Help with Itinerary Ireland for two weeks... too much??!!

The trip report from my 2-week trip this past May might give you some ideas. I did a combo of public transportation and short tours that worked well for me and allowed me to see places hard to reach via public transportation.

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

I read your trip report! Gave me the idea for Rabbie's Tours, which I am researching now. We go on one days tours but, like you, hesitant for more than that. Ireland isn't that easy to get around so I think tours will make a huge difference. I loved your report and now may add Howth and one day less is Galway! THANK YOU SO MUCH!

I've been to Ireland five times and Scotland once.

Though your itinerary has a lot, it's also do-able. I once visited about four-five places in Ireland and spent a couple days in Scotland and on another trip, I spent a week in Ireland and a second week in England. If you want to trim something from your trip, I'd cut Limerick.

The journey is part of the fun for me, but some people like to get to their destinations. An idea is to take a ferry from Belfast to Stranraer, Scotland; I believe there's another ferry from Belfast to other Scottish ports, so I'd look into that. Then there are trains/buses from the ports to Glasgow and then onto Edinburgh. Flying to Scotland is, of course, easier, but then you would miss some beautiful scenery.

I'd use an open jaws tickets -- fly into either Ireland or Scotland and fly back from the other place -- to make sure you see as much as possible.

The ferry from Belfast is definitely an option (it goes to Cairnryan now, which is just up the coast from Stranraer) but the part that can be a bit annoying is getting from Cairnryan to your next destination. For example, to get to Edinburgh will take over three hours. However, if you want to spend some time in Dumfries/Galloway area you will be in the right place. The flights between Belfast and Glasgow/Edinburgh are extremely short- by the time they are turning off the seatbelt sign the are almost turning it on again for landing- and a good option if you're more time conscious.

First off - slow down!!!

Ireland is a place to relax and enjoy. Two nights only effectively gives one and a bit full days in a place. That isn’t very long. with 14-16 days I would suggest you just stick to Ireland rather than trying to include Scotland too.

You are very much short changing Dublin with only a couple of days, This means you won;t have chance to visit Newgrange which is older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids. There is also the delightful early Christian site of Glendalough with its round towers and ruined chapels. Both can be done as a day trip from Dublin.

There's so much to see and enjoy in Ireland. Rabbies tours have already been mentioned and are highly recommended by everyone. They do a range of different tours from either Dublin or Killarney. There is also Paddiwagon too who do day tours or longer ones. (CHECK on the day tours how long you actually spend sitting on a bus as some of them are very long days with a lot of time on the bus. Cliffs of Moher from Dublin is an example. You would be better doing this as a day tour from Galway)

Carrie also mentions Wild Atlantic day tours from Galway. All of them are excellent and give you chance to see more of this wonderful part of irleand. The Burren seen on the Cliffs of Moher day trip with its limestone scenery is completely different to anywhere else in Ireland. Connemara is wonderful - and I prefer it to Dingle and Kerry. You could easily fill 4-5 nights in Galway with these trips alone.

You are missing out so many wonderful places - what about Killarney? (Either train from Dublin or get a bus from Galway to Limerick and another to Killarney.) As well as Muckross House and traditional farms, there's lots of day trips you can do from here. As well as Ring oif Kerry, you can also do Dingle and Slea Head loop. The Gap of Dunloe and the lake trip is always popular. (as well as being great fun with a ride on a jaunting car.)

Then there is Kilkenny, easily reached from Dublin by train with its castle, cathedral, famine museum and lots more...

The other ferry route mentioned above is from Larne to Cairnryan. There is a rail line direct from Belfast to Larne Port.
However the onward bus to Glasgow does not call at that port, only to the Stena Port (the one from Belfast).
To get to the Belfast port you have to take a shuttle bus or taxi from central Belfast. Scottish Citylink and Hannons also run through buses from Belfast to Glasgow, but only Hannons drive onto the ship.
You can also buy a through ferry/rail ticket from Belfast port to any UK destination, it includes a special bus from Cairnryan port to Ayr station for trains forward.
Exploring Dumfries and Galloway is suggested. That is not a good idea currently by public transport as the bus system has imploded. Stagecoach have pulled out of the county due to political decisions as from 6 August.
Thus integrated ticketing has gone. Tendered services have been part replaced with other operators, some have gone. Commercial services are in the balance.
Currently no one is licensed to run them, the hope is for emergency permission to be given. If it is they will run to much reduced timetables. If not, well, there is a huge short term problem.
The dust needs to settle yet on a huge mess.

There is easily two weeks worth of touring to be done in Ireland, with or without a car. It just takes some planning. Other than the ferry to Aran, you have nothing on your itinerary that includes that natural beauty of the island, which (to me) is about half the reason to visit. Wasleys, as always, has great ideas.

Personally, I would focus on Ireland as two weeks is not a lot of time, especially when you don’t have a car. Many years ago I did a three week trip with a bus/train pass, and managed to see quite a lot by basing myself in the larger towns that had lots of day trip options. The four best are Dublin, Galway, Killarney and Belfast. To make things more efficient try not to backtrack. Take the bus to Galway when you land and spend at least three nights so you have two whole days for day trips then train back to Dublin. After Dublin take the train to Killarney, this is the long trip so go as early as you can. Then after Killarney take the train to Belfast and fly home from there. Look at the available day trips and decide how many nights you need in each place, and factor in your travel time from one city to the next. If you can’t arrive in town in time to join a day trip, then there may be half day trips that will get you to some sights. I spent four nights in each of these cities, and enough time to see the things that were most important to me.

I have to disagree with Anita. Zigzagging across the country like that wastes an enormous amount of time. And it’s not practical for most people to fly out of Belfast. You can get from Galway to Killarney by bus if that’s what you want to do.

Thank you all so much! Just Ireland this trip. There is so much to see! I love the tour company suggestions. I think Dublin, Galway, Belfast with day trips. Can’t seem to avoid a bit of backtracking unfortunately. We have to fly in and out of Dublin.
Again, any and all suggestions are super appreciated. Thanks!

Sometimes you just can’t avoid backtracking. You got to do what you got to do. :-)

As I’m sure you noticed from my trip report, I was in and out of Dublin 3 different times. And I loved it!! Was a great trip.

Skip the ferry from Galway to the Arrann Islands, take the little plane instead.

The tiny plane is fast (a 10-minute hop at shockingly low altitude), remarkably cheap, fun, easy, and utterly thrilling. Best of all, you can arrive early and stay late (compared to the poor folks on the s-l-o-w ferry) which effectively buys you a lot of extra time on the island - and that's time when you have the island almost completely to yourself, without all the ferry day-trippers who are confined to a few hours. Take the early flight to the island, spend the night, fly back to Galway on the late flight.

Getting around the best parts of Ireland without a car will eat up a lot of time. Staying married is good, but just sayin'.

We have been to Ireland, including Northern Ireland four times. The first three times we stopped at Dublin (twice), Belfast (twice) and Kinsale.
The final time was last month, we did a great 10 day Gate 1 Travel tour that included Dublin, Galway, Connemara, The Cliffs of Moher, The Ring of Kerry, Kilkenny, Limerick, Cork, Waterford and Blarney Castle.

The tour was actually 8 nights and the western part of Ireland was the high point of the trip. Don't miss Connemara, The Cliffs of Moher, The Ring of Kerry, Limerick and Kilkenny.

We flew into Dublin and stayed with relatives just outside the city and spent two days touring downtown. Kilmainham Gael was sobering and very interesting. We could have done another two days there. We were unable to do a walking tours due to my wife's new knee, but still saw a lot. Registered the first day for a Book of Kells experience the next day. We rented a car and spent 12 days through Glendalough, Cashel, Kinsale, Kenmare. We did the RS Ring of Kerry drive (clockwise) and watched the buses go by. We loved it and stopped whenever we felt the urge. We did a archealogical tour for the Dingle Peninsula, which was amazing. We could have spent more time in Dingle and Kinsale, especially. Then we were off to Doolin for two nights. We did the Doolin Ferry to the Inishmoore and then added the Cliffs of Moher addition to the ship. We had seen the cliffs from above on our first trip and this was really cool. We actually found a castle from my ancestors outside Galway, and spent some time driving through the Burren on the way to Knock. We had to be in Galway so we had to cut Connemara from this trip (we had been there 45 years ago but wanted to go back!) We drove Galway to Dublin and had tickets for Newgrange and also caught the Hill of Tara before flying out again. We saw a lot, but as everyone has said, there is SO much to see. I want to go back already. You just about can't go wrong unless you miss the pubs and the music in the evenings. We did BnBs all the way through and they were fantastic. Good luck! By the way, we are both 71 so don't be afraid!

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