My DH & I will be in the UK late October. He would love to go to Ireland. We are thinking of flying in to Dublin an out of Cork total of 4 days.

We know this is not near enough time but we won't be back this way for many years (a 27 hour flight from Australia is a killer and expensive)

We will hire a car and stop and stay as we go. Can you give us some suggestions of route and must sees. Do you think we need to book accommodation before hand

With four days, I think you need to decide first whether you want to see Dublin or would rather focus somewhere else, like the southwest. You can see Dublin and some of County Wicklow in four days; you can see some of County Kerry in four days; you can see part of Northern Ireland in four days; but it would be difficult to do more than one (and you'd be rushed trying). No need to fly through Dublin if you're going to be somewhere else.

Personally my vote would be for Kerry, but it's your trip, not mine!

Thank you jent103
Was originally going to do return Dublin but thought in Dublin and out of Cork we would see more. Had also looked at in Shannon and out of Cork, We can just do in and out of Cork also.

We just mainly wanted a taste of the Irish feel.(hard to explain). Some lovely sights, some Irish pubs and just listening to the wonderful Irish accent and little towns.

If small towns are what you're after, though, why go through Dublin? You could see even more by flying straight to where you want to be. Take a look at airports like Shannon and Kerry in addition to Cork. You didn't specify where in the UK you'll be beforehand, but you can get to all three of those from London. If it were my trip, I might fly into Kerry, go either to Kenmare or Dingle, and either fly back from Kerry or fly back from Shannon and see the Cliffs of Moher or some of the Burren on the way there.

You could go from Dublin to see Newgrange and then drive to Northern Ireland to the Giant's Causeway, the rope bridge, Bushmills Distillery. We enjoyed Northern Ireland - also Belleek to the Belleek Pottery store.

I enjoyed that part the most of our Ireland/Northern Ireland trip.

I say fly into Cork, drive down to Kinsale and meander at will

Thank you for your replies

We will be flying from London have looked at flights Air Lingus seem to have the best deals but I don't think they fly to Kerry. Meandering sounds good.
A friend, living in London, said that the weather in Ireland at that time of year wasn't very good. What do you think? My husband has his heart set on going even if we know we can not do it justice. A little taste is better than none at all. At least the pubs would be warm

No one can foresee if you will spend your days in t-shirts or a waterproof jacket this October in Ireland. You can expect that it won't be as warm as can be in August, but otherwise there is no way to predict it.
If you stick to one region and don't try to see half of the island, there is nothing one could say against going there for just 4 days. If you want to absorb the atmosphere, I'd stay in one place the whole time. And use the car for short, relaxed day trips.
Ryanair flies from London to Kerry (and Shannon, Cork, Knock, Dublin), but check if you can live with their max allowances for luggage.

When I was in Ireland, it was early October and we had fantastic weather, but I think that was unusual.

Rain is a big part of the Ireland experience, and it would not 'ruin' my vacation. A hot July day in dry California makes a cool rain sound pretty good!

Its settled Ireland here we come. Not sure on the exact location or itinery yet. But the Irish accent is calling us Aussies, be it 1 day or 4 we will make the most of it!

Hello aussie_10 My husband and I have just returned from 18 days in Ireland (trip report under construction!) and we flew into Cork with Aerlingus and out of Dublin, covering a lot of ground in between. If you have only 4 days, head to the Southwest. We spent our first 2 nights in Kinsale at the Chart House (sensational porridge with Irish Mist on top.) It took us only about 45 mins to pick up car and be in Kinsale - hopefully you won't have flown all the way from OZ that day like us though.
I think you could cover a fair bit in 4 days, but like everyone says, going is slow - not like Australian roads - but great fun and an absolute pleasure to be OS and in a country that drives on the same side as us! Far less stressful than Europe!
We loved Dingle, Killarney, Kinsale, ROK, Ring of Beara all the usual suspects but like sherri_lp says, meandering is great fun! If you decide to stay in one spot, consider a self catering cottage if you like your independence, we rented two throughout our stay and even though we didn't stay in them for the minimum rental of 7 days, they were still very cost effective. www.shamrockcottages.com
Anyway, you will love the "green ness" of Ireland and the water... both rarely seen in my part of Oz these days!

ozgirl wrote: "Far less stressful than Europe!"

Where am I?

I am guessing that you are in the minority part (unfortunately for us) of Europe that drives on the left?

I went to Ireland with my mom and aunt last year for five nights and managed to have a fantastic trip. We went in February, which can't be any worse than October, but it was worth it. We flew into Dublin and out of Shannon.

The one thing we did on this trip that I have never done before it play it by ear, meaning we only booked a B&B for the first night and left the other nights open. Since we had a short amount of time, we wanted to get there before we decided on an itinerary. We spent the first two nights in Kilkenny (we decided to add an extra night once we got there), a night in Kenmare, a night in Tralee and a night in Galway before flying home. Because it was off-season, we had no problems at all finding a place to stay.

Good luck!
Tracy