Itinerary suggestions for 7 days (or 8, possibly 9)

Always keep in mind that your day of arrival is usually mostly used up with getting out of the airport and to your first accommodation, depending of course on your arrival time, but you will also be tired due to the time change etc. When I flew into Dublin I landed before noon, but really didn't accomplish much other than finding my way into the city, getting oriented, and wandering around a bit before eating and going to bed. If you land in Dublin you could spend at least a couple of days just doing some sight-seeing in the city. If you don't count your first day (Oct 28) then you have six days before you have to be in Limerick. If you want to see the Cliffs of Moher the best place to do that from is via a tour out of Galway. Galway is easy to get to by train from Dublin. There are many other things you can do from Galway, and if a nature walk is one of them then maybe doing a tour to the Burren area from Galway would be a good option. I think the easiest way to see the Dingle Peninsula would be a day trip from Killarney, but I don't know if there are tours operating from Limerick that might work (it's been a few years since I was in Ireland). With a short amount of time, and using public transit (trains and buses) you really want to avoid backtracking too much as you will lose valuable time you could be spending seeing sights. The best thing to do is to try to spend a minimum of 2-3 nights in each spot because every time you have to catch a train or bus you will probably not get to your next destination in time to join a guided tour to whichever sight you want to see as most tours are all day, and usually leave at 9am. I did several day trips from Dublin, Galway, and Killarney, but found that on any day I had to travel I essentially lost a day of sight-seeing tours. The first thing you should do is go to the web sites for the train and bus service and look at the schedules and see if you can figure out what makes the most sense as a starting point. I think you can only get to Killarney from Shannon by bus, and that might be slow going so it may make sense to start in Dublin and finish in Limerick. I think the same is also true from Galway to Limerick (bus only). Remember, it will all be there waiting for you to come back again so don't try to see it all in one trip. Make a priority list.

Thank you for that very helpful advice. I wasn't sure where to go after Dublin and the suggestion of Galway makes sense. I'll take a look at the train and bus schedules.

My husband & I were there last year at that time. Check web sites for tourist times. I noticed that some of the things I wanted to do, closed Nov 1st. We rearranged the trip a bit and did the sight seeing stuff before that. Bring rain gear, waterproof shoes, an umbrella did not help. I have never felt unsafe, left my laptop in B&B's, hotels...From what I understand, car breakins are a bigger problem.

Hope that helps

Mary

Thanks for the tips, Mary! It might make more sense for me to visit the Western part of the country first and end the trip in Dublin as those sights are more likely to be open. I'll look into a rain poncho.

We flew into Shannon & out of Dublin- & it worked great!
The cliffs of Moher & Dingle were highlights. We also did a little hike in Connemara National Park, just north of Galway, we lucked out with the weather and the views were breathtaking!
We also stayed at a b&b in Adare just outside of Shannon- beautiful & might be worth looking into.
I felt completely safe the whole time we were in Ireland & was impressed with the hospitality.