Best Driving route from Blackrock , Dublin to Killarney National Park

schalken999

Hi,

not sure if this is the right place to post this.
Which driving route would be the best one to take from Blackroc, Dublin to Killarney National Park.
M8 thro Mitchelstown, Mallow or the M7 thro Newport, Rathkeale ?

We have a toddler, so might have to stop over in between.
Any suggestions ?

schalken999

schalken999 wrote: »

Hi,

not sure if this is the right place to post this.
Which driving route would be the best one to take from Blackroc, Dublin to Killarney National Park.
M8 thro Mitchelstown, Mallow or the M7 thro Newport, Rathkeale ?

We have a toddler, so might have to stop over in between.
Any suggestions ?

Any stopover places to recommend as well?

Atomic Pineapple

I'd normally go via Limerick but it is a long spin and the M8 is a pretty good road now.

The Midway is a good place to stop but is only probably an hour into your trip.

mgbgt1978

I would go via Limerick on the M7.
Motorway all the way until Adare, Co Limerick. Should be just over 2 hours from getting on to the M50.
Adare makes a nice stopping point for a break....lovely looking village, plenty of pubs and coffee shops and a nice small park for the toddler to have a gallop around.
Adare to Killarney is about 1 1/4 hours, wait until at least Newcastle West before refuelling as the pump prices get cheaper around there.

schalken999

mgbgt1978 wrote: »

I would go via Limerick on the M7.
Motorway all the way until Adare, Co Limerick. Should be just over 2 hours from getting on to the M50.
Adare makes a nice stopping point for a break....lovely looking village, plenty of pubs and coffee shops and a nice small park for the toddler to have a gallop around.
Adare to Killarney is about 1 1/4 hours, wait until at least Newcastle West before refuelling as the pump prices get cheaper around there.

Thanks a lot.

langdang

I'll second mbgt's suggestion of route and stopoff. Not much worth stopping for before or after Adare (except for cheap petrol in newcastlewest). Now Castleisland is bypassed Adare should be the only major bottleneck. (if it's a bank holiday friday abbeyfeale will be a bit slow too, Newcastlewest vastly improved since they got rid of the traffic lights)

The route thru Cork is ok, the road from Macroom to Kerry is a cattle track and Macroom can be a major bottleneck.

cjmcork

normally I'd be the first one to say Cork all the way boy, BUT the Open is on this w/e in Killarney and Macroom is going to be worse than ever with all the traffic going via same........I live in Macroom and am just going to park up for the weekend!!!

safe trip OP

si_guru

langdang wrote: »

The route thru Cork is ok, the road from Macroom to Kerry is a cattle track and Macroom can be a major bottleneck.

+1. Slow, winding and bumpy.

paddydriver

Up and down to Dingle few times a year and always via M7 - as pointed out the road across from Cork to Killarney is painful.

Adare is good to stop - we have often gone to Dunraven Arms just as you get into village on right. Do nice soup and sambo, and have a big garden out back for kids.

Abbeyfeale is only other real bottleneck; Sunday evenings always fun to see the boy racers out in force and to laugh at the amount of donut marks on the new road beyond Abbeyfeale:D

Castleisland bypass makes a big difference too and proves beyond doubt that all politics is local in this country. The petrol prices ain't as cheap down that way as they have been in the past - was surprised myself.

langdang

paddydriver wrote: »

Abbeyfeale is only other real bottleneck; Sunday evenings always fun to see the boy racers out in force and to laugh at the amount of donut marks on the new road beyond Abbeyfeale:D

I think Abbeyfeale now has a fastfood outlet for every 10 inhabitants! If you had a car converted to run on waste vegetable oil you'd be well set up down there...

Mc Love

If you are interested there is a small village in between Newcastle West and Abbeyfeale called Templeglantine. There is a hotel there called the Devon Inn and they serve really good food.

Also plenty of parking too, there is also a petrol station right beside should you need any supplies and certainly beats stopping in Newcastle West of Abbeyfeale for that matter