We have children aged 18 and 14 and plan to visit Ireland at the end of May. We have traveled abroad several times with kids but this is our first trip to Ireland. We love Rick Steves books and I have many of them including Ireland. To keep costs down, we were looking at staying a couple of nights in Dublin and then the remaining 12 days on the west coast. What are your thoughts staying in Dingle vs. Galway area? Would love any input you can share. Thanks in advance.
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317 posts
Hi Shana, greetings from Ireland.
You and your clan will have a great time, the west coast is great, Dublin too. I think for the age of your kids, there'll be more to do in the Dingle area than in Galway (which is a city aimed more at College-aged people and adults) I bring my teenagers to Galway each year and apart from the great people-watching on Quay Street, they are invariably bored to tears in Galway City.
They love Dingle however (that is partially because I bought a guesthouse there and they associate it with a beautiful form of countryside traditional living that they didnt get growing up in the tough streets of Derry city-centre, oh and also the fact we have a huge Irish Wolfhound there to hang out with, whereas at our home in the North they can only have a wee cat!) - the pub scene is more relaxed and open to bringing younger visitors in to see music and early sessions and theres ton to do in terms of outdoor and indoor activities.
That being said I love Galway, and Id strongly encourage you to spend a good chunk of your time there also.
I could go on and on forever here with info, so if you have any specific questions just drop me an email.
Slainte/Good health
Stephen McPhilemy
Rick Steve Ireland Tour-Guide
Posted by
OP
Vilonia
14 posts
Thank you so much for the information. We plan to stay in the Republic of Ireland and not travel north on this trip. We plan to stay 2-3 nights in Dublin and around 7 in Dingle area. Do you recommend a different part of Ireland for the remainder 4-5 days or stay longer in Dingle? We don't want to spend all of our time in the car--ha. Thanks again.