Active Senior Couple's First trip to Ireland in August

Last May we spent 3 weeks in Ireland and Northern Ireland. We rented a car, and we did stay in many different places. Based on my firsthand experience, I suggest staying in 2 different places if you are willing to do that. Do you want to rent a car?

Since you like historical sites and pubs, I think Dublin could be a good first base. There is lots of history in Dublin. Visit the Kilmainham Gaol for a somber and interesting look into Irish history. You need to purchase tickets in advance. The GPO Museum will add more historical insight. We enjoyed seeing the Book of Kells and the Long Room at the Library and walking around the Trinity College campus. You can also have a guided tour of the campus. There are interesting and beautiful cathedrals to visit and some interesting museums. We took a wonderful walking tour of Dublin. There are daytrips from Dublin, too, such as the passage tombs at Newgrange and Knowth. Visiting these tombs were such an amazing experience.

There are so many other areas you could visit. Such as spend a few days at Killarney National Park, where you can hike and see historical sites such as Muckross House, Ross Castle, the ruins of Muckross Abbey. You can drive around the Ring of Kerry, and be sure to visit Valentia Island when doing this drive. You can also drive along the Beara Peninsula while staying in Killarney or Kenmare. I recommend Kenmare for a quieter and less crowded village.

The Dingle Peninsula is another gorgeous part of Ireland. The Slea Head drive is spectacular. Another area could be Galway, including the Aran Islands, the Burren, and a daytrip to Connemara.

Are youy planning on having a car or are you relying on Public transport.?

What initial research have you done and have you identified any areas you might like to visit? That would help narrow suggestions, otherwise you may get so many and go into overload!! You will also begin to take ownershiup of your itinerary rather than just following someone elses suggestions. There is so much to see and enjoy in Ireland.

In no particular order, you could get suggestions for:

• Kerry (Killarney or Kenmare)

• Cork area (Cobh, Kinsale, Blarney Castle,...)

• Dingle

• Kilkenny

• County Galway (Galway itself or Clifden)

• Mayo (eg Westport)

• Donegal

There's even Dublin as a base....

We will rent a car so we can more easily do day trips and are not against dividing our location to a second home base.

You have been given plenty of suggestions any of which would be wonderful. Definitely Dublin for a start would be excellent and then get over to the west coast - I am partial to Dingle peninsula.

With only a week, I suggest sticking to Dublin and Belfast. No car needed, except maybe for Giant's Causeway (can be done as an all-day bus tour or public transport from Belfast). Day trips from Dublin include the cliff walk in Howth to get your hiking in; Newgrange; possibly down south to Glendalough or Kilkenny.

One week also great in Killarney also without car

Tours from Town Center to Dingle and the Ring of Kerry with Deros Tours
Hop on and off bus in town see Muckross House and Abbey Ross Castle Gap of Dunloe
Do a Boat tour on Lough Leane
or a guided walk with Ray from walkwithme.ie

With car drive the Skelligs Ring and Valentia Island(Geokaun Mountain)
See the Ring Forts near Caherciveen and Derrynane House and Beach

and many more places with a daytour from Killarney

Four nights of our trip we used Kenmare as a base to explore the Kerry and Beara Peninsulas. We hiked and explored Beara for two days and it turned out to be our favorite.

If your schedule permits you might consider flying upon arrival in Dublin to the Kerry airport near Killarney (and Dingle) on Ryan Air, which operates two flights per day in each direction. You can rent a car at the airport there and base yourselves anywhere on the peninsula for exploring Dingle, Kerry, and the Beara peninsula just to the south ... which has become our favorite destination due to the lack of crowds and the terrific hiking.
You neither need, nor would you want, a car in either Dublin or Belfast - just too much of a hassle.

I just wanted to add that my dad and I did a trip to Ireland this summer and his favorite part was our time in Belfast. It's an hour and half a way from Dublin. We drove and stayed in Belfast for a few days, but you could do a day trip. If you are going to do the north of Ireland, I highly recommend Giant's Causeway. It's beautiful and a lovely walk.

As others have recommended, the west is great and so is the ring of Kerry if you want to stop in small towns and see gorgeous landscapes.