Ireland Trip

we spent one week there and drove up north and did the ring of kerry. it was amazing and beautiful. We brought gear and camped along the way. my fav was the giants causeway. I do wish we had had a couple of extra days to spend in Dublin before having to take the ferry back home to the UK.

For starters, Ireland is not a "city visit" kind of country. The history is literally in the land, so it's a place you drive around, moving every day or every other day. If you find such things stressful, then I suggest you find a different country to visit --like Italy, where you could spend a week in many cities and still have stuff to see.

With that said, driving around Ireland is one of the most relaxing things I have ever done. I've done it tons of time (hubby is from there). The roads are slow going at times, and if the weather is nice, it's fun to just pull the car off to the side of the road and explore the scenic views. It's also fun to just stop for a pint.

I highly recommended going to the West Coast. See the Burren, The Cliffs, then take a fairy over to Dingle. Dingle is gorgeous. The Ring of Kerry is nice too, but I prefer DIngle. The drive from Kerry over into Cork is stunning.

The East coast is lovely as well, but I prefer the West Coast. Galway is a fun college town.

You could easily spend a few days in Dublin see lots of stuff. Newgrange is just north of there. Great historical site.

But like I said,the history is in the land in Ireland, so to see the history you have to drive.

We love spending a night in Cashel. Great little town.

My favorite "trip" would be: Dublin 3 days, see Newgrange, then head over to Galway for a night or two. Then head down to County Claire. Find a nice B and B to spend a two nights in, and do little day trips. Then take a fairy to Dingle. Spend a night in Tralee, then head towards Killarney. Spend a night there, and then head towards Kenmare. Go to Cork if you really want --just a big industrial city-- and then head back to Dublin through Cashel, seeing many lovely sites on the way.

10 Years ago I went to Ireland. It was 36 people from the US to Ireland.
-Killarney - we were there for a week. This is where most of my Irish family was and where I had the best time. Ring of kerry, Gap of Dunloe both trips you do not want to pass up if in the area. Gap of Dunloe (I could be spelling it wrong) has two different starting points. We stated in the boats, then when to Mary Kate ?? cottage and then went in the pony Traps.. Or you can do it reverse. Beautiful. http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=im...
Then we went to Oranmore? Outside of Galway. This is where we went to the coolest crystal shop. NOT Waterferd. it was called Celtic Crystal and it works with colord crystal. I belive this was also where the Quiet man bridge was.. We drove around and found it.
We did go to Dublin & Donegal The castles are very unique. We also saw the cliffs of Moroe. (SP.. )http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=im...
Bring a tape recorder to get the history of the guided tours .. it is neat to go back and see the/hear the history of where you were.
Good Luck.

go to tripadvisor dot com - you'll get excellent information there.

I could have spent a lot of time in Dublin. If you get a chance, there are free tours - I forget the name of the tour place that runs it, but we did a 3 hour tour through Dublin and I could have stayed longer. SS had encountered this company before and we heard a snippet of a tour in Edinburgh that was also very good.

We rented a hotel in Cork and an apartment in Dublin. I prefer apartments. They're more room for similar fees.

Blarney Castle was meh, but the grounds are fantastic.

We were told by locals to go to http://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g186612-Killarney_Coun...

and stupid us did not go. I wish we had.

I felt pretty safe in Cork, but we mostly used that as a base for going to places like Blarney.

Enjoy your trip! You are smart to take a few days in each place and not run around like squirrels.

Driving in the UK and Ireland was a little hairy sometimes but not bad. Wales is worse than Ireland. Get a small car. Really small, and you'll be fine.

Oh, and save your coins. You may need 20p to get into bathrooms and they charge a fee for grocery bags.

I have never been, but when we do go (Ireland is on my list) I'm following Julie G.'s plan! ;)

Have a great time - how exciting!

I agree with Dingle.

I went when I was in my late 20's so it's been about 12 years or so...

BUT - when I went it was FANTASTIC. We had a package that included our flight, a rental car, and B&B's for 7 nights. (It was ridiculously cheap too - like $500!).

Anyway - we flew into Galway, then out of Dublin. We drove the Dingle Pennisula and spent some time in Limerik.

Mostly we would drive and hike during the day... take photos, get out and explore. Then we'd find our B&B for the night and then hit the town for dinner and drinks at a pub. That was our whole trip and it was great.

Dublin was fine. I'd traveled big cities in Europe a bit before going to Ireland, so I could have probably skipped it (gasp!) but there is lots to see there.

Driving was interesting. We had a stick shift, which made it "fun" to figure out all the driving on the wrong side of the road - but it totally added to the adventure.

We also stopped at the Cliffs of Moher which was amazing.

Have fun!