Where to visit in Ireland? Transportation?

Question

I'd like to visit Ireland next year (sometime in April) where would you recommend I visit? I'd like to see a little bit of city, but mostly rural and village areas. My ancestors are from Inishowen, so I might stop there for a bit. My trip will probably be about 10-12 days.

Also, is it better to travel by train/bus or rent a car? Which would be more expensive?

Answer 1

You should take alook at the West Cork coast, towns like Clonakilty, great for beaches, scenery, music (Noel Redding lived there until he died + There is an international guitar festival every August) and comedy (in De Barras pub) and Kinsale, great place for scernery and famous for food. There not to far from Cork City either. Definatly look at Dublin, Belfast, Wicklow and Wexford. All beautiful places (though 12 days is nowhere near lon enough to see Ireland.)

Answer 2

hey there,

i think for a travel itinerary you could make youre way around basically the top 2/3rds of ireland. depending on where you start, you could make youre way around alot of ireland as no where takes that long to drive around.

in terms of transport you would need to get a mixture of buses and trains especially if you were going to go up to Inishowen in donegal because there are not any trains in the north west of ireland.

i think it would probably be best getting a hire car for youre 2 weeks.

as i said depending on where you arrive (im assuming dublin) you could stay there a few days, see the signts of dublin like temple bar, guinness factory etc

then make youre way up in a day to belfast (northern ireland) stay there, see the belfast eye, its a good night out there!

then go up and drive up the antrim coast which is really pretty.

along the coast road you could go see the giants causway and the rope bridge which is really cool.

along from that you come to derry which is a kinda ok city.

along from that then is Inishowen, just as you cross the boarder. you could then work youre way down through donegal, with nice seaside towns and then down on through sligo and then into mayo. (personally i think mayo and generally the west of ireland is the prettyest place on earth achill island being one of my favourites.) on the drive down that side of the country you come accross mainly small villages with really nice pubs. and the main towns arnt that big at all until you get to galway really.  its an easy enough drive back from galway then to dublin.

i know it sounds like alot but its not that far away from eachother at all

just go on google maps and type maybe belfast to derry and youll get an idea that its only about 2 hours drive away from eachother.

youll have such a nice time. if ya go into any of the old nice bars in mayo esp im sure theyll love ya.

have loadsa fun

oh yea by the way trains are kinda expensive like the dublin belfast train is like 70USD alone. buses are cheaper like but even the express option goes into every wee town on the way.

x*x

Answer 3

You'll need a car for a rural area like Inishowen. Naturally renting a car is more expensive, but cheaper than getting a taxi everywhere.

Be aware that while distances don't seem great, the roads in the Republic of Ireland were lot built for large volumes of fast traffic. We do not have great fast motorways here! Allow lots of time.

Answer 4

bus's are cheap - but if you want to see rural ireland properly i would try rent a car.

Co Kerry is lovely the town of kilarney- The ring of Kerry is a big tourist attraction. just a ring around the most beautiful areas/senary in the country. there are some lovely hotels too.

i live in dublin, so i would say you should come here too, but to be honest there are more beautiful parts to Ireland that you should see than coming to Dublin. If your in dublin - you should go to kilmanim jail and the guisness store house

Basically the west of ireland would be best for you (stay away from limerick - it's a kip)

use this link to plan your routes - you can pick which town you want to go to and from and it will give you the directions and time and KM it will take. best to plan it all before you come. have it all printed out.

http://www.aaroadwatch.ie/routes/

Answer 5

Rent a car!

Get up to Inishowen and Fanad and all over the north coast. You'll love it. Go from Bloody Foreland and down to Gweedore, from Derry across to Ballycastle. That would take in three good days. Then down to see Clare, Galway, Mayo, Kerry and Connemara.

Answer 6

My husband and i recently went to Ireland for our honeymoon for 12 days. We saw pretty much the entire bottom half of Ireland. We decided on the southern route  because of money as well as that is where Dublin and Cliffs of Mohr are located. We rented a car which was very cheap but ditched the car and took the bus in Dublin. To drive in that town you have to be mad. Its crazy.

We went through tourireland.com and did a B&B tour along with a 3 might stay at Ashford Castle. It was amazing.

I would highly reccomend staying at B&Bs for one the people are amazing and they will tell you the best stories, and they know of all the places to go and see. But im sure no matter where you go you will have a wonderful time.

Answer 7

http://www.viator.com/tours/Ireland/The-... < -- This gives you a basic rundown of things to do in Ireland.

The Guinness house, Dublin Zoo, Croke Park, Wicklow Jail , Kilmanen Jail and the GPO which  is a post office with a great historical significance to it are great things to see.

You could go down to Cork and See the Blarney Stone. The myth is I you kiss it you’ll never shut up!

For the scenery I like the Wicklow mountains.--- > http://www.gsi.ie/NR/rdonlyres/6CC9C746-...

Also in Wicklow, are the Sugarloaf mountains. They’re very beautiful too.-- > http://www.lookaroundireland.com/countie...

In Dublin, The best night life is definitely in Temple Bar. It’s big, It’s modern and It’s expensive while it has loads of history and culture to it too.

If you want a relaxing, quiet holiday in the country or enjoy the scenery, then any parts of the country will do it for you really like Donegal, Galway, Clare, Mayo etc.

If you want a shopping, busy, touristy holiday then anywhere (or most places) in Dublin will do it for you.

A town in Kerry (the South of Ireland, It’s beside Cork too) called Tralee is very touristy. It is the largest town in Ireland.

It has many attractions and loads of shops and a great night life.

It’s great for young people and people with small families. It suits everyone.

It has an aqua dome swimming pool which is always packed and outside the pool, You can play crazy Golf.

Here is a site on Tralee:  http://www.tralee-insight.com/

Killarney is another county which caters a lot for tourists. It has good Castles if you’re into that and it has a lovely countryside and the sea is nice there too. Here is a website on Tourism in Killarney--- > http://killarney-ireland.info/

The People in Ireland, in my opinion are an extremely welcoming race. I think this because I have went to other countries from a young age on exchanges, holidays with college etc. and I thought no one was as hospitable as the Irish.

Here are some sights on Tourism in Ireland:

http://www.tourismireland.com/

http://www.shamrock.org/

http://www.discoverireland.com/ire/

http://www.visitdublin.com/ (Dublin Tourism)

Renting a car is much more worth your while, You can travel where you want, when you want.

Here’s some links that might help you with car hire:

http://www.irishcarrentals.com/g/index.h...

http://www.holidayautos.ie/cgi-bin/livew...

http://www.budget.ie/

http://www.argus-rentacar.com/

Good Luck. = )