Planning a 15 day trip for two; we really don't want to drive, but we do wish see rural and coastal areas and do some hiking. Not into fully planned group tours, but willing to join small group day tours at specific destinations, hoping to see Galway and Belfast.
Ideas?
We've been to Ireland four times, and have always done it with a car. We live in an area with near zero public transportation, so I'm biased. You will find folks here with positive results using public transport, but:
1) Getting off a bus in an obscure area to walk to a remote ruin or hike leaves you with luggage issues unless you always return to a base, which means you spend twice as much travel time without actually seeing much.
2) We find most interesting places are places we find while enroute to the next town. There may be a bus and it may stop there, but luggage and time are both issues.
3) The train system is very Dublin-centric, meaning traveling from the southwest to the northwest may involve a return to Dublin.
If you're spending five days each in Dublin, Belfast, and Galway the public transport approach is fine. You'll, unfortunately, miss many interesting places although there's lots to do in those towns.
In Dublin, you can do a daytrip to Newgrange and the Boyne Valley.
In Belfast, you can do a Giant's Causeway daytrip.
In Galway you can do a Aran Islands daytrip (or spend the night)
Both Galway and Belfast are short trips via train or bus from Dublin. There are plenty of day trip and tour providers based in either city that will allow you to explore the surrounding areas without the need of a car. Dublin too has plenty of local tour providers to choose from.
We've always had good luck using the "Things to do" pull down menu on Trip Advisor to check out local attractions at different destinations. Their reviews of local day tour providers can be particularly helpful in sorting thru the various options..
Time and interest permitting, you could consider a trip across the island to Killarney or Dingle for a few days. Can either fly from Dublin via RyanAir to the Kerry airport near Killarney (about an hour) or take the train if you're not in any particular hurry.
There are rental car outlets at Kerry airport should you should reconsider getting a car, which would be especially helpful if you want to go off the beaten tourist track for most of the hikes.
We use the All Trails App for hiking recommendations in Ireland, and have generally found their descriptions of the various hikes and the degrees of difficulty for each to be spot on.
Thank you for your tips. The All Trails app looks like a great idea!
I did a three week trip on my own using public transit. I would suggest flying into Dublin and out of Belfast, and then Killarney and Galway would make good bases to explore from as both are easy to get to by train and have plenty of day trip options to help you see some sights not accessible by bus. The national park in Killarney will be easy for you to get to and explore, and from Galway it’s easy to get a ferry to Inishmore and rent a bike or take a tour with a local. If you search the forum for Ireland without a car or by public transit you will find a lot of posts, and I have replied in more detail about what I did. Or you could message me, it’s been a while since my Ireland trek, but I remember it well.
We are going to Ireland in August for 15 nights, and also not renting a car.
Here is our plan.
4 nights in Dublin. Will do one day trip either Newgrange tour with Mary Gibbons or Glendalough.
4 nights in Killarney. Will see Muckross house, killarney NP, Gap of dunloe boat tour &walk. Dingle Peninsula tour with Deros.
3 nights in Doolin. Will see cliff of Moher, cliff walk with Pat Sweeney. Day trip to Inishmor
Will hire a private tour to take us see the Burren national park and drop off in Kinvara
1 night in Kinvara.
2 nights in Galway. Will see Galway and a Connemara tour.
1 night in Malahide.
Fly back to US
We almost never rent cars in Europe but love the trains. However, we felt that we had to rent a car in Ireland upon leaving Dublin because its public transportation is so limited. We did take a day bus tour from Dublin to Glendalough and Kilkenny.
Starting from Shannon Airport ?
this might be an option walkwithme.ie
