# Ireland trip planning question



## Carol C (Apr 22, 2011)

Folks...if you were going to be based in Dublin for a week and not renting a car, and if you wanted to see a bit more country, what would you do if you were willing to "waste" a night in Dublin? Would you take a bus or train to Cork, or Galway, or...??? What is the most scenic routing...bus or train, to the hinterlands? Is there anything like a "Great Railway Journey" scenic train route out of Dublin to...where??? TIA for any tips!


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## Carolinian (Apr 22, 2011)

Kilkeney is an easy day trip that can be done by train from Dublin.  Belfast is a longer train ride, but also quite doable by train and will give you a chance to see Northern Ireland as well.  Those are the only public transportation routes I have done from Dublin.  Mostly, we used a rental car,


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## abbekit (Apr 22, 2011)

We did this, stayed at Fitzpatrick Castle in Dalkey twice, for a week each time, without bothering to rent a car.  Took day trips with Mary Gibbons tour to the Hills of Tara/Newgrange and another bus tour to Glendalough.  For a longer trip, pretty easy via bus that we did on our own not with a tour company, is Cashel to see the Rock of Cashel


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## GrayFal (Apr 22, 2011)

Friends tacked a 3 day/2 night "Paddy Wagon Tour" on to a weeks stay in Dublin
http://www.paddywagontours.com/
They went via motor coach to Galway/The Burren/Cliffs of Mohr/Adare/Killarney/Ring of Kerry and back to Dublin.
There is a hostel option but they paid a little more and stayed in B&Bs which they really liked.
They also toured/day tripped from Dubln as well....


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## Carol C (Apr 24, 2011)

Great ideas here! Thanks everyone!


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## Carolinian (Apr 26, 2011)

_Cook's European Timetable_ has a list of Scenic Rail Routes of Europe, and for Ireland they show:

Coleraine to Londonderry
Rosslare to Waterford
Dun Laoghaire to Wicklow

You could do a loop south from Dublin that would take in two of these three (the other one is in northern Ireland as far and you could get from Dublin).  That loop would be Dublin to Waterford, one direction through Wexford and the other through Kilkeney.  I have never been on the line through Wexford, but I have on the Kilkeney line line, and there are lots of trains on that route which would allow you to stop off in Kilkeney without any problem and it is well worth seeing for its castle and old buidlings.  Both of the scenic sections are on the Wexford route.  Wexford and Waterford are also places worth stopping but don't have as much to see as Kilkeney.  I have visited all three, but the former two were by rental car.


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## alanmj (Apr 27, 2011)

Carol C said:


> Folks...if you were going to be based in Dublin for a week and not renting a car, and if you wanted to see a bit more country, what would you do if you were willing to "waste" a night in Dublin? Would you take a bus or train to Cork, or Galway, or...??? What is the most scenic routing...bus or train, to the hinterlands? Is there anything like a "Great Railway Journey" scenic train route out of Dublin to...where??? TIA for any tips!



CarolC, you don't say what time of year this will be...

Depending on your answer, I would say go to Galway for a night. Easy train ride. Lovely scenery all the way. Whilst in Galway take in the Cliffs of Moher (http://www.cliffsofmoher.ie/) - if you are travelling in Sept. then go and watch surfers from all over the world riding the Big Wave.

If you are planning for mid-July, there is an absolutely fabulous Comedy & Arts festival in Galway (http://www.galwayartsfestival.com/). Book rooms ahead!

If you are planning for early August, then it's Race Week, and I would say avoid it. Galway is known as the drinking town of Ireland, and that says a huge amount! During Race Week it is nothing but lots of drinks and drunks.

Any further afield, such as Killarney and Ring of Kerry and the wonderful Dingle Peninsula, really requires 2 nights away.


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## Carol C (Apr 29, 2011)

alanmj said:


> CarolC, you don't say what time of year this will be...
> 
> Depending on your answer, I would say go to Galway for a night. Easy train ride. Lovely scenery all the way. Whilst in Galway take in the Cliffs of Moher (http://www.cliffsofmoher.ie/) - if you are travelling in Sept. then go and watch surfers from all over the world riding the Big Wave.
> 
> ...



Second week of November. Likely to be rainy & quite chilly, eh? I do like the Galway idea though...regardless of season. I don't mind rain and fog...adds to the charm!


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## alanmj (Apr 30, 2011)

Carol C said:


> Second week of November. Likely to be rainy & quite chilly, eh? I do like the Galway idea though...regardless of season. I don't mind rain and fog...adds to the charm!



Second week of November! Gulp! Not a good time statistically... However, in 2005 (I think it was) we had a much warmer March than July or August. The one thing you can depend on in Ireland, is that you cannot depend on the weather. The west coast though gets a LOT more rain than the east coast and is a few degrees cooler, whatever the weather.

I would say don't make plans today. Get ideas and options now, but make decisions when you are there. If the weather is fine, go to Galway. If it's not, then don't. It can be really miserable in Galway when the weather is bad.


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## beejaybeeohio (Apr 30, 2011)

Carol C said:


> Second week of November. Likely to be rainy & quite chilly, eh? I do like the Galway idea though...regardless of season. I don't mind rain and fog...adds to the charm!



Don't feel bad- twice to Ireland in July and it was rainy & chilly on both trips.  May gave us our best weather- arrived to rainy & chilly, then had 4 glorious days of sun, followed by (you guessed it) rainy & chilly again!


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## abbekit (Apr 30, 2011)

Twice to Ireland at Fitzpatrick Castle (plus another week of touring the country in B&Bs.  One trip was early December, another was mid February.  People tried to discourage us from going during those times of year (short days, bad weather, blah, blah, blah). Well we had grat weather both times.  Some nice sunny days, a few days of cool windy weather, one  really cold day out on the hills of Tara, only one rainy day on each trip.  In fact sounds like we had much better weather than beejay had in July. 

It is good advice to wait and book your day trips once you get there so you can work around the weather. 

But, don't worry about the weather.  Pack the right clothes and rain gear and duck into a pub if the weather is bad .


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