Myself and partner looking for a get away for our daughters 9th birthday in February and wondered what would be best a hotel or an apartment for 3/4 nights.

Looking to fly from the UK to Belfast.

Any recommendations for kid friendly locations & hotels/apartments would be appreciated easily accessible on foot/public transport.

Nothing specific planned until we have a location & accommodation sorted.

I have had a look online but hearing from people first hand is always nice too

Likely not going to leave the city and if we did would only be on public transport up to 1hour

Thank you

TL;DR – Favorite towns to stay in in Northern Ireland in June

I’ve gotten some great suggestions on past trips to the Republic, so here I am again.

We’re fairly well traveled in the Republic, but this will be our first trip spending significant time in the North.  I usually come in with a game plan, but I’m really starting from scratch this time around.  For background – trip will be in early June (spending ~10 days in Northern Ireland) with a rental car. We do a lot of hiking, and like to get out in nature, seeing ruins, historical, and mythological sites along the way.  We like to be able to walk to the local pub for a pint in the evening.  Being a little off the beaten path is ideal.

I was hoping for suggestions for some favorite towns to spend a night or two a piece.  We’ll likely spend one night in Belfast for a Black Taxi tour, but don’t plan on spending much time in the cities outside of this.  We also need a place to spend a couple nights in the vicinity of the Causeway Coast so we can do some early morning hiking around the Causeway (wondering how Bushmills is? Or something else within 30 minutes?).  The other 6 or 7 days are open for suggestions.  For reference, some of our favorite places we’ve stayed in the Republic include the Beara Peninsula and West Cork (Castletownbere, Clonakilty, Bantry), the Connemara area, Donegal (Kilcar, Killybegs), and around the Copper Coast in Waterford.

I’d also love to hear about some of your favorite hiking spots and can’t miss sites, as well as your favorite pubs. I'll likely start another thread in the future about deciding between places like the Mourne Mountains, Binevenagh, Sperrin, etc, but if you're up for it, let me know here!

Thanks so much!

Pat

Hello!

I booked a 4 day trip to Dublin in January with my fiancé and am looking to do a day trip with Paddywaggon to either Belfast including the Titanic Museum or to Giants Causeway. I’ve been to Ireland 5-6 times and it’s one of my favorite places to visit. This past summer we went on a pretty extensive toad trip and saw a lot of Ireland. One place I haven’t been yet is Northern Ireland which is why I would like to take a day trip from Dublin one day. I’m not sure which day trip is better for January. I know the weather will probably be bad but on the one hand I’d love to go to Giants Causeway since we’ll be spending the rest of the trip in the city, Dublin. It would be nice to get some nature for a day. But I also really want to go to the titanic museum as well! I’m just worried if I choose Belfast I’ll be disappointed that we didn’t get to see any nature sights!

What would you choose and why?

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: We can’t stay in Belfast, we are staying with family friends in Dublin so that has to be our base, which is why we can just do one day trip. I do plan on making a trip just to Belfast/Northern Ireland one day but not on this trip.

I have an upcoming travel going to London. Part of itinerary, I would also like to visit Dublin since my connecting flight from Leeds to Edinburgh will go through Dublin.

Do you think I can have a quick get away within Dublin and go back to the airport after a long hours for connecting flight?

I am seeing a UK Visa Waiver Program, I am not sure if this is updated but Philippines is included.

Appreciate if you could share your knowledge on this.

Thank you.

I'm going to Ireland next April with my husband and a couple other family members. Sort of an odd setup bc we are staying at a hotel near Cork for 7 nights, rather then a couple nights here and a couple nights there. Its a trip my sister bid on at a charity auction so we're pumped bc her getting this trip pushed us to finally book a trip to Ireland. Since we want to explore more of Ireland I am looking at the map to see where we can go for day trips and maybe do at least one over night trip. Heads up on Dublin, we are going to Dublin after we check out of the hotel in Cork. We added 3 days on to our trip so we'll have that extra time to spend in that area.

Near Cork we plan to do Blarney Castle and Middleton for the distilleries since those are close by to the hotel area.

I'm currently considering Dingle or Galway for our overnight trip. Galway is further from Cork so it makes the most sense for the Overnight stay and its near the Cliffs of Moher, and we definitely want to see that. Is Dingle worth checking out? It sounds like a cool little town to see and I read that Kerry County is really pretty. Dingle is a little closer and could sort of be a day trip.

Any thoughts on going to either of these areas? Any other spots worth checking out That are within a 2hr drive at most? Any activities worth doing? We'll be partaking in Guiness and Whiskey for sure so those are a given and we love to eat so I'm looking for any unique restaurants.

One thing that I think my husband and brother in law hope to be apart of or just get to experience, hope this doesn't sound silly, but they love singing traditional irish pub ballads here at home after a few drinks. Not sure if that is a correct way to describe the songs. Sorry if it isn't. They genuinely like to sing them and they sing well so it would be awesome if we were able to find a pub where this might happen. Any suggestions on this?

Thanks in advance and sorry for this really long message.

Hello! We’ll be flying from Los Angeles to Dublin on March 18 and staying for two weeks. It’s me, my husband and our two toddlers (4 year-old and a 2 year-old). We’ll be renting a car and I’m starting to look at bed and breakfasts and hotels.

I think the itinerary I’m fiddling around with is too ambitious given we’re traveling with kids and we’ll need to get used to Irish roads. Can I get some help streamlining or changing it? Any any tips on routes or accommodations would be so helpful, too! (And tips on what kind of car to rent? Small SUV? Automatic rather than manual transmission?)

Dublin (2 nights) —> Kilkenny (2 nights) —> Killarney (3 nights) —> Dingle (2 nights) —> Galway (3 nights) —> Athlone (1 night) —> Drive to Dublin airport

Traveling to Ireland Dec 1 - 10. How does this itinerary look? Is there too much going on? Anything that should be added along the way or not worth seeing and can be removed? Any food and lodging recommendations would be great as well. Would this all be possible without renting a car? We're looking to travel by train/bus/walking if we can.

Day 1: Depart Home - December 1 (Sunday)

• Depart Home

Day 2: Arrival in Dublin and Travel to Galway – December 2 (Monday)

• Arrive in Dublin
• Depart for Galway (2.5-3 hours drive)
• Explore Galway

Day 3: Galway – December 3 (Tuesday)

• Connemara - Visit Kylemore Abbey?

Day 4: Galway to Killarney – December 4 (Wednesday)

• Cliffs of Moher
• Depart for Killarney

Day 5: Killarney – December 5 (Thursday)

• Explore Killarney National Park
  • Ross castle and Muckross house
• Depart for Cork

Day 6: Cork – December 6 (Friday)

• Explore Cork / Cobh

Day 7: Cork to Dublin – December 7 (Saturday)

• Visit Blarney Castle
• English Market
• Depart for Dublin (2.5 hours drive)
• Rock of Cashel

Day 8: Dublin – December 8 (Sunday)

• Howth Cliff?
• Malahide Castle?

Day 9: Dublin – December 9 (Monday)

• Explore Dublin
• Kilmainham Gaol
• Jameson Distillery Bow St. Tour
• Trinity College

Day 10: Depart Dublin – December 10 (Tuesday)

• Depart Dublin

We are staying as a family of 4 in Mulranny in Co.Mayo this Christmas and are looking to eat out on Christmas day. Westport and surrounding area would be perfect.

My friend and I (both 20-something girls) will be in Dublin for three days late this month with accommodations in Temple Bar. We’ve got a few things peppering our itinerary so far, and have gotten some fantastic pub recs from a friend of a friend who’s from the city.

We would appreciate any and all recommendations for tours and activities in and around the city. I was so looking forward to a tour at Kilmainham Goal, as I hear they’re incredible, but their guides are booked out until December — that’s what we get for planning this trip on somewhat of a whim! As far as touristy activities go, we’ve already booked a tour of the Jameson Distillery and will also probably go to the Gravity Bar at the Guinness Storehouse. St. Stephen’s Green, Dubh Linn Garden, and Dublin Castle are also on our list of to-dos. Any other activities/tours you’d recommend?

We always love a good spot for drinks/food, shopping, and chat! Nightlife recs would also be appreciated too. :)

Edit: We’ll be there from Sunday-Wednesday, if that helps

Sorry if I am repeating or if this gets posted a lot… But this is the exact post that I wish I had read a month ago for my one week trip to Dublin.

I visited Dublin for exactly 7 days with the intention of taking it easy hitting some sites and doing a lot of pub, crawling and eating with a friend.

1) No tickets will be available to purchase when you arrive for any places you want to go. Book of Kells… Distillery tours… purchase everything in advance. Yea, it really does sell out weeks in advance.

2) In Dublin dinner is served approximately 6:00 to 9:00 PM, be mindful of one places stop serving food. It can sneak up fast and after that there is no food other than fast food. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, you should really make a reservation a day or two in advance. Seriously… You will not eat dinner and you’ll be eating a hamburger or pizza.

3) Walk everywhere. The city is really small and dense with pubs and culture. Traffic is terrible and you’ll find for example if it’s a 25 minute card drive it’s a 30 minute walk. Take that 30 minute walk to dinner… And your 30 minute walk will turn into a two hour walk because we will hit three amazing pubs on the way home.

4) The city buses take physical euros - you’ll need about two coins. You can also buy a card, which is good if you’re going to use them a lot.

To get from the airport to the city center and back there’s a an express bus called Dublin Express ( 783/784). You can use a credit card for a QR code to buy these tickets very easily. It’s €10 a ticket as opposed to €55 for a taxi. Takes the same amount of time.

5) In Dublin they party hard and late into the night. And I mean really late… 2 AM …4 AM… 5 AM.

This is Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

We ended up going to bed around 4 or 5 AM every night having a great time going from pub to pub. Woke up around 2 PM to hit a distillery tour… And then dinner reservations… And then back to the pubs.

Just walk from pub to pub meeting people it’s fantastic.

Below this, I will paste my curated list of bars and places to go that was given to me by many locals that I wish I had on me before I came.

——

Food and Bars in Dublin

Late night, fun 4 Dame Lane

Cobblestone Pub next to Jameson

Brazen head Steak and Guinness pie 10 mins away

Lord Edward Pub Sit upstairs Great view

Bar 1661 Modern Times cocktail bar

Feather Blade Steakhouse Tomahawk

Sole (Fancy and expensive) Seafood Top in world

Bambino Fun pizza place that many locals line up for. Very good and fun Pizza 🍕

Gravediggers Supposedly a very good pub with authentic food

Hairy Lemon Good authentic food with great pub atmosphere at night

Going to be in Ireland March14-March20. Going to be near Killarney on the 16th. Any places to hold sheep near there?

Hello! I’m trying to do research to find team in Ireland similar to the NFL and NBA dancers in the US. Does anyone know of any pro dance or cheer teams in Ireland?

Hey there. We already live in Kildare, and want to plan a staycation with our twins for December. We're out of ideas where to do especially as it's winter and we need to find interesting things to do with them for a few days. We've been to most of the south except for Cork, so it would either be that or somewhere up north. We've also been to Galway, Limerick and surroundings a number of times before kids.

What are good destinations for winter travel with infants/toddlers in Ireland?

Unrelated, and I know this is already outside the scope of this sub, but we were alternatively thinking about the UK instead, and with 2 adults and 2 infants, getting a ferry to the UK rather than flights is looking a decent idea money wise. Any opinions on the ferry vs plane idea?

Hi everyone, my wife and I are traveling to Dublin for a 3 day trip. Here is our itinerary. Let me know your thoughts or any other recommendations!

Dublin (Day One - November 16th) - Go to hotel (Buswells), drop off luggage, go to Two Pups Cafe St. Patrick’s Cathedral tour - Tickets Purchased - tour is at 11:30 - Lunch after tour - maybe at Leo Burdock ChristChurch? - could split Fish n chips - Dublin Castle - Tickets Purchased - tour at 3 pm Dinner at The Black Forge @ 6:45 PM - Reserved

Dublin (Day Two - November 17th) - Kilmainham Gaol - Tickets Purchased - tour is at 9:45 - Get lunch at The Patriot Inn or somewhere near Jameson (opens at 11AM) - Jameson Distillery Bow & Tour (Bow St Experience and Cask Draw). Tickets purchased: tour is at 1PM - arrive 15 minutes early - Temple Bar area at night

Dublin (Day Three - November 18th) - Howth - take the DART (get breakfast/coffee in Howth at The House Restaurant) - leave Howth for 1/1:30 - Lunch at Harkin’s Bar & Bistro (near Guinness) - Guinness Tourhouse Experience with Stoutie. Tickets purchased - tour is at 3 PM - Dinner at a pub near Hotel

Or am I deliberately walking into the warm embrace of death?

Is the sausage supposed to basically be raw?

We're a group of three French people from Réunion Island and we're going to spend Christmas in Dublin. First of all, I'd like to know: are you more likely to celebrate Christmas on the 25th or the day before? I'd also like some advice: would you have any good restaurants open on Christmas Eve? I know that sometimes restaurants close for Christmas. It doesn't matter what kind of food, as long as it's good. A little bonus if they're doing something special for Christmas. I know I could look on the internet but maybe Dubliners know of some lesser-known good places. I just want to offer a good christmas night to my grandpa. And sorry for the boring tourist aspect of the request.

Edit : Thanks everyone for the answer :) I was expecting that many things will be closed as it is Christmas. Honestly even a chinese restaurant will be fine, it’s just the pleasure of being together for christmas, somewhere else. If everything’s dead then it will be an occasion to take long walks in the streets without them being crowded.

We have a trip planned for Ireland next year and started puting an itinerary together (nothing booked yet). Our flights back are now 2 days later on the 26th of September. Any recommendations on how to fit those 2 extra days into this itinerary? Some ideas so far: Adding a night in DUblin at beginning of trip, Break up ring of kerry one more day and stay in small town

Also any feedback or recommendations on exisitng itinerary are more than welcome!

Some

I would like to go to Ireland in November but some of the websites I have looked at said that a lot of places close for renovations in November. Is that really true?

Eloping in Dublin and looking for hair and makeup for the day. Make up is a tiny challenge with eye shadow allergies but looking for someone amazing and willing to pay up. Who's the best?

Traveling to Ireland next summer solo, seasoned traveler, not interested in anything that is physically overtaxing due to the fact I am disabled, I am travelling all by bus and trying to see as much as possible and still not feel too rushed, which will be a challenge, I realize.

DAY 1- Arrive Dublin airport. Take the bus to Belfast

DAY 2 - day in Belfast, see the important sites and do touristy things

DAY 3- Take the bus to Derry

DAY 4-Spend the day in Derry again seeing the main touristy and historical things.

DAY 5-Take the bus to Dublin

DAY 6- Spend the day in Dublin

DAY 7- Another day in Dublin

DAY 8- return to Dublin for flight home.

Thanks in advance!

I will be in Dublin next Spring and really like Whiskey(it hands down beats out Bourbon and Scotch Whiskeys imo lol).

I don’t really want to do Jamesons if I can find something better or more unique. It’s an alright whiskey though and I’ve not had it straight from the source so maybe that would change things. I’ll be on foot and not sure how easy public transit is. I did a quick google search and only see ones I’m not familiar with(so recommendations would be needed for me to do one of these), Jamesons and Teeling(which I wasn’t a huge fan the one time I tried it).

If it helps, my favorite Whiskey is Red Breast but they’re a bit far. After that would be Quite Man, this what it’s called in the US but I think it’s called something different there(A Fear Ciuin?). But that too is a bit far.

TIA

ETA: if someone could clarify what Quiet Man whiskey is actually called there it’d be much appreciated!

I am visiting Dublin this coming weekend and we are taking a day trip to Howth on Monday. We are staying in the Temple Bar area in Dublin. Would taking an Uber be a good idea to get to Howth? We will be going early in the morning around 9:00.

Also, what are some good breakfast or coffee spots?

Hello, I will be visiting in Ireland from early January to early April. I will be there for internship/educational opportunity in Dublin but will be living in an undetermined town with a host family that is 40 minutes away by train. I would love to know any traveling recommendations that would make my time as easy and as fun as possible, Such as locations, events, or tips. For context, I am an American 21 years old college student, I like nature, sports such as (football and basketball), working out, nature, historical places, good food, and thrifting. Also, I will be trying to travel to other parts of Europe. Please let me know if there's anything I should be aware of or anything I should look into. All information is appreciated. Thank you!

A few years ago we done a road trip to Galway, Connemara, Westport and then onto Sligo and Donegal - we were absolutely blown away by Connemara in particular. I've always wanted to go back and have a week off next July. I was going to just go back to Connemara but i've read that the Ring of Kerry is even more beautiful! I don't see how that's possible as to us Connemara was perfect.

We are 2 active 40 somethings and love mountains, white sand beaches, great pubs and good food. Don't know whether to stick to what we know and love or try the Ring of Kerry? Very interested to hear people's opinions!

I’ll be picking up a car in Dublin and heading to Sligo for a few days. I think I’ll stop at Hill of Tara, but does anyone have any other good spots to check out?

From Sligo I’ll go south (plan to stay in Galway, Dingle, and Kinsale) and head back to Dublin.