Traveling to Ireland for Christmas and New year.Any suggestions about our plan?Best places to visit?
Clive M asked:
Hi me and my wife are going to ireland from the 27th December 08 till 8th January 09. We will arrive at Dublin airport in the afternoon . We are planning to rent a car for all the holiday.For that day we are staying in Dublin. The following morning we are driving to Sligo and stay there for 2 nights.We wish to visit the Giant`s Causway and rope bridge, Donegal, while we are there. Is it worth it to drive that long? After we are driving to Galway for 3nights 30th till 1st. Is it good to celebrate the new years eve there? Than we are driving to Kerry for 2 nights.The first day we tought of having the Gap of Dunloe tour, and the next day we are visiting Cork and the Futa wildlife park.Is it good in winter to visit both these places?
Than we are heading to Dublin for 4 nights 4th Jan till 7th.While we are there we wish to visit the Wiclow Mountains and Avoca. Also the Guinness brewery and the chimney, Trinity College, And some parks.
During the holiday we will be staying in BB. Any suggestions of what else to do in these towns please or the best things to visit while we are there and what about the weather? Thanks
Hi me and my wife are going to ireland from the 27th December 08 till 8th January 09. We will arrive at Dublin airport in the afternoon . We are planning to rent a car for all the holiday.For that day we are staying in Dublin. The following morning we are driving to Sligo and stay there for 2 nights.We wish to visit the Giant`s Causway and rope bridge, Donegal, while we are there. Is it worth it to drive that long? After we are driving to Galway for 3nights 30th till 1st. Is it good to celebrate the new years eve there? Than we are driving to Kerry for 2 nights.The first day we tought of having the Gap of Dunloe tour, and the next day we are visiting Cork and the Futa wildlife park.Is it good in winter to visit both these places?
Than we are heading to Dublin for 4 nights 4th Jan till 7th.While we are there we wish to visit the Wiclow Mountains and Avoca. Also the Guinness brewery and the chimney, Trinity College, And some parks.
During the holiday we will be staying in BB. Any suggestions of what else to do in these towns please or the best things to visit while we are there and what about the weather? Thanks
From Malta
March 22nd, 2010 at 12:12 pm
You are doing a huge amount of driving for one week, during what is likely to be a week with most dangerous driving conditions. It’s usually quite frosty at that time of the year, with black ice on the roads.
You want to go the Sligo, then Donegal, then the Giant’s Causeway, then Galway, then Kerry, then Cork, then Dublin for 4 days.
Do you not realise that roads in Ireland are NOT built for large volumes of high speed traffic, and that distances take much longer to drive than they would in the US? To give you an example, I live in County Limerick, it takes me 25 minutes to get into the city centre, and it takes me up to 4 hours to drive to Dublin. It’s only about 120 miles.
Now, you need to make some harsh decisions. At that time of the year, most of the big tourist places are closed for the holidays, but there will be the post-Christmas buzz. I would suggest either staying in the northern half of the island, or the southern half, but trying to do both in a week will only kill you.
Here’s what I suggest:
Fly to Shannon instead, then drive straight to Galway, it’s only 2 hours or so, and stay there for a couple of nights. If you wish, you can always drive out to Connemara – but don’t bother if it’s raining, you won’t see anything. Galway is great for a couple of nights, great music and food. Then head south, through Limerick (you could stop there for lunch, I recommend the Sage Cafe on Catherine Street) and on to Kerry, depending on where you go, that will take up to 5 hours (not including a stop for lunch). Dingle will bring the total journey up to 7 hours (it’s a VERY twisty road from Tralee to Dingle town). Have a couple of days in Kerry, and if you must do one of the peninsulas, do the Beara Peninsula, and make sure you do the Healy pass, if it isn’t raining, you’ll have some wonderful Sound of Music moments. Then go on to Cork, stay there for a couple of days, then on to Dublin.
Or fly direct to Dublin, then the following day travel north to the Giant’s Causeway, spend the night near there, then drive over to Donegal and stay there for a couple of nights, then down to Sligo and Yeats’ country which merits a few nights I believe, then on to Galway before crossing to Dublin to fly back home again.
You’ve only got a week, and there’s only so much you can do.
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