Choosing bases for a two-week tour of Ireland

(Just realised that I should have posted this HERE and not under 'My Trip to Ireland' - so re-posting)

Hi Everyone,
My wife and I plan to spend two weeks next summer exploring Ireland (south of the border) having never been there before. As we like our comfort and don't enjoy regularly packing and unpacking bags (I'll be 80 next year and my wife not much younger!), we have established a preferred format for touring holidays in which we try to plan an itinerary around a number of places that we can use as bases for exploring the surrounding area, then book three nights in each (where typically we would spend at least one full day without the car - discovering the selected town on foot and/or public transport - and the rest of the time exploring surrounding areas, nearby towns/sites, etc). So for a two week itinerary we are looking to identify four or at most five towns where we can book three-night stays that would allow us to see as much of Eire as possible.
We live in France (we both have French nationality) and plan to fly into and out of Dublin, so would expect Dublin to be one of those bases; from the material we have seen so far on the Ireland.com website, we very tentatively plan a clockwise circuit from Dublin via Kilkenny, Waterford, Cork, Kilarney, Limerick, the Atlantic coast up to Galway then back to Dublin. We have yet to dig deeper into the travel guides etc., to try to put together a detailed programme, but before doing that I'm wondering whether anyone in the community has any comments on this outline itinerary and any suggestions as to which towns - in addition to Dublin - we should choose as our other 3-4 bases for three-night stops. We are interested in history, art, architecture, seascapes, landscapes and scenic routes, and we like to limit the driving on the days that we change base to a maximum of about four hours.

Many thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Best regards
Ron

Hi Ron,

No problem about posting twice, we have merged your posts into one! It's great that you are planning your trip to Ireland around a few bases, it will certainly be more enjoyable and relaxing to travel that way.

In addition to Dublin (which also has coastal villages nearby and day trip options), I would suggest picking bases away from each other in both Ireland's Ancient East and the Wild Atlantic Way.

Kilkenny, Cork, Killarney, Limerick and Galway would be good choices, as they are far enough from each other and offer many day trip options. These cities are also quite enjoyable to visit as well. 

Our trip ideas page might also inspire you to plan day trips out of your chosen bases, such as the Ring of Kerry, this West Cork trip idea, or day trips out of Galway and Connemara

I hope this helps! Let us know if you need help narrowing down your choices.

Antoine

Hi Antoine,
Many thanks for your helpful response. I'm going to follow your suggestions and check out those links you have provided. I have just one small problem - all the links resolve to French language pages (I guess this is somehow connected to the fact that I live in France). Whilst I have no problem readsing French, I would also like to share the information with others who speak only English, so can you please tell me how to get these links to take me to English language web pages?
Thanks in advance

Hi Ron,

Here are the pages in English:

Dublin  
Coastal villages
Day trip options
Kilkenny
Cork
Limerick
Galway
Tip ideas page
West Cork trip ideas
Day trips out of Galway
Connemara

Regards,
Eoin

Great!
Many thanks

Hi again,
Just to let you know I've made some progress thanks to all that help.  Not yet finalised, but I now have a tentative plan, built around four bases, as follows (you'll note that I've once chosen to break my own 'rules' about minimum three nights in each hotel by stopping in Killarney for only two nights, but have compensated by spending four nights in each of Dublin and Galway):

Day
1.   Travel - arrive Dublin late evening (central Dublin Hotel - 4 nights)
2.   Exploring Dubin on foot
3.   Exploring Dublin on foot
4.   Exploring Dublin surroundings
5.   Drive to Cork, exploring Killkenny and Waterford en route (central Cork Hotel - 3 nights)
6.   Exploring Cork on foot
7.   Exploring Cork surroundings
8.   Drive to Killarney via part of Wild Atlantic Way - incl. Ring of Kerry (Killarney Hotel - 2 nights)
9.   Drive around Dingle Peninsula
10. Drive to Galway, exploring Limerick en route (central Galway Hotel - 4 nights) 
11. Exploring Galway on foot 
12. Exploring to the South and West of Galway
13. Exploring to the North and West of Galway
14. Drive to Dublin airport and travel home.

Happy to receive any thoughts or comments on this before I start to flesh this out into a detailed programme.
Thanks again for the help and suggestions.
Ron

Hi Ron,

Thanks for posting up your proposed itinerary, it looks like you have spaced out your options for bases nicely!

As you already have the links for the web pages for the locations, I just will add the accommodation search page for your stop-over hotels. If you scroll down the page to the where do you want to stay section, then use the filters to select the most appropriate choices. I have pre-selected hotels and Dublin to get you started, just change the location as you work your way around your planned route.

There is also a page on car rental that you may be interested in too. As you have mentioned that you are slightly older than most 😉, please check their terms and conditions regarding rental to over 75's.

There is a website called Rome2Rio that we often use for transport options between locations. It also provides details if using a car. such as mileage and times to get from one place to another. I have a sample here of the Killarney to Galway section. This is a direct routing but there are plenty of stops along the way that you will be taking but it is a nice guide to look at.

Hopefully, this helps. Please keep us up to date on the finer details, it may be a long time off but it is surprising how time flies!

Martin

Hi Martin,
That all looks extremely useful - very many thanks.

Just one further question before I throw myself into the detailed planning:
We're quite flexible on dates, so we can avoid times when there are likely to be big events/crowds. I think this is most likely to be an issue in Dublin where I gather there is still a hotel room supply & demand problem. So can you please point me to a list of all the major events - conferences - congresses - concerts, etc., in Dublin in June and July 2023.

Thanks in advance
Ron  

Hi Ron,

I would say that booking accommodation well in advance is highly recommended, so that you can be sure of availability on your preferred dates. Dublin, and the rest of the island, is certainly busy during the summer months.

Here's a handy webpage that highlights some of the biggest annual events that take place in Dublin. As you can see, a number of events take place in June and July, and there are typically many sporting matches that take place in the city around this part of the year, too.

I hope this information helps.

Regards,
Eoin

Many thanks Eoin!!