Thoughts?

Planning a honeymoon in July and it's looking like the winner at this time.

3/23/2015 1:48:49 PM

yes. love it. rent a car, drive the country. Don't limit yourself to just Dublin.

My trip started and ended in Dublin. We went to Kilkenny, Waterford, Cork/Cobh, Killarney, Ring of Kerry, Dingle, Limerick, Galway and back to Dublin.

If i went back I'd spend an extra night in Kilkenny (love the Castle and the overall quaintness of the town), and Dingle (because Dingle is a small rustic harbor town and it's amazing). I would have liked to squeeze in Wexford also and try to hit a city like Sligo but we just didn't have the days left. Limerick is forgettable.

Blarney Castle is worth it. The national forest in Killarney is a great place to spend a day getting lost (hiking or biking)

3/23/2015 1:54:45 PM

Quote :

"yes. love it. rent a car, drive the country. Don't limit yourself to just Dublin. "

3/23/2015 9:28:59 PM

northern ireland has better food.

3/23/2015 10:20:40 PM

Yes! Ireland is amazing. As random as it sounds, we did Ireland through a Groupon Getaway. It included flights, rental car, 4-5 star hotels in 5 different cities for like $800/person.

This is everywhere we drove during our trip:

3/25/2015 10:28:57 AM

Check out the cliffs of moher

3/25/2015 10:38:54 AM

Everything Jeepin4x4 suggested is spot on.

Spend a day/night in Dublin and check out the Guinness storehouse and Jameson distillery; have a nice dinner, go to a pub.

Drive through Kilkenny, Waterford, Cork, visit the Blarney Castle/Blarney Stone, drive or bike the Ring of Kerry, Killarney is a cool town. Drive through the Burren, visit the Cliffs of Moher, Galway is a neat coastal town. We took a roundabout way to get back to Dublin and visited the Hill of Tara, Kells, and Newgrange.

3/25/2015 11:26:18 AM

I'd also recommend spending a day/night on the Aran Islands. Rent a bike and ride around while you're there.

3/25/2015 1:21:01 PM

my wife and I went for our honeymoon. groupon deal was AMAZING!

basically this:

Quote :

"yes. love it. rent a car, drive the country. Don't limit yourself to just Dublin."

a few places I went that I didn't see mentioned:
-hurling matches!!! (went to one in Limerick)
-lahinch (there's a beach)
-gap of dunloe (Ring of Kerry can eat a dick! j/k...but srsly, check it out)
-waterford

[Edited on March 25, 2015 at 5:43 PM. Reason : if you find yourself in dublin, the musical tours are awesome and you don't have to wait for drinks]

3/25/2015 5:42:19 PM

My wife and I went to Ireland last November and had a great time.

It was a fairly short trip but we rented a car and went to galway (plus cliffs of Moher and hiking in Connemara national park) then moved back east to dublin and belfast.

We are already planning our trip back when we can spend more time and see more places

3/25/2015 7:22:53 PM

I did! Kerry was fucking beautiful definitely make a day trip out there at least

3/25/2015 11:48:30 PM

Yes, love Ireland.

Dublin is great but everywhere is beautiful. Blarney castle, Killkenny, Ring of Kerry.

3/26/2015 12:58:42 AM

the muckross house is also nice, have some kilkenny beer in kilkenny...you can't get that shit here in the US.

3/26/2015 11:31:57 AM

Going this April! Going to look into the above. anybody been recently. We will spend some time in Dublin then rent a car tour the country.

do we need a car in Dublin? i won't think so, but just wonder about parking and driving around.

[Edited on February 3, 2018 at 8:02 AM. Reason : l]

2/3/2018 7:58:54 AM

i would just take the bus places

2/3/2018 9:32:59 AM

I went last year. Galway was my favorite city, but the whole country was great. Irish people are the friendliest people in the world I've met so far.

2/3/2018 12:44:47 PM

i have only been to dublin (just a few days last july) but i definitely don't think you need a car there, i went full-on tourist and bought a pass for the public buses + hop on/off bus and that worked well... i also had great sunny/dry weather so walked a bunch

i agree that the irish in general are super friendly (though i think kiwis are the friendliest, in my limited experience)

2/3/2018 1:25:00 PM

awesome thanks. i was thinking buses, walking, and uber in dublin, will be with a pregnant wife, and rent a car for a trip through the countryside. i have a coworker from Ireland and plan on getting some intel this week.

2/3/2018 6:14:31 PM

Dublin is actually pretty small. If you've ever been to Boston, they can feel similar in some ways since they're both pretty compact. One of the best things to do there (aside from the Guinness Storehouse which is fantastic) is to take one of the "free" walking tours with a local guide. The one we did stopped at several bars, some touristy, and others really authentic and local. You pay for your drinks and tip the guide at the end, but I think it was only like 25-30 euros total for the whole evening.

I wouldn't recommend driving in Dublin if you can avoid it. A car is absolutely necessary to get around the rest of the country, but it will be a hassle in Dublin. We stayed two nights in Dublin and took the bus to the airport in order to rent a car, and then drove to the western part, and then dropped the car off when we got back to Dublin to catch our flight out. Some people just drop off the car in Shannon, but it was way more expensive. YMMV

One thing I'll also add is that the Dingle peninsula is much prettier and less crowded than doing the entire Ring of Kerry. You should absolutely do both if you have time, but we did an afternoon in Dingle and a half day of the Ring and it was fine. The Cliffs of Mohr warrants lots of time, so plan accordingly.

2/5/2018 10:50:43 AM

FYI, if you go around Easter, expect lots of things to be closed during the holiday.

2/5/2018 4:51:26 PM

We are going at the end of April. UJustWait84, when you did your road trip did you book all the hotels ahead of time? we about 8 day, thinking of spending a day or so in Dublin then head south and loop back to dublin.

Dublin to Blarney and Cork

to Killarney

to cliffs of mohr and Gallaway

and back to Dublin.

2/18/2018 12:39:37 PM

Yeah we booked our hotels in Dublin and Killarney and did an AirBnb in Galway, but we booked everything super early so it was pretty cheap. We went for 6 days and it definitely wasn’t enough time, but 8 gives you a bit more time to relax. Have a great trip!

2/18/2018 6:03:40 PM

2/24/2018 3:53:47 PM

yes, dublin is cool but Kerry was the most beautiful imo

4/2/2018 10:57:18 PM

^ I kinda thought the same thing. Dublin was fun and certainly worth a few days, but Galway and the western parts of Ireland were so much more beautiful and interesting to me.

4/3/2018 8:40:39 PM

trying to decide between where to spend more time between leaving and returning to Dublin.

Cork 2 nights, ->Killarney 2 nights -> galway 1 night

Cork 1 nights, ->Killarney 2 nights -> galway 2 nights

Cork 2 nights, ->Killarney 1 night -> galway 2 nights

could also add in a night or two in Dingle between Cork and galway.

4/4/2018 9:38:17 AM

Killarney itself is just OK- it's nice and worth seeing, but super touristy. The park is really what makes the area so interesting. I haven't been to Cork, but I definitely suggest Galway for two nights if you can swing it. It's a much more interesting place that has fantastic bars and live music.

4/4/2018 11:51:00 AM

cool thanks.

4/4/2018 12:13:58 PM

add a second night in Galway. Killarney is cool and the park is beautiful but i think you'd be remiss to not spend a couple nights in Galway. Especially because you'll probably stop at the Cliffs of Moher on the way to Galway, which will take up a lot of time.

I'd vote for Cork 2, Killarney 1, Galway 2.

or Cork 1, Killarney 1, Dingle 1, Galway 2.

Cork is a cool town. I'd really only recommend it for two days so you can drive over to Cobh.

4/6/2018 1:04:30 PM

Visiting Ireland at the end of May for a wedding. flying into Dublin, driving to Donegal, staying there a couple of days. driving from Donegal to Athlone, staying overnight then on to the Cliffs of Moher. from there we will be driving back to Dublin. Is there anything in particular along those routes that I should make a point of seeing?



[Edited on May 22, 2019 at 4:46 PM. Reason : pic]

[Edited on May 22, 2019 at 4:46 PM. Reason : pic]

5/22/2019 4:45:36 PM

i went the opposite way. but Galway was awesome!

My friends loved Cong

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Kilbeggan+Distillery+Experience/@53.645362,-8.268776,8.8z/data=!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x485b93955a2d5bff:0x32b1b440a495281!2sGalway,+Ireland!3b1!8m2!3d53.270668!4d-9.0567905!3m4!1s0x485dba8a25e25215:0x463ef74db2b25b21!8m2!3d53.3691964!4d-7.5029755

could check out Newgrange

Dublin:

The Palace Bar
Guinness Storehouse
book of kells
Jameson
The Old Storehouse Bar and Restaurant

FYI unless its mcdonalds or supermacs places don't serve food after 9pm.

5/22/2019 10:16:55 PM

Bantry bay

5/25/2019 4:47:29 PM

Sean's Bar in Athlone is my favorite in Ireland. It is "Ireland's Oldest Pub" - per Guinness World Records. Great house-made beers. Super chill, a lot of locals mixed with some occasional tourists.

http://www.seansbar.ie/home

5/27/2019 3:27:58 PM

I’ve been to Sean’s Bar. Their house stout and red ale are good.

5/27/2019 11:29:17 PM

definitely going to Sean's Bar. the Groom is from Athlone and we'll be staying there a night.

5/28/2019 3:07:56 PM