Since you are staying in the SE, definitely go to Glendalough, not far at all from where you'll be. Explore the whole Wicklow area; tons to see there. For day trips, there are many out of Dublin by bus or train (recommend, rather than driving). You are very near Dublin, I think only about 20 miles south of the city. You can take the gobus (gobus.ie) from Dublin to Galway, an express bus which takes only 2.5 hours. Galway and Dublin both extremely walkable cities. There are day trips into Connemara from Galways city. Galway is a great town for traditional music, if you enjoy that. You can also do a train trip from Dub to Belfast (couple hours, I believe) and if you do, then take the black taxi tour and visit the Crown Bar. If you want to see the rest of No. Ireland, you would need to drive, but probably save that for another trip. I'll let others advise on castles. Have a wonderful trip - Ireland is magical!

The best source for driving times/routes in Ireland is the online AA Route Planner. We found that we needed to add about 15 - 20% to the stated driving times to make them more accurate.

If you are based at the Ritz Powerscourt, it will not make much sense to travel to western Ireland (e.g. Killarney) or southern Ireland (e.g. Cork) as day trips. Those drives will range from 3 - 4 hours one-way and I'm sure you don't want to see Ireland from the window of your car.

If you are tied to the Ritz Powerscourt, then I would recommend the following: 1 day in Dublin, 1 day at Glendalough and the Wicklow Mts., 1 day at Newgrange and Trim, 1 day in Kilkenny (with Cahir and Cashel maybe added) and one day to Belfast (but not the Antrim Coast--no time). Those day trips should be about 2 hours or less one-way.

There are lots of kinds of castles--some are like fortresses and some are like manor houses. Research the following castles which are within a reasonable driving distance of Powerscourt: Dublin Castle, Malahide Castle, Kilkenny Castle, Cahir Castle and Trim Castle.

To find out more about Powerscourt, you can: 1) read their website, 2) read the entry on Wikipedia, 3) read reviews on Trip Advisor and 4) find it on Google Maps.

Hi Mary

Powerscourt is an old stately home with beautiful gardens. The interior of the house was largely destroyed by fire some years ago but has been revamped and reopened to house a cafe and some shops (furniture, gifts, clothing, and nearby a garden centre). So you will get a lot of Dubliners who come out to Powerscourt at the weekends for a walk around the gardens and a lunch in the cafe. You have to pay to walk around the gardens but it's well worth it - allow at least 1 hour, 2 if you have it.

The Ritz Carlton is on the grounds of the Powerscourt estate. It's hidden in a dip, so you won't get the day-trippers popping into the RitzCarlton. Powerscourt house is about a 5 minute walk up the driveway from the Ritz Carlton. There's also a golf course on the Powerscourt grounds. 5 minutes walk in the opposite direction is the pretty little village of Enniskerry and if you have an hour or so to while away you can go for some lovely walks around Enniskerry and stop for a coffee. Not much there except cafes and the odd craft shop but it's very nice. It's about 45 minutes to an hour from Dublin city centre.

Bring your swimsuit - the steam room and pool in the Ritz Carlton are LOVELY. Enjoy!

Mary,

Did you get this deal through groupon? I saw it for a week at the Ritz but opted to book on our own as we did not want to be tied down to one place and wanted to do a full Southern tour. It was a great price though!