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Dublin & Galway: 7 Nights in July

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Hello! My husband and I are travelling from Texas to Ireland for 7 nights. We will be there July 24-31. So far, we have booked the first three nights in Galway (taking the train there on our first day in Ireland) and then 4 nights in Dublin. As of now, we are planning:
Cliffs of Moher/Aran Islands tour while in Galway (fulll day)
Day in/around Galway
Day Trip to Belfast from Dublin
Day in Dublin exploring (Trinity College, Phoenix Park, etc.)

I know we could split up our trip and see a lot more but for our first European trip, we want to enjoy/relax some too so going to use Dublin and Galway as homebases and enjoy from there. We're in our 30s, no kids, enjoy being outdoors, music, good food, coffee. Not huge on nightlife but want to enjoy all Ireland has to offer! What are some absolutes we should add to our trip? We'll have 6 full days, 7 nights between both places. Would love a good castle recommendation in one or both of the areas. We won't be renting a car! Thanks!!

Posted by
115 posts

My husband and I visited both cities in March of 2024. Our demographics are similar to yours, and we also traveled car-free.

Galway is a great place for trad music! We enjoyed Taffees, but there are other pubs also offering trad. On Saturday mornings, Galway has a market, which we enjoyed visiting. At one booth, we slurped down some freshly shucked oysters. For dinner, we discovered Brasserie on the Corner. We liked it so much that we ate there three times! If you go there, make a reservation through their website first.

From Galway, we took a daytrip to Connemara National Park with Lally Tours. We had enough time to hike up and down Diamond Hill. It was a moderate hike with amazing views. We used the same company for our daytrip to the Cliffs of Moher and The Burren. Lally Tours did a great job!

In Dublin, there is so much to see! I've visited twice, and I still haven't seen everything. My favorite museum is the Archaeology Museum, particularly the bog bodies. Temple Bar is very touristy, but it's not as crowded during the day. There are plenty of other cool pubs to visit that our outside of this area.

If you enjoyed hiking, I highly recommend taking the commuter DART train to Howth. The cliff path is absolutely beautiful! If you don't want to do the whole path, there are shorter versions.

We really enjoyed Dalkey, which can also be reached by DART. We walked south of the town to a park with Dalkey Hill and Killiney Hill. Then, we continued further south and walked on the beach. The town of Killiney didn't offer much at night, so we headed back to Dalkey. We had pints at Finnegan’s and dinner at The Club. Both were fantastic and cozy. If you go to Finnegan’s, keep an eye out for Bono; it's his local!

My best advice for Ireland is to talk to people, especially in the pubs. The Irish are lovely and enjoy a good chat, which they call craic.

Posted by
3613 posts

Instead of spending an entire day in Galway, I would suggest another day tour. Either the Connemara National Park tour suggested above or the one I took last month:

https://galwaytourcompany.com/tours/connemara-cong-kylemore-abbey/

Instead of a day trip to just Belfast, I very highly recommend this day tour of Northern Ireland. I enjoyed it more than the day tour that goes to Cliffs of Moher.

https://wildrovertours.com/activity/giants-causeway-belfast-city-carrick-a-rede-rope-bridge/

It’s a long day, but it didn’t feel long. And the coast of Northern Ireland is breathtaking.

Also from Dublin, Howth is an easy train ride away and a highlight of my trip.

My trip report might give you some ideas:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/solo-in-ireland-may-2025-my-trip-report

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