Ireland Road Trip Itinerary
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I think I’ve created the perfect Ireland itinerary for the first time visitor who wants to see as much of the island as possible. The good thing about this itinerary is that you can cut out whatever you want and move on to the next location if it’s too much for you. Triphappy.com and www.roadtrippers.com are both fantastic places to build your itinerary, including dates and attractions, and even your hotels and restaurants you might want to try. We realized that we missed some things Ireland has to offer, but we still felt that we saw an amazing sample of Ireland. And we’ll go back and take our kids with us soon! Please tell us about your favorite places in the comments, so we will be able to plan even better next time!
When you go to Ireland I suggest that you rent a car. There is so much to see and driving will be the only way to see everything that you want to. Yes, you will need to drive on the left side of the road, but all of the rental cars have stickers on the dashboard that reflect onto the windshield reminding you which lane you should be in, and GPS helps, too. DO NOT FORGO THE GPS unless you like being yelled at by the driver(or if you are the driver–yelling at your passengers!), because it seems that Ireland just paved over all of their narrow, winding cowpaths and there is NO way you’ll able to make heads or tails of it on the map! We rented from Sixt and they gave my husband a mini crash course on driving and then took us out for a test drive before we took off on our own.
For the love of Ireland, do NOT spend your whole trip in Dublin! This beautiful island has SO much to offer that cannot be found in Dublin!
A single blog post about all that we saw and did in Ireland would have been overwhelming, so I split the series up into several posts and have listed them below in the same order as the we traveled them, which matches the pins on the map:
The best way to spend 2 days in Dublin
Driving is the best way to experience Ireland; Dublin to Waterford to Killarney
5 must-see attractions in Killarney
Top 5 things to see in Galway if you only have 2 days
What you must see while driving from Galway to Westport
Top 7 things to see around Sligo
What NOT to do in Northern Ireland
I dream of going to Ireland and will take your advice when I do get there. I like taking the off beaten path not the tourist route.
Thanks
Denise
I love taking the less-traveled path, too. Ireland is small, though, so I think all the places we visited were pretty touristy. But if you go during a less busy time (we were there in September/October) there won’t be bothersome crowds. It will also help to rent a car so you can visit all the neat things and not just rely on a tour. đŸ™‚ You’ll love Ireland!
How long does it take to do this road trip?
We spent 10 days on this road trip through Ireland. We wished we had budgeted a little more time (like a whole day instead of a half day) for the Ring of Kerry drive and a little more time in Belfast and a little less time in Galway. We loved riding bikes across Inis Mohr, but everything else in the area was closed because we were there in the shoulder season. Have fun in Ireland, Catherine!