We used CIE and they were very professional and it was run very well, all 4 star hotels and great meals. Never felt like we were being herded from place to place like cattle.

Not all tour companies are bad.

You say you checked various tours. Did you look at these? https://www.insightvacations.c...-and-ireland/ireland

Insight uses coaches configured to their standards with more seating space (and a decent bathroom). They offer good quality tours.

flashguy

After a somewhat similar thread to this, we went in 2014, flew into Shannon, rented a small car with a manual transmission, and drove just over 1,200 miles around the south half of the island over the next 7 days. It was a blast, except for my wife driving first. It took a little effort getting used to the narrow roads with rock-wall fences and overgrowth 4.5" off the edge of pavement while the car on the other side of the road barrels past at 80 (kph, fortunately). It wasn't bad after the first little while and we drove on a lot of their M-expressways, their decent state routes, and a whole lot of the county routes. We stayed in County Claire (near Tulla) for five nights and drove loops each day, always having something we could add if time allowed and something we could leave out if it didn't. With things closing early in a lot of cases, you can guess how that went. One night was in Dublin and one was spent in Cork on the big loop.

Highly recommended: Cliffs of Moher, the castle keep at the Burren College of Art (self guided tour will take you fifteen minutes but will give you a real feel for how a minor lord lived and how such a structure was constucted), Burren Birds of Prey Center (the birds of prey show was great and the hawk walk was really cool, but whatever you do, skip the "cave" tour if they're still offering it), Aran Islands, Kilarney/Muckross House, Prince August Toy Soldier Factory (only if you enjoy miniature figures and diaromas, it's in Macroom), Blarney Castle near Cork, the Rock of Cashel, Kilkenny Castle, Donaghmore Workhouse and Agricultural Museum (having to do with the famines, one of the most touching things we saw on the trip), Newgrange/Bru na Boinne, and Trinity College (Book of Kells was neat but overrated, but the college tour with one of the guides was excellent) and St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin.

Tullynally Castle in Castlepollard was neat and very picturesque but also overrated; since it's still a private residence, you can see part of the exterior and tour the large gardens, but we'd have skipped that and a lot of kilometers if we'd caught that in brochure. We skipped the Ring of Kerry deliberately (not enough time with traffic so slow) but also had to skip the Dingle Peninsula, which was really disappointing.

Hope you have a great trip!

If you have a good navigator, be sure to get a current version of one of these. I bought this on our first trip over and 7 trips later still use it. A GPS is great for finding addresses and getting you directly from Point A to Point B, but the fun part of Ireland is venturing onto the "R" roads and discovering things, creating your own shortcuts.

When we first went, there were very few motorways (read Interstates). The single digit "N" (national) road spokes radiated out of Dublin to all corners of the country. They took you through all the towns so you didn't make great time but you discovered things. I'm sure many Americans miss a lot of what makes Ireland special by simply jumping on a motorway and blasting off to their final goal, bypassing a lot.



Speaking of discovering things, on our first trip my navigator found "The Vee", a gorgeous pass through the Knockmealdown Mtns. Talking to one of our Irish relatives later - he'd driven it many times - he was amazed and pleased we'd found it ourselves. It's not really on the direct route to anywhere 99% of tourists would go. Those are the sorts of places we love finding.

quote:

I'm sure many Americans miss a lot of what makes Ireland special by simply jumping on a motorway and blasting off to their final goal, bypassing a lot.

Considering American's only get 2-weeks paid vacation per year, its not a mystery why most travelers end up missing these unique locations, in the quest to check-off as much of the highlights as possible. Finding these unique gems really add some character to your trip, particularly as you reflect back on where you've been and can share.

PBS has a program called "Ireland: County by County" that is pretty informative. Google it. Is available on Youtube too.

Waterford Crystal in Waterford Ire...

Waterford Crystal