Returned from 2 weeks just today and thought I'd share some since the whole trip was Rick Steves inspired.
Dublin- 3 nights Brooks Hotel
Kilkenny 1 night - Zuni Hotel
Kinsale- 2 nights- Desmond House
Kenmare- 1 night- Lagom Guesthouse
Portmagee-2 nights- The Moorings
Dingle- 2 nights-Greenmount House
Galway- 2nights- The Hardiman
Our itinerary started in Dublin. The Brooks hotel was a great hotel, was centrally located, and very well run. Highlights included Kilmainham prison tour, Irish immigration museum and stolling, enjoying the food/music, shopping and local sights.
Went to Kilkenny. The woman who checked us in immediately gave us a map and told us where to go for our day of touring- castle, old church, walked to the top of a tour at the church which was really pretty. Loved our day in Kilkenny.
Drove from Kilkenny to the Rock of Cashel and then on to Kinsale where we stayed at The Desmond House for 2 nights. Wonderful hostess there. Beautiful large room We had a trip highlight in Kilkenny when we took a walking tour with Barry Maloney, a former Rick Steves' best or Ireland tour guide. We liked him so much I even bought his book. We also walked to a large old fort and saw beautiful views of the harbor.
From Kinsale we drove to Kenmare. Did laundry and then drove to the Kissane Sheep Farm where we saw an awesome sheep herding exhibition. Kenmare was a launching point for us for the Ring of Kerry.
Drove from Kenmare to Portmagee via the lower part of the Ring of Kerry- just beautiful scenery! Highly recommend the Ring of Kerry. The cliffs of Kerry were better than the cliffs of Moher in my opinion.
We stayed in Portmagee for 2 nights bcs I wanted to take a boat tour of the Skellig Islands, which we did, and it was great! There were thousands of birds nesting on the smaller of the 2 islands which I liked even better than Skellig Michael. That one is famous for having had a monastery on it about a thousand years ago or more.
Drove from Portmagee to Dingle and checked into the Greenmount House. That was our favorite one of the trip. The cows across the street and the bay view from our room/balcony were a bonus. Gary, who checked us in, made sure we knew where to go in town and helped us planning our day around the Slea Head loop. That loop was a big trip highlight. It was one after the other of unbelievable sights. We parked at Donmore Head and did an amazing walk overlooking the sea. The great thing about the loop is that there are also cool ancient things like the oldest known church in Ireland (which is formed just from rocks being laid together)
After checking out in Dingle we had a long driving day, though we did do a lot of stopping. We went to the Cliffs of Moher and then drove through an area called the Burren which had more old churches and structures and rock things from a thousand years ago.
We ended in Galway where we stayed for 2 nights at The Hardiman. We liked that hotel least of all of our accommodations, but I think we may have just gotten a bad room. We weren't able to check in until 6 pm or so and they gave us a room on the 3rd floor overlooking the train station in the back and we had to spend an hour with a maintenance person who had to fix the shower for us to be able shower. Otherwise the hotel was beautiful. The common areas have high ceilings and it really has the feel of an stately older hotel. Galway has a nice latin quarter and really does have a ton of very good outdoor music.
We didn't make a lot of dinner reservations. I found eating out for 2 weeks straight to be a challenge. For me it's just too much food. We did really love a place called Vintage Kitchen in Dublin.