Too many things to see in Ireland and Scotland!

So, just to be clear, you arrive in Edinburgh on May 20th, have to be in Galway on May 29-June 02, and leave from Dublin on June 4th? That only give you appox. 8 days to see parts of Scotland and Ireland before you have to be in Galway for classes, and getting yourself from Scotland to either Dublin or Galway is going to eat into your time. That's going to make it difficult as much of what you want to see is quite far away. It might be best for you to just base yourself in Edinburgh for a few days, see the city and maybe do a guided day trip or two from there. Given some of what you want to see in Ireland you might want to just base yourself in Dublin for a few days before taking the train to Galway (two hours). Since your classes in Galway are only until lunch you will be able to do some half day tours after lunch to see a few things, but I think Dingle will be too far away. The Cliffs of Moher, Burren, Connemara region should be doable as half day trips. Giant's Causeway is a very long day trip from Dublin, but Newgrange will be doable as well as some other places. Remember, you don't want to spend most of your time just getting somewhere and then only have enough time to see one sight. Do a google search for guided day trips out of Edinburgh, Dublin, and Galway and see what appeals to you and go from there. It will give you a good idea of what's doable in a day (or half day). With the number of days you have I think getting all the way up to Inverness or Skye will be too far away.

My family did something like the Scottish portion of your trip last year. We took an Outlander tour from Edinburgh and saw MANY Outlander sites in one day. Then we booked a private tour with Rabbies Tours, you can request that they go to all the sites you have mentioned in 3 or more days. If you do not want to spend the money, you could do it all on your own, but I think it is cruel for the driver to not get to see some of the amazing highlands. I would probably fly into Shannon, see the Cliffs of Moher as a day trip from Galway, then either go to Dingle or the Giant's Causeway, then see the Dublin sites of Newgrange and Trinity. Things are always further away than they look because of the narrow twisty roads. Have fun and please report back!

So you have 9 days (really 7-8 when you subtract travel days) to see Scotland and possibly part of Ireland, then 1 1/2 days after your class ends.

The easy decision is June 2-4. Finish class in Galway, go directly to Dublin. See Book of Kells and other sights in Dublin.

For Scotland, you could potentially see all the places on your list if you didn't care about having any time in Ireland. But since you're committed to spending time in the west of Ireland, why not stay just a few days in Edinburgh -- you could manage a day trip to St. Andrews and one to Doune -- and then fly to Shannon? From Shannon you could at least see Dingle and the Cliffs of Moher before arriving in Galway the night before your class starts on June 2.