Ireland Trip Report

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We spent 9 days in Ireland and it was so much fun! We had great weather and the country was just beautiful.  Our itinerary was: 2 nights Dublin, 2 nights Kilkenny, 2 nights Dingle, 2 nights Galway, then our last night in Malahide (right outside Dublin) for an early-morning flight home.  The itinerary was perfect - if I had an extra night I would add it to Dingle.

Dublin
We stayed at the Brooks Hotel, a small hotel in the Grafton Street area.  This was by far the most expensive lodging of our trip but the room was very nice, it was a great location, and good breakfast included.  We were walking distance from the central tourism office (the starting point for many tours and transportation) as well as Temple Bar (happening bar area at night).  The nightlife/pub scene in Dublin was a lot of fun.  We did the tour of the Guinness factory (a little over the top, but fun) and Kilmainham Gaol (a must-see, very interesting part of Ireland's political history) via the hop-on/hop-off bus departing from the central tourism office.  Other than that, we mainly walked around, saw St. Stephen's Green and walked through Trinity College.  We didn't check out any of the museums because it was so beautiful out and we made many pub stops.  We had a nice dinner at Winding Stair - great menu.  Our other meals were unremarkable.  We took the airport bus back to the airport to pick up our rental car to head to Kilkenny.

Kilkenny
We stayed at Newlands Lodge, a really nice bed and breakfast about a 5 minute drive from town.  The room was gorgeous and the breakfast really good, for a very reasonable rate.  However, it's not walking distance, and I'd recommend staying in town.  We visited the castle and St. Canice's cathedral, did a lot of shopping (I'm usually not a huge shopper on vacation, but lots of really cute clothing stores were having sales) and at night we hung out at listened to traditional music.  Kyteler's Inn was out favorite - we stopped in during the day and it felt a little kitschy and touristy, but we went back for dinner and it was a good mix of visitors and residents, with really good traditional music.  We really liked Kilkenny, but it's a small town and two nights is enough.  On our way to Dingle, we stopped at the Rock of Cashel and then stopped in Killarney for lunch.  I know a lot of people love Killarney (we had debated staying there), but I'm glad we just passed through...of all the places we visited, Killarney just felt overrun with souvenir shops and stuff like that.  If we had more time, I would have liked to visit Killarney National Park...but I'm glad we moved on to Dingle.

Dingle
We stayed at Pax Guest House, which I couldn't possibly recommend enough.  It was the most expensive room there - sea view with private patio), it was pricey compared to other b&bs but SO worth it.  It's more of a small hotel - the rooms have a lot of privacy and all the amenities of a hotel, but with excellent service and personal attention.  The owner, John, helped us with dinner reservations and recommendations, and breakfast was very good.  The hotel has a large deck overlooking the water.  The drive out to Dingle is about as picturesque as you can imagine.  Part of it is along the coast, and part goes through bright green valleys.  We stopped so many times to take pictures, the drive took much longer than planned.  We were less than a mile into town, so we walked.  Dingle is a cute little town - we didn't spent time in town during the day, but we had an excellent dinner at Into the Blue, which is all locally-caught seafood.  During the day, we did the Slea Head Drive - a scenic drive around the peninsula with several historic stops along the way.  This was my favorite day of the entire trip.  I really didn't want to leave after two nights, and with more time we would have done some hiking and a cruise of Dingle Bay.  On our way to Galway, we stopped at the Cliffs of Moher - an absolute must-see.  I wasn't sure it would live up to the hype, but it did.  Here is a tip we were glad we followed - when you're standing at the entrance facing the water, go to the left instead of the right.  To the right has a fully paved path with a safety wall and a lookout tower, so that is where all the crowds go.  To the left, the paved path and wall end, so you can walk along a foot path with unobstructed views. (there are some "enter at your own risk" signs, but there is a well-worn path to follow).

Galway
We stayed at Devondell, a b&b about a 10 minute walk from the town center.  The Cottage Bar right around the corner on the way to town doesn't look like much but had great food and served local beers (it's affiliated with a local brewery).  We also had excellent seafood at McDonough's.  In Galway we sort of just walked around - this was the only part of the trip where the weather was less than perfect.  We had fun here, but for me it paled compared to Dingle.  When we left Galway we drove up through Connemara and stopped at Kylemore Abbey.  I definitely recommend driving through Connemara - the landscape is so different from the rest of the country and it was another beautiful day of driving, even though it was gray and drizzly.  On our last night, we just got dinner in Malahide and stayed at an unremarkable place close to the airport for an early morning flight.

This trip really exceeded our expectations.  We didn't see as many sights as we planned because we underestimated the drive time between cities, but it's sort of an "enjoy the journey" type roadtrip because the countryside is so lovely and there are lots of cute little towns to stop in for lunch/tea/drink.  If I could change our itinerary, I'd take a night from elsewhere and add it to Dingle, but overall I felt like we saw a good deal and experienced different towns and landscapes. This can be a very affordable trip - some of our lodging was above-average price compared to what I saw.  Food was mostly inexpensive and the entry fees to things seemed very reasonable.  My biggest tip would be not to overplan - a drive that says 2 hours in the guidebook took 4 or 5.  Staying IN town wherever you are is preferable and worth a few extra dollars.  I can't imagine not having fun in Ireland.

[scout8]

Sounds like a great trip. Thanks for sharing!

[osumelissa]

Glad you had a great trip! Dingle was my favorite location from our Ireland trip too.

[evans]

I'm happy to read this. We're leaving in a few weeks for Ireland. We're doing different stops but it's so nice to read that you had a good time. We're stopping at the Cliffs so that was a good tip.

This makes me sad that we're not going to be near Dingle.

[hz80408]

Sounds lovely! We went last fall and followed a somewhat similar itinerary. Kyteler's Inn was were we had our first beers, live music and food in Ireland. It was absolutely perfect!

I agree on the cliffs, once you're there is surpasses anything you cuold have imagined. We walked both left and right paths, which I would suggest to get multiple views.

Great trip! Thanks for sharing!