Village or small town outside dublin
 

We will be in Dublin 4 days (1st time). 2 days to explore the city. Then Would like to do 2 day tour out of the city to visit the countryside, specially a small town or village to get a feel for Ireland. Dublin being a big city won't give us that. What would u recommend. We will not have a rental car. So how to get there. Bus, train, cab ?

In February we took a day trip to Howth, a coastal village about 30 minutes on train from Dublin. While it isn't countryside, we took the local bus to the top of the cliffs (10 minute ride), walked a bit of the cliff trails and then back into town past the Abbey ruins. By good fortune our weather that day was spectacular, and the tides were low, so we even made time for beach combing, and sat for fish and chips lunch along the harbor. The day was spectacular.

Regional trains (DART) depart frequently from Dublin; the end of the line is Howth, making it hard to miss your station, too.

I hope this is helpful.

I'd second a Dart trip to Howth and a meal at the King Sitric, walk out on the harbour walls

Howth, Skerries or Malahide on the North Side - all accessible by Dart or train. Nice seaside towns with good walks and good food.

Dart train goes north and south. Dalkey is a nice seaside village.

I'll also have a couple days in Dublin (in late October) and would also like to take the train to somewhere smaller, with some nature activities. If you had FOUR days instead of two, would any of you have different suggestions? Howth sounds just about perfect for us (cliffs, coast, nature), but we may have time to get further afield.

You can also take the DART to Dun Laoghaire.

Kilkenny City is accessible by train and feasible for a day trip. The castle is worth a look and the town is interesting.

Glendalough is lovely - you can use Glendalough Bus - www.glendaloughbus.com. Recommended for a picnic.

Alternatively you could take a guided tour of Newgrange in Co. Meath which is fascinating.

Galway is a total contrast to Dublin and gives the options of visiting Connemara or Inis Mor O the Burren and Cliffs of Moher

Just west of Galway you will find Spiddal, Just south of Galway you will find Kinvara.

thanks! And I guess I should have not hopped onto another thread, as this is probably confusing. I just ordered a guide book, so I will be back later to discuss my options.

Wow, thanks so much for all the suggestions ... I did some research and found these 3 full day tour options by Paddywagon Tours from Dublin. Each are 10-12 hour commitment. Since I will not have a car, I was considering on these ... which one will u recommend (1 or 2).

1. Kilkenny/Wicklow/Gendalough
2. Kinvara/burren/doolin/moher cliffs/bunratty
3. cong/lough corrib/connemara/Maam Valley/Galway

My live in San Francisco Bay Area ... the Pacific coastline is very pretty and full of wonderful cliffs. Not sure how much different the Cliffs of Moher will be? I am mostly looking forward to seeing a Irish Village outside of Dublin's big city feel.

... But Trip 2 includes 2 small villages Kinvara and Doolin.

Also, do u recommend I just take a bus/train to these places and explore on my own. Or will the tour be better.

I don't know if I can recommend it as a 'tourist destination', but I had a night in Dunkalk while driving to Northern Ireland, and managed to take a couple hundred photos - - found it really vivid.

For me, Howth is cute, but constrained. Malahide is tiny and pricey. Dunkalk felt real, with real people, but again, it is not a tourist place, and when I mentioned it to people in Ireland, they were surprised I went there. Made for great pix though:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dougla...57651695404545

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti...ty_Dublin.html

Great small bus day tour. I really wanted to go to Avoca where they filmed Balleykissangel so skipped the mill and headed to town to drink at Fitzgerald's pub. We went across the street to Kathleen's store and walked the bridge. The outside of the church they used in filming but Norman said they used another church for the inside scenes. It was a nice day and loved Asher Gardens.

The only one of those 3 tours I would recommend would be the first. Heading to the west coast is 3 hours of Motorway each way so 6 hours of your tour is looking at tarmac. The Burren and Connemara areas should be done from Galway.

As to your 1st tour option, There are two options offered for Wicklow and Glendalough one as you have with a couple of hours in Kilkenny which isn't nearly enough and the other does Powerscourt and Glendalough with the Wicklow mountains. I would do that. If you want Kilkenny have a day there bu bus or Train not just a rushed couple of hours.

"My live in San Francisco Bay Area ... the Pacific coastline is very pretty and full of wonderful cliffs. Not sure how much different the Cliffs of Moher will be? "

I live in the bay area and still find the Cliffs of Moher to be beautiful.

Granted, looking out over San Francisco from Hawk Hill in Marin is pretty spectacular, but Cliffs of Moher is a different terrain. Definitely worth seeing from the water, in my opinion. Infinitely more interesting to look at from the water than the coastline here.

That said, it's a long way to go for just a few days. There is plenty that is interesting much closer to Dublin. Count me as another fan of Kilkenny if time allows - if not, the Wicklow area is pretty great too.