RS 7 day Ireland Tour May 2027

I did this tour maybe 10 years ago. I went a couple of days early and stayed in Galway, a very fun town very close to Ennis. There is so much more to do and see in Galway. Lots of music and street performers. On the day the tour started, took a bus in the morning from Galway to Ennis. Walked from the hotel in Galway to the bus station. After the tour stayed an additional night in Dublin and took the HOHO bus and went to Guiness stonehouse and some other things the tour doesn't cover.

How much time do you have?

will you have a car?

Do you visit Galway and Connemara during the tour? If not then add a few days at the start to see something of this area. Connemara is stunning and I actually prefer it to Kerry and Dingle. There are some really attractive small villages along the coast - Rondstone with its tiny harbour. The Sky Road drive from Clifden is one of the best short drives in the world on a sunny day. There is Kylemore Abbey and Gardens. Alternatively there is Cong with its ruined abbey and the place where the iconic Jiohn Wayne film 'The Quiet Man' was filmed. The museum is a reconstruction of the cottage used in the film. There is Ashford Castle and their Hawk walk. Alternatively catch a ferry to one of the Aran Islands and even consider a night there.

The other alternative would be to see a bit more of the Burren area - either stopping in Doolin or Ballyvaughan area. This is limestone scenery and completley different to the rest of Ireland.

I did the 7 day tour a few years ago and really liked it. I wish I had arrived a day early. I didn't sleep much on the plane and the first day was a blur. In Dublin I liked going to the Guinness Storehouse (not on the RS tour). They have a self guided tour and then a Guinness when you get to the top. There is Epic which was an interesting Irish immigration museum. The Mary Gibbons tour to Newgrange was great ( also not on the RS tour). Would recommend staying in Dublin another 1-2 days if possible.
Boxty House was a good restaurant in Dublin.

Thanks for the many ideas. I have all the time I need to stay longer. But since traveling solo I want bus/trains transport not self driving. Or an organized day trip person.

"Or an organized day trip person."
I assume this is a typo and that you are NOT an organized day trip person.
The 7-day tour leaves out a lot of Ireland. To start, you could look at the itinerary for the 14-day tour (https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/ireland/best-ireland-tour-2026) and the RS recommended Ireland itinerary (https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/ireland/itinerary) to get some ideas.
Here is a map of where the trains go. As you'll see, they mostly radiate out from Dublin. https://www.seat61.com/reference/Ireland-map.pdf?dl=0
Assuming you plan to fly into and out of Dublin, I suggest you start out by heading west to Sligo (for bus connections to Donegal and/or for Yeats fans) or Westport before hitting up Galway, as suggested in another comment. This puts you near the start of the tour.
After the tour, you can stay on in Dublin to see what you missed. Which might include Newgrange and the other Boyne Valley sights. This is very doable by public transportation from Dublin, even easier from nearby Drogheda, which will have more affordable accommodation.
Belfast is an easy train ride from Dublin and has lots to see and do. From there, Derry is reachable by train. I found that these two cities offered differing perspectives on The Troubles. You can also get to the Giant's Causeway by public transportation if that appeals to you.
Finally, I will put in a plug for Cork. It's a very charming city with easy day trips to Cobh, Kinsale and Blarney.

Thank you so much for a lot of great ideas.

We are finishing that very tour today. I can’t advise much about the start of the tour; we came in a day early but didn’t do much other than wander around Ennis and try to start acclimating to the new time zone. But at the other end, you do VERY little in Dublin on-tour, and there are a wealth of options for extra time there depending on your interests: National Archeological Museum (free; we did this and I thought it was great), Guinness Storehouse, Kilmainham Gaol, traditional music in the pubs, just to name a few.

Have you looked at the 11-day Ireland My Way tour? Starts and ends in Dublin.
https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/ireland/my-way-ireland-vacation

I think the My Way tour ends in Belfast.

I did the RS 7-day tour last year, late June-early July. For before the trip, I would advise arriving a day or two early to get over jet lag and stay in Galway. There are buses that get you there from both the Shannon and Dublin airports. I stayed two nights at a B&B just a 10-minute walk from the bus station and it was wonderful. Spent a day on Inishmore and it was one of the highlights of my trip.

As for Dublin, you only get one full day on the tour, so I stayed a couple of more days; took a train to Belfast for a day to take a black taxi tour of the Troubles area followed by the Titanic Museum. The second day was spent at Newgrange/Knowth to see the ancient burial mounds and also was quite interesting; the Mary Gibbons tour was booked so I just booked a tour on my own ,took a train from Dublin and hired an Uber taxi to get to the visit center. You could also easily spend time in Dublin by visiting various sites the tour doesn't cover.

We just returned from the 7 day tour, aarived 3 days early in Ennis and stayed 4 extra days in Dublin. Loved Ennis, arrived early to enjoy the Fleadh Nua Festival, annual 10 days trad music festival held in May/ early June. I would strongly recommend checking the 2027 dates and book based on that festival. Old Grounds hotel was great place to stay, easy walk everywhere, excellent pub with good food and trad music every night. In Dublin we stayed at the Brooks Hotel in the Templebar area, excellent accomodations, easy access to all of Dubllin, ( we walked everywhere,) and did all the usual tourist visitations. One gem was 14 Henrietta Street, in RS Dublin book, a former tenement house carefully curated to show life of the working class in Dublin in 19th century.

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip, Ennis and Dublin were the real highlights. The rest were interesting but not spectacular- Dingle has become overcrowded and unpleasant, our accomodations there were way below par for a RS tour, and the choices made for tours were hard to explain, unless you enjoy Raptors held in captivity and brought out of their cells to entertain the tourists in return for snippets of food.

I just started looking at the Seven Day tour. How did you get to Ennis, particularly if you spent some time in London first? Is Heathrow the best London airport to use? I'm pretty lost at this point.
Thanks .

Pat, Ennis is a short taxi ride from Shannon International Airport. That's probably why the tour starts there. We flew directly to Shannon from the US, so likely they have flights from London. A multi-city fare worked for US.

We didn’t spend time in London (well…except at the airport), but most of the options for us flying out of Washington, DC, went through Heathrow. We chose British Airways, and the Heathrow to Shannon leg was on their partner Aer Lingus. As mentioned, Ennis isn’t far from Shannon. We took a taxi (around €65), but there’s also a bus (€10.50 according to the info given to us by RS).

Stan and mjh, thanks for taking the time to reply, and your helpful answers. Wishing you more future travel adventures!

We just came home from Ennis. It is a great town, worth a few days of your time. When we were there the RS Tour started and they left bright and early the next morning! Too bad they don't take time to explore the town. There are walking tours in Ennis. They were sold out this past week (our trip was last minute) but I did see a number of walking tours in town that looked great. Dr. Jane O'Brien is supposed to do a great tour. Also, the tour hotel (the Old Ground Hotel) is fantastic! So, definitely book your extra days there. It's close to everything. Lots of great restaurants and cafes. In fact probably some of the better food choices I've had in Ireland (except for Galway.) You could visit the Friary (it is a short visit) and is in town, visit Bunratty Castle (20 min drive from town), explore the Burren (about a 15 min drive to visitors center where a shuttle takes you to some trails). I don't think any of these are included in your tour but are lovely! Ennis has great pubs for music. Knox usually has traditional music most nights. Cruisers has a back bar area where musicians play but it is more current stuff but really good.

I could add more but I'll stop there. Ennis was a lovely surprise and I cannot wait to go back!

We took the RS 7 day in April of 2024. Enjoyed it very much, tour guide was Gearoid. We flew into Dublin, quickly got on a bus to Killarney. Stayed at the McSweeney Arms hotel for 2 nights. Walked a short way to the tourist office and took a Paddywagon tour of the Ring of Kerry, which we enjoyed very much. Then we took a bus to Ennis to start the RS tour. Short walk from bus terminal to the Old Ground Hotel in Ennis.

We liked Ireland so much, we went on the RS 11 day tour in 2026, and are signed up for Ireland My Way in 2027.

We're not big city people, but we enjoyed Dublin very much. Took the Guinness Storehouse tour, ate at the Bank on College Green, ate and heard music at Devitt's Pub, Heard great music at Temple Bar in the afternoon when it was less jammed up than evenings. Ate at the Brazen Head (oldest pub in Dublin).

Before flying home from Dublin, we took a bus to the Premier Inn at the airport for 2 nights. Next day we took a cab to/from Malahide, where we toured the castle and wandered the town and waterfront.

You will really enjoy Ireland! The Irish people are the greatest.