Honeymoon in Ireland?

Question

We're getting married next May, and want to spend two weeks in Ireland. We're coming from Rhode Island so we'll need to get airfare and lodging. We want to be in the country (SCENIC) but not too far from civilization (small towns, ability to travel to different areas easily). We may also want to take day trips to other parts of Europe (England, France). Where is a good location to honeymoon and what are some affordable ways to do so?

Answer 1

If you want to go on day trips to a city in England or France, you should definitely base yourself in either Cork or Dublin.  Or as near as possible, so that you won't have too much trouble getting to the airport.  If you're sure want to go to France for a day, then it has to be Dublin.  It might be a bit of a waste of time to go to France though, as a flight to Paris takes about 2.5 hours, and then you've got to be at the airport 1 or 2 hours in advance, etc. Amsterdam and London are good places for day trips.  Check out http://www.aerlingus.com and http://www.ryanair.com for cheap(ish) flights.

Answer 2

With the length of time it takes travelling to and from airports, queuing and being a few hours early for your flight, I don't think I'd recommend day trips to England or France.  You'd need 3 days really to get the full benefit of trips there.  I know it looks so close on a map, but flights to France are about 2 or 3 hours depending on which part, and a ferry there takes the best part of a day.  

Somewhere like Galway, Cork, or Kilkenny would be scenic and also nice to stay for day trips around Ireland.  Getting around Ireland also takes a lot longer than you'd think, we have motorways and dual carriageways between major cities and towns, but most of the more scenic areas obviously have minor  (narrow enough, 1 lane each way) roads, so if you're stuck behind a lorry or tractor you can be there for a while.  If you go to this website http://www.aaroadwatch.ie/routes/ you can enter in places you want to travel between and it'll give you a fairly accurate time for driving.