Late October Ireland Travel -- Any tips??

Since you are not in tourist season, I would expect that the pubs will be quieter. There may not be as much music in the pubs.

Will you have a car? We only had 7 nights in Ireland. We landed in Dublin and drove to Kilkenny for one night. We stopped at the Rock of Cashel on our way to Dingle. We had 2 nights there. We stopped at the Cliffs of Moher on our way to Galway. One night there. We then drove back to Dublin, dropped the car at the airport and bussed into town. We had 3 nights in Dublin. We got a nice overview with the time we had. Without a car doing all this wouldn't have been possible in the timeframe.

You may find some B&B's closed for the season. I wouldn't think sites would be affected that time of year.

Thanks, Andrea. We will have a car, and you described precisely what I had in my head. I assume you felt the pace was good, and not too rushed?

We did 8 nights in Ireland in late October 2013 and had a very similar itinerary. We did two nights in Dublin, two in Kilkenny, two in Dingle, and two in Galway. We flew home from Shannon (if you can do that, I'd recommend it, as it saves a bit of time from having to double back to Dublin).

We landed on a red-eye very early in the morning in Dublin on the first day. We are seasoned travelers, so we used that first full day and did a lot in Dublin. I think you would want two full days in Dublin, but that is a matter of personal preference. Dublin, being Ireland's biggest city, will be completely open. Book tickets to the Kilmainham Gaol in advance.

We then drove to Kilkenny, but made stops at the Powerscourt Gardens and Glendalough, so we didn't actually arrive until later in the day. You could definitely head straight to Kilkenny from Dublin (mostly along the M9 highway). I think Kilkenny itself warrants one full day.

From Kilkenny, we drove to Cashel and then on to Dingle. This was another full day, so by the time we got to Dingle in later afternoon, we explored the town on foot, grabbed dinner in a pub, and spent the evening listening to music in the pubs. By this time in late October, there will be far fewer pubs with live music every night, but both of the two nights we were there, we found at least three pubs with music. Our B&B hosts (John and Camilla Browne at Brownes' B&B) were amazing, and they told us where to go both nights for the best music. We then had one full day in Dingle, when we did the Slea Head Drive, and otherwise enjoyed more time in what was our favorite stop in Ireland.

We left Dingle early the next morning and headed to the Cliffs of Moher via the Tarbert/Killimer ferry (you can also drive through Limerick, I think the timing is about the same, but we figured the ferry would be something different). After the Cliffs, we drove through the Burren making a few stops along the way, and then on to Galway. Galway was the least interesting stop we had in Ireland, and we actually decided to drive into the interior and stopped at Tullamore and Clonmacnoise.

We had no issues with anything being closed, and actually caught pretty good weather (low to mid 50s and not a lot of rain). I would, however, recommend making sure you book your accommodations in advance, just in case.

We're going at just about the same time. Leaving from Dublin airport to Kilkenny via rental car. Two days there, two in Kinsale/Cork/Cobh then 3 in Dingle, 2 in Galway and back to Dublin airport to drop off the car. Taking bus/cab into Dublin from the airport, for 3 days. Then fly out to London.

One thing to remember is that that last weekend in October is a Bank Holiday . This means things will be busier, even though it's late in October. We found several places to stay already booked - and we made our reservations over a month ago. Have a great trip!

We’re heading out for similar intinerary early Nov: Dublin -> Kinsale -> Kenmare -> Dingle and take puddle jumper from Kerry Airport back to Dublin for return flight to US. This avoids the return drive from Western Ireland back to Dublin.