IRELAND & NORTHERN IRELAND

We were planning to take time off in the last week of August and we weren't sure what our destination should be. We did have a few constraints, like we wanted to able to drive, health care should be easily available and weather shouldn't be too cold or hot. When we generally browsed on google flights, we figured we had a direct flight from San Francisco to Dublin, Ireland and they were offering lower prices to promote the airlines and its new routes in the US. That is how we ended up in Ireland.

Also, while watching Sherlock, I had noticed beautiful location of Cliffs of Moher and of course the Game of Thrones castles were located in Northern Island. So, Ireland, here we are!

We did a road trip around the island in 7 days:

Day 0: Arrive in Dublin. Drive to Kilkenny.
Day 1: Kilkenny -> Cork -> Killarney
Day 2: Day in Killarney
Day 3: Killarney -> Limerick -> Cliffs of Moher -> Galway
Day 4: Galway -> Londonderry
Day 5: Londonderry -> Giant's Causeway -> Belfast
Day 6: Belfast -> Dublin
Day 7: Day in Dublin
Day 8: Fly out

Day 0: Arrival in Dublin. Drive to Kilkenny.

We arrived in Dublin around afternoon. Once we got our luggage and our rental car, we drove straight to a restaurant for lunch. We found a good good Indian restaurant on the outskirts of Dublin and ordered thali. yum yum. When we got back to our car, we realized there was an issue wit the car and the check engine light was on. We called the rental center that was 40 minutes away and they asked us to come back and exchange the car. Oh boy, what a waste of time. We drove all the way back, got another car and then drove to Kilkenny. The weather was so cloudy as if it was almost about to rain. But we got to Kilkenny at night and we were already so full that we didn't want to have dinner and went straight to bed. We didn't get to explore the town as we had wasted a couple of hours doing back and forth with the rental center. Looking forward to the next day to start our vacation!

Kilkenny Castle

Day 1: Kilkenny -> Cork -> Killarney

We were staying at Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel. It was an excellent hotel and the location was right in the middle of the old town. Felt like a perfect weekend getaway town for Dublin residents. We found a cute little cafe in the morning to get breakfast. This small city is very picturesque with an old town charm and 100% walkable.

We walked to Kilkenny castle in the morning after breakfast. We bought entry tickets for the castle and took our own sweet time to tour the castle and take some lovely pictures inside and outside the castle. There are vast green rolling hills right behind the castle which make for a wonderful area for kids to run and play. From here we made our way through the Kilkenny shops down to their Cathedral. The cathedral is located on the other end of the town and it makes for a very nice walk through cute little shops. There are two cathedrals that we visited, St Mary's Cathedral and Canice Cathedral. There is more stuff to do here if you have time but we decided to skip all of it. See Smithwick.

After spending about half a day in Kilkenny we headed to Cork. The weather was a bit rainy but the drive was beautiful. We'd gotten hungry by now so we navigated straight to an
Indian restaurant for lunch, Desi Bites. After our lunch we drove to the city center and parked our car at a car park garage. We explored the English Market. It was raining so we decided to take a stop at the cafeteria and grab some coffee. It is quite a big city. We decided to continue our drive to our destination for the night, Killarney. After checking into our hotel, we walked down to Piccolo for dinner. This seems like a cute little town and we were happy we were spending a full day here.

Day 2: Day in Killarney

Muckross House

Killarney is a very walkable town. it's a small little town and very popular with tourists. Our first order of business this day was to take a carriage ride, because when our daughter saw a carriage the previous day, we had to convince her to wait until the next day to take a ride. The ride starts from the town center and goes all the way around the castle. There are different routes that you could take depending upon how much time you're willing to spend. We decided to just take the shortest round around the castle with the lake view. 

After the ride, we headed to the lake. You could take a boat ride or just spend some time walking around. We skipped the boat ride drove to the Abbey next, which can be easily missed when you are driving to the abbey. So be vigilant of the turn. Next, we went to the Muckross House, and this was one of the most picturesque places in the town. It is located next to a lake and has beautiful green lawns all around. You could also take a carriage ride here. We spent quite sometime here as our daughter was busy running around and enjoying her time in these lawns.

Ladies' View

Next, we drove to Torc waterfall. We were now officially in Killarney National Park. It is a short hike to the viewpoint and it is a pretty little waterfall. then we drove to the Ladies View. you could keep going to drive around the peninsula, but we were done for the day and decided to head back to the city center for dinner. We wanted to have Indian food so we went to Bombay palace. The city center itself is very pretty and makes for great pictures. This is a beautiful town and one could spend days here.

If you do plan to spend more time, go around the Killarney peninsula. You could also drive to Dingle for a day and come back. 

Latin Quarter, Galway

Day 3: Killarney -> Limerick -> Cliffs of Moher -> Galway

The next day we grabbed breakfast at Manna, and headed to Limerick. Limerick is another big city, we decided to grab lunch and not spend much time here. we had pizza for lunch at Milano, which was right next to the river in the city. After lunch, we went for a short walk along the river and then we were headed straight to our biggest attraction of the trip, Cliffs of Moher.

It's a long drive to get to the cliffs but the drive becomes prettier as you get closer. There was plenty of parking and enough guidance for tourists on what to do. We walked along the Cliffs and got some really breathtaking views. We were here during the sunset hours, so that added to our experience. One way to explore these cliffs would be to take a cruise from Galway, which would take half a day or a full day. We decided to continue to our stopover for the night in Galway. It got a little windy and we experienced bursts of rain. However, by the time we had dinner at Spice India, the rain had settled down and we walked around Latin Quarter, which was a very lively neighborhood and seemed like the hangout place for experiencing nightlife. 

Day 4: Galway -> Londonderry

Though our plan was to visit Kylemore Abbey, we felt lazy and instead wanted to spend some time in the city. So we grabbed breakfast at Mr. Waffle and went to the Galway Cathedral. Then we spent time in the playground next to the cathedral and just strolling.

Mullaghmore Castle

From here, we headed towards Londonderry. We took a break at this cute little town, Silgo. Had lunch at Poppadam and walked around the town, shopping and following a marked Silgo tourist trail on their streets. It led us to an Abbey which was closed by the time we reached, but it was a fun day.

We could head to Mount Bilburn and hike there, but we decided to keep driving to Londonderry. On our drive, I spotted a castle that just looked very picturesque. So, I looked up on google maps and we just took a detour to Mullaghmore . We spent time watching the sunset over the ocean with views of the castle. It was so beautiful, picturesque and just a perfect end to our relaxed day. Best part was, it wasn't crowded at all. Next up was a long drive to Londonderry. Once we reached our hotel, we just crashed for the night.

Day 5: Londonderry -> Giant's Causeway -> Belfast

Mussenden Temple

Our first goal of the day was to drive to the Mussenden Temple. It was a bit tricky to locate, but uff, the view from the beach is beautiful and does remind you of Game of Thrones. We then drove to the top and parked our car to walk to the Temple to get a view of the beach from there. The temple makes for a very good location to take pictures.

It was almost lunch time now. So we navigated to a lunch place which ended up being a cute little town, and again we ended up shopping post lunch!

Next up were Giant’s Causeway. This also a well established tourist spot, so all parking directions and trails are clearly marked. We walked downhill to get to the basalt columns and on our way back, we took the bus. There are plenty of tails and you could easily spend the entire day here.

Giant's Causeway

From here, we went to the Dunluce Castle, which was closed to visitors by the time reached, but we got our views from the highway while driving towards the castle. As
there is plenty of daylight, and this day was mostly about Game of Throne locations, we drove to the ‘dark hedges’. You have to park across the road near a hotel parking and then walk to this road where the trees form a canopy. 

We were done with our day and just navigated to a restaurant for dinner, Nu Delhi, which btw, turned out to be quite popular, so be ready to wait or make a reservation. 

Titanic Museum

Day 6: Belfast -> Dublin

We were finally in Belfast and super excited to go see the Titanic Museum. Before we headed out to the museum, we grabbed breakfast at Harlem, which was a super fancy brunch place. We walked around the city hall area and it was a busy city!

Next up, the Titanic Museum. I didn’t expect, but our daughter thoroughly enjoyed it. She enjoyed their little treasure hunt and finding the hidden objects, the story about the ship and also a mini gondola ride. Now we were finally headed to Dublin. Once we settled in to our hotel, we went to Dosa Dosa food truck for amazing dosa and even more amazing chai! 

Day 7: A Day in Dublin

Trinity College

We had a full day to explore Dublin! First we headed to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Magnificent, beautiful and crowded. There are many tourist spots in this area, so once you find parking, be ready to walk. 

Next we walked to the castle, and the Book of Kells. From here we walked to the Parliament and spent time walking around the Trinity College. This is a very picturesque location and makes for great family pictures. The Marsh library was unfortunately closed (it was Monday!)

The highlight of our day was the Guinness Storehouse. What a wonderful attraction. It is a multi storied attraction and you go through various sections learning about different parts of the beer making process. It is a must do.
We skipped the Zoo and the Ghoul had a minimum age requirement. 

Day 8: Fly out

Packed our bags and ready to go back home! Ireland, you were so beautiful <3 ! 

Helpful notes and Tips:

• Guinness Storehouse

  If you were limited on time, prefer staying near the Killarney area,. You can spend a few days here, driving/hiking around the peninsula. Can also take a day trip to Dingle and other coastal towns
  

• If you are Game of Thrones fan, you can book specific tours focus on GoT fans and visiting those specific locations. There is also a studio tour and also Winterfell Castle that we skipped.

• If you have time, you could take a cruise from Galway to visit Cliffs of Moher. They are majestic and I am sure the views from the seas would be breathtaking.
  

• We skipped going to the Kylemore Abbey as it was quite a detour and we planned to chill that day. It seems beautiful in pictures.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

St. Patrick's Cathedral

• Other picturesque area near Dublin are the Wicklow Mountains. Our daughter isn't ready for long hikes yet, so we skipped this.

• There is lots to do in Dublin, but we had restrictions and had to skip them. 

• Jameson Distillery is open only for 18+

• Guinness Storehouse is open for all ages.
  

• You could do pub crawl at night.

• The goal/ghoul is also open only for 12+ or 18+

• The immigration for US happened at the Dublin airport, so we skipped that when we landed and it felt such a time saver.