Hi Fellow Travelers!
I am traveling to Ireland for the first time and need advice on constructing the best 6 day Itinerary. I am flying in and out of Dublin and planning on staying the first 2 nights in Dublin. I am trying to follow Rick's must sees but having a hard time "connecting the dots" as he says.
I would hate to leave things out that ultimately are seeable.
I will be utilizing public transportation and wont have a car.
Any advice on constructing this would be greatly appreciated!
Take Rick's 7 Days Tour: https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/ireland/heart-ireland.
Does a "6-day itinerary" mean six full days on the ground, not counting the day you land and the day you fly out? That would be seven nights in Ireland. Or are you counting your arrival and departure days, with only five nights on the ground?
Here are our host's recommendations for varying amounts of time in Ireland. Without a car your choices are more constrained. I'd suggest focusing on Dublin and the west coast, based in Galway. Your plan gives you only one full day in Dublin, which isn't much. I'd add at least another day there. Galway connects easily to Dublin by train or bus (coach), and can be a base for guided tours to the Cliffs of Moher/Burren, the Aran Islands, or Connemara. Galway also connects directly to Dublin Airport via Aircoach, so you don't have to go through Dublin to get to Galway.
If your flights aren't set yet, you might save time by flying into Dublin and out of Shannon, or vice versa. How doable that is also depends on whether there are reasonable choices for such an "open jaw" itinerary from your home airport. Saving some time in Ireland may not be worth spending lots of time with multiple flights.
If you're looking at just five nights on the ground, it might be wiser to focus on Dublin and take some day tours to nearby places like Newgrange and/or Glendalough. You'd miss the scenic west coast but you'd still see countryside and some very interesting places without having to change hotels.
I would agree with what Dick says, if you only have five days on the ground just stay in Dublin and do some guided day trips. If you have six days on the ground you might split your time between Dublin and Galway as it’s fairly close by train, but you will still lose a lot of time changing locations. Besides the variety of day trips from Dublin you could also take the train to either Belfast or Kilkenny for a day. Otherwise, you should look at taking one of the short tours offered by a company like Rabbies. They get great reviews, and you will see a lot more than you would trying to get around by public transit.
This would be 6 nights in Ireland.
I excluded my two days of traveling
With six nights the tour I suggested above will not work. Instead, take a bus from Dublin’s airport to Galway (3h). Galway is a good spring board to visit Inishmore (Inis Mór): https://www.aranislandferries.com/. It’s possible you can get to Inishmore the day you land which will take all day but sleeping on this island for two nights would be a great way to recover from jet lag. You can also sleep in Galway for two nights and take a day trip to Inishmore. I believe I would have enjoyed Inishmore more had I spent two nights. I did not like Galway.
From Galway take a direct train to Dublin and spend the next four nights there. Sign up for tours from Dublin to Brú na Bóinne and the Trim castle before leaving home: https://heritageireland.ie/places-to-visit/bru-na-boinne-visitor-centre-newgrange-knowth-and-dowth/ and https://heritageireland.ie/places-to-visit/trim-castle/.
