Mapped out this itinerary for first time Ireland trip.

These look to be all one night stays. You won’t get anyone on this forum to agree to this itinerary! Yes, way too much driving, as you would be driving everyday. No chance to slow down and experience places and people. I would give it another go and cut down, two night stays minimum.

We just returned from Dublin 2 hours ago.
We stayed in Dublin one night and headed for County Kerry for 3 nights in a B&B on the Ring of Kerry. I can honestly say rural driving there is about as tough as I have ever experienced.
Then we returned to Dublin center city for 2 nights. We were in Cork a week earlier off a cruise ship.
Find a central location and do day trips. Dublin is about the most congested city imaginable and finding the tourist sights is not easy. It is also ultra expensive in every way.
But we flew back to New York cheap on Norwegian Air Shuttle.

Yes, it's driving every day and a new place every day. We did something similar our first trip to Scotland. Just drove around the perimeter, castle hopped, and found B&Bs along the way and we loved it! Kinda hoping we can do similar in Ireland.

People like me, will tell you that this far too rushed, that you will just be driving and running around and not taking the time to actually enjoy Ireland. I see from your reply that this is what you want... if this is the case, why post and ask for opinions?

Our first trip to Ireland was back in 1995. We took our teenaged sons for 9 nights and did a very similar itinerary and survived. Little did we know at that time that we would go back many times.

Everyone will tell you that that is a lot of driving, and it is. But we were just in Ireland for 12 nights last month, based in 4 locations, and we still managed to drive about 1,300 miles. The big difference is that we had a “home” to return to at the end of very long days and didn’t have to pack up every morning. If you are okay with one-nighters, then do it. Ireland looks small but it takes a long time to get everywhere, so as you start your adventure you might find that there isn’t enough time in the day to do all of the things you hope to do, and you will rework your itinerary as you go.

One tip: you will not want to have the car in Dublin, so don’t pick it up until the day you leave the city.

Everyone is different. Actually had one tourist tell me at a breakfast they preferred one night stays and driving a lot because "they saw stuff and didn't have to deal with locals and too much Irish stuff". Made me wonder why travel to Ireland other than to have Instagram pics to show off to friends.....but what the heck.

Definitely not an itinerary I would do or like. Blarney (awful as per Rick), Killarney the town (awful as per Rick), Cork city ?????' Why ???? Missing many wonders just tons of driving, little to no time to get to know an area .....Just hitting super tourist locations. But for some thats fun......and that's okay for them. If it's a first trip to Ireland maybe it can give you a hint at the incredible things real Ireland offers and a future trip can explore those more. Have fun......

It's definitely do-able. We drove all the way across Ireland and back in 2 days. Just know you'll be in the car a lot. I totally second another poster who said that driving in Ireland is very stressful/insane. Make SURE you get the extra CDW insurance on your rental car. Don't count on your credit card covering it - most credit cards don't offer the free CDW in Ireland, Jamaica, and Israel - and there's a reason for that!! I also second the PP about how hard it is to get around Dublin and find stuff. I never made it to 2-3 attractions in Dublin because a) we couldn't find them, and b) we would see them from a distance but couldn't figure out how to navigate the one-way streets to get there. (This was pre-GPS so I would also HIGHLY recommend using GPS for help.) Personally we liked the Blarney Castle and thought it was cute. Of course it's touristy but hey you're a tourist. I was actually more "meh" about Dingle than Blarney and I know RS thinks Dingle is the bee's knees.

Thanks all! We've enjoyed both types of vacations where we spend more time in one place and others where we just drove around and found B&B's. That worked well for us in Scotland. Not as well other places. Both are fun and give you different experiences.
I'm from Washington State, which Ireland fits inside of, so the distances seem pretty tame, although I realize there are some treacherous roads and the left side driving I've only done once before so appreciate the advice on the car insurance. Based on everyone's feedback, I'm surmising that yes, it's doable, but many prefer getting to spend more time in one place. I think we will stick with the plan and see how far we get. Worst case we fall in love with a town and kick something off the itinerary.
Thanks again for everyone's help!

Just a follow up on our trip. We pretty much stuck with the plan and it worked well for us. Had a fantastic time!

Thanks for sharing a follow up about your trip. I am trying to figure out a 6 day itinerary that includes one night stays and a lot of people seem to think its nuts, but also a lot of itineraries I found online go at a similar pace, so I'm a bit confused. I sent you a PM, would love your input. Glad you enjoyed your trip!

I think it all depends on what you like. We knew from our previous trips to Scotland that we really enjoy driving and stopping in towns and landmarks to see the sights. Some places we like and stay longer than others, but was always easy to find a great B&B wherever we ended up! Ireland is a very small country so it was like driving around our own state of Washington. After we made it around the southern end and up to Galway, it was an easy two hour drive all freeway back to Dublin to fly home. We loved it! One thing to keep in mind though is that you can end up paying twice as much for a rental if you can’t drive a stick. Luckily for us we could. Last tip. In the UK and Ireland, the nozzle colors for unleaded and deisel are opposite from the US. Don’t make the same mistake I did the first time we went to Scotland. Luckily it happened right next to an auto shop.

Another fun tidbit. My wife, daughter and I are all musicians and the local musicians in every town we stopped were very gracious in letting us sit in with them. It was so fun and we made a lot of new friends. I think the highlight was my wife and daughter playing guitars and singing together at the Temple Bar in Dublin. A very cool place!

We are here now - first trip - and wanted to throw in our two cents. Dublin was okay, but so jammed with tourists. This comes from travelers who love cities! We found Chris Church a kind of abomination (versus other places like St. Mary's and Canice Cathedral in Kilkenny, which were are better experiences). I think limiting Dublin to two days is a good idea. We did not do Book of Kells (OMG THE LINES) and instead visited the Chester Beatty Library (in Dublin Castle) and the National Gallery -- we loved both of these and they were NOT packed with tourists and were free.

We LOVED Kilkenny. You can climb the tower in Canice Cathedral which was really run for us. We watched World Cub semi final, had a nice dinner, heard some great music in a pub our first (and only) night there AND shopped around, walked the whole city, visited the castle and those two two cathedrals and the black abbey this morning, before heading the Rock of Cashel (1 hour west) and on to Kenmare (2 more hours SW) for the next two days/nights. We love being able to have at least one great coffee, one good meal, and seeing the main sites in each town we visit and manage to still stay relaxed.

I felt like I needed to chime in here to tell you that yes, that is quite a lot of driving, but our drives have been lovely (and fun) and we are from CA so used to it. Have a great time!