dublin to kilkenny best route?

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Is the best route kilkenny via portlaois or Carlow?

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carlow

PhilipMarlowe

Carlow is the most usual route but with a bottleneck at Castledermot (eternal roadworks). Carlow itself is now bypassed so that's a big plus.
Athy is another option but it's a poor road and Athy can be a major bottleneck.
Staying on the motorway for longer is another option until near portlaoise (exit 17 I think) but abbeyleix can be a bottleneck...

Slig

Its an atrocious road anyway you go but usually I go via carlow. The roads are bad, the traffic is bad and there is nowhere to overtake.

mike65

Roll on end 2010

PaulKK

If your traveling mid-day, i.e not around 4 or 5 in the evening, abbeyleix/castledermot should be grand, I hate going the athy way, just seems to take forever and the road isn't great.

You should be getting to Kilkenny in about an hour and a half easily on a clear run from the red cow going by the Carlow route, and slightly longer going via Portlaoise -> Durrow -> Ballyragget.

sk8board

In 30 years I've never went home to KK via Portlaoise. Carlow all the way, esp with the new by-pass.
I go Nth County Dublin to KK in 1hr 40m (thats without setting any new land-speed records).

EKRIUQ

Carlow

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Cheers folks Carlow it is.

SPARTAN33

The Carlow way is about ten mins quicker than the portloaise way like the guys said if you go the portlaoise way you have a longer motorway section, the castlecomer athy route is slower becasue of the bad roads but it is the shortest distance wise you can check all the routes on the michelin route planner website, it lets you choose between many variations like recommended, shortest and quickest etc routes, check the website out is has good maps aswell and directions.