Trip report, ten days in Ireland not on a tour

So, here (http://www.pvv.org/~bct/eire/) is my photojournal from a trip through Ireland in March this year. I thought maybe it would be interesting to see it for people who have to decide between going on a tour or doing it on their own.

I spent as little time as possible in Dublin, as that's a (weekend) trip on it's own, I think.

The rest of my time was spent this way:

* One night in Cashel, to see The Rock of Cashel and break up the journey between Dublin and Cork. Nice enough, but not that special, really.


* Two nights in Cork, to walk around a bit and do a daytrip to Cobh. Also nice, just to get to know an Irish city apart from Dublin, but not spectacular at all. Cobh is missable.

* Two nights in Killarney. Half a day to see the areas near town and a full day to explore the Gap of Dunloe. Time spent really, really, really well. Beautiful views and unexpectedly dramatic and barren inland mountains.

* Two nights in Dingle, mainly to do the Slea Head Drive by bicycle. Possibly the best day of the trip with excellent scenery and close encounters with a refreshing seaside.

* Two nights in Doolin to walk the Cliffs of Moher at a slow pace. About just as good as the Dingle day. So many people just see the cliffs near the parking lot and think they've seen what there is to see. There's a lot more, with puffins, basking sharks and more to discover.

It didn't cost too much either. In March there are lots of beds and rooms available wherever you go. I paid about 140 euros combined for all my bus tickets. It could have been cheaper if I had bought the special "3 out of 6 days" passes (or something like that), but I didn't know where and when I was going, or if I would go by train sometimes, so I'm happy with what I paid.

I stayed in private rooms everywhere, and paid about 300 euros in total for the 11 nights, including two in Dublin. And I got to choose for myself how much time to spend where for free, something you can't put a price tag on...

Anyway, I hope others can use this information to have equally great trips for themselves.

Happy trails!

Bjørn
http://bjornfree.com/

Beautiful pictures! I'm leaving for Ireland soon, so I've been watching the weather, and I noticed the unusually sunny break. Unfortunately I wasn't in a position to leave sooner : (

Just curious: is the pic with code next to the coathook an inside joke?

Thank you. Here's hoping there's some sun in Ireland left for you. #8D)

Maybe you could say the graffiti code is an inside joke, since I am a programmer as well. But no matter how you look at it, it's unusual to find a piece of working computer programming code as wall graffiti at a public toilet at a bus station. I thought it was funny, anyway.

Bjørn
http://bjornfree.com/