Hi everybody.

I regularly reach out to the forum groups asking for advice and comments on our next considered trip. I always include a trip summary at the end. Our recent trip was to France and with the help of the great advice we received it was wonderful.

For those that do not know us, we are active adults in our late 60's from Boston. Active in the sense of we like to take long scenic walks, love hiking, and enjoying the outdoors. Are not touristy in the sense of jumping on tour buses and going to museums. That's just not our style.

Love casual pubs, bars, and restaurants with fresh food and local atmosphere.

With that said, we are considering visiting Ireland for 10 days in early June, 2026. Our goal is to naturally have fun but to see and explore many of the highlights. We plan on renting a car and don;t mind long drives between locations. In fact, we enjoy them on the most part so that we may see the landscape and scenery if any, We also en joy the flexibility of having a car. Yes, I will need to become quickly accustomed to driving on a different than what I am used to side of the road.

I have done some initial research and my first draft in my head is as follows:

Fly from Boston direct flight into Dublin. Fly back to Boston from Shannon. No direct flights.

Locations and stops:

Dublin 2 nights after which we will rent the car.
Drive 4.5 hrs to Killarney.
Killarney 3 or 4 nights,
Drive 1.5 hrs to Dingle.
Dingle 2 nights.
Drive 4.5 hrs to Galway.
Galway 2 nights,
Drive 1.5 hrs to Shannon or nearby.
Fly home.

For sights, hope to see:

Dublin:

• Trinity College & Book of Kells
  
• Kilmainham Gaol
  
• St. Patrick’s Cathedral & Dublin Castle
  
• Temple Bar & Grafton Street walk
  

On way to Killarney: Rock of Cashel. Possibly Blarney Castle.

In/nearby Killarney:

• Killarney National Park (Muckross House, Ross Castle, Torc Waterfall)
  
• Jaunting car ride or bike around the lakes
  
• Gap of Dunloe walk or hike
  

Dingle:

• Slea Head Drive
  
• Coumeenoole Beach & Dunquin Pier
  
• Conor Pass scenic drive
  

On way to Galway: Cliffs of Moher

Galway:

• Explore Eyre Square, Latin Quarter, and Salthill Promenade walk.
  
• Possibly Connemara National Park
  

Shannon: stay near airport or possibly Adare Village if not an early flight home.

Thoughts please. I realize this first pass may be overextending the possibilities but please note we do cover a lot of ground on our vacations and yes we do not feel rushed and do enjoy. However, Ireland is completely new for us and would greatly appreciate your feedback and comments. Are there things listed you don't recommend? Are there things not listed that you do? Is this the right time of year to go? Anything else? I assume like always, there will be several revisions before we finalize. Also, any tips would also be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, W

You might add the immigration museum to your Dublin visit, quite interesting and spent more time there than we had anticipated. If you take the long walk in Galway make certain you make a visit to the restroom before you begin. Do you need to rent a car, trains are quite good and perhaps using taxis or private drivers might be more convenient and just as economical?

Hi, Ireland is great. We (told older travelers) covered the same ground as you this past May, and two the places we liked the most were Mizen Head and Kerry Cliffs, neither of which you mention. The latter was visited on a self-drive Ring of Kerry route which we enjoyed. The Gap of Dunloe was beautiful, but the hikes and pony carts were much too touristy for our tastes, so we just drove through there with a couple stops. We also found Dingle and environs way over-touristed, although many others seem to like it. YMMV. I would think one night there would be sufficient (we visted from Killarney).

We enjoyed staying in Galway but I have to say there is nothing there other than wandering around and spending time in a pub that I found particularly interesting. We wanted to hike in Connemara but had a VERY rainy day so that didn't happen. We visited Clomacnoise on our way out of Galway heading back to Dublin and liked that. We also enjoyed time exploring the Burren, which we did on our way to Galway from Ennis. There are interesting tombs and ring forts.

Another great thing that you omit is Newgrange/Bru Na Boinne. You have to book a tour but that was really worthwhile. But you'd have to do that while in Dublin. We visited it on our way back to Dublin for our flight home.

Finally, unless your flight is really early, I don't see a reason to stay closer to Shannon. If you need to, Adare is very very sleepy. You might think about Ennis. We spent a couple nights there and liked it. Also, be prepared for weather to change your plans. We saw the cliffs of Moher from the boat cruise, but the day we tried to visit you could only see about 20-30 feet in the fog/rain. So have poor weather alternatives in mind.

If you PM me, I will send you a link to photos from our trip.

Have a great trip.

First of all, my compliments to you on pacing yourself. It always drives me nuts when people make a stab at a first trip to Ireland for 10 days and their itinerary includes Galway, Belfast and Cork. It's crazy. Yes, you are sane.

I love it you get to fly into Dublin and fly out of Shannon.

I also love it that you list Kilmainham Gaol as a must-see and DO NOT list the Guinness and Jameson Whiskey stuff. Big congratulations to you!

You seem set on driving. We never drive in Ireland. We cycled there for eons, but somehow have managed after multiple trips never to have rented a car. Others think we are nuts for not doing it. My philosophy is to each his own, but given the fact that we down beer like mother's milk as we engage in conversation with the locals, we are pretty sure we've chosen a wise path for ourselves. You do you.

But I do think you might want to...
a) take advantage of the easy train from Dublin south to Cork, where you can easily pick up a car and drive the short distance to Killarney OR
b) Engage a private driver/tour to tour the Killarney area. There is so much to see, and it's wonderful to have someone zip you in and out past tour buses, etc. This area is clogged to the max.

Galway. Well, just tap on my name to get my posts and you'll see we adore it. Unless you walk from Eyre Square to Salthill, NO walks are taxing in Galway. And even that walk is pretty darn easy. If you get tired, there are always buses, taxis, and UBER/FreeNow/Bolt back to your hotel.

I wish I could tell you how best to do Connemara from Galway. We love Connemara so much. The problem is that we did it twice via cycle trips, allowing us to explore lovely nooks and crannies over two and three days. It's worth a day of your time for sure. I just don't know how to tell you to do it best.

Happy Planning!!!!!
AZ

We found Kenmare nicer than Killarney. Loved it's restaurants and access to walks. The Gap of Dunloe walk and boat ride back was a nice day. We also found that hiking trails were often more of a suggestion, but there were some good walks out of Dingle. Out of the Blue restaurant in Dingle is top notch. If you plan to drive be sure you know how to change a flat tire. One of our favorite areas was The Burren - far more interesting than Cliffs of Mohar, especially for walking.

Hi everybody. Well we were just notified of a wedding that will interfere with the timing of this pre summer trip to Ireland. We may have to wait a year.

I will be saving my post and revisit when the opportunity permits. Because of the change in plans we will not be going away between June - end of August.; at least not any extended travel outside of the US.

We are thinking Portugal in early September so I will be reaching out to the Portugal forum.

We were really looking forward to an Ireland vacation next June and we will get there but most likely a year from June. Our travel dates are limited due to conflicts but also and mainly due to when we think we have the bet opportunity for good weather. Our European travel windows are typically the shoulder seasons.

Thank you so much for your feedback and hope you will offer more advice when we have the opportunity to revisit.

W

Good luck. FWIW there are direct flights from Shannon to Boston on Aer Lingus, partner with AA.

Thank you!