Day 1 arrive Dublin 2 days
Day 3 rent car drive to cork 2 days
Day 5 drive to limerick
Day 6 drive to Galway 2 days
Day 8 drive to Donegal
Day 9 back to Dublin
We will flesh out stops once we are confident this is an appropriate route thank you
Can this be done? Yes. Is it fairly aggressive? Also yes.
I assume your itinerary is actually # of nights in each city, not days, and that you are basically asking about the order of your stays. In each place that you have 2 nights, you will arrive late in the day and have one evening and one full day. I am sure you will plan to use the full day of driving between places to make stops along the way and have mapped that out.
If it were me, I would cut the night in Limerick and add it elsewhere. Perhaps Donegal, where I have not been - but it is a lengthy driving commitment to only have the equivalent of one night there. After going that far, I would want 2 nights.
On Day 9, I assume you have a night back in Dublin before you fly out on Day 10. If not, I would want to adjust for that.
Yes thank you. You are correct in your assumptions. I will review Limerick, we are happy to move at a good pace but want to enjoy our stays
Will you sleep in Ireland for eight nights?
Renting a car in Dublin is a bad idea unless you like chaos. Instead, take a direct train that runs hourly from Dublin to Cork (2h 45m): https://www.irishrail.ie/en-ie/ and rent a car in Cork.
If you don’t like the idea of driving in Ireland, you have the option to take a direct Citylink bus: https://www.citylink.ie/ from Cork to Limerick (1h 45m) that runs hourly or from Cork to Galway (3h 15m) that runs every four hours (if following TexasTravelMom’s advice in skipping Limerick that I agree with). This would eliminate the hassle of driving in both Limerick and Galway. When I was in Galway, a friend was driving while I navigated and it wasn’t fun, plus it took longer than expected.
There are also direct buses from Galway to Donegal taking 3h 15m (two daily) to 4h 15m (five daily). From Donegal you can take a direct bus to Dublin taking 4h 15m that runs hourly.
we are happy to move at a good pace but want to enjoy our stays
That is a bit of an oxymoron... Irland is a place to slow down and enjoy...It is an aggressive itinerary and you are bypassing much or what attracts people to Ireland. However if you are happy with that then:-
Cut the night in Limerick and do the drive from Cork to Galway in one day. Use that extra night for Donegal. A one night stay in Donegal is a bit of a waste of time and you really do need to allocate two nights.
