Mr. Selfish and I decided to drive the loop around the Dingle Peninsula instead of the Ring of Kerry.  First of all, we had limited time and the Dingle Peninsula is only about 30 miles long whereas the Ring of Kerry is about 110 miles long.  Second, the Ring of Kerry is supposed to be slammed with tour buses during August.  Third and most importantly, the Dingle Peninsula is supposed to be equally if not more beautiful than the Ring of Kerry.

Ireland Trip Report

1. Ireland Overview
2. Driving in Ireland
3. Castles, Castles, and more Castles
4. Kylemore and Connemara
5. The Cliffs of Insanity!
6. The Loop Around the Dingle Peninsula
7. Searching for the Best Guinness in Dublin
8. 6 Hotels in 7 Nights! Part 1
9. 6 Hotels in 7 Nights! Part 2
10. Ireland’s Fine Eats – Part 1
11. Ireland’s Fine Eats – Part 2

Doing minimal research once again, we relied on our old friend, Rick Steves, to navigate us through the Dingle Peninsula.

In the morning, we drove down Conor Pass to the city of Dingle.  The fog was rolling in but it was still beautiful.

Once we reached the city of Dingle, the true loop around Dingle Peninsula began.  For the majority of the time, the ocean was on our left and the green rolling hills and valleys were on our right.  The sun came out, and it was utterly breathtaking.

I could live in one of these houses!

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As we were driving from Galway to Dingle, we made a stop at the Cliffs of Moher.  Apparently, they were filmed as the “Cliffs of Insanity” in one of my all-time favorite movies – “Princess Bride”.

It was a beautiful day, and Mr. Selfish and I got to spend a great deal of time exploring the Cliffs of Moher.  Admission was only 6 euros per person.  The Cliffs were totally worth the price of admission!

Ireland Trip Report

1. Ireland Overview
2. Driving in Ireland
3. Castles, Castles, and more Castles
4. Kylemore and Connemara
5. The Cliffs of Insanity!
6. The Loop Around the Dingle Peninsula
7. Searching for the Best Guinness in Dublin
8. 6 Hotels in 7 Nights! Part 1
9. 6 Hotels in 7 Nights! Part 2
10. Ireland’s Fine Eats – Part 1
11. Ireland’s Fine Eats – Part 2

First, we headed to the right of the visitor center in order to climb O’Brien Tower, which cost an extra 2 euros per person.  Unfortunately, the Tower is not that high and the view from the top is mostly obstructed.  I would not recommend paying the extra fee to “climb” O’Brien Tower.

Then, we headed to the right of the visitor center.  We reached a point at the Cliffs where there were no longer railings.  There were also warning signs stating, “Danger – Hazard Area” and “Do Not Enter.”

But the mere signs could not deter us from the beautiful view, and we continued on.  Boy, was it worth it!  The view from the outer most edge was absolutely breathtaking.

I would recommend completely bypassing O’Brien Tower and heading as far down the right cliffs as possible.  It was beautiful.

We also met a nice fellow from Dublin, who informed us that he decided to take off from work and drive the three hours from Dublin to visit the Cliffs since there was hardly ever such perfect weather there.  Yes, we lucked out.

Mr. Selfish and I uncharacteristically did little research prior to arriving in Ireland.  We were too busy packing up the house, and I had my nose to the grindstone studying for the California bar.  We therefore failed to plan every moment of our Ireland trip prior to our arrival.  Our itinerary in Ireland was as “spontaneous” as we get.

Ireland Trip Report

1. Ireland Overview
2. Driving in Ireland
3. Castles, Castles, and more Castles
4. Kylemore and Connemara
5. The Cliffs of Insanity!
6. The Loop Around the Dingle Peninsula
7. Searching for the Best Guinness in Dublin
8. 6 Hotels in 7 Nights! Part 1
9. 6 Hotels in 7 Nights! Part 2
10. Ireland’s Fine Eats – Part 1
11. Ireland’s Fine Eats – Part 2

During our first night, we realized that we needed to figure out what we were doing the next day.  We did some quick Internet research and found that there was an abbey on the way to Galway called “Kylemore Abbey.”  Mr. Selfish found it amusing that “Kylemore” means “The Big Wood.”

We couldn’t resist and decided to go there – although we didn’t know much about it.  Luckily, Kylemore was beautiful.

Construction on Kylemore started in 1867 and took one hundred men four years to complete.  It was originally a private residence, but in 1920, Kylemore became a Benedictine monastery – after several rich families had to sell it due to family indiscretions and gambling debts.

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Ireland is the most beautiful country I’ve ever visited.  While other places have singularly beautiful sites, Ireland, as a whole, was by far the most scenic. From scenic countryside to dramatic cliffs to lovely castles, Ireland definitely tops my list of beautiful countries.

Ireland Trip Report

1. Ireland Overview
2. Driving in Ireland
3. Castles, Castles, and more Castles
4. Kylemore and Connemara
5. The Cliffs of Insanity!
6. The Loop Around the Dingle Peninsula
7. Searching for the Best Guinness in Dublin
8. 6 Hotels in 7 Nights! Part 1
9. 6 Hotels in 7 Nights! Part 2
10. Ireland’s Fine Eats – Part 1
11. Ireland’s Fine Eats – Part 2

We’ll discuss the countryside and cliffs later, but for now, here’s a montage of the various castles we visited:

1.  Trim Castle – We visited Trim Castle our first day in Ireland.  Trim is a quaint little town about 45 minutes west of Dublin, which made it a convenient first stop on our tour of Ireland.  Admission to the castle was 6 euros but because we showed up late, the guard gave us a “senior” discount and it only cost 4 euros.  Unfortunately, we missed out on the last tour so did not get to go into the castle.

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Although there is a lot to see in Dublin itself, Mrs. Selfish and I had a week to burn in Ireland, so our best option was to rent a car and see the breathtaking Irish countryside.

Ireland Trip Report

1. Ireland Overview
2. Driving in Ireland
3. Castles, Castles, and more Castles
4. Kylemore and Connemara
5. The Cliffs of Insanity!
6. The Loop Around the Dingle Peninsula
7. Searching for the Best Guinness in Dublin
8. 6 Hotels in 7 Nights! Part 1
9. 6 Hotels in 7 Nights! Part 2
10. Ireland’s Fine Eats – Part 1
11. Ireland’s Fine Eats – Part 2

If you’ve never been, Ireland is a beautiful country that gets an unfortunate amount of rainfall each year.  It’s also a very small country with a population of just under 4.5 million people and a little over 1 million living in Dublin itself.

There are a number of trains around Ireland.  Another popular option is to join a tour bus, but nothing beats a rental car.

Renting a Car in Ireland

Tip #1: Use Auto Slash to save off of the rental itself

Car renting is a mysterious process with car rates rising or falling just about every day for little to no reason.  Luckily, this is where services such as Auto Slash, come in handy.  Unlike most websites, Auto Slash automatically re-books your reservation every time the price lowers:

You were originally booked at 202.06 EUR, and the price has now dropped to 183.00 EUR. We’ve automatically re-booked your rental at the lower rate. You’ve saved 19.06 EUR without even lifting a finger! 

For this trip, we only saved 19.06 euros, but hey, that’s almost 5 pints of Guinness!

Unfortunately, Auto Slash doesn’t cover every rental agency (for instance, Hertz is unavailable), but I always like to check there first before I look anywhere else.

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Mr. Selfish and I had originally intended to start our trip in London, since Mr. Selfish had found some great flights to London at the beginning of August 2012.  Unfortunately, this happened to coincide with the Olympics.

As a result of our poor timing, housing was 300% more expensive than normal and completely out of our price range.  Not to be deterred, we decided to head straight to Dublin and spend a week exploring Ireland.  That way, when we returned to London, the Olympics would be over and housing would be affordable again.

Ireland Trip Report

1. Ireland Overview
2. Driving in Ireland
3. Castles, Castles, and more Castles
4. Kylemore and Connemara
5. The Cliffs of Insanity!
6. The Loop Around the Dingle Peninsula
7. Searching for the Best Guinness in Dublin
8. 6 Hotels in 7 Nights! Part 1
9. 6 Hotels in 7 Nights! Part 2
10. Ireland’s Fine Eats – Part 1
11. Ireland’s Fine Eats – Part 2

After doing a little research I settled on a week-long trek through southern Ireland.  Since Mr. Selfish and I wanted to see as much of Ireland as possible we decided to stay in 6 different hotels over the course of 7 days.  Here’s our very ambitious (crazy) itinerary:

Day 1 – We landed in Dublin and immediately drove to Trim, a small town 45 minutes away.  We explored Trim and spent the night there.

Day 2 – We visited Kylemore and Connemara National Park, spending the night in Galway, a scenic town overlooking Galway Bay.

Day 3 – We explored the Cliffs of Moher and spent the night in Dingle.

Day 4 – We drove around the Dingle Peninsula and spent the night in Cork.

Day 5 – We visited Barryscourt Castle and spent the night in Waterford.

Days 6 and 7 – We toured Kilkenny Castle and then dropped off the car at the airport.  We spent two nights in Dublin and searched for the best Guinness in town.

That’s about 570 miles.  On the left side of the road.  In a manual rental car.  More on that later…