Help me with my Ireland trip - certain caveats

[The Original Greaser Bob 2,842]

So landing in Dublin in March, and leaving 9 days later.  Flights are set but nothing else. Me and the wife.  We are both at "thinking about retirement age".   

General idea is to have base camps at no more than three places (Dublin being one).  If you were to tell me I had to make a decision right now I'd maybe pick Galway and Cork as the other two places to go.  I know nothing about the country.

Our idea of a good vacation is just doing lots of walking.  "Hiking" is fine as long as there is no scrambling or edges.  We certainly aren't climbers. Sleeping arrangements have to be above average. Some foodiness is in order, but mostly beer and simple stuff to power us on.

Seaside hike/locale ALWAYS preferable to landlocked or even river location.  Country preferable to city, but assuming Dublin is a good walking city.  We will do some "historical site seeing" but mostly just like to be outside and get the feel of a place.

Key question:  Wife wants to rent a car (she will do just about all the driving).  Should we?

Any suggestions on locations to focus on, walks to take, places to stay, and especially if you don't recommend driving, modes of transport. 

 

 

 

[grazinhorn 472]

Way too late for me on the East Coast, but quickly:

• We did a similar thing with flights set and hotels for the first/last nights and it was great to make it up as we went along (with a few obvious priorities)
• Driving in Ireland for me was fine, and we were able to follow our nose so to speak and find some cool off-the-beaten-path things
• Galway is awesome, wish I had gotten even further into the northwest part.  We rented a house just out from the center of Galway right on the water and it was fantastic.

[ATXhorn17 1,624]

100% rent the car. You’ll acclimate to driving on the left sooner than you’d think. Limit your time in Dublin (it’s not that great) and use Galway as a hub to explore Connemara, Aran Islands, Cliffs of Moher, etc. I would recommend adding Dingle to your list. It’s a quaint coastal town and is the starting point for the Slea Head Loop (incredible scenic drive). Consider Killarney as well for the Ring of Kerry.

[Hornbeliever 712]

Piling on to the rent a car and Galway opinions.  Though I did have fun in Dublin, Galway has more of your style walking and scenery.  Surrounding areas are scenic.

[Player 4,575]

Rent a car -driving on the left is no big deal. 

Go to Killarney, stay at Cahernane House, https://www.cahernane.com/en/

and hike both the Gap of Dunloe https://www.theirishroadtrip.com/the-gap-of-dunloe/ and the Torq waterfall https://www.alltrails.com/trail/ireland/county-kerry/torc-waterfall-loop?u=i. 

[conVINCEd 21,469]

You’ll figure the driving thing out in 10 minutes. Pay extra for an automatic transmission.  Pro tip: the turn signal and windshield wipers are also reversed.  I would Uber in Dublin and rent the car on the day you plan to head to less urban destinations.

[Orale 1,087]

Yep. Totally rent a car. I did that years back and it was amazing. I couldn't imagine doing that in some lame tour group. But get the extra insurance. A lot of the country roads are very narrow and I had to pay to replace the hubcaps because the roads are so narrow I scraped them up on rocks and what not. And I suck at driving. At least on the left. Just make sure it's an automatic. 

Edited October 27, 2022 by Orale

[The Original Greaser Bob 2,842]

Thanks all!   

[txduck87 985]

100% rent the car. You’ll acclimate to driving on the left sooner than you’d think. Limit your time in Dublin (it’s not that great) and use Galway as a hub to explore Connemara, Aran Islands, Cliffs of Moher, etc. I would recommend adding Dingle to your list. It’s a quaint coastal town and is the starting point for the Slea Head Loop (incredible scenic drive). Consider Killarney as well for the Ring of Kerry.

I am also planning a 10 day Ireland trip next April. Was planning 2 days in Dublin , 3 in Galway , 3 in Killarney and 2 in cork. Is that too aggressive? Where would you modify?

[ATXhorn17 1,624]

On 10/27/2022 at 6:39 PM, txduck87 said:

I am also planning a 10 day Ireland trip next April. Was planning 2 days in Dublin , 3 in Galway , 3 in Killarney and 2 in cork. Is that too aggressive? Where would you modify?

That sounds fine, but I can’t speak to Cork! My wife and I flew in and out of Dublin (2 nights) then did Galway (2 nights), Dingle (2 nights) and Killarney (2 nights). Definitely aggressive, so if you’re older it might be a lot… In our opinion, Dingle and the Slea Head loop was the absolute highlight of the trip (more spectacular than the Ring of Kerry). So maybe take 1-2 days from Killarney or Cork for Dingle. Gap of Dunloe and Connemara were neat too. 
 

[The Original Greaser Bob 2,842]

On 10/27/2022 at 9:30 AM, Player said:

Go to Killarney, stay at Cahernane House, https://www.cahernane.com/en/

Done.  Wife surprised me.  Staying four days in Kallarny as prime base camp.  Surprised me because she is usually very on the coast oriented, but she said "Dingle is just forty miles away.".  We are actually going to end up staying in Dublin (Grand Hotel Malahide)  on the front and back end of the trip.  Which leaves us with two days for somewhere else.

Suggestions? 

[NOMAAA 1,696]

just read your last post.  great f'ing idea.  killarney is badass.  id go back to ireland in a heartbeat and only stick around the sw corner of the country.

Edited November 11, 2022 by NOMAAA

[msbesq 385]

The North and West are beautiful. Roscommon, Sligo and Donegal. Do yourself a favor and watch a short YouTube video on the roundabouts. There are many more of them in Ireland than in England.

[The Original Greaser Bob 2,842]

Well, wife made another exec decision and it's (Kilkenny).  So Dubliin to Kilarney and thence to Kilkenny and back to Dublin as base locations. 

Driving should be easy.  Her thought when I was pushing for heading up past Galway -- "we're old -- I want to just take it easy".

[The Original Greaser Bob 2,842]

My report back:

Stayed in Malahide (North of Dublin and just a tad north of the airport) at the Grand Hotel Malahide for start and end of trip.  Great location.  Can take a DART train right into city center and the suburb is pretty and has some nice pubs and close to Howth.  The hotel was basic but had a fun health club and so I took a sauna with the local lads each night we were there.  Good place to stay because good warmup drive from airport.

Drove to Kikenny (wife drove - my job was to tell her every 10 minutes that she was going to hit a curb) but mostly big moterway.Stayed at the Mount Juliet Estate - a golf resort and it may be the best all around hotel I have ever stayed.  A bit of a way from  Kilkenny but an easy drive.  The hotel grounds had great walking paths as well and a good steam room to steam out the Guiness.  The town was crawling with Purdue folks who were there for a pre-St. Pats parade which ultimately got cancelled. 

Thence to Killarney  and a stay at the Cahernane House.  Fantastic all around.  Could walk to town and National Park just a couple of kilomters away.  Really liked the town and the accessiblity to all around Killarney and Ring of Kerry.  We actually didn't drive down into the smaller roads that led down to the water in the area but that would have just taken some patience and a few deep breaths. 

I'm glad we didn't do a tour.  The hotels we stayed at apart from Grand Hotel Malahide (which was still very very nice) were pretty damn high end -- if it were me I probably would have economized on that and just ate pub food.  But the people were so helpful that we enjoyed our own pace and just going to sites based on local recommendations. 

If I did it again I might do something like try to get to Galway by train or bus and then rent a car there rather than drive the whole country, but if the car price doesn't bother you, I thought the car made sense.  The bus and train schedules and routes to me weren't very convenient when I looked closely at them.

The weather looked scary on paper when we were planning for mid March but once there it was perfect -- a bit of rain every day, wet, but sun peaking in now and then.  Waterproof light hiking shoes, travel pants, fleece top, beenie and raincoat did the trick.  

Lovely.  Grand.

 

 

[HeHateMe 887]

On 10/20/2022 at 6:58 PM, The Original Greaser Bob said:

 

Key question:  Wife wants to rent a car (she will do just about all the driving).  Should we?

 

 

 

It’s a lot harder to get a road hummer when she’s doing all the driving, not impossible, but definitely more difficult.

[The Original Greaser Bob 2,842]

Don't waive the CDW coverage on the rental car if that's in your plans.  You really are going to hit the curb.

[Dbeasy 15,074]

So thinking about doing a trip to Ireland in July. Appreciate anyone's input. I've been to Dublin many times for business and stayed there quite a bit. I don't think we want to spend much time there and will focus on the west side of the island. Just how bad are the tourist crowds in July on the west side? I'm guessing we would spend time among Galway, Dingle, Killarney, but still trying to decide. Reading Surly threads to establish an itinerary.

Also, I learned a year ago in Colorado that my fear of heights has gotten way worse for some strange reason. How bad or scary is the driving from a heights perspective? My wife will be doing the driving, and I'm not sure how she will react to the tight roads either. I'm a little leary of getting exhausted from driving.