Chethor - thanks again for taking the time to submit such a great report and including all of your pictures. I think it’s particularly helpful for those of us planning our first visit to Ireland. It has helped confirm many of my choices and given me a few new things to consider.

Your trip sounds and looks like it was absolutely wonderful!

I am glad it helps. Thanks for following along.

Day 28 Dublin city

We took a bus back to Dublin, arriving around noon. Our hotel was at the North city, after checking in, we set off on foot to explore the city.

From North City, we walked on Henry’s street, checked on the former St. Mary church now used as a restaurant bar, walked past The Spire, and walked towards the Trinity College area. We did not do the Books of Kells tour, but rather just wandered around the Trinity College campus ground.



Arriving Dublin

North City area

Former St. Mary church used as a restaurant bar, Near Henry Street, Dublin Ireland

Former St. Mary church used as a restaurant bar, Near Henry Street, Dublin Ireland

Former St. Mary church used as a restaurant bar, Near Henry Street, Dublin Ireland

Former St. Mary church used as a restaurant bar, Near Henry Street, Dublin Ireland

The Spire





Trinity College Dublin



Books of Kells

Later, we found our way to the National Gallery of Ireland, and the admission to the permanent collection was free, but special temporary exhibitions required paid tickets.

The National Library of Ireland was just next to the National Gallery of Ireland. As the country's main library, it holds a massive collection of Filipiniana, rare manuscripts, historical newspapers, and academic journals. It's also free to enter.















After the museum and the library, we walked towards Andrew’s Street where the Molly Malone statue is situated. From there, we continued to the Temple Bar area. We found the famed Temple Bar, but did not eat there as the whole place was jammed packed with people.

We missed finding the Dublin Castle and we were tired after all the walking. After dinner, we walked across the bridge and went back to the hotel for the night.

Day 29 Howth Cliff Path Walk

We found out about this walk at the Tourist Information center when we asked about Howth Harbor. We were told to take the bus from the city center to the Howth summit stop, then follow the sign to the Howth Cliff Path Walk. It turned out that it was a surprisingly beautiful and peaceful trail. (There were not many buses going to the summit, so it is important to time your walk).


Howth Cliff path walk

Howth harbor



Lighthouse in the far end




Howth summit


Beautiful path!









Back to Howth Harbor

We took the bus back to the city, checked out the hotel, and took the airport bus to the airport for our flight home in the evening.

This concluded our journey to Norway and Ireland.

Happy Travels!

Ahh beautiful photos and love your journey thank you for sharing. Did you get to go to Kinsale when you were in Cork, just came across this sauna and ice bath based there randomly while looking up ice bath information and visiting in January, and now I want to visit

Thanks so much for your post. We were in Ireland in 2016 and hope to return next summer. We rented a car last time and it was daunting. Next trip we will use public transportation as you did, so your thread was particularly helpful.

Your narrative and photos are phenomenal! You could be a professional travel writer and/or photographer. This gift is wonderful for those who plan to travel, those who are reminiscing about past travel, and those who may never travel to the destinations in the thread. On behalf of all 3 groups, thank you, thank you, thank you!

seamuspie We did not get to Kinsale, so cannot help in the question of the sauna and ice bath. Thanks for the kind wodds.

Your kind words made me blush. Thanks for the compliment. I am happy to hear that someone found my trip experience useful to them. The bus system in Ireland is very good, and I found the tours are good in providing all the major sights seeing In Ireland.

my 2 sisters and myself will be traveling to Dublin, Killarney and Galway next month with no car. I would love to hear which tour companies you used and or guides you would rec’d. I know I’m running out of time and might not have a lot of choices at this point but any suggestions would be sooooo appreciated. I’m really interested in the Cliffs and Aran Island cruise day trip, does it matter if it’s large or small group as in is it worth the price to go with a smaller tour? Which tours groups did you use and/or rec for Killarney Ring of Kerry and the Dingle tours? And If you could only pick one? I know, tough question! Thank you!!! Reading these post are getting me so excited about the trip.

[QUOTE=Cherthor;17687334]We visited Ireland this year in April before flying to Norway. The following was our itinerary:

3 nights in Galway

2 nights in Killarney

2 nights in corks

We then flew to Tromso via Oslo. After Norway, we then flew back to Dublin, and took a bus to Belfast. We were at Belfast for 4 nights, then took a bus back to Dublin for a night before taking the evening flight home.

We did not have a car, we just used the public transportation to travel from one city to another and it was easy to use the bus transport in Ireland. When we were in the cities , we also used the local tour companies to visit all the well known places. We had good weather throughout the journey except when we were at the visitor center of Cliffs of Moher.

Day 1- We arrived in Dublin at 8am, easily got through the immigration, with no check in luggage, we got on the couch bus from the airport station to Galway around 9 am. We bought tickets from the driver and paid by credit card. The bus stopped at Dublin to pick up more passengers before leaving directly for Galway.

We arrived at Galway station around noon, walked to our hotel, left our bags for storage since it was not checked in time. Our hotel was just situated at the front of the Eyre Square. It was a sunny cheerful day, there were wedding couples having pictures taken around the square.

We happily ventured out to explore the vibrant city. It was a lively Friday in the city center.















Day 2- We joined the Aran Islands and Cliffs of Moher Tour and Cruise.

Departing Galway at 9 AM, we boarded the coach and travelled south along the Wild Atlantic Way and Burren region, heading to the picturesque fishing village of Doolin where we boarded the express ferry to Inisheer, the smallest Aran Island.

Inisheer is only a short sailing distance from Doolin and with visiting attractions included an ancient castle, a sunken church, one of Ireland’s most beautiful beaches, a shipwreck and several pubs, restaurants and cafes. We chose to enjoy a peaceful stroll through the boreens to see the castle, the sunken church, and the shipwreck.

After the visit of Inisheer, we then cruised alongside the foot of the Cliffs of Moher. This is a unique view of the Cliffs of Moher from the water. We then had a traditional Irish pub meal suggested by the tour guide. After the meal, we spent an hour at the top of the Cliffs. We took a walk onward to the tower near the visitor center. Unfortunately, a stroll along the cliff edge was accompanied with a sudden heavy rainfall, and we quickly took shelter at the visitor center.

Departing the Cliffs, the tour took the coast road, following the Wild Atlantic Way, arriving in Galway at approximately 7:30pm.





Ferry to Aran Island

Pony carts available for a fee, if you do not want to trek. Of course stories telling is included

Beautiful beach, too cold to swim!







Sunken church

“Castle” on the hill










Our ferry boat

Cliffs of Moher from the water



Cliffs of Moher-land view

[/QUOTE
absolutely gorgeous and inspiring photos! Thank you so much for posting them along with all of the great information. I’m doing a similar trip next month (end of April) and I’m having a hard time deciding on
which tours, which tour companies etc. I’ll be in Killarney for 2.5 days interested in rings of Kerry, dingle etc and then in Galway for 2.5 definitely want to do some sort of Aran island and Moher cliffs cruise tour and whatever else I can fit in 🤩. Any tips and or suggestions would be sooooo appreciated. Thank you!

sarahhackenberg7551: You have tacked your questions to a long - and lovely - trip report (plus have included a very very long quote with MANY photos)

It would be much better to start a thread of your own. I might also ask the moderators to remove that very long quote so your questions don't get buried even more.