Thinking about a road trip round Ireland?

Question

Can anyone advise on a possible route - pref scenic places like you see in the ad campaign. Thanks

Answer 1

Depends where your arrival point is.A good website to check out is www.goireland.com there are plentyof hints and suggestions on it to see the best of Ireland

Answer 2

Land in Dublin, spend 2 days here, go south east wexford/waterford, go around to cork/kerry, go up to Galway and donegal(i'm from there and its exactly like the ads, roads are S**t though!) go over to belfast and from there you can get back to dublin, now that will take in almost all of ireland, all the major cities and scenery and bus eireann drive between all these places

Answer 3

North Antrim coastline - Giants Causeway is beautiful - also around the south/west coast - Killarney lakes.

Answer 4

use this book for inspiration

http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/boo...

Answer 5

I would fly into Dublin and hang out there for a few days.  It's become more cosmopolitan and there is lots to do.  Go to St. Steven's Green and Trinity college is nearby where you can see the famous Book of Kells.  Also nice to just walk over the bridges over the Liffey (like the Ha'Penny bridge).  Then head north.

In the north - which is perfectly safe now - drive along the coast road and drive throughthe 7 glens of Antrim.  You'll want to stop every once in a while for a cool picture.  Next see Dunluce Castle, which is a huge ruin that you can walk in and around and almost underneath. Not far from there is the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge, which is put up by salmon fisherman every year. I'm pretty sure it's free, and you can walk over the bridge to a little island. It's probably a 150 foot drop, so it's at your own risk, but I did it twice and it's pretty cool. Also nearby is the Giant's causeway, a huge rock formation that you should stop and see.  It's just bizarre how this rock (basalt rock?) formed into octagonal pillars all next to each other, but at different heights.  Of course there's a legend behind it.  Up in the north we stayed at a cool B&B call Maddybenny's - it may be 2 words.  Great breakfasts!

If you can hit Donegal as you go around the coast, do it.  Very desolate and wild looking.

On the west coast, Achill Island is very cool to drive around. We often saw people who pulled off to the side and set up those portable captain's chairs and had a picnic on the cliffs.  Another neat little island chain is the Aran Islands (kind of made famous by the Jeanine Garofolo movie "The Matchmaker). Take the ferry out and then catch one of the guys giving tours - our guide was very funny.  Also in the west, be sure to visit the town of Galway.  Still a small town by our terms, but growing.  Great town to hear traditional Irish music.

Must do in the west - the Cliffs of Moher. You can climb up and vierw them from the top - 700 foot drop. Last time I was there they let you walk right up to the edge, but that may be changing. You can also hire horses and take a guided tour along the cliff. Or you can take a boat ride along the cliffs, which is very cool too.

A little further south is a nice tour that you can do on horseback or by jaunting car through the Gap of Dingle (I did it on horseback). It's a valley cut out by glaciers and takes about 2 hours to do. Nearby is a scenic drive called the Ring of Kerry, that takes in the Gap and some other beautiful views as you drive the road.  You can do that yourself or take a tour.

The town of Killkenny in the west is great too.

Kissing the Blarney stone is a good, if touristy, thing to do. It's at the top of Blarney castle, and you have to hang upside down to do it - and you're basically dangling over the ground.

In the center of the country is an old monastery and ruins known as the Rock of Cashel. Pretty impressive.  Try to get to the interior of the coutnry too.  Enniskillen is a cool town - we stayed at the Rossahilly house this summer and it sits on a hill over a lake just a few minutes out of town.  Gorgeous!

Try and hit Cork in the south.  Probably the most built up city with skyscrapers.  All along the route, don't be afraid to just follow signs pointing to a cool abbey or castle.

Some other places to see:  Kylemore Abbey, if you're a fan of the movie the Quiet Man, go to the village of Cong where it was filmed and see Ashford castle (you can stay there, but it's probably $300 a night - jsut walk around the grounds. lol).

At any rate, enjoy the Irish people. They are the friendliest people anywhere. Make sure you strike up conversations when you're out at a pub or whatever, you're bound to hear some good stories.