10 Day Itinerary September 2024 -Feedback Appreciated!

If you are flying into Dublin it would make sense to me to go directly to Galway on arrival, traveling by train. Then Cork and back to Dublin for two days train to Belfast and fly from Belfast to Glasgow. We only used a couple of trains and did not.book ahead. Not sure about the train to and from Belfast.

Between Dublin and Belfast the Enterprise train is replaced in both directions with a Rail Replacement bus north of Lisburn due to engineering work connected with the new Belfast Central station. The buses and trains connect with each other, and the overall journey time is identical.

Unusually the on line bookings are selling out, but you can always book on the day at about twice the online price. Thus it would be prudent to book ahead, especially with the very generous IE change/refund policy.

On other routes there should be less difficulty with availability, but you have everything to gain and nothing to lose by booking in advance.
From Galway to Cork you don't have to route via Dublin. You can route on the Western Corridor route via Limerick.

Your planned itinerary makes sense and is logical, BUT don't forget to build in transit time between overnight stops. 2 nights in Belfast or Cork is effectively only just over a day for sightseeing...

With ten nights and only nine day I would suggest removing Cork from your itinerary. Getting there from either Galway or Belfast will eat up too much of your time. As another person suggested, go to Galway straight from the airport, then back to Dublin, and then Belfast, and fly to Glasgow from there. With so little time you really want to minimize your travel time, and hotel changes to maximize your sightseeing time.

Took the train from Westport to Dublin the other day. We were very glad to have our tickets paid and seats reserved, especially when I saw people sitting on the floor in the vestibule.