Traveling to Ireland. Need your help!

[Teleku]

So, my father has decided he wants to leave the country and travel a bit before he gets to much older.  For what ever reason, he's really got his heart set on visiting Ireland.  Due to current events, we all suddenly have the time to do it in June (and he's finally saved up enough money to afford it).  Trying to plot out the best and cheapest way to see the country for about a week.  Would the Irish here (and anybody else who has visited) please pass along any good travel info?  Great places to visit, best ways to travel around, coolest places to stay, where's the best whiskey, ect.  He says he wants to stay out in the country for at least some of the nights, and not be in the cities the whole time.  Seeing all sorts of vacation package things, though I think I may run to a travel agency to see if they can work out some deals for me (but I really have no idea where is good to visit, so again, any info on what places I should look for before I go would be nice).

How is public transit?  I'm assuming we'll need a car to have the freedom to get around and visit a lot of the cool stuff.  Though unfortunately they drive on the wrong side of the road over there, so I'm not terribly confident in out driving abilities.  My father says "he'll figure it out."

[Paelos]

I've been to western Ireland a number of times, and I enjoyed going through Shannon to Kilrush, Kilkee, Limerick, Galway, Ennis, and basically that whole coastline area of towns. Beautiful countryside out there.

[Furiously]

If I could do it... I'd get a small barge and go through all the canals.

[IainC]

Don't spend too long in Dublin. There are things there you'd probably want to see such as Trinity and the Book of Kells, Guinness brewery, Farmleigh and Phoenix Park etc but the best bits of Ireland are outside of it. Glendalough is close to Dublin and definitely worth a visit and the coast around Galway including the Arran Isles should be on your list too. Don't drive in Dublin if you can help it, the traffic is worse than any other city I've ever been to and that includes Milan. Public transport in Dublin is fairly good (constrained mostly by the terrible traffic) and outside of Dublin most of the places you want to go to will require you to have a car. Buses and trains run regularly between most cities but you won't get out to places like the Hill of Tara or the Cliffs of Moher without a car.

[Tebonas]

Buy the Lonely Planet Travel Guide. Its worth its weight in Gold. Every B&B they recommended was Indeed worth a stay. We were there for 10 days. Apart from the already mentioned locations I also totally adored Clifden. We stayed in the Mallmore Country house, and it was so beautiful we stayed an extra night (and ist is the only B&B I still remember the Name :)). Riding my Bike on the skyroad was a almost spiritual experience for me, basically riding into the ocean. Connemara is quite a beautiful Land if that is your Thing.

[Amarr HM]

Here's an itinerary which traverses the coast of Ireland anticlockwise. Can be done in reverse and will give you a good plan to work around.

Things near Dublin worth seeing
http://www.newgrange.com/
http://www.glendalough.ie/

But get out of Dublin asap Southwest and West coast are the best places to visit

Head straight to Cork through Wexford & Waterford, you could stop off in Youghal for lunch http://www.youghal.ie/index.php.
Then go to Cobh and check out the Titanic exhibition http://www.titanic.ie/
There's also quite an impressive Cathedral there http://cobhtown.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Cobh-Cathedral.jpg

Maybe visit Cork for a day it's a nice City, I've stayed here it's a great hotel http://www.doylecollection.com/locations/cork_hotels/the_river_lee_hotel.aspx
Head to Blarney check out Blarney Castle, blarney stone etc. (Don't kiss it though)

Go to Baltimore and stay here (they have a Michelin star Restaurant) http://www.tripadvisor.ie/Hotel_Review-g211928-d189761-Reviews-Casey_s_of_Baltimore-Baltimore_County_Cork.html
From Baltimore get a ferry over to Cape Clear http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Clear_Island

Head to Kerry http://www.dingle-peninsula.ie/ Dingle is worth at least two days (or more) great seafood restaurants and bars.
Go over the Conor Pass and drive the ring of Kerry. This is probably the place I would recommend the most.

Head up to Clare and you could stop in Kilrush and Kilkee (my grandmother is from there). You can go Dolphin watching in Kilrush nothing else really stands out although there's a lovely Fish and Chip shop in the square.

You could have lunch in La Hinch then check out the Cliffs of Moher & stay night somewhere here http://www.doolinireland.net/  (We usually camp there)
Go here and have the Irish Stew and listen to Trad Music over some pints of Guiness http://www.mcgannspubdoolin.com/ (One of the best pubs in Ireland)

Up to Galway, Aran Islands, Roundstone http://www.roundstone-connemara.com/
Check out Clifden  http://www.clifdenchamber.ie/
Head to Cleggan and get a ferry over to ... http://www.inishbofinislanddiscovery.com/ (only place I haven't been to on this list).
Then on to Mayo check out Westport for some civilizations it's a nice enough little town.
Loads to do in Delphi http://www.delphimountainresort.com/
You then have Sligo and Donegal (Killybegs) but I'm a little Hazy on those places.

[Paelos]

If you're looking for a nice place to stay that's sort of an American-friendly staging point for western Ireland, with some kickass cottage-style lodging, my family always stays in Doonbeg. The guy who did the development there is part of a group that's done some seriously cool golf courses at world locations, and a family friend of ours. Actually, my father is one of the founding members at the club there.

http://www.doonbeglodge.com/

[Chimpy]

I will be going in a month (I leave 4 weeks from today actually O.o )

I will post in the thread about things when I get back.

[Jherad]

Buy the Lonely Planet Travel Guide. Its worth its weight in Gold.

That right there has been the case for me, wherever I've visited in the world. Those books are awesome.

[Soln]

Buy SirT and Arthur a round.

[Arthur_Parker]

I'm in England and not sure he intends to travel to the North of Ireland anyway.

[JWIV]

Don't spend too long in Dublin. There are things there you'd probably want to see such as Trinity and the Book of Kells, Guinness brewery, Farmleigh and Phoenix Park etc but the best bits of Ireland are outside of it. Glendalough is close to Dublin and definitely worth a visit and the coast around Galway including the Arran Isles should be on your list too. Don't drive in Dublin if you can help it, the traffic is worse than any other city I've ever been to and that includes Milan. Public transport in Dublin is fairly good (constrained mostly by the terrible traffic) and outside of Dublin most of the places you want to go to will require you to have a car. Buses and trains run regularly between most cities but you won't get out to places like the Hill of Tara or the Cliffs of Moher without a car.

One thing that is absolutely worth a visit in Dublin, but is a bit rough - Kilmainham Gaol.  The Jameson and Guinness tours are also a bit of fun. 

[Soln]

Sorry AP.  I see why that was rude. 

[Arthur_Parker]

Heh, that's a first, I didn't see anything rude.  

I almost chipped in to mention the oldest licensed distillery in the world (when they ask for volunteers stick your hand up), which is a short drive from the Giant's Causeway and mention you can freely drive across the border, it's rare to get checked for ID.  But there's plenty of great stuff to see in the Republic so I didn't bother.

[CmdrSlack]

I had a great time in Kilkenny. We were headed to Cork, I think, and the weather was shit, so we stopped in Kilkenny and stayed a couple of days. The castle tour was solid. Our hotel housed the only nightclub/afterhours place in town. We got to use the "avoid the massive line" entrance. That was 10 years ago, so who knows about now.

[Teleku]

Thanks for all the advice so far everybody!  Still trying to work things out, but I think I found a package deal that's surprisingly affordable with round trip air, nice  hotels, and a rental car for a week.  Hotels have us stay in Kilkenny, Killarney, Galway, and Dublin.  Those seem to be the area's to hit from what I'm reading here, so might just go with that.  Aurthur, the Giants Causeway looks really cool, and I love Bushmills, heh.  Sadly its looking like we probably wont be hitting the North on this trip (if only we had more time and/or money).  My father loves to take pictures of naturally beautiful areas, and so far sounds like some of the best of that is located in the south west parts from what I'm reading.

[Paelos]

If you get over to the Spanish Point region, hit up a restaurant called the Red Cliff. Great place, great views, and the food is solid.

[Engels]

I thought that good irish food was liquid?

[Paelos]

I thought that good irish food was liquid?

Part of it is, the other part is the brown bread!

[Amarr HM]

Hotels have us stay in Kilkenny, Killarney, Galway, and Dublin. 

What Kilkenny lacks in scenery it makes up for with it's nightlife, I think the place cmdrslack stayed is called Langtons, great spot.

But try stay in the Rivercourt it's a really nice hotel, very central and you can get some nice views of the Castle.

[CmdrSlack]

Hotels have us stay in Kilkenny, Killarney, Galway, and Dublin. 

What Kilkenny lacks in scenery it makes up for with it's nightlife, I think the place cmdrslack stayed is called Langtons, great spot.

But try stay in the Rivercourt it's a really nice hotel, very central and you can get some nice views of the Castle.

It was theKilkenny Ormonde. It certainly seemed as if it contained the only nightclub that was open after the pubs closed -- the line we managed to avoid by entering through the hotel bar was several people wide and a hojillion people deep.

[Chimpy]

Going to use this post (editing as I go along) to throw in a few tidbits for you to take or leave as you see fit throughout my trip.

Day 1 (Dublin): There is a restaurant/bar called "the Church" about 5 blocks from the spire (next door to the leprechaun museum) which is a converted church. Food was really good and the place is pretty cool. Both the info booth guys we talked to recommended it and I do as well.

Decided due to our schedule, driven mainly by my need to be in a quiet location with a phone at 9pm for a phone interview, to forgo the rental car (love you Enterprise for not taking a cc number to make a reservation) and just use the trains/bus tours to get to places we want to see as the prices for them are not too bad. We are taking a train to Galway in a couple hours and staying there a couple nights before we come back to Dublin as we are flying to Edinburgh on Saturday.

[Teleku]

Thanks for the updates Chimpy, appreciate the info.  We went ahead and got the package I mentioned above.  Fair warning to any Irish who may be driving the last week of June:  There will be two Americans who have no idea how to drive on the wrong side of the road cruising around your country.  You've been warned!

[IainC]

Just as n FYI, the trains between Dublin and Galway are crap. There is a bus service that runs every hour and costs 25€ for a return ticket however which is much bette - gobus.ie

[Chimpy]

We were staying at a hotel right next to Heuston and it was like €34 return so it wasn't too bad. Ended up being less expensive than the car rental would have been by a long shot.

Oh, I did not do any updates after the first post. Since I am sitting in the Dublin airport waiting for our flight to Edinburgh I will throw in a few more details.

Galway is great. Nice and compact in the city center, lots of nice little pubs (which we didn't really visit, heh), tons of little things to take photos of. We did a bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren. Was €25 per person including the 6 fee to get into the cliffs. Cliffs are really cool tho I recommend that you make sure it is not likely to rain when you go as it started to at the end of our visit and the footpaths got kind of slick. Pulnabrone Dolmen in the Burren is one of the most otherworldly places I have ever been, pretty sure the hills around there are the inspiration for the cover to Houses of the Holy by Zeppelin. Ate lunch at Gus O'Connor's in Doolin, salmon was very very good.

When we got back to Dublin we wandered around the Temple Bar and Trinity College area, ate at a pub in Temple Bar that was very tasty. Did another relatively cheap bus tour to Wicklow and Glendalough which was cool. Ate lunch at the pub in Avoca where Ballykissangel was filmed, Fitzgerald's. In both cases we have had pretty entertaining tour drivers who also have a lot of history information as we went along. If you go to Wicklow in June you will surely see them in a much prettier state as the heather might have bloomed by then (was all brown/yellow for us.) Wandered Phoenix Park a bit last night, my god it is huge.

We are probably going to just do our Dublin sightseeing on Thursday after we get back as we have a full day. We had planned on doing that when we got here originally but we landed on a bank holiday so most stuff was closed.