First time Help please

So you have about a week, but you don’t give us a lot of info. Will you have a car? What do you like to do? Do you like cities or small villages and towns? Are you art or history people?
For a week, I would pick Dublin and two other, not too far away, locations.

Watch Rick Steves segment on Ireland on Youtube. Get his book, too. He outlines a route that is what he thinks a lot of American travelers might like. I like to read his recommendations, but I think he skips some pretty cool stuff, too. He does give a lot of good info on how to see a sight when the lines might not be long. We are heading to Ireland this fall. I was there over 30 yrs ago and I want to go back to the small towns that I saw before to compare.

If you put something like "itinerary" in the search field above, you should hit a mother lode of recent suggestions/comments on specific itineraries proposed by others. If something strikes your fancy, e.g. "Wicklow Gap", put that in the field for a deeper dive. Our first Ireland trip is later this year, so we have no first-hand ideas, but we've been collecting tips from these kind and helpful Forum Folks for months and are beginning to feel well-prepared. (We also have Rick's Ireland book, but you'll find the comments here go into greater detail once you've zeroed in on locales and activities.)

Avoid one night stays if possible...too much time and energy devoted to not seeing Ireland. Double all app generated driving times to be safe.......you might get lucky but don't count on it....they are NOT accurate. Unless you are experienced driving on the left from the right hand side on super narrow roads do not expect the driver or the navigator to have any sight seeing time while driving....you'll be concentrating on living.

If out of your 7 effective days you are spending 2-3 in Dublin would recommend picking out at most two other spots to explore. The drive to see as much as possible is natural but self defeating. Plus most spots to see have loads of stuff right near them. For example why drive way out on the way to see the vaunted Cliffs of Moher (beautiful but super touristy) if you also are wanting to visit the Ring of Kerry and could instead see the far more wild, less touristy and utterly spectacular Cliffs of Kerry instead.......right next to a host of other amazing spots.

Would need to know more about what your family wants to see to give specific recommendations.

There are loads of amazing things to see near Dublin that would save you losing a lot of your time to driving......places like Newgrange, Glendalough.....the Wicklow mountains and so much more. The west is spectacular - Dingle or the Ring of Kerry......or the Doolin-Moher-Burren-Arans area but with those you'll lose the better part of two days to driving.

Let us know what you like......scenery ? Small towns? Historic spots? Manor homes? Cities? Shopping? Etc.....

Have a great time !

Driving or relying on public transportation? Driving is very challenging in Ireland.

I count 7 days on the ground (8 nights) - don't count the 19th since you'll likely be tired after a night flight with little sleep and generally in a jetlagged haze. Don't count the 27th since you won't be able to see/do much unless you have a night flight home.

With 7 days, 2 destinations is all you can manage without rushing. Dublin should be your second stay, so you are close to the airport. There are so many choices for the other one. There is plenty to see and do in Dublin itself, plus day trips (check the weather forecast before booking !!!). You could even day trip by train to Belfast for a day.