Train or car Dublin to Galway?

I like to drive, and find a rental car the best way to see Ireland. If you are planning on renting a car in Galway, anyway, you might as well just rent it in Dublin (as you are heading out of town). Not knowing how long your trip is in total, it could be cheaper to rent it for a longer period (a week vs a few days).

You also can travel by bus. The cheapest companies are citylink and gobus. Or pay a little more and take a Bus Eireann bus.

We thought it would be fun to take the train and more relaxing for our driver. We will be renting a car in Galway for five days and dropping it off at Shannon Airport. Dublin to Galway...which is more scenic...train or car?

Again, I would suggest you check the prices for a week rental vs five days. If the rental price is more costly for the five days (plus the cost of four train tickets), you might want to drive. If the cost isn't an issue, the train might be fun. The scenery is the same via both methods.

Thanks Nancy, it is good to know that the scenery is about the same both ways. My husband likes to drive, but we also enjoyed the train trip that we took into London. Our trip is the end of May, so we still have some time to figure out details. We have all our lodging arranged. :-)

I second the idea that bus is another option, quite a bit cheaper and as I recall not so much slower than the train (easy to check online). As for driving, depends on whether you want to see anything in between, and also possible drop fees for the car. Chances are those would outweighed by shortening your rental, but price it out and see.

The drive to Galway isn't bad. We went from Dublin to car rental at the airport, drove and did Newgrange and Knowth, then the castle at Trim and still made it to Galway for a late dinner. The real warning is that Galway seems to have no street signs what-so-ever. Driving around Galway looking for any indication of what street we were on was more frustrating and tiring than the entire day driving from Dublin. And because Galway is an old city there are many one way streets and little parking in the city center. Have a plan, drive to your BnB and leave the car. My $.02,
=Tod

As Tod points out, driving lets you stop off at things you see along the way. Can't do that with a bus or train. And there are no drop fees for picking up in Dublin and dropping at Shannon.

Thank you for all your help. At this point I think we will pay a little more and take a relaxing train to Galway and then rent a car for the Cliffs and Dingle.