jason8612

23:00 I believe

tev9999

Using points in Ireland is tough outside of Dublin. I tried on last October's trip and as the others have mentioned, not many good options. I did use points at the Radisson Blu Royal and Airport in Dublin. The airport location might be perfect for your first/last nights since it looks like you don't really have time to hit the city.

I would personally rank your stops:
1. Ring of Kerry
2. Dingle Peninsula
3. Cliffs of Moher
4. Cashel
5. Blarney (have not been there, but looks too touristy to me.)

I love driving but hate crowds and tourist traps, so the scenic drives are the highlight for me and busy towns a pain. With your limited time I would probably skip the Cliffs of Moher. Beautiful but very touristy. I found the Kerry Cliffs more interesting, although smaller. plus we were the only people there (but it was October). It is on the ROK, so no time lost.

I was in Dingle last month. The drive around the peninsula is beautiful, but I found the town too touristy. A singer with an American accent, singing "Whiskey in the Jar" and asking everyone where they are from is not exactly my idea of an authentic Irish pub. There is a distillery and brewery there. I stopped at Crean's brewery for one, but I skipped the tour as I've been to dozens of breweries.

If you really want to earn/burn IHG points, the Holiday Inn Killarney is not bad. It is a good base for driving both the ROK and Dingle (over two days). It is out of town, but a short taxi ride to the town center for dinner or a pub crawl. It also has a good pub/restaurant on site. Free and easy parking too.

The Rock of Cashel is interesting and not out of the way, so no problem there.

I have not been to Cork/Blarney, but it sounds like my definition of tourist trap hell in July. I also prefer castle ruin's vs. the restored touristy ones, where nobody else is around but the sheep.

I also liked Kinvara. It is a small village but had several pubs and restaurants. It made for a good overnight after the CoM on the way back to Dublin. I considered Galway, but it just burned more driving time to fight more traffic.

MADPhil

Which reminds me that I was in Dublin in mid-July last year and it is really crowded as every school in Europe seems to run trips there at that time. I found the Radisson in St. Helens to be a peaceful oasis. It isn't close to anything but there is good bus service to the airport and a short walk to the light rail.

lwildernorva

The Radisson BLU Royal is also in a relatively quiet neighborhood although still in central Dublin. While only several blocks from some busy tourist areas, the surrounding neighborhood starts transitioning from tourist to residential/local businesses. I had no problems sleeping there but appreciated that I was only a ten-minute walk to Temple Bar. There's even a parking garage although I don't normally recommend driving a car into central Dublin.

hawkxp

Just returned 2 days ago from a 9 day trip to Ireland. Only put 1300 miles on the car in 9 days but it was too much. Have decided that the country needs at least 2 weeks to tour properly. Other then the M's (motorways) the roads are very slow going. Too many photo ops.

I am a beer drinker (not whisky) and have been know to have a couple of pints for lunch. Not so in Ireland. Never drank at a pub at lunch. Passing full size lorries on winding 14' wide roads is bad enough completely sober. It would be really dumb at .08.

Did the ring of Kerry on a Sunday (bank holiday weekend) Took 7 hours. End all advise: Everything is going to take longer then you plan.

jason8612

So here is the plan:

Wed night - Overnight in DUB airport hotel.

Thurs - Drive to Cork and overnight at the Radisson (I know it is out of the city, but I want to use some points up). See the Blarney Castle. See Rock of Cashel.

Fri - Drive to Cahersiveen via the Ring of Kerry. Booked a B&B in Cahersiveen.

Sat - Drive to Dingle via the Ring of Kerry. Overnight in a B&B.

Sun - Drive to DUB with a stop in Tullamore. Overnight at an airport hotel.

Clint Bint

I know you want to use up some points but I would really countenance against the Raddison in Cork.It is on an industrial estate a very long way out of the city with no pubs or restaurants within a long walking distance.It means you're missing out on a good small city to overnight in with good nightlife and interesting restaurants and bars.
As there's not a huge amount to see between Dublin and Cork unless you want to look around Cashel you'll be in Cork by the afternoon giving you plenty of time to explore.

http://www.corkheritagepubs.com
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/ci...d-of-Town.html

Other than this your itinerary is far more sensible than your original plan.

GRALISTAIR

^ Agreed. I personally would have done Dublin -Galway-Cong/Cliffs of Moher and the Burren and back to Dublin. But hey, each to his/her own. Hve fun. I love Ireland. The fact my grand children were born and live there is not the only reason!

jason8612

To update here a bit:
Was able to buy some Choice Hotel points and book the Clarion in Cork (Funny enough it's either 180EUR or 8,000pts which can be bought for $88).
Only issue I had was booking something in Dingle. Everything I checked is either sold out or just way to expensive. Right now I booked a B&B about 6km from the town and will double check once we get closer to the date if any last minute cancellations came up.

sdfcardinals

Thread resurrection,

My wife and I jumped on some great airfare deals, and decided to visit Ireland for the first time next September, 2017. We will be there for 10 days (Thursday until the following Saturday) and have been doing some research about how to best utilize our time. We are renting a car, and with some help from this thread, here is what we are thinking so far. To note, we are flying into and out of DUB.

Thursday and Friday : Dublin

Saturday, Sunday and Monday : Killarney

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday : Galway

Friday (evening) and Saturday (morning) : Dublin

We have some ideas of what we would like to see, such as the Kerry Cliffs, Ring of Kerry and Aasleagh Falls. We do not have any set plans in our mind but want to make sure we don't miss any "must see's." While in Dublin, we are just planning on some shopping and sight seeing. I in particular am excited to see the Trinity college campus.

We like to do outdoor activities and would love to see some things off of the beaten path. For example, I would love to see some castles, but really have no intention to see Blarney. I had originally wanted to see some of Northern Ireland, but with our limited time, think it may be best to stick to the schedule above.

I would love to hear some opinions on what others think. We are both really excited and can not wait to explore this beautiful country. Thanks for your time.

TravelingNomads

We leave for our Ireland trip in just a couple of weeks. We ended up adding on Belfast and Kilkenny after many recommendations. The Abbey north of the Cliffs of Moher was also highly recommended.