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8 day Itinerary questions

Posted by on

I'm looking for itinerary suggestions for our trip to Ireland in late May. We fly in and out of Dublin, and are a family of 5, two parents with 3 kids age 18-23.. We will rent a car and plan for 2-3 nights in Galway and 2-3 nights in Clifden, and then finish our trip in Dublin. Our daughter leaves our trip ahead of us, so we need to return her to the Dublin airport. The rest of our family flies home 2 days later. We plan to return the rental car at this time and be car free for our time in Dublin. The drive back from Clifden to Dublin will be quite long. I wanted to ask for feedback on the following questions,
Do you have any suggestions for a place to stop for the night on the way back to Dublin ?
Would you rather have 3 nights in Clifden of Galway?
Any must do experiences in either spot?
Perhaps we should do Clifden first as it is the furthest destination?

Thanks so much for any input you can share!

Posted by
361 posts

Nice stop between Galway and Dublin is Athlone on the River Shannon from there only 30min to Clonmacnoise

Posted by
2993 posts

I'd agree with Athlone and Clonmacnoise on teh way back to Dublin.

Any must do experiences in either spot?

Where to begin - there are so many.... What sort of things do you like doing and want to do? Scenery, ruined castyles, boat trip, shopping, pubs, music, Aran Islands....

Posted by
1810 posts

Another option would be to take the train to Galway and rent the car there, returning it when you're done with your touring. Then take the train back to Dublin. You can put your daughter on a direct bus to the airport if she has to leave before your return to Dublin. You could all take a bus from the airport to Galway instead of going into the city to get the train, but the train is a lot more pleasant. You could even delay getting the car until after you've explored Galway (and adjusted to the time change).

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