Short Ireland Trip without a car

IMHO The Ring of Kerry and/or the Dingle Penninsula are asking too much without a car. I think Dublin deserves a couple of days if you really want to see it all. I'm sure there are tours (anyone??) to Newgrange, Bru na Boinne and The Hill of Tara. Powerscourt is south of Dublin and is beautiful. Also Belfast is not that far away by coach. Belfast takes herself a lot more seriously than does Dublin and so might make a nice day trip.

You could easily spend your time in the Dublin area and see a lot without a car. There is a fast train to Belfast - take a black cab tour. There are day trips, as the previous poster noted to the Newgrange (Bru na Boinne is the Irish name) and the Boyne River valley, including the Hill of Tara. Another popular day trip is to Glendalough in the Wicklow Mountains (Powerscourt is included on several of these tours). Then you could spend your remaining two days in Dublin itself. Too bad you didn't just fly directly into Dublin or Shannon instead of having to take a separate flight from London and back.

The black cab tour is an excellent suggestion.

Thank you both so much for your tips. I am going to research the info this weekend and plan it out. We are flying back anf forth from London because the first part o the trip will be spend there with my brother. We are thinking of renting a car there and doing the following trip... Fleet (where he lives) York (Stop at windsor on the way) Conwy Cotswold Bath Galstonbury Stonehenge Salisbury Back to Fleet This may be a bit too agressive so we may have to cut Conwy out but right now this is the tought. We land in London on Oct 15 and leave the 31st...so Get ove Jet lag the 15th. 16th - 20th the above itinerary, 21 afternoon tea in london and see london. 22 see London. 23 bears game. 24 - 28 in Ireland. 28-31 London then fly home. So any more suggesstion or recommendations are welcomed and greatly appreciated. Thanks again.
Prutha

Why rent a car when you can use trains? British and Irish petrol prices are about double what we pay. Train information can be accessed at the following: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk for mainland UK http://www.translink.co.uk for Northern Ireland http://www.irishrail.ie for Ireland Carefully check especially on weekends for engineering works to make sure that there won't be any that would impact your plans.
As far as a black taxi tour in Belfast, I would personally recommend Ken Harpers tours.

On the English part of your trip by car, everything fits, except Conwy and probably Glastonbury. Bath/Stonehenge/Cotswolds/Salisbury is a nice little package. No comments about whether its all doable in the time- thats your call, but I do think Conwy (sespecially) and even Glastonbury, will take more time out of your tight schedule

Thomas ???? The OP didn't ask whether to use a train or a car; all that was asked about was an itinerary. And you do understand that some of the places mentioned aren't severved by train, right?

On day one, drive to Bath via Stonehenge and Salisbury from Fleet. Bath, Glastonbury and Wells will consume two full days. You can drive to Conwy in about 4 to 5 hours (check). Conwy and the local area would take a minimum of two full days so you would need to spend three nights. It's about 2 1/2 hours to drive to York. York has a good train option back to London but, quite honestly, a car would be your best option before then. I didn't count days to see how this fits into your schedule. If you have to cut something, it would probably be Conwy. Then I'd recommend you take a train to York. I'd skip Ireland if it's an option at this point. Ireland deserves at least two weeks. If you are going, I'd suggest you do the day tour of Newgrange/Knowth and the other sites in the area. Dublin is easily worth three days so I'd save the rest of Ireland for a later visit.

Wow, thanks for all the tips. Thomas - we're driving because some of the things recommended in Ricks book take forever with train and my brother had a bad accident where in a car he could go with us and with out on it would be too much. Plus my mom will be with us so for the four of us a car made more sense. In Ireland it's just my husband and I so a train or bus is the way we will go. Brian - I was thinking of cutting conwy as well because I do think it will be tight...want to see and do so much in so little time. :-) Ken - my husband really wants to do Ireland even if it's a short trip and we go back another time....kinda my promise to him for spending so much time of our holiday with my brother and mom and other family we have in London. I think we will do Dublin three days and an overnight in Belfast. Thanks again,
For the tips and ideas....going to take a look at everything suggested and will finalize hopefully in the next week or so.

When we visited Ireland in May our time in Dublin was brief. We enjoyed a tour with Mary Gibbons to New Grange and Hill of Tara. Her bus picks up participants at various points in Dublin. You can email her directly to plan your time. The
Dingle Peninsula was certainly a highlight for us, but we did have a car at that point. Good wishes!

Three days in Dublin is perfect in my opinion and an overnight in Belfast. We did that several ago as on that trip did not rent a car. The only suggestion in my opinion is to skip the Guiness (sp?) brewery, we thought too expensive and boring. We loved Kilmainhaim Gaol, we thought highlight of trip to Dublin. Before you go, if you have time, rent In the Name of the Father, actually filmed there. Enjoy Ireland, you will want to go back sometime, start saving.

Thanks. Does anyone have recommendations for hotels in Dublin? We are thinking of staying at the Paramount Hotel Temple Bar area. Looks nice online and has good reviews but would love to hear from someone who has actually stayed there or elsewhere. Trying to stay under $100 a night US. Thanks!