We had an awesome trip throughout Ireland and Northern Ireland in May thanks to the excellent advice from so many wonderful people on this forum. I would first like to thank the following people for their very helpful and very informative trip reports: AllessandraZoe, Cherthor, Coral22, Ms_Go, Greytop 13, VictoriaInWanderland, and TravelTherese. And I also want to thank the following people for responding to my planning thread and giving me so many helpful ideas: Jackie44, PJTravels, SusanP, Northie, ANUJ, Geetika, Scotlandmac and tnronan. Everyone truly contributed to helping us plan a very memorable and wonderful trip to the beautiful countries of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

In addition to everyone’s trip reports and advice, I used the following guidebooks: Rough Guides, Lonely Planet, and DK Ireland, along with various internet sites and travel blogs.


OUR ITINERARY: The dates of our trip are from May 7 through May 31 (for a total of 23 nights on the ground)

· Dublin – 3 nights – Drury Court Hotel

· Kenmare – 3 nights – Rockcrest House

· Dingle – 2 nights – PAX House

· Doolin – 1 night – Atlantic View House – this stop was to break up our drive from Dingle to Galway

· Galway – 3 nights – Park House Hotel

· Clifden – 2 nights – Quay House

· Sligo – 1 night – Glasshouse Hotel – this stop was to break up our drive from Sligo to Derry, NI

· Derry, NI – 3 nights – Shipquay Hotel

· Causeway Coast, NI – 1 night – Causeway Hotel

· Belfast, NI – 3 nights – Harrison Chambers of Distinction

· Dublin Airport – 1 night – Hilton Hotel @ Dublin Airport

WEATHER: For the most part, we had very good weather. We really can’t complain, all things considered. The first 10 days or so were sunny with temperatures in the 50’s, except for one day with a few showers. Then we had 4 days of steady rain which did impact some of our sightseeing. And the last week was gorgeous, with abundant sunshine and temps in the 60’s. We wore long pants and layers. This was certainly not shorts weather for us, but we were amazed to see so many Irish people (and perhaps foreign tourists) wearing shorts! Oh, and how can I forget the wind??? There was lots of wind, sometimes feeling like a hurricane!

May 7, 2026: Flying from Boston to Dublin

For many years now, we have been using a shared van service (Knights Limo) that picks us up at our house and drives us to Boston’s Logan Airport. We flew Aer Lingus for this trip. I checked in online when the online check-in opened up and printed our boarding passes, which stated the terminal is Terminal C. When we arrived at Logan, we were surprised when our driver drove past Terminal C. We told him he missed our terminal. And he told us that his dispatch office told him we were flying out of Terminal E, which is the international terminal for Logan. It was confusing to us that our boarding pass listed Terminal C, but we figured Knights Limo knows what they are doing. Upon arrival at Terminal E, the counters for check in and bag drop were listed for all the airlines except for Aer Lingus, even though our flight was on the board. So, we figured we are early; no problem.

However, 30 minutes later, the check-in counter number still was not listed. I decided to ask some Delta employees who were staffed at the Delta counter if they knew what was the delay. They told us that Aer Lingus’ check-in counter and bag drop are located at Terminal C!! But that Aer Lingus gates are in Terminal E. I never heard of such a thing. Doesn’t make sense to me. Anyways, we had to walk about 15-20 minutes, with all of our luggage, to C and drop off our luggage. The reservation agent then pointed to a different route to get back to E that would bypass the check-in counters and bring us directly to our gate. So, this at least was a much shorter walk. I also then called Knights Limo to let them know about this odd situation with Aer Lingus.

Anyways, everything went smoothly after that; we boarded our flight on time, and we are off to Dublin for our Irish adventure!

May 8, 2026: Arrival in Dublin and Dinner With Our Fodors Friends!

We arrived in Dublin around 10:30AM, and we easily got a taxi at the taxi rank to drive us to our hotel. Our taxi driver was very friendly and is obviously proud of his city. He enjoyed giving us sightseeing information. We found this to be true of most of the taxi drivers in Ireland.

Our room was not ready when we arrived at the Drury Court Hotel. We dropped off our luggage and had a late breakfast at Metro, recommended by hotel staff. They texted us when our room was ready.

We really like the Drury Court Hotel. It’s in a very convenient location and within walking distance to many of the sights we were interested in seeing. There are numerous restaurants nearby. The hotel’s restaurant and bar are very popular; when we returned each night after dinner, there were a lot of young people outside at the bar. The hotel’s windows must be very well soundproofed because we never heard any noise from the bar. We never had a problem sleeping.

Our room is spacious and the bed is very comfortable. The staff are very helpful and kind. So this hotel and location worked out well for us.

After unpacking, we were exhausted and fell asleep for a couple of hours! We wanted to be rested for our dinner tonight with lauramsgarden from Fodors (Laura and her husband Steve).

We met Laura and Steve for dinner at the Pig’s Ear, and we had such a wonderful time! It was enjoyable talking about our travels. We realized we had connected at Fodors when we were each planning trips to Portugal and Spain many years ago. The dinner was delicious. I didn’t write down what everyone had. I ordered lamb chops with grilled potatoes. For a starter, I ordered peas and vinegar. We all got a chuckle out of the name because none of us had any idea what to expect. They were delicious and beautiful! Basically, it’s fresh whole peas sitting atop a bed of pureed peas with crumbled bacon and some red berries and drizzled with vinegar. It’s a very green dish!

Dublin street scenes on our walk to Pig's Ear

Street musicians

Dublin street scenes on our walk to Pig's Ear

My delicious and beautiful Peas and Vinegar!

My delicious lamb chops!

Walking back to our hotel after dinner

Walking back to our hotel after dinner

The famous Molly Malone statue. She is a famous figure from Irish folklore. She is a fishwife who plied her trade on the streets of Dublin.

Evening in Dublin

The evening crowd in front of our hotel, Drury Court Hotel.

Looking forward to more, Karen. Glad you had a great trip!

Looking forward to the rest. I haven't mastered food photography. I always take a bite before remembering that I should take a picture. Maybe someday.

It was so awesome to meet you at last Karen, and such a fun evening. I'm looking forward to hearing what you thought of Dublin, and all your other adventures. Welcome home!

Glad that you had what seems overall like a good trip. Looking forward to more.

I am on board too, and glad to hear that you had an awesome trip despite the wind. Indeed it is very windy in Ireland, especially along the coast. I am happily tagging along and reliving my memories of Ireland through your journey.

By the way, I have sent a private message to you. Please check when you have some time. Thanks!

Karen, so happy you had a fabulous trip to Ireland, I’m on for the ride and looking forward to hearing about your experiences and seeing your stunning pictures. Thanks for taking us along!