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My friend and I plan on visiting Ireland for about 10 days in July. We thought about taking a tour with a group, but would like more freedom. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on a route to take. we want to start in Dublin then maybe stop off in a little town on our way to another destination in Ireland. some possible things we came up with were Dublin vis (some little town) then onto Cork. Or Dublin via Galway to Shannon. I want to see the city, but also really want to see the beautiful green countryside for a day or so. Any suggestions on what to do? We will be renting a car to leave Dublin for how long we keep it depends on when we get to the last major place we stop at. We want to see touristly things, but also things off the beaten track. I would really appreciate any help we can get!!! =)

Jackie

Hey hows it going?
My advice would be to do a coastal trip on the way to Cork via Waterford. It's a 3 hour drive on a coastal road. You'll be passing countryside and beaches most of the way but if it's little seaside villages your looking for you should go to Dungarvan (that's where i'm from)and head to Ardmore (this is a real sunny village on a beach with lots of history and round-towers etc - they do tours too) and Ring is only a 10-15minute drive from here and is the only Gaeltacht left in the south east.. you'll pass wexford and all that too on the way.. and from Dungarvan Cork is only a 1hr drive..

You could skip that route tho and head straight to Cork and have west cork and Kerry as your countryside stopovers.. up to yourself!

hope that helped!

Thanks so much for your suggestions. I'm going to take in all the information I can about all places and figure out the best plan of action...would you mind telling me a little more about your own town?

Jackie

Well, obviously 10 days isn't much, so you're going to have to be selective. I lived in Galway for a summer, so I may be biased, but I love that part of the country.

If I were arranging a quick trip of this sort, I'd probably head first to a west coast island. I loved Inis Mor in the Aran Islands, but it is probably the most visited, and July is heavy tourist season. Other options are one of the smaller Arans (Inis Meáin or Inis Oirr), and I've also heard good things about Inis Bo Finne. Follow that with a stop somewhere inland in Connemarra (skip Clifden...it's tourist hell), probably around the 12 Bens, which is a really beautiful spot, at least in my opinion. When I was there, the low lying mist amongst the green mountains just felt like something out of a fairy tale.

Then a stop in Galway, and drive either on to Shannon or back to Dublin to go home.

Obviously I'm biased towards rural Ireland, and co. Galway in particular, but these were some of my favourites. If you're less interested in a hike in the mountains, the twelve bens may not be your thing. Similarly, a trip to an island allows a bit of a glimpse into small town life in Ireland, which I loved, but you may not.

Thanks for the suggestions we finally booked a trip that we think will work (I'm sure anything we do will be fun). We are going to be there July 9-Jul 20
-Dublin to start then driving west
-Galway (Clifden) even though I know it's touristy there are things I want to see out there.
-Driving down to Cork City
-Finally ending up in Clare I think the town is Newmarket on Fergus

Very excited I know it's a short time but hopefully we experince alot....any other suggestions about the stops we will be making???

Based on your route I'd recommend a look at the small town of Cobh which is right next to Cork. We stayed there 2 nights and had a wonderful time wandering around.

If you get a chance, the boat trip out to the Skelligs, and then the hike up Skellig Michael was the #1 thing we did while in Ireland.

Hi,im actually from Ireland so if you need a route heres a pretty decent one. First off Irelands tiny and 10 days is plenty of time. From Dublin head towards wicklow-if you like hiking or walking there are the wicklow mountains which can be a nice day. Then head to waterford-theres a few beachs and nice pubs and clubs around there. From there MAKE SURE you drive to cork....its the nicest drive in the counrty even when its raining. All coast line and just....nice.You could go to Kerry from there and to the ring of kerry. From there head to Galway for a while. Its a nice city. You can go to the surrounding counties around there. If you go to clare you can go to the burren-its basicly a large slab of limestone about 40 miles in size and kinda mountainy. If you like plants and stuff there are some of the rarest in europe there. When heading back to dublin you can stop off in either laois or kildare. Nice little towns, not very touristy or much to do but for some reason its where a lot of tourists come for a day or so. After that theres not much i can say. Basicly if you just hire a car and pick a place on a map you can get there in a few hours.

Places to avoid (purely on personal experience of bordom)- Limerick city-(dublin and cork are nicer) The M50 motorway (highway) between 6 am and 9am. You will be at a stand still.

Places to eat- dublin, waggamamas- cork, gambenies- portlaoise,the seasons.

The best hotels in the country are Jurys inns- about 100 euro a night but comfortable and great staff.

Thats it i think

Sounds like a good travel route to take. Definatley spend at least 2 nights in Dublin city. Trinity College, Temple Bar, Christchurch Cathedral, Kilmainham Gaol and the Guinness Brewery are just some of the must-see attractions here! Oh and don't forget the shopping (Grafton Street) and nightlife (Temple Bar)!!!

Use Galway city as your base in the west and visit Connemara - a scenic rural area west of the city - this is where you'll find Clifden. If you've time you could take a boat trip out to the Aran Island.

Next you say you're driving from Galway to Cork - depending on what route you're taking you'll probabley be heading through Co Clare, anyhow you said you'd like to leave Clare till last. Cork city is really charming, try to get out into the countryside too and visit attractions like Blarney Castle and the Blarney Stone (just north of the city) and pretty towns like Kinsale and Clonakilty.

Have you time to visit Kerry? Definately try to squeeze in a visit to Killarney - it's well worth it. It's got so much to see and do from parks, lakes, castles, waterfall etc

You could do the 'Ring of Kerry' drive from here or you could also head west (about 1.5hrs) to Dingle.

A quicker way of getting from Kerry to Clare would be to get the ferry at Tarbert in County Kerry to Kilimer in County Clare. The other option is to go through Limerick city.

In Clare visit the Cliffs of Moher, the Burren, Bunratty Castle and Folk Park and Cragganowen.

Hope this give you an idea of what to see on your travels!!

Best of luck !

I was thinking about adjusting something in my trip. We were going to stay 2 nights out in Clifden, but I'm not sure if that is a good idea or not. I also booked another place in Galway City b/c I was afraid Clifden might be better for a day trip.

I just read your last posting to stay in Galway City and wanted to know what would be the better option?

Thanks for the suggestions =)

Well on my Europe trip this summer I can only spend about 4 days in Ireland, but Cliffs of Moher are the top of the list for me. I'm surprised only one person mentioned it, maybe I jumped too quick to decide "oooh I gotta go there" instead of trying to get to Cork like the others recommended.

BUT you should still look up Cliffs of Moher and see if you can squeeze it in, it looks pretty unbeatable to me.

It really depends on what you like...maybe you could spend one night in Galway city and a second night in Clifden. There are B&B's, guesthouses and hotels in Clifden. If you want to spend the two nights in Galway city, then you could take a drive to Clifden - it's about a 1.5 hour drive from Galway city - just take the N59 road from Galway city all the way to Clifden. Bus tours also operate from Galway city and can take you on a tour of Cong and Connemara, taking in Clifden.