Morning
Land at Dublin Airport (DUB)
Coach or taxi into the centre, roughly 40 minutes. Deliberately no hire car yet — Dublin parking is a tax on the first two days.
Afternoon / Day
Check in: Buswells Hotel
23-27 Molesworth Street, facing Leinster House. Georgian townhouses knocked together; ten minutes on foot from Trinity.
Book of Kells Experience
Trinity College, College Green. Entry is timed and booking online is strongly advised; allow 90 minutes. The Long Room is open but its shelves have been emptied for the Old Library redevelopment, bar the first four bays.
Grafton Street to St Stephen's Green
Straight out the Nassau Street gate. Buskers the whole way, then a bench by the pond to shake off the flight.
Evening
Dinner at The Winding Stair
40 Lower Ormond Quay, upstairs over the old bookshop. Irish seasonal cooking; reserve, and note lunch only runs Wednesday to Sunday.
Ha'penny Bridge after dark
Directly across the quay from dinner. Cross to Temple Bar for one pint, then walk it off along the south quays.
Morning
Kilmainham Gaol
Inchicore Road. Entry is by guided tour only and must be pre-booked; tickets release 28 days ahead at midnight, returns at 9.15am on the day.
Across the Liberties to St James's Gate
A 25-minute walk down Thomas Street, or a few stops on the Luas red line. All downhill towards the brewery.
Afternoon / Day
Guinness Storehouse
St James's Gate. Book a dated slot online; the ticket includes your pint in the rooftop Gravity Bar. Add the Guinness Academy and pour it yourself.
Lunch inside the Storehouse
The Storehouse runs its own bar and brasserie, so you can eat without surrendering the afternoon to finding somewhere.
Teeling Whiskey Distillery
13-17 Newmarket, 15 minutes on foot. Fully guided tastings booked online; open 11am to 6pm, to 7pm Saturdays.
Evening
Dinner at The Brazen Head
20 Lower Bridge Street. Licensed since 1198; beef stew in the cobbled yard. Food stops at 9pm and the music starts at 9.
Morning
Collect the hire car
Ireland drives on the left. Automatics are scarce and book out months ahead — reserve one specifically, do not assume.
West on the M4 and M6
Dublin to Clonmacnoise is about two hours of motorway. Tolls are barrier-paid — keep a card in the door pocket.
Afternoon / Day
Clonmacnoise monastic site
Shannonbridge, Co. Offaly. Two round towers, nine churches and 700 graveslabs above the Shannon. Open daily to 5.30pm; walk-ins fine.
On to Galway
About 80 minutes back on the M6, which drops you straight into the east side of Galway city.
Check in: The House Hotel
Spanish Parade, in the Latin Quarter. Park in the hotel deal garage — the medieval lanes outside are pedestrian only.
Evening
Dinner at McDonagh's
22 Quay Street. Family-run seafood house since 1902 — chipper counter on one side, restaurant on the other. Open to 10pm.
Session at Tigh Neachtain
17 Cross Street Upper. Galway's landmark corner pub, founded 1894; snugs, craft taps and musicians most nights.
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Morning
The N59 into Connemara
Galway to Letterfrack is about 75 minutes. Fill the tank before you leave — pumps thin out badly past Oughterard.
Diamond Hill, Connemara National Park
Letterfrack. Entry and parking are free and the trails open year round, but the visitor centre closes Mondays and Tuesdays.
Afternoon / Day
Kylemore Abbey
Ten minutes east of Letterfrack. The Benedictine house on the lake, the neo-Gothic church, and the restored Victorian walled garden.
Lunch at Mitchell's, Clifden
Market Street, Clifden. Seafood in Connemara's only real town; the dining room is small, so book rather than chance it.
Sky Road loop
A 16 km loop west out of Clifden over the bay. Single track with passing bays in places — take the upper road, not the lower.
Evening
Back to Galway
The N59 return runs about 90 minutes. Leave Clifden by six to make an eight o'clock table in the city.
Dinner at Ard Bia at Nimmos
Spanish Arch, in the old customs house on the Corrib. Dinner runs Tuesday to Sunday, 6 to 9pm, and needs a reservation.
Morning
Coast road south on the N67
Galway to the Burren through Kinvara and Ballyvaughan, about 75 minutes. Slower than the inland route and far better.
Corkscrew Hill viewpoint
The hairpins on the R480 climbing out of Ballyvaughan. Pull in at the top for the whole limestone valley behind you.
Poulnabrone Dolmen
Signposted off the R480 in bare limestone pavement. A portal tomb roughly 5,800 years old; free, roadside, ten minutes.
Afternoon / Day
Cliffs of Moher Experience
Liscannor. Book a dated arrival time online — it is cheaper than the gate and admission covers the parking. Open daily 8am to 9pm.
Lunch at the Cliffs cafes
Two cafes are built into the hillside beside the visitor centre. Eat here rather than moving the car and losing the parking.
Check in: Hotel Doolin
Fitz Cross, Doolin. Seventeen bedrooms and its own pub, Fitz's, with music most nights; ten minutes north of the Cliffs car park.
Evening
Dinner and a session at Gus O'Connor's
Fisher Street. Pouring since 1832 with trad music nightly — eat early, the room fills long before the players start.
Doolin Pier at sunset
Ten minutes down the road past the hotel. The Aran ferries run from here and the Cliffs stand out to the south.
Morning
South along the Clare coast
Doolin to the Killimer ferry slip is about an hour on the N67 through Lahinch and Kilrush.
Lahinch promenade
Twenty minutes from Doolin. Surf beach with a proper seafront walk — a coffee stop before the ferry, not a destination.
Afternoon / Day
Killimer to Tarbert car ferry
A 20-minute crossing of the Shannon Estuary that saves roughly two hours round by Limerick. Year round, half-hourly in summer; cheaper online.
Ballybunion cliff walk
Fifteen minutes past the Tarbert slipway. A short clifftop loop above the strand and the ruined castle. First Kerry air of the trip.
On to Killarney
About 80 minutes via Listowel and Tralee. The last stretch runs in under the MacGillycuddy's Reeks.
Check in: The Killarney Park
Town centre, minutes on foot from the Killarney National Park gates. Two nights here — you are looping from this base.
Evening
Ross Castle at dusk
Ten minutes from town inside Killarney National Park. Park entry is free and the car parks stay open — walk the lakeshore.
Dinner at Treyvaud's
High Street. Kerry beef, Kenmare Bay scallops and venison in the middle of town. Book — Killarney kitchens fill early.
Morning
Start the Ring anticlockwise
The 179 km loop. Tour coaches conventionally run it anticlockwise from Killarney via Killorglin, so go the same way and you follow them instead of meeting one on a blind bend.
Cahergall Stone Fort
Signposted off the road just past Cahersiveen. A drystone ring fort you can climb inside; free, and the access lane is very narrow.
Afternoon / Day
Skellig Ring to Portmagee
The narrow spur the tour coaches are too big for. Single track over the hill and down to the harbour — twenty slow minutes.
Lunch at The Moorings, Portmagee
On the quay beside the Valentia bridge. Chowder and crab in the Bridge Bar; the Skellig boats leave from the pier outside.
Valentia Island
Cross the bridge straight from lunch. Cliff road, the lighthouse at Cromwell Point, and the old slate quarry above Knightstown.
Derrynane House
Caherdaniel. Daniel O'Connell's home, open daily 10am to 4.45pm in season; the dunes and beach below it are free and usually empty.
Evening
Sneem, Kenmare and Moll's Gap
The N71 climb back over the pass. Pull in at Ladies View for the Lakes of Killarney; the road is tight and unlit after dark.
Late dinner at the hotel
Book a table before you set off. A 179 km day gets you back around eight, and Killarney kitchens stop earlier than you expect.
Adare, Bunratty and Out
Morning
Torc Waterfall
Five minutes south of Killarney on the N71. A ten-minute climb from the car park — go before nine and you will have it alone.
Killarney to Adare
About 75 minutes north through Farranfore and Castleisland. Leave a clear three hours before your Shannon check-in.
Afternoon / Day
Adare village and Heritage Centre
Main Street. Open daily 9am to 5pm; the guided village tour covers the thatched cottages and the 13th-century Desmond Castle.
Lunch at the Heritage Centre cafe
Same building as the tour desk, so you are not hunting for a table in a village that fills with coaches at noon.
Adare Woollens
Inside the Heritage Centre alongside Black Abbey Crafts. Irish knitwear — the last sensible souvenir stop before the airport.
Bunratty Castle and Folk Park
Forty-five minutes north-west, off the N18 with Shannon minutes beyond. A 15th-century tower house plus 26 acres of rebuilt village; parking free.
Evening
Drop the hire car at Shannon
Refuel before you reach the airport. Walk the car yourself for kerb scuffs — the Kerry lanes collect them on the near side.
Fly out of Shannon (SNN)
Shannon has US preclearance, so allow a good extra hour if you are flying to North America.
