You have yo check out the ring of Kerry, if you and renting a car make sure you do it in the opposite directions of the tourist bus’s. If your looking for a guided trip with a bud I think you can check out CIE tours
I can't remember who but there's a guy on here that's from there and big into horses. He should be helpful.
By yourself? Rent a GS and send it. With the fam? Rent your own car, and get the smallest one you can you gluttonous American. They drive on the Brit side so PAY ATTENTION walking at crosswalks, driving in traffic circles, or ANY blind hill or corner on those narrow roads. Until the EU got involved they didn't have any sort of freeway system, so stay off it because the locals don't know its the 21st century yet. The local roads aren't really named, they just point to the directions of the next town. But thats OK, you want to pack a sammich and a beer and get lost anyway. Do the Guinness tourist trap, worth it for the view from the top bar! Then get out of Dublin ASAP and head to the west coast.Stay south-ish. The Ring of Dingle is just North to the Ring Of Kerry, a little shorter, MUCH less travelled, and no less beautiful. Talk to locals when you stop (you can't avoid that anyway) and follow their suggestions. It's smaller than you think, you can do everything is a short time so don't rush. Stay in a castle at least one night. AirBnB a place and use it for home base to launch out from any direction. They're used to visitors, but you'll be a 'local' at the pub the third day you show up. Galway is big, but still pretty. Do a distillery tour. Luke was hiding on Skellig Micheal. Cliffs of Moher are a little touristy but worth it. Glendalough and please keep an eye out for my heart, I left it there.
If I had it to do over again, I would go to Galway and spend the whole time there. I love that place.
https://www.ballyseedecastle.com/ We did stay here for a few nights. It was my wife and daughter's favorite part of the trip.
Actually just got back from Ireland. We did a tour with Vegabond (essentially a more 'active' guided tour, hiking, biking, etc.). Was excellent, very good way to visit the country and get an sampling of some cool spots. Would absolutely recommend them. Dublin is a big European city, nice but just like a lot of other European cities but some of the smaller ones are pretty cool. Cork, Tralee come to mind. Galway was great, would definitely go back there. I would recommend touring the west coast, lots of nice towns there. Next time I visit, I'd also like to swing by Northern Ireland for a few days as well as I didn't have time this trip. We did a guided bicycle tour of Killarney National Park and was absolutely amazing. Also, you want waterproof shoes and a waterproof jacket. It's windy and rainy. Not cold, but if you're there for a few days you will get rained on.
When you say you can do it all in a short time, are you referring to seeing everything there worth seeing? Will a week cover it? Is there a better time of year to go?
I was more referring to this: Takes about 8 hours to go from the top to the bottom and about 4 across the middle. A week should let you drive around to see an overview and then stop and stay in the area you like most to really go exploring. Theres crumbling castles everywhere, and of course its full of history, hiking, golf, pubs... Go in the summer if you can, just before or after 'tourist season' (your travel agent will know those dates). You'll still get rained on but it's pretty mild otherwise. Avoid St Paddys day. Oddly, we do it better over here.
It was raining the entire time but yeah, very cool. The guide (Jay) knew everything about the place too. I'd absolutely recommend it.
