same factors it's about 2.5 hours to Dublin. Your itinerary sounds fine.

Thank you Claudia! My husband has a work trip to Ireland so I am tagging on towards the end. We have too many kids at home to take a long trip. I arrive on a Thurs. and we have 2 hotel evenings paid for by his co. in Dublin (Thurs./Fri). So only 3 days outside of Dublin before we need to wind up there on Tuesday to get an early flight on Wed. We find that we love the smaller towns rather than larger cities, all things history & religion, good food and chatting with locals. Won't get back for at least a decade.... Questions: 1. I hear almost nothing per Rick or Fodors or internet about Knock and the Apparitian Site of Mary. Feel it would be such a shame to miss it but is this work seeing? 2. Should we just bite the bullet and forgo the free Friday evening in Dublin to see more of Ireland. Then perhaps go backwards, we could go: Friday - Knock, Cliffs of Mohr, stay in Galway or Doolin Saturday - Adare and Dingle, stay in Dingle Sunday - Killarney, Kenmare, stay in Kinsdale Monday - 2nd night in Kinsale, seeing Lismore, Dungarvan Tuesday - Caher, Cahsel back to Dublin 3. Keep hearing 2 nights in Dingle but if the weather is bad, would we get stuck? Is 2 nights in Kinsale recommended or moving to another quaint town or even Kilkenny?
4. Recommendations for great mid-priced B&B in Dingle and Kinsale. Bless you!

With your limited time, and your love of small towns, I would
leave Galway off your itinerary this trip. Enjoy!

Can't comment on the Knock Shrine but if that is important to you to see then by all means make an effort to do so.
With such a short period of time to see Eire and based on your preferences I'd say yes, give up a free night in Dublin and adventure elsewhere like you've noted. If you go to the Graffiti Wall on this website, scroll down to Sleeping and then click on Heroic B n B Friendliness, you'll find some B&B recommendations. Have a wonderful time. Go slow, enjoy the beauty and the people.

My husband and I ate at "Fishy Fishy" in Kinsale! It is a must!!! They even have the pictures of the fishermen on their walls which makes it even a more enticing experience.
The fish is fabulous and we live in the Bay ARea of SF. So you know it is excellent quality.

Hi Cynthia, We just returned and we visited most of the places you mentioned. IMHO, I would avoid Killarney and Adare (crowded, seemed geared mostly to shopping). Spend your time instead in Dingle and Kenmare which are interesting smaller towns with several good restaurants and pubs. They are both adjacent to lots of scenic ocean drives. Cahir Castle takes about an hour, Rock of Cashel maybe two hours. At Cashel, be sure to drive to nearby Hore Abbey for great views of the Rock. Near Killarney, we enjoyed Ladies View of the lakes, Muckross Abbey, and driving the south coast of the Inveragh Peninsula to Valentia Island.