pjschecter

My daughter is studying in London this fall. I would like to meet her in Ireland and do a quick visit to some of the highlights. Can anyone recommend an itinerary for such a short trip? Thanks.

Normaloney

Dublin, Dublin and Dublin. If you must venture...two days in Dublin and two days in Kilkenny. But not sure where you are traveling from but to do more then Dublin in 4 days will be very tiring.

Have a great time. Dublin is a beautiful city. And the people are amazing. Good craic.

janisj

If it was me and I had 4 days for a first visit to Ireland - I wouldn't go anywhere near Dublin. I'd fly into Shannon or Cork, rent a car and explore the west/southwest coast. W/ 4 days/3 nights you could see a bit of the west side - but definitely not a lot.

But it might depend on if you have Irish ancestry from a different part of the country.

If you really don't want to rent a car, then I would fly in to Dublin, and spend 2+ days exploring the city and 1 day on a guided coach tour out of Dublin.

catherinehaas

If it were up to me, I would fly to Dublin and rent a car. Flee Dublin. It is a wonderful city but very crowded. I would make my way to the Wicklow mountains. Glendalough is spectacular. Depends on what you are looking for though. Shopping, pubs, people, more things to do than you could imagine = stay in Dublin. Calm, quite, beautiful countryside, true Ireland = outside of Dublin or Galway for that matter. The countryside of Ireland is absolutely breathtaking and should not be missed. I might get negative comments but IMO Dublin another big city in a different country. Of course, different things to see/do but the same feel. But the countryside is truly amazing.

pjschecter

My daughter now wants to go to Galway. We will fly into Dublin and see the city for two days. Should we rent a car to drive to Galway or take the train or bus? Any recommendations on hotels in Galway?
Thanks.

nytraveler

I don;t understand people who go to Ireland and ignore Dublin. Yes, the counryside is pretty and there are things to do - but Dublin is a city with a fascinating past, some wonderful museums, great local theater and some excellent restaurants.

And, IMHO, anyone who goes to Ireland and misses the Book of Kells at Trinity, has missed a large part of the history of the whole country.

I would stay in Dublin and do 1 or possibly 2 day trips. Unless you have claustrophobia definitely go to see the pre-historic site at Newgrange. And there are lots of other options if you want a second day trip - but I would probably stay in Dublin. (But then I want to see every museum and old castle and church and historic sight there is.)

For theater see if you can find any of the local masters: Shaw or Wilde, for instance.

Ceidleh

In 2 days you can cover a few of the highlights of Dublin. With a 4 day trip, I would not recommend trying to see 2 completely opposite sides of the country, but if you and your daughter want to do it, then I would suggest you just take the train from Dublin to Galway. It takes about 3-3.5 hours. Driving could take you longer depending on the traffic and what seems like never-ending road construction (especially around Dublin).

With just 2 days in Galway, you aren't leaving yourself much time to see the West. You can rent your own car once you get to Galway or just sign up for a day tour if you want to get outside the city and see the Cliffs, the Burren, Aran Islands, Connemara, etc.

If you save Western Ireland for another trip, you might want to consider combining a few days in Dublin with a short trip to Northern Ireland - Belfast or Derry if you like city life, Antrim Coast/Giant's Causeway if you want to go for beautiful scenery.