Ireland Intinerary Advice

This is very rushed in my opinion especially with two children. I would stay a night at least in Dublin before taking the train to Galway. Can you fly out of Shannon? We flew into Dublin and out of Shannon and it was great. We were able to spend more time on the west coast which was our favorite. Dingle is highly recommended but if you only have a week you may want to save it for another trip.

With this itinerary, you will be doing a lot of driving. Not fun for little kiddos. I agree with Alexandria to save the west coast for another trip. There are lots of day trips out of Dublin that you can do, Newgrange, Wicklow and even up to N. Ireland. Stay on the east coast.

It does seem a little rushed, I think Aran Islands are an advanced topic for such a short itinerary. If you had in mind using Galway as a base and not spend a lot of time seeing Galway, maybe choose Ennis as a base. Much easier to drive into and out of, a very pleasant and authentic town with good Irish music. Overall it does seem a little far flung and you might cut something on the south end or the north end. The bus network is good in Ireland and you could actually do a day trip to Galway from Ennis on the bus. The attraction of Dingle for me was not the town itself but the Slea Head Loop. Too bad about the flights because open jaw works great when traveling to Ireland.