Ireland vacation- NBR

bookqueen

Not baby related, but has anybody here vacationed in Ireland?? We are planning to go the year after next and need to know the best time of year to go and the MUST SEEs!!

Achae

We went at the end of May and it was gorgeous. Still a little cool but it's a similar climate to our home so we were not phased. We traveled from Dublin to Galway to the southern half for over a week. We did a lot of walking and had a few must sees: Guinness, Book of Kells (honestly I was let down by this), Cliffs of Moher, Waterford Crystal, and different shopping areas and foods. We were there when they legalized gay marriage and Dublin was parading in the street, it was such a momentous happy time!

acuteangles

No, but I'm jealous!

bookqueen

Achae said:

We went at the end of May and it was gorgeous. Still a little cool but it's a similar climate to our home so we were not phased. We traveled from Dublin to Galway to the southern half for over a week. We did a lot of walking and had a few must sees: Guinness, Book of Kells (honestly I was let down by this), Cliffs of Moher, Waterford Crystal, and different shopping areas and foods. We were there when they legalized gay marriage and Dublin was parading in the street, it was such a momentous happy time!

That's awesome!! DH wants to stay in castles, lol. I need to write all these things down! Definitely spending some time in Galway because that's where his great grandparents are originally from.

Achae

bookqueen said:

Achae said:

We went at the end of May and it was gorgeous. Still a little cool but it's a similar climate to our home so we were not phased. We traveled from Dublin to Galway to the southern half for over a week. We did a lot of walking and had a few must sees: Guinness, Book of Kells (honestly I was let down by this), Cliffs of Moher, Waterford Crystal, and different shopping areas and foods. We were there when they legalized gay marriage and Dublin was parading in the street, it was such a momentous happy time!

That's awesome!! DH wants to stay in castles, lol. I need to write all these things down! Definitely spending some time in Galway because that's where his great grandparents are originally from.

Galway was one of my favorites for the scenery and food. I will say we stayed in a castle and it was pretty awful tbh. It was a weekend and there was a wedding party and they were very loud all night and it echoed from the brick and arg. But it was gorgeous. We also are foodies kind of and ate at some really great places, although everything seemed to be local/in season etc. I wish the US was like that!

mwmiller4

Ireland is so beautiful and it was one of my favorite trips ever! My husband and I went right after we got engaged and it's magical! We stayed in Dublin for several days (I agree with PP that it's a great, walkable city) drove up to Trim castle and then over to Doolin--which is tiny (and by the Cliffs of Moher--we climbed over the fence at the and hiked to Hag's head which has a Napeolonic war era castle ruin on it--the view is spectacular and the ruin looks like one of the end of level castles from Super Mario). We went out to the Aran Islands--which ended up being the highlight of the trip. They're beautiful and very peaceful with scenic, easy hiking and both want to go back and stay on the islands. Then we drove down to Dingletown--which is so perfect looking it could be in a Disney theme park. We also did the Dingle pennisula drive and a sea kyak sunset trip (where we got to see the dolphin who lives in the bay up pretty close). And we hiked up Mount Brandon--it clouded over when we reached the top but the view from part was up was pretty spectacular, too! The food everywhere was pretty amazing ( I used all the hiking as an excuse to eat whatever I wanted. And drink Bailey's coffee nightly) and the people were so lovely. Oh, you'll have such a great trip!

CanadianGamerMom

I've been to a bunch of different places in Ireland. My husband and I backpacked in the summer of 2012 (traveled for 6 months, went to 24 countries, starting in the UK and Ireland) and then again this past spring with our daughter and my parents (we traveled for 7 weeks and went to about 7-8 countries, my brain isn't quite working right now so I can't remember exactly how many lol). My husband planned both trips so if you have any specific questions I can ask him!

IrishinOrlando

Oh , your making me homesick now
Will be July by time we go again with our 4 yr old and new baba

bookqueen

Thank you all!!! I'm so excited to check out these places! we haven't really had a real vacation because of crappy jobs and debt, but we will be able to go this time, and KID FREE! Lol

CuriousKiddosMama

Nothing to contribute other than to say I'm totally jealous have a ton of fun!

22snc12

Just like some of the other responses, 150% jealous. and I hope you have an amazing time!!!

bookqueen

Thanks it's going to be a ton of planning and saving, but so worth it to finally take a nice trip and have some much needed us time.

mamacat315

I live in Ireland and am happy to give you detailed recommendations if you like. I've lived in Dublin for three years and have traveled all over the country.

StrawberryDuck

Achae said:

bookqueen said:

Achae said:

We went at the end of May and it was gorgeous. Still a little cool but it's a similar climate to our home so we were not phased. We traveled from Dublin to Galway to the southern half for over a week. We did a lot of walking and had a few must sees: Guinness, Book of Kells (honestly I was let down by this), Cliffs of Moher, Waterford Crystal, and different shopping areas and foods. We were there when they legalized gay marriage and Dublin was parading in the street, it was such a momentous happy time!

That's awesome!! DH wants to stay in castles, lol. I need to write all these things down! Definitely spending some time in Galway because that's where his great grandparents are originally from.

Galway was one of my favorites for the scenery and food. I will say we stayed in a castle and it was pretty awful tbh. It was a weekend and there was a wedding party and they were very loud all night and it echoed from the brick and arg. But it was gorgeous. We also are foodies kind of and ate at some really great places, although everything seemed to be local/in season etc. I wish the US was like that!

A castle in Galway? Wouldn't have been ashford castle would it?

If you're into old fishing town kind of thing, go to dingle bay! I thought it was pretty beautiful. Also, look up locations of 'fairy rings' some crazy sights right there

ameliejoe

I drove the coast going Dublin to Dublin (all around the country). Kinsale was my favorite coastal town and when I take my hubs back (and babe) next year we will be staying there again. We stayed at Desmond House B&B and adored it! We visited so many castles that I don't remember the names, but our favorites were the ones in ruins. Of course you have to visit The Blarney Stone (go very early in the morning... It gets really crowded). And we did both Dingle Pensinsula and Ring of Kerry, Cliffs of Moher (we stayed out on one of the islands just off the cliffs... We wouldn't do that again). Then we went north and visited giants Causeway and the carrick-a-rede bridge (both are must dos!). Stopped in Belfast and then back to Dublin. Our favorite restaurant the whole trip was Gallaghers Boxty House in Dublin. I was the driver, and I got used to driving on the left side (on the right side of the car) very quickly! It's really a gorgeous country. Always be prepared for rain. It rained every day of our 14 day trip, but we witnessed more than a dozen rainbows.

bookqueen

ameliejoe said:

I drove the coast going Dublin to Dublin (all around the country). Kinsale was my favorite coastal town and when I take my hubs back (and babe) next year we will be staying there again. We stayed at Desmond House B&B and adored it! We visited so many castles that I don't remember the names, but our favorites were the ones in ruins. Of course you have to visit The Blarney Stone (go very early in the morning... It gets really crowded). And we did both Dingle Pensinsula and Ring of Kerry, Cliffs of Moher (we stayed out on one of the islands just off the cliffs... We wouldn't do that again). Then we went north and visited giants Causeway and the carrick-a-rede bridge (both are must dos!). Stopped in Belfast and then back to Dublin. Our favorite restaurant the whole trip was Gallaghers Boxty House in Dublin. I was the driver, and I got used to driving on the left side (on the right side of the car) very quickly! It's really a gorgeous country. Always be prepared for rain. It rained every day of our 14 day trip, but we witnessed more than a dozen rainbows.

OMG, I totally forgot about driving on the other side of the car/road!! @-)

Achae

bookqueen said:

I drove the coast going Dublin to Dublin (all around the country). Kinsale was my favorite coastal town and when I take my hubs back (and babe) next year we will be staying there again. We stayed at Desmond House B&B and adored it! We visited so many castles that I don't remember the names, but our favorites were the ones in ruins. Of course you have to visit The Blarney Stone (go very early in the morning... It gets really crowded). And we did both Dingle Pensinsula and Ring of Kerry, Cliffs of Moher (we stayed out on one of the islands just off the cliffs... We wouldn't do that again). Then we went north and visited giants Causeway and the carrick-a-rede bridge (both are must dos!). Stopped in Belfast and then back to Dublin. Our favorite restaurant the whole trip was Gallaghers Boxty House in Dublin. I was the driver, and I got used to driving on the left side (on the right side of the car) very quickly! It's really a gorgeous country. Always be prepared for rain. It rained every day of our 14 day trip, but we witnessed more than a dozen rainbows.

OMG, I totally forgot about driving on the other side of the car/road!! @-)

Just make sure to have insurance on your car... my husband drove the entire trip and banked a few curbs and hit a gate on a sharp incline. Luckily insurance covered the damages and we didn't have to pay anything

NatesCupcake47

Lurker here, due Feb 18 with our first son :-)  We went in Nov last year and brought DD who was 14 months at the time.  We rented a car and looped from Dublin to Kilkenny to Killarney to Galway and back to Dublin- we had 9 nights.  Killarney was our favorite.  In Kilkenny we loved the Kilkenny Castle and we enjoyed the Smithwicks tour.  We stopped at Rock of Cashel on the way to Killarney.  Killarney we hiked the Gap of Dunloe and enjoyed Muckross House.  On our way to Galway we stopped at the Cliffs of Moher and drove through the Burren.  Galway we walked around the city for a couple of days visiting museums, same in Dublin.  In November we got to enjoy the Christmas Market on St. Stephen's Green which was fabulous.  The food was awesome the whole trip and we stayed in vacation rentals for all stops except Kilkenny where we did a B&B.  The vacation rentals we did were absolutely fabulous and cheaper than anything else we were finding (we used airbnb) and we also loved our B&B experience in Kilkenny- Emer at Bridge View B&B was so amazing and the location couldn't be beat.  

Anytime we've gone to Europe we've gone in November.  The days are shorter, but the weather is still great, the prices can't be beat, and the crowds have all but disappeared (from what we understand anyway- having not been during the heavy tourist seasons we can't say for sure!).  

loveymay

Lurker from April 16 (I work night shift and have a lot of downtime tonight, so Im dirty lurking errywhere!!)

DH and I went to Ireland a few years ago, we stayed in Dublin and Belfast. In Dublin I recommend touring the Guinness brewery, Dublin castle, and St Patrick's Cathedral. And you HAVE to go to the gift shop Carroll's because they are everywhere to the point of being ridiculous, lol. We made an inside joke about it. From Belfast we made a day trip out to Giant's Causeway (booked a tour, didn't go on our own). The views of the ocean from the rolling green cliffs of Ireland is breathtaking! It is not a view you will ever forget. We wanted to do a black taxi tour ride through parts of Belfast where all the conflict took place (The Troubles) but riots broke out while we were there, so we didnt do the tour.

We want to go back someday to see more cities, so all these comments are super helpful for me too, lol! I hope you have a great trip!!!