Two Weeks Starting in Dublin
 

Hey there fellow travelers!
My name is Forrest, and I am a native Tennesseean. My girlfriend and I are looking to travel this summer for roughly two weeks. I have traveled overseas before- in fact, I lived in Dublin for around six months during 2012. As such, I would like to take my girlfriend to Dublin at some point during our trip. Given it's location, I was planning on making that either the starting or ending location of the trip (assuming an Open-Jaw flight plan will work out). We will probably spend three days there.

Following, we plan on heading to Wales via ferry, but after that, we don't have a clue what to do. We want to see a mixture of large city and small village, we'd like to get over to the mainland for a bit, and we'd like to avoid tourist traps. I've spent time in Swansea, Cardiff, London, Edinburgh, Dundee, and Glasgow, and while I wouldn't mind revisiting one or two of these places, I would like to see new things myself.

We both enjoy science and technology related attractions, as well as art museums and scenic views. We both have a great love of food and drink- especially beer and whiskey. We're both young (first half of our 20's) so we've got plenty of energy. We plan on using night trains for places to sleep as frequently as possible and for all other evenings staying in hostels.

What we need now are suggestions for destinations. These places ideally would be train accessible and have at least one hostel (or other low-cost housing solution). Understandably, we will not be able to do larger cities justice, and we understand that- we're not trying to 'do it all' in a single trip.

Also, if anyone can suggest a better plan for entrance/exit from Europe, I'm all ears. What is the least expensive way to enter Europe from the US? I understand that we'll be traveling during peak times, so it may not be as cheap as other periods, but as we are both students, we only really have an opportunity to travel during the summer. The trip can begin anytime between June 25th and July 17th.

Thanks in advance!
FP

You are literally all over the place.

Let's start with the two weeks, is that feet on the ground or does that include air flights.

How long in Dublin / Ireland?

Build a simple word calendar and start filling out the days. What's left over are the # of days you can go elsewhere.

Then you won't shotgun questions that can have 50 answers, none of them coinciding with each other.

Apologies for the multiple questions- I honestly just wanted to impress that I have done my research and that I'm not coming here out of laziness or to have someone piece my trip together for me!
Also, a reason for few details is few are set in stone. We have a month window in which we can travel, and the budget for roughly two weeks on the ground.Three days of that will be spent in Dublin, either at the beginning or end of the trip, which leaves roughly 11 days for other travel.
Hope this helps.

Bump for visibility!

Hi Forrest, good to hear you are coming back to Ireland with your girlfriend, it will certainly be a great experience. As you might have noticed when you were in Dublin, the train network connects the major cities and towns www.irishrail.ie, also, have a look at the buses www.buserireann.ie.
As for your itinerary, 11 days is the ideal time to explore our beautiful island.
From Dublin you can take the train/bus and explore a bit of Northern Ireland, I would spend a couple of days in Belfast and surrounding areas. Belfast is a city full of history and there's a buzzing atmosphere. Small picturesque villages and the magnificent sceneries on the coast can be accessed by bus www.translink.co.uk. Derry, City of Culture 2013 is definitely worth a visit.
Galway is also connected by train to Dublin. Galway is a lovely city on the West Coast, plenty of hostels, bars, pubs, music and magic corners with a vibrant atmosphere. Other train accessible cities that you might consider are Limerick, Killarney, Cork and Waterford. I hope you will enjoy Ireland!

Apologies Forrest, although 11 days is a great length of time to explore Ireland, I see you have actually only scheduled three days, in Dublin! Not to worry, however Ireland can offer all sorts of unmissable experiences.

If you wish to extend your time in the 'emerald isle', certainly take heed of our previous comment! Belfast, Derry~Londonderry (City of Culture 2013) and Galway are lovely spots, of traditional culture, with eclectic music scenes.

Taking the coastal route from Belfast to Derry~Londonderry, in one day, stop by Bushmills, County Antrim, to take care of your whiskey appreciation, as well as the Giants Causeway to sate your scientific(i hope that includes geological) interest, right on the awesome coastline!

For another option, British Airways, KLM and United Airlines all fly into Shannon Airport, which is on the west side of Ireland.
Spending a day exploring the karst, 'lunar' landscape of the Burren, and Cliffs of Moher in Country Clare, public transport will take you to Galway for a buzzing night, anticipating your next-day return to Dublin :).

There are not any night trains in Ireland, although buses between Dublin and Belfast via Dublin airport are operational 24hours. No journey is really long enough to equate an overnight stay.

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