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Dublin and ???

Heading to Ireland on a rather last minute trip at the end of the month. We'll have six nights. We fly in and out of Dublin and we will rent a car. We plan to end in Dublin as that's when I could get tickets to Kilmainham Goal. Earlier in the week was sold out.

We don't want to go north. Our 14 year old won't be with us as he's on his own trip with school. He wants to visit Belfast so we'll save that for another trip.

It'll just be me, my husband, and our 13 year old son.

Since we don't have tons of time, where would you recommend we head for the first few nights? We travel often but have never been to Ireland. Our son is a great traveler and will do absolutely anything....museums, hiking, food, etc.

Thanks for giving me a starting point!

Posted by
9183 posts

Newgrange, Glendalough, Howth Head Lighthouse, Powerscourt. Move to Trim and visit the Hill of Tara.

https://www.theirishroadtrip.com/hikes-near-dublin/

Belfast is an easy visit. 2 hours by train or bus so you might reconsider a day trip. Titanic museum is very well done. I also still dream of the seafood chowder I got Mournes in Belfast.

Posted by
279 posts

National Museum of Ireland in Dublin is great - swords, gold, bog bodies.

Posted by
2267 posts

With just a few days, heading to the west coast would be either very rushed or you'd have to skip a lot. Or both.

I'd maybe look to the Southeast: Glendalough, Kilkenny, Wexford, Waterford.

Posted by
1563 posts

I would add Kinsale to Scudder's list. Your son might enjoy Charles Fort and a stop at Cahir Castle on the way to or from Kinsale. It's a defensive castle, not a manor house like Kilkenny Castle. Similarly, Trim Castle has been "renovated" to show how it was used throughout the ages. And it served as the set for numerous Braveheart scenes.

Posted by
98 posts

Thank you all. I'm going to research the southeast and southern areas today and see what I come up with. We don't want to drive too far on day one due to jetlag. Off to plan!

Posted by
928 posts

I would agree with the other posters, head south to Kilkenny, Glendalough, Rock of Cashel, Kinsale and Charles Fort. You could hit some stops on the way down, and some on the way back so you don’t have any really long drives on any given day.

Posted by
98 posts

Making progress. Decided on Kilkenny for the first two nights and Dublin for the last two. Two nights in the middle to plan.