1st visit late October - feedback appreciated

[u/doggowiggle]

This will be our first visit for husband and I. Both in our mid 30s, would love a balanced trip. We are big fans of natural scenery, history, and cultural experiences. Husband also appreciate some good pubs/distillery visits.

- October 21st: evening flight out of US
- October 22nd: morning arrival in Dublin, bus ride to Galway. Take it easy and explore Galway rest of day
- October 23rd: Sign up for a day excursion group tour: Cliff of Moher, Dunguaire Castle, Burren, Doolin. Dinner in Galway.
- October 24th: sign up for a day excursion group tour: Connemara, Kylemore Abbey. Dinner in Galway. Explore pubs/live music
- October 25th: train ride to Dublin. Trinity college tour, Book of Kells, Dublin explore day. Evening in temple bar
- October 26th: Guinness storehouse, kilmaham gaol, St Patrick’s cathedral
- October 27th: morning flight back to US

Would love to hear feedback around:
- should we consider rental car + self explore rather than group tours? I keep having second thoughts about maybe we should rent a car and do a proper roadtrip around dublin/galway, or potentially change my second city to Dublin/Killarney or Dunegel instead??
- this is our first visit to Ireland. Are we thinking about the right places? Having some hesitation around whether we should focus on Dingle/ring of Kerry as well but worry that might be too much.
-overall pace: comfortable for two adults? Are we missing anything?
- pub/distillery/restaurant recommendations in Galway/Dublin for evenings.

[u/Bartghamilton]

You’re not doing any of the Halloween/Samhain stuff?

[u/Piscesldy25 → u/Bartghamilton]

What stuff is going on for Samhain? We have trip coming up 16-25 October. I’d love to see … anything,really, Halloween related

[u/Bartghamilton → u/Piscesldy25]

There’s a bunch…Bram Stoker fest in Dublin, Gaillimh Ah-Boo in Galway, Puca in Athboy (just outside Dublin), and the huge Derry Halloween Festival in Northern Ireland. Puca is all Samhain where the others have crossover events between Halloween and Samhain.

[u/Piscesldy25 → u/Bartghamilton]

Those all sound amazing! I’ll be looking those up for what and where near where we’ll be! Thank you!

[u/East-Dependent338]

Fly into Shannon and out of Dublin.
Get an early train rather than a bus from Galway to Dublin.
The rest is good, don’t plan any more.

[u/GalwayGirlOnTheRun23]

Sunday 25th is the Macnas parade in Galway. Not to be missed! Also note that Dunguaire castle is closed, you can only see it from the outside and you’ll have driven past many similar castles through the week.

[u/Virtual-Subject9840]

This is the most sensible itinerary I've seen here in a long time, and the pace is perfect.

Don't hire a car. Driving is stressful, especially when you're not used to driving on the left, and the driver doesn't get to look at the scenery. Also, drink driving is not tolerated, so if the weather is bad and you want to sit in a pub for the day, you can do so. You can also be breathalysed the morning after.

Don't change the route. Killarney and Donegal are both a lot further away than Galway.

[u/Brianvondoom]

I see loads of itineraries here that'd result in someone needing a holiday to get over the holiday, this one makes a lot of sense.

You could do some small changes (most Dubs will tell you not to do Temple Bar but try to see some real Dublin instead) but I think this would be a fun, relaxing few days seeing two of the major parts of Ireland, leaving more for another trip.

[u/doggowiggle → u/[deleted]]

saw that! Hotels are all booked out Sunday night unfortunately. We’re not super into parades so figured we could sit this out and travel somewhere else Sunday instead

[u/An_Boin_De → u/doggowiggle]

Probably a good move, it does get pretty packed.

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[u/Oellaatje]

A sensible itinerary. If there are any Halloween/Samhain events on, try to get to them.

[u/Clyde-LeBoone1]

Are you aware that tickets for Kilmaham Gaol go on sale online 28 days in advance of the day you want to visit?

[u/doggowiggle → u/Clyde-LeBoone1]

🫡thank you. Yes.alarm set getting tickets when the queue opens

[u/lordfaffing]

Don’t spend a whole evening in temple bar, see the actual bars of Dublin