Dublin early Nov

Well you could see two countries by visiting and exploring both Dublin and Northern Ireland.

Easy drive between both cities.

In Dublin, Book of Kells, Archeology Museum, the Gaol, walking and people watching in St. Stephen's Green.

Day out to Newgrange, or Glendalough or Carlingford.

If in Belfast, The Titanic Musuem, the Troubles Black Cab tour, the Gaol, St George's market, mussels and seafood chowder at Mournes.

Weather and the fact the sun starts going down before 4pm can affect your travel. Be prepared.

If you want to see stunning beauty and are not fearful driving and are going to Killarney anyway, spend a night in Dingle and drive the Gap of Dunloe. Was there in November 2-3 years ago. My favorite day ever in Eire. Gorgeous. Threatened rain all day but it never started. Hiked half of it returned to my car parked at the closed Kate's cottage and drove over the rest.

If you stay in Dingle a pint at Foxy John's is a must.

Lastly, some B and B's, restaurants, etc will be closed in November but I loved the fact that crowds and tour busses were virtually non existent.

Kenicx,

I've been in Dublin in early November (and in four other times). Some ideas:

1. See a play at either the Gate Theater, the Abbey Theater or both. The Gate has better actors, but the Abbey has better plays. When I was in Dublin in November, the Gate had a production of an old standby as the holidays approach: A Christmas Carol. I've read the story itself and seen dozens of productions, so I wasn't expecting much more than a pleasant evening. Was I wrong! The Gate's production was fresh, vivid and wonderful. In fact, I call it the best performance I have ever seen. As a frequent theater-goer -- I've probably seen 200 or more plays -- that's saying something.
2. Walk a bit of the Wicklow Way (http://www.wicklowway.com/). It's a 100-mile-long trail that starts or ends, depending on the direction, in Dublin. The trail head is in Dublin's Marlay Park. I walked the whole trail in 1999. It was such a great hike that I walked another Irish trail in 2010. You'll be in Dublin in November, not summer, but it's probably still worth doing any time.
3. Go to Evensong at Christ Church Cathedral (http://christchurchcathedral.ie/worship/services/). This might have been among the most spiritually uplifting things I've ever done.
4. Another faith-oriented activity worth doing is going on a retreat at Glendalough (http://www.glendaloughhermitage.ie/). Glendalough, which is about 30 miles south of Dublin in the hills, is an ancient monastic site. You might have heard stories that we have Plato, Aristotle and other ancient thinkers because monks translated their works. This is a site where that occurred. My sister and I went on a retreat at Glendalough and loved it.

There are tourist things worth doing. 1. Book a tour of Glendalough (http://www.glendalough.ie/) at the Dublin tourist information office if you don't go on the retreat. It's an amazing site. 2. Visit the Dublin Writers Museum (http://www.visitdublin.com/see-do/details/dublin-writers-museum/31258/#53.354366|-6.263985|16). I have two literature degrees. The Dublin Writers Museum is the best one of its type in the world. 3. Go on a literary pub crawl. It's a fun event. 4. See the Book of Kells at Trinity College. 5. Eat at Gallagher's Boxty House (https://boxtyhouse.ie/) in the Temple Bar. Though that area has lost a lot of its charm because it has too many tourists, you'll be there in November. The charm is in Temple Bar during the off season. 6. Visit Kilmainham Gaol to learn about the Irish revolution.

My first oversees trip was also to Dublin, in the winter. You will love it. I loved it so much that I made it my second oversees trip as well! The first time, I went with a friend and we spent a week in the city. We did a day trip with a tour company out to see the Cliffs of Moher, which was amazing. If you're open to driving, I would recommend going up to Belfast as you mentioned. From there you could go see the Giant's Causeway, which is awesome!
In Dublin make sure you see the Trinity College campus, which is where you can see the book of Kells as someone else mentioned. The library there is just spectacular. I also second the suggestion to see the Gaol. There is no shortage of pubs to check out, and while not necessarily a local place, you might be interested in seeing The Brazen Head. It is a cool old building and is billed as being the oldest pub in Ireland.

I don't really recommend the Guinness Factory tour (and I LOVE Guinness), it's very commercialized. If you enjoy whiskey, I think the Jameson Distillery is worth a visit. They choose a handful of people at the beginning of the tour to be on a whiskey tasting panel and you get 4 different types to taste, everyone else gets some Jameson at the end too.

I'm a big fan of breakfast food and always seek out some local places to have a good breakfast. My favorite of any that I've been to, is a place in Dublin called Lemon. If you're at all into breakfast I highly recommend checking it out, it's not very expensive either.

As far as what to bring, make sure your shoes are comfortable as well as waterproof. I found Dublin to be a very walkable city, we only took a cab once on an exceptionally cold evening, otherwise we walked everywhere. I know people always say the weather is bad, and I'm sure it can be, but it can also be really nice. I'm not sure about November, but just check the forecast when you are packing. Bring layers and an umbrella and you'll be fine. I could go on and on about Dublin, it holds a special place in my heart. I hope you have an awesome trip!

I have been to Ireland four times, both in spring and fall, and I have never had, nor needed, waterproof shoes. One of my trips was even in February. As long as you have an alternate pair of shoes in case your others need to dry (which could be because your feet were sweaty, too), you will be fine. You will mostly be walking on pavement, not slogging through bogs. If you have a comfortable pair of shoes that you like, don't bother wasting money on special shoes to take with you, especially for such a brief trip.

I really appreciate the replies! I hadn't thought about seeing a play, but now I have that in consideration. I keep seeing references about Dingle, I'll def investigate that more.

I'm not too worried about the weather & temps. I grew up in Portland, OR and rain doesn't bother me. Since the daylight hours will be shorter, I'm hoping to take advantage of as much daylight as possible.

I am so excited for this trip! The next few weeks are going to fly by getting ready but feel slow at the same time.

Kenicx,

Here are the sites for the Gate Theater (http://www.gatetheatre.ie/) and the Abbey Theater (https://www.abbeytheatre.ie/).

If you go to the Dingle Peninsula, it's packed with Celtic antiquities. The best-known are the Gallarus Oratory, the beehive huts and Kilmakedar Church with nearby St. Brendan's House. Also, there is the superb Dingle Way (http://www.dingleway.com/) walking trail. I've walked the whole thing. It's wonderful.

So I've decided to stick to the east side of the island, and take 2 short day trips, one up to NA and another down into Wicklow.

I checked into the theaters, and none of the productions looked interesting (I'm not a huge theater goer) but it got me thinking. I love to go to concerts, so I checked into who's playing in town that week. I think I've identified a couple of concerts and I'm pretty excited about that. Since I'll lose daylight so early in the day, I'm thinking this will be another great way to experience Ireland like a local and hopefully see some cool local venues.

The Book of Kells sounds fascinating. I need to research what I want to focus on the 2 day trips. I'm so excited for this trip overall, but it seems like a bonus to get to go into Northern Ireland also!

Sounds great. Since you're going to Wicklow, a good idea is to visit Glendalough (http://www.glendaloughhermitage.ie/). It's a fascinating site.

Oops. I goofed. I had sent the link to the Hermitage site at Glendalough. Here is the link I had meant to send: (http://www.glendalough.ie/). Cheers.

After a couple of the people had mentioned Glendalough, I looked it up and 'felt the pull' to visit that area. I feel at 'peace' with the idea of 2 shorter day trips. Since I have minimal daylight for this trip, I figure this will allow me to explore off the main roads and I won't stress as much about time.

For Northern Ireland, I'm stuck between hanging in Belfast or heading over to Bangor. I'll percolate a little more on that.