I'm a solo non-driving 75 year old planning to visit Ireland for at least 3 weeks in Sept/Oct. I want to spend some days in Dublin and Belfast to see some highlights, but I'm keener on slow travel with longer stays in quaint places for walks and pub visits. Also I'd like to find a location as a base for day tours - would Galway work for the Cliffs and Aaran Islands. Alternatively i could book three + day tours for some sight-seeing. Any suggestions on an itinerary and cities/towns would be appreciated. TIA
Posted by
2029 posts
Galway is a good base for the Cliffs of Moher and the Aran Islands. For the Southwest of Ireland you might consider Killarney as a base. While not particularly quaint it would provide access to day tours, pubs and Killarney National Park - an excellent place for walking and hiking. Killarney is reachable via public transit.
Posted by
Chicago
4329 posts
I had a great solo, non-driving trip to Ireland last May. My trip report might give you some ideas:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/solo-in-ireland-may-2025-my-trip-report
If your trip was next year, I would also suggest the new for 2027 My Way Tour. Mentioning it here for others who may be reading.
https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/ireland/my-way-ireland-vacation
Posted by
Bellingham, WA
1849 posts
Two popular day tour companies operating in Ireland are https://www.rabbies.com/en-us and https://www.paddywagontours.com.
Both have tours originating in Dublin and Killarney. Paddywagon also has tours originating in other cities.
Here is a map of the train routes in Ireland:
https://www.seat61.com/reference/Ireland-map.pdf?dl=0
You'll see that the lines fan out from Dublin.
To get between cities not connected by rail, you can use https://www.transportforireland.ie.