Recommendations before/after Best of Ireland tour

I'm glad you are going ahead of your tour to Dublin! There is a lot to see there.

I did this tour long ago and far away (2014) and at that time the itinerary ended in Dublin so no suggestions on Belfast.

For Dublin, definitely do Bru na Boine. We did a Mary Gibbons day tour. I generally don't like big bus day trips but this worked fine and at that time we had an archeologist as our tour guide (Mary's brother). I also spent time at the National Museum and at the Chester Beatty Library. Others who were traveling with me went to the botanical gardens and some other places so there is PLENTY to do for several days ahead and even after if you decide not to stay in Belfast.

Enjoy this trip!

In Dublin, we did the Mary Gibbons tour and the Wild Wicklow tour to Glendalough that the RS tour didn’t visit. Many in our group did the Guinness tour in Dublin. We did this on a subsequent visit to Dublin. It was well done but it’s self guided and extremely crowded, the best part being the bars at the top with views of the city. After the tour we took the bus back to Dublin but a few stayed in Belfast and did the Black Cab tour.

We visited Ireland/Northern Ireland in September 2019, but were not on a Rick Steves tour. Towards the end of our trip, we stayed at a B&B in Trim, and had two days in the Boyne Valley with Anthony Murphy, a foremost researcher and author of numerous books, who heads Mythical Ireland. We did have a car, but I’m sure he could work out transportation plans for you.

East of Belfast, we also visited The Gobbins, a hiking path with passageways installed in the rocks on the coast that was developed in the early 1900’s. It was abandoned and fell into disrepair, but was fairly recently rediscovered and restored. A seal followed us in the water, as we did the guided Gobbins walk - really a unique experience. Again, we got there by rental car, but I imagine there are other ways.

To get to the Gobbins by train you take a Larne bound train hourly from Belfast Grand Central station for the 50 minute ride to Ballycarry, then a 20 minute walk.

OK, so there’s a bit of a walk, before you do the Gobbins Walk!