When Jackie mentioned she had a wedding to attend in Ireland and it was going to be too difficult with child care to take her husband as plus one – the answer was obvious. Girls trip!
We completed an exceptional romp around Dublin and the south/southwest of Ireland. Our requirements were simple – enjoy a little Guinness, do some hiking, see sheep, and listen to as much authentic Irish pub music as possible.
And let me tell you, our trip was a success.
Add in that we had almost no rain (in Ireland?! What?!) and this was absolutely a trip for the record books.
Day .5 – Travel
Jackie and Bailey met me in Chicago. After a brief airport snafu (I may or may not have left my wallet at home and required my husband to hustle it over, resulting in me going through security twice.) we were on an Aer Lingus jet flying directly into Dublin.
It was absolutely not the most comfortable plane I’ve been on (honestly, maybe the worst for the duration) but it did the job and we landed smoothy in Dublin by 10am the following day.
Day 1 – Dublin Tour and Firsts
In an effort to set our internal clocks (spoiler: it didn’t work at all and we battled disconnected time issues the entire trip) we rallied through our Thursday afternoon. Taking full advantage of my Uber discount we used that to get from the airport to our downtown location (super easy, especially with free Dublin airport wifi – it was the same price for the three of us as the bus would have been).
We stayed at the Harding Hotel for three nights which we honestly only chose because it was one of the few reasonable places that offered three beds in one room.
It ended up being perfect and I highly recommend. The staff was great, it was clean, the shower had excellent water pressure, and it’s in an amazing location. Add on that Darkey Kelly’s is underneath and we literally couldn’t have wanted anything else. Sure it was a little loud with the windows open but had we closed them I doubt you could have heard a peep (certainly nothing ear plugs couldn’t have solved).
We had to hustle to make it to coffee (Beanhive – well worth a stop!) and our free tour of Dublin but it was worth it to hear everything Killian had to say. It was the perfect crash course to understanding not only Dublin but also a lot of aspects of Ireland.
I always recommend doing a free walking tour first thing to help give a lay of the land and check off the box on a few good spots. One huge perk – this particular tour ended literally across the street from our hotel so it was a very easy decision to rest up for a bit before heading back out for dinner.
We bopped around the Temple Bar area before landing at the Norseman for our first meal – pub food and a Guinness was going to be a requirement.
I wouldn’t particularly recommend this location for a stop – the food was only okay – but the atmosphere was right so it scratched our itch. It also landed us the sexiest Guinness picture of the entire trip.
When you sit in that pub you know you are in Ireland and it felt so good.
Exhaustion caught up to us but the late sunshine was unexpected and we stayed up later than we thought we would. Jackie even caught some of the live music down in Darkey Kelly’s, but we managed to tuck in for the night.
Day 2 – Exploring Dublin
It took some effort but after a cup of coffee from Rosie’s Cafe I was pretty rejuvenated. We rolled ourselves out of bed and took a nice stroll to a less touristy area of Dublin and visited Kale + Coco for some truly fresh smoothie bowls. It’s exactly as cute as you expect it to be.
And from there we just kept walking! We circled down and around to pop our heads into Marrowbone Books, a tiny little used bookstore, and to view the outside of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Marsh’s Library (we were way too cheap to pay to go in).
We window shopped long enough to work up an appetite and settled in for some food at Goose on the Loose. After dawdling our way up to the area around Dublin Castle we finally stumbled back to the hotel, thoroughly drained.
Our afternoon was spent at Trinity College and the Book of Kells which is always highlighted as *the* thing to do in Dublin. I didn’t care much around the Book itself (sorry, history!) but the Long Room was thoroughly delightful.
The crazy thing is that we just snuck in before it was going to be closed for about 5 (!!) years for renovation. Most of the books had already been removed (as you can tell in our picture above). I would absolutely not recommend this stop until that renovation is done, but I didn’t mind our experience. It was nice that it was kind of unique.
After the Book of Kells we made our reservation for the Vintage Cocktail Club, a speakeasy style place right in the temple bar area. That was such a fun spot and something different than all the pub drinking we had done and planned to do moving forward. The food and cocktails were delicious – highly recommend.
Post cocktails we were ready to test out the bar scene – and walked out of Temple Bar as quickly as we walked in. It looked very cool but it was packed and not worth the volume. So we tested our cool factor and hit up The George long enough for a drink and a few dance moves.
We scuttled back to Darkey Kelly’s to watch the live band, No Limits, who really slapped at the mash ups. Jackie and I hits up a few other places – there is no shortage of live music in that neighborhood, and made a fun night of music with a little bit of dancing mixed it. While not filled with “traditional” Irish music, I can’t fault the live music scene of Dublin at all. Especially since we would get LOTS of Irish music on our next stop!
Day 3 – More Dublin Exploration
Back to Rosie’s Cafe for breakfast (so good) and then took a nice long walk to check out the museum situation.
We opted for the free entry of the National Gallery. It was a decent spot to stop if you have some time but it was pretty busy and fairly small. We grabbed sandwiches and coffee at the Beanhive and took them to St. Stephen’s Green to each peacefully at the park.
From there, we wandered! Taking pictures of cute streets and buildings until we meandered our way to The Last Bookshop which was a fun, quaint little stop.
We then grabbed an Uber to make our tour time at the Kilmainham Goal. We weren’t sure we’d be able to snag a tour – they are surprisingly limited so book well in advance. We only got in because I watched for cancellations daily. It is well worth it. The history was fascinating, the museum well curated, and the tour very well done. If you have extra time in Dublin, highly recommend.
Post tour, we opted to walk back to our hotel to see even more of the city. The IMMA garden walk was lovely and made for an easy route to our snack spot, Cooper’s Corner. This spot was okay – clearly a nice spot for locals but it was a little pricy for the pub atmosphere it was going for.
We ate at Copper Alley Bistro, attached to our hotel, for dinner. The food was fine, but two of the three of us got meals that weren’t really what we ordered (different toppings on the salad, etc) so I wouldn’t necessarily recommend. We were also seated at the world’s strangest table, but they did warn us it was going to be awkward so I can’t blame for that.
Another night of live music at Darkey Kelly’s and a stroll for evening pictures rounded out a truly lovely Dublin experience!
Day 4 – Road Trip to Dingle
Sunday required us to say goodbye to Dublin and head out to the countryside. First we stopped for a delightful breakfast at Chorus Cafe, just a stones throw from our hotel. Highly recommend.
Because it was a Sunday our rental car pick up options were limited, so we grabbed an Uber back to the airport to grab a car. We rented with My Irish Cousin which I do recommend – expensive but they were all inclusive which really put my mind at ease. The rental car line was long so it took longer than expected to get out of there but, soon enough, we were on the open road.
As someone who doesn’t normally drive at all, I was very intimidated by opposite side driving. But, honestly, the roads leading out of Dublin are large and well maintained which was a nice introduction to the driving process. It took me a minute to figure out how to line up in the lane but I felt comfortable pretty quickly.
Our first stop was at the Rock of Dunamase – which were just old castle ruins. It was a really incredible find. I expected it to be much more touristy (honestly, I had been hoping for a bathroom) but instead it has barely a carpark and just one little gravel path up into the ruins. It’s absurdly beautiful and was a perfect stopping point on the way to Dingle.
We were, admittedly, a little lost after our pit stop (we’re cheap and operated our road trip with only wifi and our wits) but with some dead reckoning we managed to find our way to Portlaoise where were could find coffee and a bathroom.
We didn’t explore the town but it was a nice place to stop – we opted to grab a snack and drinks at Chocolate Brown. I personally find that to be a very unfortunate name for a coffee shop but the drinks were decent and there was outdoor seating to enjoy the sunshine.
We were back on the road quickly because rain threatened. It followed us all the way to our next stop, lunch in Limerick. We had hoped to bop around the town a bit but the weather put us off and instead we lunched at Taikichi which was very tasty.
The last bit of the drive to Dingle was easy, even when it started to rain. There were a couple potential spots to stop but between the weather and time we decided to keep going and made it to our B&B, The Captain’s House, in the early evening.
Highly recommend this spot if you are staying in Dingle. It’s full of history, was comfortable, and is in the perfect location. After we dropped our stuff off we needed a pint and made our way to O’Flaherty’s. It was quiet which was a perfect start.
From there we opted to check out O’Sullivan’s for live music which was delightful. We stumbled on an incredible Irish dancing doing an impromptu show (more on this later!).
Day 5 – Slea Head Drive and More Dingle
Mary, our Captain’s House proprietor, left a great spread for breakfast which was perfect so we could quickly eat and get out on the road to enjoy the Slea Head Drive. I won’t go into detail here as there are tons of great blogs and resources out there but I can say this is so worth doing! It was a short and spectacular loop.
I highly recommend getting out early so there is plenty of space to park (some spots are fairly small) and so you don’t feel pressured to drive too fast on the narrow roads.
We first stopped at Ventry beach, then checked out some Beehive huts and a couple pull over spots, but we really spent the majority of our time at Dunmore Head. Highly recommend stopping at any/all of those and anywhere else you want to along this loop.
The best part is that this drive gives you a lot of bang for your buck. We were able to do the loop in the morning (just an hour or two) and were back in Dingle for lunch time. Because it was a beautiful day we opted to eat at The Dingle Pub because they had great outdoor seating. Overall their food was good but this was also where we learned that the spontaneous Irish dance we saw the night before was none other than 5x champion and famous Irish dancer, David Geaney. It was a very fun discovery for us.
After lunch we grabbed some ice cream at Murphy’s (so good) and then rested up at the Captain’s House. In the evening we headed out to discover the best part of Dingle – the pubs and music! Our first stop was Dick Mack’s, a highly recommended spot. Unfortunately it was a bust – at the time we were there they had the majority of their space under construction and the vibe was off. We left quickly and found ourselves at Foxy John’s. This place was fun even if the hardware store element was smaller than expected. It was a great spot for a drink!
After Foxy John’s we found dinner at Little Italy. It was an okay spot for a quick meal though I wouldn’t say it was great. Still, if you are sick of traditional Irish food this is a decent spot for a change. After we refueled, we checked our Neligan’s. It was packed and was a fun place because not only did they have live music but it was interactive and the whole crowd got up and learned a dance. By the end of the night we went back to O’Sullivan’s and saw live music from Caroline Keane and Tom Delany.
It was a lovely finish to our time in Dingle. O’Sullivan’s ended up being our favorite spot – great vibes and music every time!
Day 6 – Drive to Killarney
We eased out of Dingle with a stop at Bean in Dingle (so cute) and started our drive to Killarney. We made a pit stop at Inch Beach – very pretty!
We were able to get into Killarney in time to have brunch at Manna Cafe – very tasty and worth a stop. After that we decided to do a little hiking to Torc Waterfall.
This spot is gorgeous. It’s super close to the car park (five minute walk) but then you can continue up the path on a really beautiful loop.
It was the perfect length to feel like a true hike without eating into our entire day. There was an even longer loop but we were happy with the hour-ish it took us to meander through a the very beautiful Killarney National Park.
Once we finished, it was perfect timing to drive down the narrowest roads I had yet experienced (so nerve wracking) but it was SO worth it to find our absolutely perfect airbnb. The cottage was on a property with horses and views and the hosts were so nice. We were in love with the outdoor space. This spot checked all our boxes for “Irish cottage”.
It even came with the friendliest little kitty to play with outside.
After a bit of a rest, with some reading in the sunshine in our matching and mildly offensive onesies, we went back in Killarney to be suckered into a pretty terrible meal at The Shire. It was a very depressing space I wouldn’t recommend to a hobbit. Unfortunately, as we wandered Killarney, we found that an evening in their downtown area was pretty lackluster – it was all the worst parts of a touristy space in the evening, unfortunately. But going back to our little cottage definitely made up for it.
Day 7 – Kayaking and Killarney
We headed out early, stopping in at Ri Ra for coffee and brekky. I found Killarney much more charming in the morning when it was just opening up and there were locals out and about. We then drove to Ross Castle to meet with our guides from Outdoors Ireland for a half day kayak trip on Lough Lein. It was a beautiful day for it – water calm and the sky moody.
Our guides did a great balance of chatter and history with just letting us paddle around and enjoy the scenery. We stopped at a teeny island that had the ruins of Innisfallen Monastery. Highly recommend this outing to take advantage of Killarney National Park.
Thoroughly worn out from a morning on the water, we took our guide’s recommendation and ate lunch at Khao. This was easily one of the best meals we had in all of Ireland. After a bit of walking and souvenir shopping, we popped into Celtic Donuts (which were surprisingly good given it was the afternoon) and grabbed a couple other snacks before – you guessed it – going back to our airbnb to enjoy an evening fire on the patio.
Day 8 – Road Trip to Dungarvin
Slightly weepy, we left our cottage (stopping in at Ri Ra for a coffee) and made our way west toward Dungarvin.
Hunger pains hit us just in time to stop in at Cobh which was a perfect little spot. It was a bright and hot day – we parked to get a nice view of the cathedral and iconic houses before walking to the water.
We grabbed coffee and sandwiches at The Arch which had apparently just recently opened. They were kind and the food was tasty. We grabbed some ice cream at Scoops (SO good) before finding a nearby bench and looking out over the water.
Rested and filled up with good food and scenery, we bopped back into the car and enjoyed the ride until we made it to our second iconic Irish cottage bnb. This spot was located not far outside Dungarvin and had absolutely gorgeous views.
We needed classic Irish pub food for our last night so Bridgie Terries was an obvious choice and it did not disappoint. They knew how to pour a Guinness and we stuffed ourselves with fish and pies and all sorts of other delights.
Day 9 – Travel Home
Our final morning as three took us to Ormand’s for breakfast (great spot) and we then dropped Jackie off so she could meet up with the other wedding guests. Bailey and I took a nice leisurely drive back to Dublin. We stopped for a walk at what we thought would be a nice trail but was probably not really supposed to be open to the public. Feeling a bit like trespassers we did a little walking to stretch out legs and then drove back on fumes to return our car and fly back home.
All in all – we had a truly wonderful trip filled with nature and music and plenty of time reconnecting in cutsie little Irish cottages. We managed a nice balance of seeing a lot of Ireland without jumping around too much (in our opinion) and still getting Jackie to the wedding on time.
The Roaming Reader 