Slante!

Ireland is such a fun place, and we cannot wait to go back! My friends and I went for our 30^th birthdays as mine is on March 17 (St. Patrick’s Day!!!) and my twin friends’ birthday is a week prior. I split off from my friends to explore most of Ireland with my husband but we did all do Dublin together.

Some general tips to fully enjoy your Irish vacation:

• If you are not going on an organized tour (my friends did), then you must rent a car and get full insurance. Ireland is one of the few places where your insurance or the insurance on the credit card you book the rental with does not protect you. And trust me, you will need protection. The roads are just asking to beat up your car or the animals roaming on the road are.

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• Talk to the locals and heed their advice as far as where to go/do. It is true what they say about how friendly Irish people are; they are fantastic. We made friends everywhere we went!
• Dress for all of the elements despite what the weather says. We went in March, and checked the weather and it was warmer there than where we lived in Wisconsin and with the wind and rain, we were freezing most of the time! I bought a pair of socks that pretty accurately describe Ireland weather.

• Check out my post of our favorite Ireland pubs in all of the towns we visited!
• Even if you are going in the off season, book your lodging ahead of time! We figured we could be flexible and book as we went but each time we tried to find a place, we struggled for hours and it was definitely the most stressful part of our vacation.
• Restaurants typically close much earlier than U.S. restaurants, usually by 8 and bars typically close by 10 or midnight. This was quite the change from Wisconsin where bar time is 2:00 a.m.

Day 1-3, 14-15:

We flew into Dublin to make sure we were there for the St. Patrick’s Day festivities. The Liffey River separates the town pretty effectively. We stayed on the non-touristy side of Dublin at this amazing AirBnB.

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The host here was incredibly nice and helpful, even made us some traditional Irish breakfast items and let us play with her puppy. Also there is free parking which is NOT easy to come by in the city. It was a short walk or Uber to most attractions in Dublin including the touristy bits on the other side of the Liffey River.

You will find famous sights such as The Temple Bar, Guinness Brewery, and The Brazen Head bars across the river. To be honest we avoided this entire side of the river on St. Patrick’s Day as it was overrun with tourists and had so much more fun with the locals on the other side of the river.

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Word of caution: Watch out for gypsies! We were luckily warned by the bar staff that a mom with her 4 kids were gypsies who were hovering in a bar to take from unsuspecting tourists. Kids may seem cute but just…be careful.

We did explore the Dublin Castle and found it underwhelming but also did not take a tour inside of it which may have changed our minds.

We roamed around Trinity College which truly is magnificently beautiful. The Old Library was breathtaking and Book of Kells Exhibition was fascinating if you are religious at all. We also came across a fun rugby game which is something you don’t come across in the United States…ever. We LOVE soccer and rugby and soaked it in anytime there were games on TV or we came across one live.

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Our favorite restaurant was The Bank on College Green. The oysters, fish and chips and steak were phenomenal.

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Day 3-4:

Galway. This one we have some regrets about, not because it was not worth our time but we wished we would have scheduled more time here; guess we have to go back! 😊 This is SUCH a fun, college town with a bustling nightlife and downtown to explore.

We found some shenanigans in the street and in all of the bars we explored.

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Day 4:

We drove to the Cliffs of Moher. These were as breathtaking as you would imagine but we found even more amazing cliffs later on in our journey.

The driving itself was half of the fun as we discovered lots of photo opportunities, rolling hills, seaside views, and random abandoned castles all over Ireland.

After the Cliffs of Moher, we decided to stay overnight in the next big town we found which was Limerick. Limerick was fine; just another big city that you don’t need to intentionally visit if you are making the trek to Ireland.

Day 5-7:

Dingle was magical. This was our favorite town for sure! We stayed at the fabulous Ashe’s Bed and Breakfast that we highly recommend if you come here; the host was lovely and informative.

There are a few mountains nearby Dingle that we would love to explore with appropriate clothing next time we are there. We loved the small town feel of Dingle and had so much fun exploring the town and meeting the locals.

Also, if you like seafood and want a nice night out, I recommend Out of the Blue restaurant. And if you want a more laid-back experience with jazz music, wine, and yummy pizza, check out The Blue Zone.

Day 8-9:

This was our favorite view of the trip! We explored part of the Ring of Kerry by car and would like to explore it by foot next time.

Along the Ring of Kerry, you have the option to go on the Skellig Ring (if you are not on a tourist bus as those are not permitted on this road) to see the Kerry Cliffs . If you are a Star Wars fan, you can see Skellig Micheal at the Kerry Cliffs. In the summer, when the seas are calmer, you can book boat tours to see the Skellig Islands which include Skellig Michael as well as puffins and other wildlife galore!

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We then kept going south to stay the night in Killarney. I ended up falling ill around this time so we didn’t explore Killarney as I wanted to but it was a fun town with a, wait for it…Lord of the Rings bar!!! I was too sick to even enjoy a drink there but we did take pictures. Also, there is impeccable shopping and food here.

We found a fantastic ice cream shop that is worth stopping at no matter what temperature it is outside. It is called Murphy’s Ice Cream! I believe there are a few other locations in Ireland so if you see one, hit it up and heed their recommendations on what to order!

We did explore the Killarney National Park a bit and were very impressed with just the bit that we had time to see. I suggest spending a day exploring here and taking it all in.

Day 9-10:

After Killarney, we kept going around the island towards The Blarney Stone. The Blarney Stone is definitely a tourist attraction but the actual castle itself is pretty cool. Also the climb to the top of the Blarney Stone is not for the faint of heart or if you have a fear of heights. The legend is that if you reach the top of the castle, you must kiss the Blarney Stone and you will be blessed with the gift of gab. We reached the top but bypassed the kissing; it grossed us out to be honest. The rest of the grounds besides the castle were neat but completely fake and made for tourists.

Also, we visited the Rock of Cashel. This was a lot of history and oddly beautiful for being essentially a graveyard. I recommend!

After the Rock of Cashel, we took a detour to see Cobh. Cobh is the last known port of call that the Titanic had. If you are a huge Titanic fan, there is a Titanic Experience you can attend otherwise you can just explore the town. It is a bit of a rundown town but cute!

After these adventures, we settled for the night in Cork.

Day 10-12: We hopped on a plane to London for $50 a piece! Read all about it here.

Day 12-14: We came back to Dublin and wandered for a little more than a day.

We found a yummy restaurant right on the Liffey River, The Bakehouse. This place has yummy breakfast and baked goods galore and is right on the river so it is prime people watching territory.

Ireland is not known for their food so when you find a delicious restaurant it is quite exciting!

We had the most fun time in Ireland and cannot wait to go back to see what we missed and revisit our favorite parts. I hope you get to enjoy this beautiful country someday and please share your favorites in the comments below! 😊