Ireland Recs/Advice

[Dusky]

We'll be taking our first trip to Ireland in March, flying into/out of Dublin.  We'll have 7 nights.  We're planning 2 nights each in Dublin, Cork, and Galway.  Right now we're thinking of dedicating one day for day trips and spending one day putting around the city for each stop.  Some questions:

-Which city should get the extra night?
-What's the best way to get from city to city without renting a car?  Bus, train?  Are there any decent tours starting in one city and ending in another?
-Any food/hotel recs?

[winnied]

I can help with a few of those things.

Cork: I enjoyed our little trip to Cobh which was about 30-45 minutes outside of Cork. It was the last stop of the Titanic and has a nice museum there. The town is very cute as well. In Cork proper, I enjoyed the restaurant Electric.

We stayed at the Hotel Isaacs Cork and it was fine. Very clean, good location, and a nice bar/restaurant downstairs. The staff was also very kind and friendly.

Galway: Our group of friends stayed at the Asgard B&B and it was lovely. Walking distance to all the pubs and shops, clean, and wonderful hosts. One morning, the host struck up a conversation and when he heard we intended to go to the Aran Islands for the day, he kindly recommended against it due to the weather and provided us with maps and suggestions for a day trip around Connemara. It ended up being one of our favorite memories from the trip! The breakfast was also delicious.

I don't recall the specific restaurants we went to Galway, but we found them in a Rick Steves book and they were decent enough.

We did rent a car, so I can't help with alternatives there.

If I could, I highly recommend spending that extra day going to the Ring of Kerry or Ring of Dingle. Both are incredible! If you do, I believe it was the Ring of Kerry that had Skellig Chocolates and that cannot be missed!