Ireland in a week

Does your budget include airfare, or is that what you have to spend AFTER airfare? If you have a total of $4000 and need to pay for airfare out of that, you have to really budget. Outside of Dublin, Ireland is best done by car. Can you drive a stick shift? That will save a lot of money. I assume you know they drive on the left, rather than the right like we do. If you don't want to drive I would base in Dublin and Galway and do day trips from there. From Galway you can probably find a bus or tour that will take you to the Cliffs of Moher and The Burren. Maybe look into where you can base to do a bus tour of the ROK. With only 6 days there, you will have to really pare down what you want to see. Every time you move it will cost you time and money. Whatever you chose, have fun!

You say you want to use your time wisely. Sometimes that means spending a little more to have more time for sightseeing because you don't have to travel in a circle. I found open jaw (multi-city) fares on kayak.com for Chicago-Dublin and Shannon-Chicago that weren't a whole lot more than standard Chicago-Dublin roundtrip tickets. Train service is somewhat limited in Ireland and trains don't go to all the places on your list. Bus service is better, but you'll make the best use of your time if you rent a car. Dublin deserves at least two nights and a car would be a hindrance there, not an asset. Since Connemara is high on your list, I suggest that you drive from Dublin to Galway, go on to the Connemara, then to the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren, then to Killarney, and fly home from Shannon. If you're pressed for time, skip Killarney; but still fly home from Shannon.

Thank you both for your advice! The cost will be $2000 for the two of us to spend each (including air fare). We will combine the rest for transport and accomodations. We were also planning to use the remainder of our time to fly to either Edinburgh, Scotland or to Greece. I am starting to see that Greece may be farfetched or wishful thinking. Flying open-jaw out of Greece and other considered countries (Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Hamburg) to Indianapolis will be expensive. I have looked at several sites. So far creating a multi-city trip seems to have been the cheapest. I agree with the last itinerary. Dublin>Galway>Connemara. I think adding Killarney may be an overload. Any suggestions for towns in these locations. I believe when we sit down and plan each day we will opt for a car and may take a bus for the parks. Neither one of us drive stick unfortunately.
We will try to keep in mind the direction of the road ;)

I am confused. Are you saying you want to spend a week in Ireland AND a week in another country, and you each have $2000 to spend, which needs to include your airfare? If you were only flying round trip to Dublin the flights for your time period are in the $900 range from indianapolis to Dublin round trip. That leaves you each about $1100. In Ireland the smallest automatic transmission car for about 5 days will run you about $400 or more. That leaves you each about $900. Of course you have to buy fuel for the car, so the more you move around the more that will cost. With less than $900 you still have to pay for lodging, food and admission fees. For two weeks. I don't see how you can do it, no matter how frugal you are, and you will have even less money for those things if you are moving on to another country. You will have transportation costs to get to another country, plus likely your airfare will increase. I think you can manage the trip if it is one week in Ireland. Adding another week elsewhere with your budget doesn't add up, sorry to say.

Clifden, in Co. Galway, is my favorite town in the Connemara area. It's on the coast, and not far from Connemara National Park. Excellent B&Bs on the Sky Road.

Thank you for your practical reponses and putting the trip in a practical perspective. We may have to reconsider our bugdet. We have 11 days total abroad excluding flight time (2 days) 10/4 to 10/16. Yes we were thinking of traveling elsewhere for a couple of days before flying home. I have a friend who lives in Edinburgh, Scotland and a friend in Hamburg, Germany who we may visit. Not both, either or. I think we may have gotten ahead of ourselves in that respect. Thank you for the suggestions for places.