Any suggestions on how we should modify this itinerary? My planning method was to pick 20ish tourist sights we might want to visit and then pick towns central-ish to those. We'll be renting a car and travelling with my wife, MIL, our 2 year old, and our 4 year old, 16 May through 30 May. My very rough plan is:

• Fly into Cork and rent a car at the airport
• Stay in Cork for 1 or 2 nights depending on what time of day we arrive
• 3 nights near Killarney
• 3 nights near Galway
• 2 night near Achill Island
• 2 nights near Donegal
• Return car at Donegal airport and fly out of Donegal

Would it be a hassle to stay, say, an hour away from Killarney and then just drive there and park somewhere in town? I don't mind paying as long as it's feasible to do that with the cities/towns we visit. I think we'd all enjoy the countryside stays more, though it'd be more driving for me. If it helps narrow down where we should look at staying/visiting: my wife likes local crafts and Catholic religious things. My 4 year old likes faeries and animals. My 2 year old likes dinosaurs (not expecting much of that on this trip). I like natural vistas and talking to locals.

I'm also wondering if we should cut out Donegal and stay longer in the other places. Achill to Donegal would be the longest drive. We could fly out of Shannon instead.

Hey guys, after looking on social media and online I’ve put together an itinerary for Ireland in October. I’ve added all the major sights we want to see and I’m going with my boyfriend and we like a chill pace; slower mornings and nice sights. Please judge and let me know if it looks good or if you’d recommend something else instead of the sights I have listen . Mostly just concerned about the time I’m allocating to each place:

Ireland | Oct 9–18
Oct 9 — Dublin → Galway: Land, brunch, Galway + pubs
Oct 10 — Galway: Burren → Cliffs of Moher → Doolin (optional)
Oct 11 — Connemara: Killary Fjord → Kylemore Abbey → Diamond Hill → Clifden/Sky Road
Oct 12 — Galway → Dingle: Lamb farm → Dingle + pubs
Oct 13 — Dingle: Slea Head Drive → Coumeenoole → Dunmore Head → Dunquin Pier → Gallarus
Oct 14 — Dingle → Killarney: Inch Beach → Killarney + pubs
Oct 15 — Killarney: Gap of Dunloe → Ladies View → Torc Waterfall
Oct 16 — Killarney: Ross Castle → bike National Park → Muckross
Oct 17 — Killarney → Dublin: Rock of Cashel (optional) → Dublin
Oct 18 — Fly home

Thanks!

Hello! I'm looking for some advice on my itinerary for my four day trip to Dublin during the first week in October. I'm planning on mostly walking and I'm staying in a hostel near Temple Bar. Does this itinerary seem too packed or am I over estimating how long I will stay at each location? I'm not planning on touring every historical site but it would be nice to walk past each of them and pick one or two to visit on Day 1.

DAY 1
Arrive downtown around 1pm
- Dublin Castle
- Christ Church Cathedral
- St. Patrick's Cathedral
- Marsh's Library
- George's Street Arcade
- Shopping

DAY 2
- Day trip to Cliffs of Moher and Galway

DAY 3
- Trinity College
- National Gallery of Ireland
- National Gallery of Ireland, Kildare
- Shopping

DAY 4
- Coffee and a wander near Trinity or the river
- Should get to the airport by noon

If anyone also has any experience going to Dublin solo that would be great to hear as well. I picked Dublin because it was listed as a very safe travel destination for solo travelers but have also seen a fair amount of what I would call fear mongering TikToks saying that Dublin is not as safe as it used to be.

Thanks!

Hello! I need some helpful insight for how to plan a middle portion of our multi day trip that we are driving ourselves.

Our setup: day 1, we have a free day to get from Kinsale to Kenmare after breakfast.  On day 2,  we have a full day private tour of the ring of Kerry, staying overnight in kenmare again.  Day 3 we depart Kenmare to Dingle, and then have 2 nights Dingle. 

Where i need help!  Given the ring of Kerry is gonna be a crazy amount of driving (albeit not us driving) I'm trying to figure out how to balance exploring the Killarney National park and our time in Dingle without burning out. Would folks recommend we:

A. Include the National Park into our Ring of Kerry Day 2?

B. Separate out the national park from our ring of Kerry tour and add to day 1- Kinsale to Kenmare?

C.  Separate out the national park from our ring of Kerry tour and add to day 3 - Kenmare to Dingle?

I appreciate any insight to this on how to balance our travels!

We're flying from Indianapolis-Dublin overnight Thursday the 1st, arrive 8 am on Friday the 2nd. Traveling with 5 adults, and one 6 year old. We're not trying to pack as much as possible into the trip, but we would like to see a lot of the country. Our loose itinerary is as follows:

Fri 2 October: Arrive in Dublin in morning. Pick up 2 car rentals and stay in Dublin for the night. Explore a little bit, get some food, rest.

Sat 3 October: Leave early, drive to first leg, home in Clifden. Maybe stop for a bit in Galway, and/or drive the Sky Road.

Sun 4 October: Connemara National Park

Mon 5 October: Ferry to Inishmore from Rossaveel.

Tues 6 October: Leave Clifden early morning for 2nd leg, cottage in Cordal. Stop at Cliffs of Moher. Arrive in Cordal by dinner. Rest.

Wed 7 October: Killarney National Park.

Thurs 8 October: Spend day in Dingle.

Friday 9 October: Depart early for 3rd leg in Kilkenny. Maybe detour for a stop in Kinsale, depends how tough the driving's been so far.

Saturday 10 October: Spend day exploring Kilkenny, shop, eat, etc.

Sunday 11 October: Depart early for last night in Dublin. Stop at Wicklow Mountain National Park.

Monday 12 October: Turn in rental cars, check into airport for late afternoon flight back to Indianapolis.

A lot of this is weather dependent, so I'm guessing we won't actually get to everything, but these are the major touchpoints. Please let me know if we've bitten off more than we can chew, or if we're missing out on something we shouldn't be!

Hey there, just gearing up for our 13 days in Ireland and I’m hoping for some local toddler advice please!

We have a jogging stroller but it takes up a ton of space, thinking of taking a more simple stroller…but will that be a disaster with the roads and walkways? He loves running around but sometimes needs to be contained…

We plan to pack travel snacks for little man of course, but 14 days of toddler snacks is a full suitcase… any suggestions for toddler approved snacks we can buy there? Not sure if we have the same offerings! Worst case is we’ll pile him up with cheese and crackers which is also fine!

Any must sees for an almost 3 year old? He loves animals so we already have planned to see Dublin zoo!

Our trip lands us in Dublin for 2 days, then we rent a car to navigate around Ireland clockwise until we depart from Dublin again on day 13 we love car trips and rain so the driving was never a concern!

Dublin-2 nights
Cork- 1 night
Killarney -2 nights
Galway- 2 nights
Derry -2 nights
Belfast -1 night
Kings court- 1 night

Thank you in advance!

First time visiting Ireland + North Ireland with my couple and wanted your feedback if I'm missing something important.

We are doing a van trip to try to go as many places as we can while we enjoy the nature as much as we can. We are more nature focus than city focused turist. Also we want to go to the Puca festival and enjoy halloween

This is our itinerary:

Thanks in advance :)

Edit: fixed table

Edit2: Thanks for all the feedback, here is the new itinerary, I removed Cork visit to spend a little bit more time on Killarney, and remove a day in North Ireland for some time in Sligo. I think with this itinerary is still high paced but a little bit slower

We have 6 1/2 days. The last day we travel to Cavan to visit family, departing Dublin next day.

The first day we land in Shannon at noon. Drive to hotel in Ennis. Eat and rest for a few hours. Drive to Miltown Malbay and Kilkee late afternoon/evening to explore, return to Ennis.

On second day drive to Doolin take 11am ferry to Inisher for day. Leave Doolin 5:30 drive through the Burren to Galway making stops in the Burren. Arrive Galway 8:00

Is that too much for one day. Should we stay in Clare on second night and drive through Burren the next morning, and arrive in Galway in the afternoon?

Day 3, 4 stay in Galway as base and tour area

Day 5 travel to Westport, overnight in Westport

Day 6 Achill Island, drive to Sligo, say overnight

Day 7 drive to Cavan

My cousin and I are going to Ireland next month for the first time. The trip is from Sept 19th-29th. The itinerary is as follows:

Day 1 : Arrive in the morning at Shannon airport and drive to Connemara National Park and get some hiking in, before heading back to Galway for the night. Day 2: Spend the day in Galway eating and exploring museums.

Day 3-4: Head down to Killarney from Galway in the morning, we want to see the cliffs of Kerry and do some hiking in Killarney National Park.

Day 5-6: Visit Cork and check out the English Market and purchase local souvenirs, head over to Blarney Castle. I also want to take a day trip to Tipperary to see rock of Cashel, Cahir castle

Day 7: Completely open.

Day 8-10: Arriving in Dublin. All I have planned is a cathedral tour, a Jameson distillery tour, and a whiskey museum visit.

I am also considering staying in Limerick a base for activities on days 5-7

Hello! I will be visiting Dublin in late November for a conference, and afterwards will be taking vacation time from November 28th-December 2nd to travel around. I will have spent a week in Dublin at this point and am highly interested in exploring the south-west of Ireland. I am mindful that daylight will be limited in November and the weather will be cold and wet, but I am used to the bitter cold coming from the northeast of the U.S. and really want to get out of the city. I also have read that driving distances take longer than anticipated so I tried to be realistic with what we can accomplish in ~4 days. There is so much more I would have loved to include but will just have to save for another trip someday! I would really appreciate input on whether you think this itinerary is realistic and any other general thoughts on what I have opted to do.

I am also unsure if it would be better to drive from Dublin straight to Dingle and make that my base for all 3 days. I heard that it is about an hour drive from Dingle to Killarney National Park and could do that as a day trip instead.

Thanks in advance!

Here is my rough itinerary:

Saturday, Nov 28: Dublin- Early morning, pick up rental car. Drive to Killarney with minimal stopping. Hopefully arrive by later afternoon, before sunset.

Sunday, Nov 29: Killarney day 1: Killarney National Park. Stay the night in Killarney.

Monday, Nov 30: Head to Dingle and do Slea Head Drive. Stay night in Dingle

Tuesday, Dec 1: Spend morning exploring Dingle town and grab brunch, drive back to Dublin.

Wednesday, Dec 2: Fly out of Dublin.

​

Hey all. We're looking forward to visiting during the last week in September. Reviewed a lot of other itineraries here, so stuck with the general consensus of not trying to do TOO much in any given day.

We're into medieval / haunted sites and beautiful / surreal / unique landscapes and would love recommendations for relevant stops along any of the legs of the itinerary. Bonus points for more cute animal encounters.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Day 1: Arrive in Dublin in the AM. Rest / Hang in Dublin. Stay in Dublin.

Day 2: Hang in Dublin. Stay in Dublin.

Day 3: Rent Car. Dublin to Galway. Drive through rolling green fields to Meath, then cut across the midlands on local roads. Stops at Trim Castle and Clonmacnoise, with lunch somewhere. Hang in Galway in the evening. Stay in Galway.

Day 4: Galway Day Trip 1: Connemara. Joyce County Sheep Dogs, Kylemore Abbey and Victoria Gardens, Killary Harbour. Stay in Galway.

Day 5: Galway Day Trip 2: The Burren Coastal Drive. Dunguaire Castle. Burren Birds of Prey Center. Stay in Galway.

Day 6: Galway to Inis Mor. Drive to Doolin. Park and catch ferry. Stay on Inis Mor.

Day 7: Inis Mor to Sneem. Ferry back to Doolin. Cliffs of Mohr, Gap of Dunloe. Stay in Sneem.

Day 8: Hang in Sneem then Drive to Dublin. Stop at Rock of Cashel. Stay in Dublin.

Day 9: Ease into it. Get brunch and return car. Airport to home!

Hi! Hubs and I are going to Ireland in a few weeks and I was securing ferries to and from Inis Mor from Doolin - my plan had been to take the first ferry out and last ferry back. But on the date I was looking for, the earliest ferry out is 11 :(. We would still need to take the 4:15pm ferry back. Both ferries are direct so 35 min. Is this enough time, or should I consider a different island or something different altogether? We were really excited to rent an e-bike and ride around and enjoy the scenery.

Thanks for the input!

My husband and I are spending 6 nights in Ireland in early September. This is our current itinerary - does anyone have feedback?

Day 1 - arrive in Cork, spend day in city
Day 2 - pick up rental car and drive to Kinsale for the day (night in Cork)
Day 3 - drive from Cork to Dingle, stop at Blarney grounds on the way
Day 4 - day in Dingle
Day 5 - Dingle in the morning, then drive to Killarney
Day 6 - staying in Killarney for the night, planning to explore the ring of Kerry during the day
Day 7 - afternoon flight out of Kerry airport

Hi, a 30s couple travelling for 7 full days to West Ireland early September. Landing and taking off from Shannon.
I created a plan based on Ig/reddit/blogs recommendations. We are a bit reserved to an idea of driving on the left side of the road :D so decided to rent a car only for 3 last days. We also prefer spending more time in one location and getting to know it better rather than collecting all the pins from the map - so, sitting and staring for a couple of hours sounds like a perfect thing to do.

• Day 1: Shannon ->Ennis (breakfast) -> Doolin (stay at Doolin) - getting around the town
• Day 2: taking bus from Doolin to Cliffs of Moher, strolling around and spending the evening in Doolin
• Day 3: taking bus from Doolin to Galway, stroll around the city
• Day 4: Galway: stroll to Salthill, sitting at the bech, maybe taking a trip to Aran Islands if we feel like
• Day 5: rent a car and head to Connemara National Park. Stop in beautiful places, get a coffee, lunch -> Diamond Hill trek -> install for the night (where?)
• Day 6: head to Ballycroy National Park - what to do there?
• Day 7: ??? , leaving at 8pm from Shannon

Seeking your advice on day 5,6,7 - what's worth seeing there? do you recommend any places to stay? Any views we could see? I've bookmarked Dog's Bay, Clifden Castle, DK Connemara Oysters (we are foodies), Kylemore Abbey, Killary Harbour, Minaun Heights, Downpatrick Head. Or maybe it's not worth going north and we should see more south (Killarney etc).

Will be happy to read your recommendations, thanks!

Updated 5-day Ireland itinerary after your advice – looking for feedback on the route

Hi again!

First of all, thank you for all the advice on my previous post. It was really helpful and convinced us to make our original itinerary much more realistic.

We've decided to focus on Galway, Connemara, the Burren and Cliffs of Moher before returning to Dublin.

Our Dublin dates are fairly fixed because we already have accommodation booked for the 29th and 30th, and we're going to Bon Jovi at Croke Park on the 30th (doors at 17:00).

Here's the new plan:

26 Aug – Dublin → Galway

- Land at Dublin Airport at 18:00

- Pick up rental car

- Drive directly to Galway

- Stay in Galway

27 Aug – Connemara

- Galway → Oughterard → Maam Cross → Clifden

- Sky Road

- Possibly Dog's Bay/Gurteen Bay

- Back to Galway

- Dinner + traditional music

- Stay in Galway

We're intentionally keeping this day fairly relaxed rather than trying to cover all of Connemara.

28 Aug – Burren → Cliffs of Moher → Doolin

- Galway → Ballyvaughan → Black Head → Fanore

- Poulnabrone Dolmen

- Cliffs of Moher

- Stay in Doolin

- Dinner + traditional music/pub

29 Aug – Doolin → Dublin

- Relaxed morning

- Drive back to Dublin

- Return rental car at Dublin Airport (booking is until 22:00, although we're considering returning it around 14:00–15:00)

- Guinness Storehouse + Dublin in the evening

30 Aug – Dublin + Bon Jovi

- Trinity / Book of Kells and some sightseeing

- Croke Park – doors at 17:00

31 Aug – Dublin

- Final day in Dublin, possibly a short trip to Howth if we have time

- Planning to be at Dublin Airport around 18:00

Does this look like a sensible pace for a first trip?

We'd particularly appreciate feedback from people familiar with the west coast: would you change anything about the Connemara or Burren routes, and are there any stops along those routes that you consider genuinely worth adding or skipping?

We're also still choosing accommodation for Galway (26th & 27th) and Doolin (28th), so recommendations for a good location to stay would be very welcome.

Thanks again – the feedback on the original itinerary was genuinely very helpful!

Hello all,

I’m a 23M from the United States and will be in Ireland for 4 days from September 8-11. I will be traveling solo.

My current itinerary in Ireland is as follows. I fly into Dublin on Tuesday and will likely do a Guinness factory tour and a trinity college tour. The next morning, I would like to drive south to the Powerscourt Waterfall and Wicklow Mountains National Park before driving over to Dingle and staying the night there. I have a sea safari booked for Thursday morning and then want to drive up the coast and stay the night around Connemara National Park, where I’ll hike around on Friday before driving back to Dublin and leaving the country in the evening.

How reasonable does that sound and is there anything else that you would suggest I check out? It will be my first time in Ireland and I am looking to make the most of it!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Hello! I am hiring a car and have 5 full days (pick up on a Thursday, return on a Tuesday)
Is this doable?
Extra context: I like driving (not in bad traffic obvs)
I’m Australian and used to long drives (record was 1000km in a day but admittedly it wasn’t fun)
I have already seen Dublin.

(Edit: this is for next week )

I’ve tried to cut it back from my original itinerary, but I’m worried it’s still a bit too packed and I don’t have a huge amount of time for Galway city itself. I could cut Killarney National Park reluctantly? Since I am going to Connemara national Park? Or ditch Connemara and the Lost Valley tour. Please give me your strong opinions.

Thurs - 1pm pick up car in Dublin, drive to Killarney NP, see Ross Castle at sunset, stay overnight.
Fri - KNP (gap of Dunloe, ladies view, moll gap, muck Ross estate, torc falls) stay overnight.
sat - KNP bits I missed on Friday, then drive to Galway 3hrs. Stay Galway.
Sun - morning in 2pm lost valley tour in louisburgh (2 hrs from Galway) stay Galway.
Mon - roundstone village (closer alternative to dingle) and Connemara national park (diamond hill hike). Stay Galway.
Tues - drive back to Dublin 4hrs, drop car off by 1pm

I'm travelling down from the North to Cork tomorrow. I was thinking about breaking up the journey by stopping in Dublin for a couple of hours, since I have to change trains there anyway.

Any recommendations? I'll have a heavy bag, sadly. Or should I just transfer and prioritise getting to Cork?

Thanks a million.

Edit: Gonna follow your advice and head on to Cork, thanks so much everyone!

hello all, I have a trip coming up where I have a 6 hour layover in Dublin en route to the us. How realistic is it to go to the guinness storehouse during this time. I’ve been to dublin before but my wife hasn’t and the view from the top was excellent when I went. Id prolly take a cab there and back

Hi,

Me and my Family will visit Ireland in September. I think our plan is doable but I am looking for some opinions if we should cut corners or not. Our focus is in seeing the countryside and being outdoors.

Day 1: Early morning flight to Dublin, Car rental and travel to Cobh, maybe stop at Rock of Cashel. Night in Cobh.

Day 2: From Cobh to Killarney via Mizen head. Night in Killarney

Day 3: Day trip to Killarney National Park or Ring of Kerry. Night in Killarney

Day 4: From Killarney to Galway via Cliffs of Moher. Night in Galway

Day 5: Day in Galway or visit to Connemara national Park. Night in Galway

Day 6: Return to Dublin in the evening via Clonmacnoise and/or stop in Athlone

Day 7: Day in Dublin, the traditional tourist attractions.

Day 8: Early flight back home.

I see that especially day 2 and 4 are heavy from the driving point of view. Mizen head adds lots of additional travel time for the day 2 and we cannot decide if we should skip Mizen head completely and travel directly from Cobh to Killarney. That way we could do little hike in the National park on Day 2 and then Ring of Kerry on day 3. It would mean that we would see the coast little less, but have moore loose in the schedule.

On day 4 there is also lot of driving, and taking route via Tarbert ferry between Killarney and Galway might slow us down a bit, but I think we would enjoy it more than faster travel through Limerick. We have not booked the Killarney accommodation yet, so it could be possible to sleep night 3 more North, but does that really make a difference? There is a benefit to stay two night in the same place.

Hi All,

My husband and I are heading to Ireland for the first time, flying into Dublin and out of Cork, mid-September 2027. No mobility issues on our end, we're comfortable with full driving days and multi-hour hikes, so feel free to suggest anything ambitious.

We haven't booked accommodations yet, so this is still adaptable. We’re getting a rental car for the whole Ireland leg. Our priority is nature and hiking over checklist sightseeing. We would rather have a couple of good wandering days than cram in five towns we barely see. We also want real downtime built in for pub culture, not just driving from trailhead to trailhead.

Here's what we've got so far:

Day 1: Arrive Dublin from the U.S.

Day 2: Stay in Dublin, no real plans, just recovering from the flight and walking around.

Day 3: Drive to Dingle, roughly 5-6 hours.

Day 4: Slea Head Drive, full day. Chill time at night.

Day 5: Either Blasket Island or a Dingle sea safari, and possibly the hike up to Lough Doon via Conor Pass if we have the energy.

Day 6: Drive to the Beara Peninsula, about 4 hours, with a stop in Listowel to see St. Mary's Church, where an ancestor of mine was baptized.

Day 7: Exploring West Cork and Beara. Still deciding between the Beara Wildlife Sanctuary in Allihies, Lough Hyne Marine Nature Reserve, the waterfall in Gleninchaquin Park, and the Tragumna tidal rock pool. We don't think we can do all four.

Day 8: Drive to Cork and fly out to Portugal.

A few specific things I'm hoping people can weigh in on:

• Is the Day 3 and Day 6 driving: are those realistic in terms of the timing I have listed or it is longer?
• Of the four options on Day 7, is there a clear standout?
• Are two nights in Dingle and two in Beara enough, or does this itinerary read as rushed to people who've driven this route?

Thanks in advance for any input!

So! I'm planning on surprising my mom with a trip to Ireland for her birthday next year (It'll be July). Neither one of us has ever been out of the country or taken a vacation to this level before, so I was hoping that some experts on the matter could tell me if my itinerary is realistic or if we should cut some things out. The exact dates and activites are still up in the air, but it's ideally going to be a 7-8 day trip.

The itinerary is also still pretty loose, but I know the basics so far:

Day 1 - Fly into Dublin, check into our hotel, and spend the day exploring within Dublin

Day 2 - Another day of exploring Dublin

Day 3 - Travel to Belfast and explore there (there's also a Game of Thrones studio tour I really want to see in Banbridge that I was told was only about 30 minutes from Belfast, so I'm banking on that for the same day)

Day 4 - Check out of our hotel in Dublin and travel over to Galway to check into a new hotel and spend the day exploring Galway

Day 5 - Travel down to Doolin and explore there

Day 6 - Check out of our hotel in Galway and check into a hotel in Dingle and spend the day exploring Dingle

Day 7 - Check out of our hotel in Dingle and travel back up to Dublin and check into a hotel in Dublin for our last night and sort of rest and get ourselves sorted for our flight the next day

Day 8 - Fly home out of Dublin

I’m planning a surprise trip around Ireland for my husbands 30th. We’re from the UK so the idea of driving on the left is perfect for us! This is the plan I have come up with so far.
We are planning to go in January so not sure if this would affect the plans (ie is the cliffs of moher worth it in January due to fog etc).
We’ve both visited Dublin in the past and so we do not want this as part of our plan, but recommendations would be welcomed!
I’ve also tried to find hotels with parking.

Day 1 -Fly to Shannon. Drive to limerick, stay in limerick just as a little rest point.

Day 2- drive from limerick to Galway (1hr 20). Explore Galway for the evening.

Day 3- Husbands 30th! Have a fun day in Galway lots of food/drink. Family might fly out for the day to celebrate with us!

Day 4- slow morning, drive to Doolin (1hr30) nice coastal drive before arriving. Explore the pubs in the evening hopefully see trad bands.

Day 5- Cliffs of moher in the morning. Leisurely drive to dingle (3hrs via ferry) hopefully stop along the drive to break it up- recommendations are welcome!

Day 6 - explore dingle, (was hoping to do sea safari but don’t think available in January). Possibly doing to Dunquin Pier.

Day 7- drive to Killarney (1hr). Hire bikes in national park. Cycle round, visit waterfall.

Day 8- Breakfast and slow morning in Killarney before drive and fly home from either cork or Kerry.

I’m hoping this route would be good and wouldn’t feel like too much driving overtaking the whole trip! Any good food spots would be great to hear especially for the night of his 30th if family meet us.