My nephew & I spent 9 days in Ireland as first time visitors from June 20-29. We had a B&B self-drive package from AAA that included B&B vouchers for 6 nights & 3 nights at the Davenport Hotel in Dublin. The car was a full-size automatic from Hertz that we picked up at Dublin airport & returned to Hertz City Center. We spent the first night in Cashel, one night in Cork, two nights in Killarney, two nights in Galway before returning to Dublin for 3 nights.
First-driving. The roads are VERY NARROW all over Ireland. The driver (me) spends most of the time making sure to avoid on-coming traffic on the right and little time seeing the scenery. I found it very stressful driving on the left in a right-hand drive car (roundabouts, anyone?). I hit a curb on the left side the first day in Cashel and blew the front tire. €100 to replace plus €50 service call. Not off to the best of starts! No other real incidents after that but driving still an adventure. Advantage-stop as you please & go when you want. Tips-had "Super CDW" from Hertz but it did not include windows, tires & mirrors. Paid €4/day extra & glad I did! Hertz City Center return is actually off the M-50 on the west side of the city so did not really have to drive far into Dublin. No hassle on tire insurance from Hertz-cost deducted on final bill and got ride to hotel. Rent a diesel; fuel costs for diesel much less than regular petro. RS is right; tour buses have the right of way. If you have to back up, you have to back up to pull over to let buses pass.
Highlights (lots of)-even though it was the end of June, tourist traffic was a lot less than I expected. No jams on the Ring of Kerry & the Dingle Penninsula. The most tourist buses I saw were to and from Galway to the Cliffs of Moher but still no a big problem. No rain the whole time; some clouds on the Cliffs day. Rick doesn't seem to like Cork much but that is my family's origin and we found a quay (pronounced "key") on the Lee with our family name. Also, the single best meal I had in Ireland was at Market Lane (5&6 Oliver Plunkett St.) in Cork. Killarney doesn't seem to get a lot of respect from Rick but it makes a great staging point for both the Ring of Kerry & the Dingle Penninsula. A recommended B&B is Windway House (New Road, Killarney) run by Frank Nolan who has 40 years in the hospitality service (take his "morning prayers"!). Quiet but only a five minute walk to the city center. Killarney also has a wonderful Tourist Information center that will make you reservations to anywhere in Ireland you want to go.
I am a city boy at heart and I loved Galway. The Kiltevna House B&B (24 Grattan Park, Salthill) is an easy walk to the water and following the water around will lead you to the bridge to the city center. In any of the seafood restaurants we ate in, the fish tasted fresh caught and the cod fish & chips had the biggest fillets of cod I have ever seen. Driving through the Burren was so barren I had to wonder who exactly lived out here. By the time we got to Dublin, I was happy to be rid of the car and we used the 2 day Hop On-Hop Off bus pass to see the city and its sights. I thought the Davenport Hotel was a fine hotel (despite some bad reviews) in a good location next to Trinity College and within walking distance of the Grafton shopping street and Temple Bar. I could not believe how many people filled the streets with their drinks outside the bars & cafes after work & on weekends (try that in the States!). No need to repeat what everyone says about the friendliness of the Irish; it's all true!
One final note: we were there when the six Irish students were killed in the balcony collapse in California. The whole country went into mourning ; continuous news and TV coverage through the funerals. It resembled our 9/11.