Going over to Ireland next Tuesday and going solo. Have a path lined up (below) and plan on doing only a day in dublin and seeing rock of cashel, cliffs of moher and eventually rounding up to Belfast. Pretty excited. Let me know if you have good tips, experiences, must stop pubs, or things you think would be good to do or know.

Im 29 and male. Renting my own car to run around the land. I realize its alot of stops but i wanted to see alot of both Ireland and N. Ireland.

Staying the nights in order:
Doolin
Galway
Ballyshannon/Donegal (undecided)
Portrush/Ballycastle (undecided)
Belfast
Dublin

Thanks!

Spent a couple days in Dublin, drove due west & north to Westport (cool pub w/locals that show up randomly & play instruments & singing).
Drove south thru Galway, made some detours along the Wild Atlantic Way, eventually landing in Killarney for St Patty's Day. Great town, did a day trip to Dingle (great fishing town). Did the loop around the peninsula, awesome views.

Drove southeast, stopped at Blarney Castle then to Cork (least favorite). Partied watching rugby & pub crawls.

That was it, drove back to Dublin for an early flight the next morning. The Southwest part of Ireland is absolutely gorgeous & freakin' awesome. Drive the Wild Atlantic Way & stop in small towns, eat/drink at their pubs and you can't go wrong.

For something off the beaten path a bit check out Glendalough Monastic Site and walk around the "lake". Very pretty and didn't see as many tourists there. It's in County Wicklow south of Dublin.

Another pretty nature area is Tollymore Forest Park in County Down (N Ireland). Some nice views in the nearby Mourne Mountains as well.

I'm struggling to remember the name, but there was a really good pub not far from the square in Galway.

The Crane Pub in Galway will have live music, free, locals and tourists upstairs just jamming through whatever tunes they know. Fun times.
Connemara is lovely.
You can get on a boat to see cliffs of Moher from the sea - stunning
Note it takes longer to drive anywhere than you might think. Roads are narrow!

Love hearing other peoples input.

I googled map route tines between cities....because they tend to be dead on in other places. Think this is the case? Thanks for the galway tips. Recommend an area to stay there for night life?

Havent booked the place to stay yet.

Google map times are fairly accurate. We're in Ireland now driving. However sometimes google is confused on the winding, twisting streets

Galway, stay in heart of city - you won't have to look far to find the pubs. Lots of college kids there from all over

Ireland is an amazing place, as others mentioned the roads are narrow and winding in much of the countryside and will take longer than expected based on number of tour buses, definitely be careful of them as they drive a bit aggressive and think they always have the right of way. A few places I remember fondly are:
Galway Latin Quarter, touristy but worth it, pubs I recommend here are:
The Kings Head
Tig Colli

Dublin
Oliver St John Gogarty ( in Temple bar district)
The Brazen head

If ya get a chance checkout Irish Story tellers, called Seanchai ( pronounced Shawn aw Kay) the Brazen Head puts on story telling events but if ya find one out in the country pubs you really get a great sense of Irish culture, for a pint or two they'll tell ya a 5 minute story in 45 minutes

Have a great time ur gonna love it!!
Slainte!!

By the way if ur drinking Whiskey, order Powers Irish Whiskey, John's Lane Release, it's amazingly smooth and what the locals drink

A second for Tig Colli in Galway, we had a great time there listening to traditional music.

McGann's pub in Doolin was a fun place to hang out for a while as well.

Thanks guys. I actually just booked doolin and galways stays this morning and those places are walkable or at least stumble-able back.

Post were pretty much what i was looking for. Ill keep an eye for storytellings and lanes whiskey

Drove from Dublin to Galway. Shouldve stayed longer in Galway. Drove to Connemara area. Kylemore Abbey is pretty cool in a beautiful setting.
Drove down the coast. Cliffs of Moher, Ring of Kerry, Ring of Dingle.
Stayed in Kilarney which is a nice little town. A lot of American golfers here. Got locked in a pub after hours. good time!
Cork - pass.
Waterford - pass
If you go to Blarney Castle get there first thing. Walk around the grounds.
Kilkenny - fun little town. Nice castle in town. Smithwick's Brewery tour is fun. If you go you have to hit the Kytelers Pub.

Galway - find The Quay. Pubs everywhere with live music.
Kilkenny is a nice little town.
Kilarney is a pretty good little spot. A lot of Americans on golf trips are here.
Cork - Pass
Waterford - Pass
In Dublin go on a literary pub crawl. Very cool deal. Much better than you might think.

coastsrs said:

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Post were pretty much what i was looking for. Ill keep an eye for storytellings and lanes whiskey

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Just so we're clear, it's Powers Irish Whiskey ( John's Lane Release) the regular Powers is also amazing but the Powers (John's Lane) is their top shelf and exceptionally smooth.

Also, just a word of caution and probably goes without saying but DO NOT order a Black and Tan, get a Half and Half (Harps and Guinness) or Blacksmith ( Smithwicks and Guinness). The Black and Tan is offensive in many parts. Also, DO NOT order an Irish Car Bomb, (especially in Belfast) it is even more offensive since many died during the Troubles of the 70's. Bailey's is better by itself anyway!

Noted. Well aware of the irish car bomb no-no but appreciate the insight...especially for anyone else reading..

Get pretty excited. Thanks everyone for the pointers and previous experiences. Ill try ro recap with photos after the trip

Remember to be careful on the narrow country roads. You are likely to encounter a mom pushing a baby stroller or a sheep out grazing around the next bend. There are no shoulders and nowhere to pull over on some of the roads

I ordered several Irish Car Bombs and had no problems. I was in the Republic. Granted I described what I wanted to drink and the bartenders said, "Oh an Irish Car Bomb."

Several years ago we took today we took the train and went to Mallow and they had turf horse races there they also have turf races in Galway. It was fun betting on the races with the punters.

I leave in a little over a week:
Dublin
Cork
Killarney
Cahirciveen - Skellig Michael
Tralee
Family farm near Cliffs of Moher
Galway
Dublin

Finishing off the ireland trip today in dublin (only night here) and then off to portugal tomorrow.

Got to see Cliffs of Moher with beautiful clear sunny day. Amazing. Doolin and lahinch have been probably my favorite towns so far, though all awesome. Such a beautiful country.

Where did you end up staying in Doolin? We didn't make reservations when we went and the two places we had on our list were full so we ended up at Cullinan's Guest House but it was great.

Aille River Hostel. Small but very good. R

I think that was the first place we tried