Ireland: Self-Catering Driving Tour
July 23, 2016 6:53 AM Subscribe
We are looking to take advantage of the current extraordinary airfare rates to Ireland.
We would like to plan a trip similar to our week in the Cotswolds a few years ago, but we don't know enough about Ireland to be secure in our choices.
Ideally, we would find a fabulous self-catering vacation rental with both Irish charm and modern conveniences. We would want to select a rental in a location that would allow us to take driving trips throughout the country.
In general, we are looking for museums, historic sites, and natural wonders. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Ideally, we would find a fabulous self-catering vacation rental with both Irish charm and modern conveniences. We would want to select a rental in a location that would allow us to take driving trips throughout the country.
In general, we are looking for museums, historic sites, and natural wonders. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
We stayed at Helen's Tower in Antrim for a few days on our trip to Ireland. It's located on a gorgeous estate. It was a short 45 minutes to Belfast. We went on adventures throughout Ireland, our favorite of which was going falconing. Also check out Donegal -- it's the Ireland that we dreamt of when we first thought of visiting. It's wild, rugged, and stunning. We especially enjoyed driving around the Inishowen peninsula. For that part of the trip, we stayed at the Inishowen Lodge. It's a b&b, but I cannot recommend it highly enough.
posted by batbat at 5:55 PM on July 23, 2016
posted by batbat at 5:55 PM on July 23, 2016
First thing to come to terms with - if you only plan a week, you won't see everything, there's just too much to do. Mrs. Lips and I were there in May, and spent a total of 14 days there, and even then we didn't spend any time in the northwest or much time inland. And if you're looking for only one specific place to be your 'home base' you're going to be doing a lot of driving. But here are some recommendations:
Milltown was the perfect home base for the Ring of Kerry, Dingle, and Killarney National Park. All highly recommended.
Ballycarry was great for the northeast - Antrim Coast, Giants Causeway, and Belfast are great points to visit from here. Do everything you can to ensure a Black Cab tour is on your itinerary, it was as fascinating as it was sobering. Belfast is also home to the Titanic Museum which was cool.
Dublin - we stayed downtown, but unless you're out to destroy your sanity, don't plan to drive in Dublin proper outside of arriving / departing. (We dropped our rental off at the airport upon arriving and picked up another later in the trip.) There are plenty of public transit options and several hop-on-off tours that will get you to just about anywhere in the city you want. Trinity College Library, Kilmainham Gaol, Guinness brewery are interesting historical tour stops. Advance tickets for the Gaol are required, FYI.
Oranmore was a great home base for Connemara National Park, Cliffs of Moher, The Burren, and Galway city.
More inland, rural sites like Newgrange and Hill of Tara are easily done on the day(s) you travel between 'bases'.
Each of these provided perfect day trips to the various places - we spent 3 or 4 days in each town. They allowed us, in most cases, to sleep in comfortably, leave for the day around 9, and still be back by dusk, which was important to me as I didn't want to be driving in the dark there. Each town (or a larger one nearby) also seemed to have organized group tours to those attractions, but we self-toured everything except the Black Cab tour.
One final tip: In the US, google maps tends to overestimate the time it takes to get from point A to point B. In Ireland, take what it says and add 30-50%. Main reason being is you're going to want to stop and get out a lot along the way. I thought my dad was just being overly cautious when he said not to expect to 'sightsee' while driving, but I sure believe it now. If you are not familiar with driving in Ireland, those narrow roads (particularly in the more scenic places like Dingle) take all of your attention and concentration. Have a passenger navigate with pre-loaded maps, as street and road signs outside of the M/A motorways are sparse at best; you really need to know where you're going in advance or have GPS available.
PM me for AirBnB recommendations for any of the above; they all had both the charm and the convenience. Have fun, it's an awesome experience!
posted by SquidLips at 7:33 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
Each of these provided perfect day trips to the various places - we spent 3 or 4 days in each town. They allowed us, in most cases, to sleep in comfortably, leave for the day around 9, and still be back by dusk, which was important to me as I didn't want to be driving in the dark there. Each town (or a larger one nearby) also seemed to have organized group tours to those attractions, but we self-toured everything except the Black Cab tour.
One final tip: In the US, google maps tends to overestimate the time it takes to get from point A to point B. In Ireland, take what it says and add 30-50%. Main reason being is you're going to want to stop and get out a lot along the way. I thought my dad was just being overly cautious when he said not to expect to 'sightsee' while driving, but I sure believe it now. If you are not familiar with driving in Ireland, those narrow roads (particularly in the more scenic places like Dingle) take all of your attention and concentration. Have a passenger navigate with pre-loaded maps, as street and road signs outside of the M/A motorways are sparse at best; you really need to know where you're going in advance or have GPS available.
PM me for AirBnB recommendations for any of the above; they all had both the charm and the convenience. Have fun, it's an awesome experience!
posted by SquidLips at 7:33 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks all for your responses! An extra special thanks to SquidLips for your quite thorough response. I will PM you soon.
posted by tmharris65 at 2:04 PM on July 28, 2016
posted by tmharris65 at 2:04 PM on July 28, 2016
This thread is closed to new comments.
My four favourite drives in Ireland are: the Glendine Gap in Offaly, the Conor Pass in Kerry, Louisburgh in Mayo to Leenane in Galway, and around the Beara Peninsula in west Cork.
The Wild Atlantic Way might be a good starting point for your plans - you obviously don't have to do all of it! Some parts like Killarney and Doolin will be full of tourists while others are much quieter, like Sligo's incredible beaches.
posted by carbide at 7:30 AM on July 23, 2016