What Irish city should I fly into and what should I see in 5 days?

Question

I am flying from London to Ireland this January and I will have 5 days to see as much as I can. What cities/places should I avoid, what should I see? Any tips/advice/suggestions would be great!

Answer 1

In my opinion, you should fly into Shannon Int'l AIrport over Dublin.  First off, navigating out of the airport and into the surrounding areas from Shannon is much easier than getting out of Dublin (its much smaller with less traffic).  Second, and more importantly, visiting more scenic and less tourist-y places are easier from Shannon.  If you are planning on seeing a more traditional Ireland, definitely head south.  My favorite areas are around the Ring of Kerry, including the Dingle Penninsula and Killarney.  The vistas from the roadways are awesome, and the small towns are not as Americanized as in more populated cities like Dublin.  Although, over the past few years, even these areas have started to become commercial.  I would have to say that must-see areas are Galway and the Aran Islands (you can do both in one day - take a ferry to the islands), Clare (for the Cliffs of Moher), and then head south to the Ring of Kerry.  Other things to consider would be Blarney castle in Cork (but there's not much else to see in Cork), and Connemara (near Galway).  But definitely head south - its much more scenic and reminiscent of old Ireland.  And be sure to venture outside the tourist areas - ask a cab driver where a good local pub with traditional Irish music is.

Personally, I woud stay away from Dublin.  Its a smaller version of NYC, and way too commercial.

Answer 2

To me it all depends whether you are going to hire a car,are going to rely on public transport or whether you are wanting to go a 3 or 5 day bus tour.If you are going to be hiring a car I would recommend that you either fly into Shannon airport or Kerry airport,and see all the wonderful things that the first person has mentioned.If you are going to be relying on public transport I would recommend that you fly into Kerry airport.Kerry airport is about a 10 minute drive to Killarney and Killarney has a train station and a bus station and there is a company called Dero's that have bus tours that take you on the ring of Kerry and a few other destinations.If you are wanting to go on a bus tour for a couple of days I would recommend that you fly to Dublin.One really good priced bus tour company is Paddy waggon tours.I have been on a few of their tours when I had family and friends staying with me when I was living in Ireland and had a ball on each tour.They have a few different routes that they take,and their tours go any where from 3 day tours all the way to 2 week tours.If you have your heart set on not flying into Dublin,you can always get in contact with Paddy waggon tours and see if they can meet you at a certain place in Killarney(as that's one of their stops) that's what I had done before and they were absolutely fine about it,and at the end of the tour we caught the train back to Killarney.

I hope that what ever you decide to do that you have a grand time.Take care.

Answer 3

I agree with the above, shannon puts you right in the heart of things, Dublin is just a city you have to negociate through in order to get out of.

Answer 4

I agree with everyone, but I LOVE Bray, Ireland!