While Dublin is a beautiful city with a high quality of life, the real Ireland is starting just outside of it. Going west on the highway: green hills and countless sheep! We spent two weekends in the western parts of the island.
Starting point: Galway
The Connemara is a lovely area: Ireland as you would imagine it. Kylemore Abbey is the highlight. It was raining, but as this somehow belongs to Ireland, we enjoyed it nevertheless.
We spent one night in Galway, a relaxed town with many students and pubs. Yet, nothing spectacular here.
We took the bus from Dublin to Galway and organized a one day bus tour to the Connemara. The tour was OK with enough stops to take pictures and enjoy the landscape.
Road trip to the southwest – Cliffs of Moher and Ring of Kerry
What a contrast in the southwest: blue sky and sun the whole three days. We arrived at Cliffs of Moher just in time for the sunset (even better: no entrance fee anymore).
The next day we continued to the Ring of Kerry. Absolutely amazing, especially with your own car, as you can stop whenever you wish.
Before going back to Dublin we discovered the south coast near Kinsale, the town itself and the Rock of Cashel.
Get a rental car!
We rented a car for this trip. I would definitely recommend it for the Ring of Kerry. You are just more flexible and by dividing the costs by five people it wasn’t too expensive. We stayed in Limerick (not beautiful) and Killarney (great village with many pubs).