Ireland in 7 days...

Hillary, I'm no expert, we're going there for the first time in September, but you asked for a sample, so... Our itinerary for the Ireland leg of our trip is: 3 nights in Dublin, and then we're heading to Galway for 3 nights. We'll use Galway as a base to see the Cliffs of Moher, Aran Islands, Connemara, etc. Most on this message board will probably tell you to go to Dingle Peninsula. I've heard wonderful things about it. But after Galway, we're heading to Northern Ireland which is why I opted for a city further north than Dingle. Plus, no one in our group will drive in Ireland, and getting to Dingle is supposed to be easier by car rather than public transport.
Here's what Rick Steve's book says:
3 days: Dublin
5 days: Dublin, Dingle Peninsula
7 days: Galway, a day in Belfast
(I hope this doesn't violate copyright law!!!)
You'll get lots of useful info from this site... Good luck with your trip!

Thank you so much for taking the time to write back. Have a great and safe trip!

PS..don't blame them for not wanting to drive..driving on the left would make me nuts!

We were in Ireland last September. Had a great time, but we had three and a half weeks. Dingle has great scenery. Kilsale and Galway are both nice towns - Galway much bigger. Almost anywher on teh west coast has fantastic sea scenery. We spent our last week touring up the west coast, Ring of Kerry, Dingle, Ballybunion, Cliffs of Mohar, The Burren Galway, Donegal and across the north to Londonderry and left from Larne after seeing Belfast.

Hi Hillary,
I asked a similar question the other day and used the advice given to make my decision and I'll share it with you.

I'll fly into Dublin on a Saturday and stay there till probably Tuesday. Mainly because I don't plan on seeing a lot on Sunday since that's the day of the All-Ireland finals and I want to see those.

I was going to head to Dingle after that but I don't want to feel rushed at all on this trip. So I decided to simply go straight to Galway and use that as my base for the rest of the week. From there I can take day trips to several areas.

Hope that helps. Have a great trip!!

Hillary,

The Dublin/Galway suggestion that others have made is a good one. You could also stay in Dublin all week and make day trips out of the city. You would definitely not run out of things to do.

Some of the best day trips from Dublin are Newgrange (5000 yr. old religious site), Glendalough, and the Wicklow Mountains. You could spend a day in Kilkenny, or take a train up to Belfast for a day.

Best of luck.

Thank you all for the great suggestions...I think we're leaning towards staying in Dublin and doing day trips to the surrounding areas.

Has anyone been to Cork? Other than fabulous scenery is there anything else that might be worthwhile?

Hillary,

Given that you only have 7 days, I think that's a wise choice.

Cork is a bit far for a day trip, but I suppose it's not impossible. We actually spent a couple of days in that area without entering Cork city itself. Kinsale is a great town (though it's another half hour or so drive south of Cork) with great food. Cobh is a lovely port town with an interesting museum on the history of emigration from Ireland. Midleton offers tours of the Jameson whiskey distillery.

Another great option for a day trip would be the Rock of Cashel. It's a magnificent cathedral ruin that was built in stages from about the 11th C. to the 15th C.

THANK YOU!!!

We visited Cork in September. Quite an interesting place. More compact than Dublin. Unfortunately it rained all day! Nearby Cobh has an interesting museum in the old train station and the Cathdral dominates the skyline. As I recall, it is not old, but very impressive.