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NHR: Ireland castles road trip?

Hi ladies,

Just wondering if those of you who have been to Ireland could give me any tips/must-see places?  FI and I are tentatively planning on going there in the next year or so, and we wanted to price it out to figure out a budget.

Our thought was to fly in, rent a car for 9 days or so and basically make a big circle from Dublin to Waterford, to Cork, to Limerick, and back to Dublin.  Maybe a stop in Killarney along the way also.

We've seen those good deals on travelzoo as well, but they all seem to be a bit restricted as to location or time.  We will go over a holiday so we should be able to get a solid 9 days of sightseeing in, and most of those pre-planned trips are really more like 6 days.  That said, I would obviously love to get a deal so if these are more flexible than I'm imagining, we are totally open to it.

Also?  Bonus points if you can give me the names of must-see castles and those that are just out of the way and not worth it.  The country has dozens, so we want to see the best ones.  And if you have ever stayed in one of the castles, I would love to hear about it.  We were thinking of splurging one or two nights to stay in one of the castles-turned-hotels, but we aren't sure if they are current enough with amenities like air conditioning, etc.

TIA
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Re: NHR: Ireland castles road trip?

  • AdeleDazeemAdeleDazeem member
    5000 Comments Fifth Anniversary 25 Love Its Name Dropper
    edited January 2013
    My parents took us to Ireland when I was about twelve.  It was a bus tour that followed a very similar route to the one you're planning so it should  be an awesome trip!

    I only remember one castle - how sad is that?  Blarney Castle.  We kissed the Blarney Stone (upside down), but I'm sure that one is already on your list!

    One other thing that sticks in my head is the Ring of Kerry.  It's a beautiful (and twisty) drive along the coast.  You could do it on the way to Limerick if you have time.

    Enjoy Dublin.  Go see the Book of Kells at Trinity!

    EDIT: Oh!  One more thing.  We went in July and the temp was in the 60s with rain.  According to the Weather Channel, that's rather average.  Of course it might be warmer, but I wouldn't bank on it.

    http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/EIXX0014
  • Thanks!  If we go it will probably be in August - FI will have a month off between the bar exam and his work, so we figure we should take advantage of the time.... and since it's so dang hot around the rest of the world, Ireland or the UK would be the best choice of locations.
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  • We have a house there (the house my grandmother grew up in) and I have been several times. Honestly, I think you will find that 9 days just isn't enough to do all you want to without being absolutely exhausted. We usually find that 2 weeks is hardly enough!! We stay on the west coast most of the time. The Ring of Kerry is a must. You will not regret a stop in Killarney and will probably want at least a day there. I've heard from friends that the brewery tours are amazing (specifically the Jameson tour). 

    We have never done a "bus tour" and I absolutely don't regret that decision. If you go with a plan and a map/GPS, you are much better driving and being on your own schedule!
  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_honeymoon_nhr-ireland-castles-road-trip?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:11Discussion:4c2bda25-9169-45de-8234-d4a129880269Post:354dd55b-950f-4adc-a362-75919416af7b">Re: NHR: Ireland castles road trip?</a>:
    [QUOTE]We have a house there (the house my grandmother grew up in) and I have been several times. Honestly, I think you will find that 9 days just isn't enough to do all you want to without being absolutely exhausted. We usually find that 2 weeks is hardly enough!! We stay on the west coast most of the time. The Ring of Kerry is a must. You will not regret a stop in Killarney and will probably want at least a day there. I've heard from friends that the brewery tours are amazing (specifically the Jameson tour).  We have never done a "bus tour" and I absolutely don't regret that decision. If you go with a plan and a map/GPS, you are much better driving and being on your own schedule!
    Posted by meggiemo[/QUOTE]<div>
    </div><div>Thanks for the tips!  Yes 9 days is going to push it for us, but we plan on spending no more than 1 or 2 nights in each small place.  We are thinking 2 nights in Killarney (maybe even 3) to do the ring of Kerry.  Is there much to see in Dublin?  We are going to do the castle, probably the guiness and jameson distilleries for my FI, and probably go up for a half day to see Newgrange (I could care less but my FI has this thing for ancient rocks...).  We were originally thinking 3 days in Dublin but if 2 would be enough then we could spend 3 in Killarney.  That has the hotel we are most looking forward to as well.</div><div>
    </div>
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  • I did something similar.  Stayed 2 or 3 nights in Dublin, then stayed in Cashel (our room overlooked the Rock of Cashel and had sheep grazing outside, very neat), Killarney and Bunratty.  We flew into Dublin and out of Shannon.  We skipped the Ring of Kerry (I can't remember why) and instead did the Dingle Peninsula.  My favorite......the Cliffs of Moher.  Also did the Blarney Castle....touristy but we didn't want to skip it.  We were so happy we rented and car and drove ourselves around.  We stopped all the time and were simply amazed at the landscape of the country. 

    To book....we simply looked at a map, found out where we wanted to go, figured out the driving distance/times and worked out the best areas to stay in.  We then emailed the owners of the B&Bs and did our bookings that way.
  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_honeymoon_nhr-ireland-castles-road-trip?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:11Discussion:4c2bda25-9169-45de-8234-d4a129880269Post:8a30e5d6-36f1-432e-bc4c-2e5971a5be73">Re: NHR: Ireland castles road trip?</a>:
    [QUOTE]Check out the Travel by Rick Steves pod-cast, which are pretty Ireland heavy.
    Posted by Sleeper2013[/QUOTE]

    Totally check out his information. He'll give you great tips on must see places and the most affordable ways to travel & places to stay. My family used his Germany/Austria book one summer and it helped us find places to stay that we normally wouldn't have found. In the countryside there were not chain motels, only B&B so having a list of places that he referred was helpful.

    From a trip that I planned through Alaska I have this advise to share, try to find a tour that you would like to do & see if you can add a few days on at the end if possible. Then compare the price of doing the trip yourself and don't forget to include food, gas (which is usually 3 times the price of gas in the US) admission of places you would like to go, etc. For us, it would have been easier to go on a tour of alaska let someone else handle finding all the hotels, tours, driving around etc because by time we were done finding everything, it wasn't any cheaper then doing a tour.
  • We just did a similar trip with another couple in Sept/Oct and LOVED it!

    We booked a travelzoo deal with Sceptre Tours; 8 days/7nights, hotel, rental car and flights included. We upgraded our car (from economy sized manual to automatic fully sized) and got rental insurance; Our price per person was about $1050.  It was absolutely amazing and I highly recommend.

    I blogged about it and would love to answer any questions you have: http://shineisntalwaysshimmer.blogspot.com/2012/10/ireland-day-1.html
  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_honeymoon_nhr-ireland-castles-road-trip?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:11Discussion:4c2bda25-9169-45de-8234-d4a129880269Post:567113f4-625e-4fb4-8d91-572f108e809a">Re: NHR: Ireland castles road trip?</a>:
    [QUOTE]We just did a similar trip with another couple in Sept/Oct and LOVED it! We booked a travelzoo deal with Sceptre Tours; 8 days/7nights, hotel, rental car and flights included. We upgraded our car (from economy sized manual to automatic fully sized) and got rental insurance; Our price per person was about $1050.  It was absolutely amazing and I highly recommend. I blogged about it and would love to answer any questions you have: <a href="http://shineisntalwaysshimmer.blogspot.com/2012/10/ireland-day-1.html" rel="nofollow">http://shineisntalwaysshimmer.blogspot.com/2012/10/ireland-day-1.html</a>
    Posted by hz80408[/QUOTE]

    <div>Thank you!  I read your blog - so many things to add to our itinerary!  Since your tour was self-guided, I will definitely check that out, because those prices are a good bit lower than we were originally talking about!</div>
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  • Yay! Great! HTH!
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