Ok, My husband and I are going to be in Ireland the end of November its our first time and I need some advice!

1st our flight lands at 2pm in Dublin and we have rented a car for the whole trip. Should we stay in Dublin that night or try and drive 1/2 way to Galway?

2nd is three days in Galway enough? We want to see the cliffs of moher, connemara and of course the aran islands.

After Galway we were planning on spending our last 3 nights in Dublin... any recomendations? Should we do any day trips from there or stay somewhere else? We have a total of 7 nights and 8 day... any help would be great.

Thanks in advance!

Make sure you get to visit the real capital Cork.Nice city , good restaurants and lots to see.

I have one more question to add... we rented the car through Delta Vacations (Hertz) since the car was booked as the package will they still put a $4000 hold on our credit card? If so that will be a huge problem.. any advice? The car is already paid for...

Just time for a quick comment right now . . .

"<i>we have rented a car for the whole trip.</i>" You do not need nor want a car in Dublin - so I'd just rent for the part of your trip over on the west coast. In fact, on arrival, I would probably fly from Dublin to either Galway or Shannon and collect my rental car there. That would avoid having to drive all the way across the country jet lagged.

(Unless you have a particular reason for being in Dublin that long - I'd personally spend more time on the west coast and less in Dublin.)

Didn't see your 2nd post -- you are stuck unfortunately . . . .

You will have no need for a car in Dublin -- where are you going to park it??

Well we figured we could find a hotel with parking, We rented it for the whole time since it was part of the package... it will come in handy if we do day trips right? We wanted to leave Dublin one day and go up to the NewGrange area.

You can stay in the vicinity of Dublin during your last days in Ireland, and use tram or train from P+R lots to the city center.

Whether you will feel comfortable to drive after arriving in Dublin or if you get too much of a jetlag, only you will know.
Driving 1/2 way to Galway is no big deal from Dublin airport as that route is dual-lane motorway (hardly any stress to drive) all the way to Athlone, and a bit further.
You probably don't want to drive much further on day 1 anyway as you will not have that many hours of daylight in November.

I'd also think of an alternative for the trip to the Aran Islands if the ships can't sail due to winter storms / bad weather.

Whether Dublin or the West deserve more attention depends on your taste or preferences. IMO, the West is very much an area with mostly "outdoor" activities and sights. While Dublin also offers many indoor alternatives (e.g. tons of museums) for the miserable weather I would expect in November.

Here is what we are thinking...
11/21 (Dublin) Arrive in Dublin day about 2pm should be drive to Althone as mentioned above?
11/22 (Galway) Connemara?
11/23 (Galway) Aran Islands day
11/24 (Galway) Travel to Burren,Cliffs of Moher
11/25 (Dublin) Travel back to Dublin today.
11/26 (Dublin) Guinness,Trinity College
11/27 (Dublin) Boyne Valley day! Newgrange
11/28 (Dublin) Turn in Car, Catch Flight at 6am