23 days in Ireland during june 2017, what to visit ?

23 days in Ireland is what I'd call traveling slowly. I'd suggest renting an apartment in the middle of the country and doing day trips by auto from there.
I'd probably be looking to flying over to Scotland for a week of your trip on one of the budget European airlines.

Looks like a well thought out and relaxed itinerary to me.
Glad to see that you've included Portrush and a few days in NI. Derry, the Causeway Coast, and Belfast are all worth a stop, as is the Ulster-American Folk Park near Omagh.
If your interests include off-the-beaten path day trips and roads less traveled, take a look at "Back Roads Ireland". Have seen used copies on Amazon for a few dollars. Contains a number of scenic drives that most visitors tend to overlook.
If it's your first time driving on the left as well as your first time in Ireland would recommend that you book a vehicle with automatic transmission (the default rental will be a manual) to save yourself a bit of aggravation.
Safe travels.

I think you might find that three nights might be too much in some of these smaller places unless you are planning to use them as bases for day trips. Kinsale, for instance, is quite small, and I'm not sure you need three nights in Waterford, either. You could take a day from these places and use them elsewhere such as a stop in Kilkenny, or add a day to Galway (there's a lot to do in that area). I would also suggest a day or two in Belfast. Otherwise, this looks like a great trip.

I agree that with some of the sites 3-4 days is probably more than you need, I would recommend that you spend 2-3 days at Ashford Castle. This will be a experience that you will never forget and there are many activities at the castle, like a private golf corse, fishing for trout, hiking, etc. But most importantly they have a School of Falconry and my wife and I took the 1/2 day class and it was the highlight of our trip to Ireland! You will love Dingle and the surrounding area, I found the Rock of Cashel and the Blarney Stone to be touristy to the point that I would probably not recommend them, I did like the Cliffs of Mohr, and the Wicklow Mountains. Be sure to see Newgrange if you are into prehistoric history. Also, sign up for the "Literary Pub Crawl" on-line before you go, this was a highlight while we were in Dublin.

You may want to trim a few days here & there to visit in land areas. Kilkenny comes to mind. Also, I liked the Belmullet area in North Mayo. Galway to Portrush will be a long drive, you may want to break that up a bit. Trim a night off of Dingle, Kenmare, Kinsale &/or Waterford.

There are actually a lot of day trips from Galway, you may want to add a day here. Aran Islands (or stay one night here), cliffs of moher, Connemara area.

May help to know what you like to do.

Mary

With your itinerary, you will avoid being rushed, and you’ll have plenty of time to enjoy each area, including day trips.

For comparison: last summer, I spent 25 days in Ireland. After several days in Dublin, I spent a night in Kilkenny (highly recommend it) and one in Waterford (wish I had stayed a second night in Kilkenny instead). You may be planning to do a number of day trips from Waterford; if so, you might consider Kilkenny instead. I found it more scenic (better photo ops) with better restaurants and nice places to walk in the evenings.

Then I spent one night each in Kinsale, Kilarney, and Kenmare. I enjoyed each. There are scenic drives and day trips in that area, so if you want to stay 3 nights in Kinsale and Kenmare to avoid packing up and changing rooms, that’s understandable. I spent 2 nights in Portmagee so I could do the Ring of Kerry drive and visit Skillig Michael.

Dingle is a great place to stay and a good base for drives and other trips, so 4 nights are well worth it.

As noted, there are many day trips from Galway, so the time there is well worth it. I spent 3 nights and for one day visited the Aran Islands and enjoyed 2 days in Galway itself. From Galway, I spent the night in Westport so I could enjoy touring through Maam Cross (Quiet Man Bridge area) and Clifden without rushing.

I spend a night in Derry on the way to Portrush and highly recommend that city. It’s pleasant to walk around the city walls area and see the Guildhall and Peace Bridge in the early evening and at dusk. The murals and museum exhibits are fascinating. IT's a great city for history and photography.

I also spend a night near Newgrange, so I could be in line early for the Brú na Bóinne sites (well worth it).

Depending on your plans while in Kinsale/Kenmare, you might consider spending one or two fewer nights there in order to have more times in other areas.

Enjoy your planning and the trip. Ireland is a great country to not be in a hurry in.

An easy day trip from Kinsale is Cobh for the historical significance. Be sure to visit the Heritage Center and the Titanic experience. It is a beautiful little town.

Thanks to everyone so much for all your inputs and suggestions.

The info and ideas are very helpful for us; and we´ll take into account all that has been said.

With that many days I recommend adding Kilkenny, County Clare (stay in Ennis), maybe Trim. Waterford never called to me, unless you really like crystal my research suggested that it's skippable. (My wife and I have been to Ireland twice, most recently in 2016). Also I agree that Cobh is worth a stop but not necessarily an overnight. I recommend the city museum which is very humble but tells the story of some of the maritime tragedies associated with the town. It's worth considering staying overnight in Cahir too, which is near Rock of Cashel. The reason I say that is that the town's castle is a pretty good one, and the Swiss Cottage right outside of town is a nice visit.

Don't think they have factory tours of Waterford Crystal anymore. We went there years ago when they did but were not impressed with the town itself. Went through town again two years ago and still feel the same. Cobh is woth a trip from Kinsale on a clear day. Found information in RS Ireland book about a car ferry on way from Kinsale to Cobh and it did cut down on driving time. The view from the Cathedral on a clear day is fantastic. We were very underwhelmed with the Titanic exhibit, don't remember seeing any artifacts but we were there when it was fairly new so maybe It has changed. There is a very nice walk along the water to see statues of Luisitana disaster and a lovely statue of Annie Moore who left from Cobh and was first immigrant into Ellis Island.

See www.irelandsancienteast.com

This website deals with places of interest, events etc, in the eastern half of the country.

See www.wildatlanticway.com

There is also an App for this for download from the website. It covers the counties along the Atlantic Coast.

Hi,
Love your itinerary! We are in our 60s and going in June for 23 days also. This is our second trip and learned that one night is not enough anywhere and two nights in certain places aren't always enough either. You will probably find out that three nights are probably too much time in certain places unless you use it for a base and branch out.
We have a few B and Bs and a couple of hotels we are only staying in for two nights only. We are using them to check out the immediate area like ( Belfast and Portrush) and we have one location we are using just for one night as a stop over ( Sligo) just to break up a long drive to Galway. But the difference for us this time is we have rented three houses in major areas for 4-5 nights each. We are going to use them as a home base and branch out from each one to explore the immediate area. This saves you the time and energy to locate your next accomadation and we're hoping we will be able to shop like a local and eat at home sometimes.
Anyway hope this helps and it looks like you have a great plan. We are there from June 13th through July 5th so we will be there the same time as you.
Enjoy your time, Jim

Hi

You have picked a very lovely time to visit Ireland the weather is much calmer and not as cold so you can enjoy the Greenland.

Having checked the resources out there, I found that this website has all the information you would need to know about your trip http://www.mydiscoverireland.com/

It has options, so you can pick and choose locations that interest you on your routes. For example, your trip from Dublin to Waterford has over 9 historical locations, about 15 attractions for you to take photographs, 5 Museums and much more and you can do this while you drive.

If you have a portable GPS device, you can bring that with you as well as that will save you tremendous cost. You would not need anything more than this

And have fun am sure you will enjoy it.

I think you like to travel the way I do - at a relaxed pace, so when that detour off to the left looks interesting, you have the time to follow it and see where it leads. Assuming I'm right about that, I think you'll have a wonderful time. You could absolutely cover more ground than this in the time you have, but I don't think you'll have any trouble finding enjoyable ways to spend your time in these places.

My only suggestion might be to take a day from Waterford and/or Kenmare and add it to Galway. You've got the Cliffs of Moher, the Arran Islands, the Connemara, and the Burren in that area so there's a lot to do and see. People have mentioned Kilkenny, which is worth a visit (so is the Rock of Cashel, in my opinion), but that's an easy day trip from Waterford so you don't need to adjust your schedule to go there.

We spent 6 weeks in Kenmare last year to truly experience living like a local. Loved it. Lots of day trips from there. From there we did 2 weeks in County Mayo, 2 weeks in Sligo, 2 weeks in Cushendall and then 10 days in Dublin. We enjoyed shopping locally, visiting the local pubs and meeting people. Such beautiful countryside and honestly the nicest people we've met in our travels.
Be sure to head to Achill Island. Stunning!

I found Slieve League to be less touristy and more stunning than the Cliffs of Moher. Just enjoy the moment and the people.

Be sure to go to Foley's pub in Kenmare and meet Patrick and Marion. Lovely people. Typically there is great music there too.