8 Day road trip itinerary to South half of the Ireland
Hi,
Me and my Family will visit Ireland in September. I think our plan is doable but I am looking for some opinions if we should cut corners or not. Our focus is in seeing the countryside and being outdoors.
Day 1: Early morning flight to Dublin, Car rental and travel to Cobh, maybe stop at Rock of Cashel. Night in Cobh.
Day 2: From Cobh to Killarney via Mizen head. Night in Killarney
Day 3: Day trip to Killarney National Park or Ring of Kerry. Night in Killarney
Day 4: From Killarney to Galway via Cliffs of Moher. Night in Galway
Day 5: Day in Galway or visit to Connemara national Park. Night in Galway
Day 6: Return to Dublin in the evening via Clonmacnoise and/or stop in Athlone
Day 7: Day in Dublin, the traditional tourist attractions.
Day 8: Early flight back home.
I see that especially day 2 and 4 are heavy from the driving point of view. Mizen head adds lots of additional travel time for the day 2 and we cannot decide if we should skip Mizen head completely and travel directly from Cobh to Killarney. That way we could do little hike in the National park on Day 2 and then Ring of Kerry on day 3. It would mean that we would see the coast little less, but have moore loose in the schedule.
On day 4 there is also lot of driving, and taking route via Tarbert ferry between Killarney and Galway might slow us down a bit, but I think we would enjoy it more than faster travel through Limerick. We have not booked the Killarney accommodation yet, so it could be possible to sleep night 3 more North, but does that really make a difference? There is a benefit to stay two night in the same place.