I've been to Ireland once in 2014 and did a semi-similar trip (but my trip was longer, i did Cliffs of Moher/Burren, Aran Islands, Galway, Dingle, Cork, Trim, and Dublin) and i am bringing my boyfriend for the very first time. We are both on-the-go travelers and enjoy sleeping in a new place every night, just want to make sure i am not overdoing it or burning us out. Thoughts?

Day 1

Flying into Shannon from NYC (on a red eye, we plan on taking melatonin to get a full night sleep on the flight) - landing at 10am , pick up rental car, go to cliffs of moher + doolin cave and/or ailwee cave (any preference? or are the caves not worth the trouble)
lunch in Doolin

explore Limerick / dinner in Limerick

sleep in Limerick

***due to the amount of people concerned for sleep deprivation, an alternate option could be:

Day 1

Fly into Shannon from NYC, get rental car, go to Limerick hotel and nap, get lunch in Limerick, then Sunset at cliffs of Moher/ dinner in Doolin

sleep in Limerick

Day 2

wake up in Limerick, drive to Dingle

explore Dingle peninsula

lunch/dinner in Dingle area

Sleep in Dingle

Day 3

Wake up in Dingle

Do Ring of Kerry not sure on lunch yet, maybe we pack sandwiches

dinner in Killarney

sleep in Killarney

Day 4

wake up in Killarney

maybe do Killarney national park? or straight to blarney castle. probably pack sandwiches for lunch

dinner in Cork

sleep in Cork

Day 5

wake up in Cork

Kilkenny castle / Dunmore caves

sleep in Kilkenny

Day 6

Wake up in Kilkenny

straight to Dublin / returning rental car in city centre

Book of Kells / Jameson distillery (we are skipping Guinness factory because I've already gone and my bf isn't a beer fan)

dinner around temple bar area

Day 7

Early flight out of Dublin (7am)

i think if we dropped something i would be ok since i have done a similar trip already, and my bf doesn't care either way as long as we're exploring lol. i think cork was my favorite so i was on the fence about doing 2 nights in cork and ditching either killarney or kilkenny..? also i am very comfortable with driving the small country roads and am aware they can take time, I've driven in over 25 non-American countries overall (mostly solo trips)

Thanks in advance!!!!!

just time for a quick comment -- day 1 is a hot mess (sorry, but it is). Melatonin or not there is no guarantee you will sleep, and sleep or not doesn't make driving right off a red eye a good/safe idea. Your plan for Shannon out to Cliffs/Doolin/cave(s) and back to Limerick is easily a 3 hour drive (and could be more with the traffic on those busy/narrow roads) plus all the stops -- so would really be about a 7 or 8 hour day.

Haven't time to read/absorb the rest of the plan til a bit later. Others will chime in I'm sure . . .

i agree day 1 is a hot mess either way, but the way i see it, at least one of the days has to be in order for this all to work, and i really didn't want dingle to be the "hot mess day" because it's one of my favorite places in ireland and i didnt want my boyfriend to be distracted from that with a bad ride. but as for day 1, i was also banking on the fact that we will be on a traveler's high/adrenaline on day 1 so our threshold for crappiness may be higher. have you done the caves? i woudn't mind skipping since we wanted to do dunmore cave en route to Dublin

what would you do differently? happy to hear more from you when you get a chance!

>>at least one of the days has to be in order for this all to work,<<

Sometimes one can't fit it 'all' in no matter how much you want . But (still need to read the rest of your plan) but if ANY day must be crazy - it should not be one's arrival day IMHO. Between the loooooong travel day (from the time you get up the day before you'll likely be up at least 24 hours), plus acclimating to the other side of the road and other side of the car.

Did you book ticket already? I love Dublin as my first day to recover if need be but don't have jet lag flying from east coast. I am one of those people that stay up till midnight the first night. We stay in Dublin or take a bus or train to our first destination. Why Limerick? Could you take the ferry at Tarbert and stay in Tralee after seeing those cliffs? I personally would head south and skip them. He will see beautiful cliffs in other places. I just think they are overrated. That would give you a little more time for other places.