Day One Thursday 7/29 - Land in Dublin, get car and head to Kilkenny. Sleep in Kilkenny
Day Two - Waterford (?). Sleep in Kilkenny.
Day Three - Head to Tralee. Stopping on the way in Cork (?) Sleep in Tralee
Day Four - ??? Sleep in Tralee
Day Five - Head to Doolin. Stopping on the way to the Cliffs of Moher (?) Sleep in Doolin.
Day Six - Galway??? Sleep in Dollin
Day Seven and Eight - in Dublin
We tried to stay in each stop for two nights and plan on visiting as much as possile on the way and surrounding each city. It is my family's first trip to Europe together and want to get the most out of it....We are eager to take advice from more experienced travelers.....Please Help!!!

Sorry but can't figure out why you are doing a lot of this. I agree that it is nice to stay in places 2 nights. We took a similar trip this year but you seem to be back tracking all the time.
suggest Dingle Peninsula day 4 and maybe after cliffs stay in Galway instead of Doolin and coming back to Doolin. Day 7 will be nothing but driving back to Dublin. All in all I think you are trying to do too much and will seeing mostly roads.

Thank you for your reply. The only thing set about the trip are the B&B reservations in the cities I listed. Nothing else is set. I listed a lot of ???'s, because we are really clueless about what we should do/see along the way. I'm guessing that my suggestions are not possible?

Assuming that you are locked into flying in and out of Dublin...

age and interests would also help with advice...but this is what we liked...

I think that you have a good start, but no reason to stay in Tralee when Dingle is the place to be. Loved Doolin, but one night is enough to see sights in the area. With just a week and since you will be in Dublin...I would skip Galway (wasn't a favorite of ours). We didn't have an interest in Waterford, so much else to see... and you can buy crystal everywhere!.

1st night Cashel(or Kilkenny)-first day you could stop at Powerscourt and/or Glendalough with first night in Cashel -enjoy a trad. Irish music and dance evening at the Bru Boru Centre (Kilkenny was not one of our favorite stays-lots of traffic, kept getting lost and hard to find parking- but the castle and nearby Jerpoint Abbey were nice)

2 nights in Kenmare-tour Rock of Cashel and Cahir Castle on the way to Kenmare(be sure to stop and see the stone cirle just on edge of town). Second day drive through Killarney National Park between Kenmare and Killarney,it is spectacular-see Muckross House/Abbey, Ross Castle (or do park on the way to Dingle and use 2nd day for Ring of Kerry or Beara Pen.)

2 nights in Dingle-Slea Head Loop, Connor's Pass, pubs/music

1 night Doolin-Cliff's of Moher, pubs/music (Burren and/or Bunratty).

2 nights Dublin(one day will be mostly driving-you could sidetrip to Clonmacnoise on the way.(Newgrange and Hill of Tara north of Dublin were also very interesting)
-favorites in Dublin-Kilmainham Gaol, Hop on Hop off Tour, Music and/or Literary Pub Crawl, Book of Kells

I agree with the last post- See my just posted SW trip report- Drove thru Tralee and saw no reason to stop- Spend days 3 and 4 in either Dingle or Kenmare- both are far superior to tralee and offer many choices.

We were in Waterford last week. In addition to watching crystal blown and cut, visitors can visit the Guiness brewery and the local museum--interactive with lots of displays on the Vikings. People there were very friendly and I enjoyed the change from
Dublin.

Kind of a weird reply, but my son and I were in Dublin and we loved the Japanese restaurant Wagamama. It had a fun atmosphere and the food was really fresh, healthy and tasty. He still talks about it. In fact after our return, an acquaintance said her favorite is Wagamama!

Jill

I like Wagamamma's too. They are a chain in the UK and Ireland now. The food is freh and healthy but tastes great and its prices are reasonable. I just got the cook book the other day.