Ireland/N.Ireland itinerary suggestions
 

My DH and I just booked a flight to Dublin for June of 2009. Now the fun of deciding where to concentrate our trip begins. We were thinking something like this:

2 nts Dublin
1 nt Belfast
2 nts near Giant's Causeway
1 nt ????
1 nt Dublin

Perhaps we could stay near Newgrange for our 6th nt? We'd like to concentrate our trip in the NE part of the country and am hoping we are not doing too much driving each day. Any advice from those who know best would be appreciated. We'll probably use Marriott points and stay at the Shelbourne in Dublin, but would love any B&B suggestions elsewhere on our trip.

If you don't want to do a lot of driving (especially since most of your visit revolves around cities where having a car is a hassle), you could skip renting a car for the first half of your week and just take the train from Dublin to Belfast. You could rent a car as you leave Belfast, but there is a fast regional rail service connection that leaves regularly between Belfast and the area near the Causeway (i.e., Portrush). There is also a shuttle service in the summer months that takes visitors around to the big sights (Causeway, Dunluce Castle, Bushmills), but to explore the rest of the coastline at leisure, you'll want a car.

Portrush is a very pretty harbour town by Giants Causeway maybe for one night, but the North Donegal coast would be beautiful for 2 days.
Downie, Portnablagh, Killybegs.
Why not stopping over at Belleek on your way to Dublin.

Ceidleh - Thanks for the driving tip. At the very least, we will wait until we are ready to leave Dublin before renting a car. That may save a little $$$ and a few headaches. Any idea on how to best get to St Stephen's Green from the airport? We'd be willing to take a bus or train.

travel_buzzing - We'll definitely look into the Donegal coast! It sounds wonderful.

kcapuani asked: "Any idea on how to best get to St Stephen's Green from the airport?"

No trains. See http://www.aircoach.ie/

We'll definitely take the bus then.

Any suggestions for a town in Co. Donegal to spend the night? Also, would there be more to do here than near the Causeway? I'm wondering if we should stay 2 nts on the Donegal coast vs. 2 nts in, say, Ballycastle.

If you purchase a Dublin Pass it includes a bus ride into Dublin from the airport, but be warned, it drops you off at one of several locations, not necessarily close to your hotel. DH and I learned this the hard way, with bags in tow at around 4:30 in the morning! It was an interesting introduction to Dublin!