Trying to plan a trip to Ireland from the USA for this summer

[NotUrsula]

FWIW, we usually fly into Belfast when we go home to visit family, and I find that the car hire companies are mostly fine with taking a car over the border as long as it's brought back to NI for the return. PIcking up in one country and returning in the other is a jungle of red tape, and prohibitively expensive if you can get the agency to agree to it at all.

The ferry is a fun experience in general if you like water travel, but it greatly complicates movement between countries when you have a hire car to deal with. The odds are that when you start crunching real numbers you will find that it makes more sense in terms of both money and time to fly from one island to the other.

If you want to be able to do your own laundry, your best bet is basing yourself in a self-catering accommodation. (Sometimes you can find newer ones purpose-built and arranged so that the property has a main B&B and also outlying buildings that are self-catering, in which case you can usually still get breakfast if you want it.) Also, if you're not used to European home plumbing arrangements and you plan to go self-catering, brush up; in private homes hot water and washing machine operation work differently than they do in the US, and dryers in homes are seldom a thing in Ireland. IME, most homes have indoor drying racks instead.

(And I'll confess to one hopelessly American motivation of mine when it comes to self-catering accommodations: ice. If I have a freezer I can make all the ice that I want without having to justify it, and yes, I do travel with a couple of ice trays. My family like to laugh at this strange American Southern ice obsession, but they love me anyway, so they have learned to tolerate my ice trays when I stay in their homes. Otherwise I'd use the entire household supply.)

 

[Frwinkley]

FWIW, we usually fly into Belfast when we go home to visit family, and I find that the car hire companies are mostly fine with taking a car over the border as long as it's brought back to NI for the return. PIcking up in one country and returning in the other is a jungle of red tape, and prohibitively expensive if you can get the agency to agree to it at all.

The ferry is a fun experience in general if you like water travel, but it greatly complicates movement between countries when you have a hire car to deal with. The odds are that when you start crunching real numbers you will find that it makes more sense in terms of both money and time to fly from one island to the other.

If you want to be able to do your own laundry, your best bet is basing yourself in a self-catering accommodation. (Sometimes you can find newer ones purpose-built and arranged so that the property has a main B&B and also outlying buildings that are self-catering, in which case you can usually still get breakfast if you want it.) Also, if you're not used to European home plumbing arrangements and you plan to go self-catering, brush up; in private homes hot water and washing machine operation work differently than they do in the US, and dryers in homes are seldom a thing in Ireland. IME, most homes have indoor drying racks instead.

(And I'll confess to one hopelessly American motivation of mine when it comes to self-catering accommodations: ice. If I have a freezer I can make all the ice that I want without having to justify it, and yes, I do travel with a couple of ice trays. My family like to laugh at this strange American Southern ice obsession, but they love me anyway, so they have learned to tolerate my ice trays when I stay in their homes. Otherwise I'd use the entire household supply.)

Thank so much about the laundry tip. I’ll look into self catering accommodations for the midway point of our trip.

So we couldn’t pick up a car in Belfast and return it to Dublin? I think that’s what you’re saying.

 

[Gracedis1]

We just went last summer and we loved it. We flew into Dublin and took a very affordable bus to Galway. I did not want to drive until I was over jetlag. We stayed in a house with family on the coast which was amazing. Galway has great shopping and restaurants. The Cliffs of Moher were spectacular. We went to a family wedding in Killkenny. The castle there was beautiful. Our hotel was near a glassblowing studio which was free to watch. In Dublin we loved walking around Trinity College. The Book of Kells and library were memorable. Have a great trip!

 

[NotUrsula]

Thank so much about the laundry tip. I’ll look into self catering accommodations for the midway point of our trip.

So we couldn’t pick up a car in Belfast and return it to Dublin? I think that’s what you’re saying.

That's what I'm saying (Tink, too.)

What you can do, however, is pick it up in Belfast, return it in Belfast, and take a train or bus to Dublin, or vice-versa (come to Belfast on the ferry, train to Dublin, then pick up your car on the way out of Dublin when you get to your West of Ireland phase. That consumes a lot of time, so you may find it easier and cheaper to just fly from Edinburgh to Dublin and make a big circle for the driving phase, or fly home out of Shannon if you don't want to circle back to Dublin. The Ryanair short flights are dirt cheap by US standards when purchased in advance, even though you pay for extras (and Aer Lingus not much more, but they don't have as many flights.)

If you're sticking to the southern part of the Republic, it's also possible to get to many of the larger towns by train and take coach tours to the more rural tourist sites, such as the Ring of Kerry, skipping the car hire altogether. Donegal, however, is not served by Irish Rail, so you can't go anywhere in the Republic north of Sligo by train (and to Sligo only via the Dublin route). This is still a very slow way to get around, though as we've said, no road trip in Ireland can ever really be described as quick. (ETA: As Tink said, the train is a good way to get from Dublin to many of the larger towns, but the train system is designed more for point-to-point trips, not so much for touring around, because the majority of routes lead back and forth to Dublin. Works very well if you want to cross the island laterally, though.)

(Please forgive me if I'm confusing you with place names. My family all live in Donegal, and we tend to refer to the Republic of Ireland collectively as "The South", but when speaking to non-Irish people about travel I always say "The Republic" when I mean the Republic of Ireland, because if you're speaking geographically of the area roughly south of both Galway City and Dublin (more or less defined by the M6) then it can be necessary to differentiate the geographical area from the actual country &/or the entire island. Additionally, as Donegal Catholics we might say "Northern Ireland", "the North of Ireland", or "Ulster" to refer to the Six Counties that are part of the UK, but which geographically are south of Donegal. If you are seeing Ireland as an island it can get confusing to sort the political descriptions from the geographical ones, but there is a national border there, so it's important to understand where it is, especially since Northern Ireland is no longer part of the EU, while the Republic of Ireland still is.)

 

[irlandaise]

One time some friends took me up into the Wicklow Mountains to (or near) the headwaters of the River Liffey. It's a beautiful area.

 

[Frwinkley]

That's what I'm saying (Tink, too.)

What you can do, however, is pick it up in Belfast, return it in Belfast, and take a train or bus to Dublin, or vice-versa (come to Belfast on the ferry, train to Dublin, then pick up your car on the way out of Dublin when you get to your West of Ireland phase. That consumes a lot of time, so you may find it easier and cheaper to just fly from Edinburgh to Dublin and make a big circle for the driving phase, or fly home out of Shannon if you don't want to circle back to Dublin. The Ryanair short flights are dirt cheap by US standards when purchased in advance, even though you pay for extras (and Aer Lingus not much more, but they don't have as many flights.)

If you're sticking to the southern part of the Republic, it's also possible to get to many of the larger towns by train and take coach tours to the more rural tourist sites, such as the Ring of Kerry, skipping the car hire altogether. Donegal, however, is not served by Irish Rail, so you can't go anywhere in the Republic north of Sligo by train (and to Sligo only via the Dublin route). This is still a very slow way to get around, though as we've said, no road trip in Ireland can ever really be described as quick.

(Please forgive me if I'm confusing you with place names. My family all live in Donegal, and we tend to refer to the Republic of Ireland collectively as "The South", but when speaking to non-Irish people about travel I always say "The Republic" when I mean the Republic of Ireland, because if you're speaking geographically of the area roughly south of both Galway City and Dublin (more or less defined by the M6) then it can be necessary to differentiate the geographical area from the actual country &/or the entire island. Additionally, as Donegal Catholics we might say "Northern Ireland", "the North of Ireland", or "Ulster" to refer to the Six Counties that are part of the UK, but which geographically are south of Donegal. If you are seeing Ireland as an island it can get confusing to sort the political descriptions from the geographical ones, but there is a national border there, so it's important to understand where it is, especially since Northern Ireland is no longer part of the EU, while the Republic of Ireland still is.)

Thank you so much! This is really helpful.

 

[Minnie1222]

Slight wrinkle to our plan: we may add a few days and go to Edinburgh. Fly into Edinburgh from the US, but then fly home from Dublin. My DH really wants to go to Edinburgh, realizing that we may not do much more than spend a few days in the city.

Have you looked at airfares? I find it cheaper to book multiple round trips than one multi-cities trip.

 

[Frwinkley]

Thank you so much! This is really helpful.

That's what I'm saying (Tink, too.)

What you can do, however, is pick it up in Belfast, return it in Belfast, and take a train or bus to Dublin, or vice-versa (come to Belfast on the ferry, train to Dublin, then pick up your car on the way out of Dublin when you get to your West of Ireland phase. That consumes a lot of time, so you may find it easier and cheaper to just fly from Edinburgh to Dublin and make a big circle for the driving phase, or fly home out of Shannon if you don't want to circle back to Dublin. The Ryanair short flights are dirt cheap by US standards when purchased in advance, even though you pay for extras (and Aer Lingus not much more, but they don't have as many flights.)

If you're sticking to the southern part of the Republic, it's also possible to get to many of the larger towns by train and take coach tours to the more rural tourist sites, such as the Ring of Kerry, skipping the car hire altogether. Donegal, however, is not served by Irish Rail, so you can't go anywhere in the Republic north of Sligo by train (and to Sligo only via the Dublin route). This is still a very slow way to get around, though as we've said, no road trip in Ireland can ever really be described as quick. (ETA: As Tink said, the train is a good way to get from Dublin to many of the larger towns, but the train system is designed more for point-to-point trips, not so much for touring around, because the majority of routes lead back and forth to Dublin. Works very well if you want to cross the island laterally, though.)

(Please forgive me if I'm confusing you with place names. My family all live in Donegal, and we tend to refer to the Republic of Ireland collectively as "The South", but when speaking to non-Irish people about travel I always say "The Republic" when I mean the Republic of Ireland, because if you're speaking geographically of the area roughly south of both Galway City and Dublin (more or less defined by the M6) then it can be necessary to differentiate the geographical area from the actual country &/or the entire island. Additionally, as Donegal Catholics we might say "Northern Ireland", "the North of Ireland", or "Ulster" to refer to the Six Counties that are part of the UK, but which geographically are south of Donegal. If you are seeing Ireland as an island it can get confusing to sort the political descriptions from the geographical ones, but there is a national border there, so it's important to understand where it is, especially since Northern Ireland is no longer part of the EU, while the Republic of Ireland still is.)

Both Hertz and Budget rental car will allow you to rent in Belfast and return to Dublin, but with a significant drop off charge (roughly $200 USD). That might actually be worth it to us.

So if that’s the case, and we wanted to end up in Dublin, I’m not sure in which direction we should travel. Or maybe we just do day trips via public transport from Belfast, then train to Dublin and pick up a car outside of Dublin and travel around the southern coast and up to Galway.

I’m so sorry for all the thoughts/auestions! I’m slightly overwhelmed…in ca

That's what I'm saying (Tink, too.)

What you can do, however, is pick it up in Belfast, return it in Belfast, and take a train or bus to Dublin, or vice-versa (come to Belfast on the ferry, train to Dublin, then pick up your car on the way out of Dublin when you get to your West of Ireland phase. That consumes a lot of time, so you may find it easier and cheaper to just fly from Edinburgh to Dublin and make a big circle for the driving phase, or fly home out of Shannon if you don't want to circle back to Dublin. The Ryanair short flights are dirt cheap by US standards when purchased in advance, even though you pay for extras (and Aer Lingus not much more, but they don't have as many flights.)

If you're sticking to the southern part of the Republic, it's also possible to get to many of the larger towns by train and take coach tours to the more rural tourist sites, such as the Ring of Kerry, skipping the car hire altogether. Donegal, however, is not served by Irish Rail, so you can't go anywhere in the Republic north of Sligo by train (and to Sligo only via the Dublin route). This is still a very slow way to get around, though as we've said, no road trip in Ireland can ever really be described as quick. (ETA: As Tink said, the train is a good way to get from Dublin to many of the larger towns, but the train system is designed more for point-to-point trips, not so much for touring around, because the majority of routes lead back and forth to Dublin. Works very well if you want to cross the island laterally, though.)

(Please forgive me if I'm confusing you with place names. My family all live in Donegal, and we tend to refer to the Republic of Ireland collectively as "The South", but when speaking to non-Irish people about travel I always say "The Republic" when I mean the Republic of Ireland, because if you're speaking geographically of the area roughly south of both Galway City and Dublin (more or less defined by the M6) then it can be necessary to differentiate the geographical area from the actual country &/or the entire island. Additionally, as Donegal Catholics we might say "Northern Ireland", "the North of Ireland", or "Ulster" to refer to the Six Counties that are part of the UK, but which geographically are south of Donegal. If you are seeing Ireland as an island it can get confusing to sort the political descriptions from the geographical ones, but there is a national border there, so it's important to understand where it is, especially since Northern Ireland is no longer part of the EU, while the Republic of Ireland still is.)

i actually just looked at Hertz and Budget rental car. You can rent a car in Belfast and drop it off in Dublin, but with a significant additional charge ($200 usd). That might for worth it to us.

So assuming we pick up a car in Belfast and ultimately are flying home from Dublin, I’m stuck and to which way we should travel. OR, do we just do day trips from Belfast (with no car), train down to Dublin, pick up car there and start and continue on.

I am so for so many questions. I’m slightly overwhelmed…in case you couldn’t tell!

Many thanks!

 

[Frwinkley]

Double post. So sorry. Didn’t think the first one posted.

 

[NotUrsula]

Good on you that you found a car hire agency that will do what you want at a price you can live with; by all means go with the plan that works best for you. (Do check the fine print for gotchas regarding insurance; some require more cover to be purchased in particular circumstances. Also, it does make sense to consider buying extra insurance cover if you think the experience of driving on the "wrong" side of narrow twisty roads is likely to give you issues. I was very grateful on one trip when my DS was little and was tending to have motion-sickness issues; DH was driving more on that trip and he is nervous driving in Ireland, so we bought extra cover. Thank goodness we did, because I managed to slash two tires running up on a granite curb one late night in Dublin after getting stuck for hours behind a rural traffic jam; DS was getting sick all over the car and distracting the heck out of us when we were already on our last nerves. It still cost an extra $400 for the repair and cleaning deductibles, but it might have been a lot worse without that extra insurance.)

As to what direction to travel around the island, I would say that if I were trying to decide, I'd look at my list of must-dos and check things like how much distance lies between them, and the state of the roads as well (can you go part of the distance on a motorway to save time, or conversely, will you be using crowded narrow coast roads for a good percentage of a stretch? Also think about the school calendar and any major festivals/sporting events that might be happening in or between your target locations (whether you want to attend them or avoid them; as such things tend to have a significant effect on traffic patterns and lodging prices.) In our case I always put the more difficult driving stretches at the beginning of the trip when the enthusiasm is higher, because DH easily loses patience with driving, but some people might prefer to put them at the end when they have had more practice with the roads and the car.

IME rural northern Ireland is less well-served by coach tour services than the areas south of Dublin, which are more popular with international tourists. (It's better now, but some people are still scared off by lingering memories of Northern Ireland's former reputation for violence during the Troubles. That's a shame, because the natural beauty and history of the North is compelling. I'm particularly fond of Giant's Causeway & Carrick-a-Rede, Dunluce Castle, and the Boyne Valley heritage sites in general. (And of course, if one is fond of whiskey and/or golf, several spots along the Northern coast are of special interest.)

One other thing to know about the coastal tourist locations on the Northern coast: they have short seasons. Most things will be open in summer, but there is a slight possibility that if you are traveling in early June, some of them might have shorter hours then, when the schools are still in session and fewer Irish and British tourists are likely to be there.

 

[Frwinkley]

Good on you that you found a car hire agency that will do what you want at a price you can live with; by all means go with the plan that works best for you. (Do check the fine print for gotchas regarding insurance; some require more cover to be purchased in particular circumstances. Also, it does make sense to consider buying extra insurance cover if you think the experience of driving on the "wrong" side of narrow twisty roads is likely to give you issues. I was very grateful on one trip when my DS was little and was tending to have motion-sickness issues; DH was driving more on that trip and he is nervous driving in Ireland, so we bought extra cover. Thank goodness we did, because I managed to slash two tires running up on a granite curb one late night in Dublin after getting stuck for hours behind a rural traffic jam; DS was getting sick all over the car and distracting the heck out of us when we were already on our last nerves. It still cost an extra $400 for the repair and cleaning deductibles, but it might have been a lot worse without that extra insurance.)

As to what direction to travel around the island, I would say that if I were trying to decide, I'd look at my list of must-dos and check things like how much distance lies between them, and the state of the roads as well (can you go part of the distance on a motorway to save time, or conversely, will you be using crowded narrow coast roads for a good percentage of a stretch? Also think about the school calendar and any major festivals/sporting events that might be happening in or between your target locations (whether you want to attend them or avoid them; as such things tend to have a significant effect on traffic patterns and lodging prices.) In our case I always put the more difficult driving stretches at the beginning of the trip when the enthusiasm is higher, because DH easily loses patience with driving, but some people might prefer to put them at the end when they have had more practice with the roads and the car.

IME rural northern Ireland is less well-served by coach tour services than the areas south of Dublin, which are more popular with international tourists. (It's better now, but some people are still scared off by lingering memories of Northern Ireland's former reputation for violence during the Troubles. That's a shame, because the natural beauty and history of the North is compelling. I'm particularly fond of Giant's Causeway & Carrick-a-Rede, Dunluce Castle, and the Boyne Valley heritage sites in general. (And of course, if one is fond of whiskey and/or golf, several spots along the Northern coast are of special interest.)

One other thing to know about the coastal tourist locations on the Northern coast: they have short seasons. Most things will be open in summer, but there is a slight possibility that if you are traveling in early June, some of them might have shorter hours then, when the schools are still in session and fewer Irish and British tourists are likely to be there.

Thank you again for taking so much time to respond...I'm feeling less overwhelmed!

 

[LynnTH]

Following along! I have the Europe bug now. Took First Europe Trip in 2023. Cruise to Italy, Greece and Turkey. Loved it!! Everything was so beautiful.

In May of this year we are doing a Tour Group Trip with Collette Tours to Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

Then we can compare if we like the Tour Group Setting or Cruise better. Next Europe trip I too want to go to Ireland and Scotland.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Following along! I have the Europe bug now. Took First Europe Trip in 2023. Cruise to Italy, Greece and Turkey. Loved it!! Everything was so beautiful.

In May of this year we are doing a Tour Group Trip with Collette Tours to Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

Then we can compare if we like the Tour Group Setting or Cruise better. Next Europe trip I too want to go to Ireland and Scotland.

I think there are merits to both. Cruises even river cruises are limited by location, land-based trips usually allow the interior to be explored. Some destinations are better suited for a cruise or river cruise others for land-based.

We did a western Med cruise in 2023 to Italy, Croatia, Montenegro and Greece and that was great. We did this past May a land based train trip (where we used trains to get around) and went to England (just London), then Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Denmark and Sweden. A cruise could get you to the coast of Belgium, Denmark and Sweden but not into Luxembourg. A river cruise could get you to Germany (we stopped in Cochem, Germany which is along the Moselle river, there was an AmaWaterways river boat docked there as an example but we hit multiple cities in Germany). I loved both trips but will say the May trip where we took the train around allowed us to spend more time (even as much bouncing around as we did) exploring the cities being more beholden by closing times of places as opposed to leaving port times. In part river cruises might be able to help on that because they might have more overnight stays in ports.

In October we went to Japan for 2 weeks and also traveled by train to 6 different cities, a cruise can get you to more around Japan (because it's skinnier) but still you would have missed certain parts.

This upcoming March we're going on an eastern Med cruise to Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Monaco. And again it's only able to reach certain parts, however visiting islands (like it was for Greece on our cruise) is a lot easier on a cruise. We're hitting Menorca, Corsica, Portofino and Elba as far as islands.

Then in September we're doing a land-based trip in Scotland, Wales and England and that's been a lot of fun finding these random places to see.

I like doing a mixture of both, a cruise allows us to stay put throughout the trip not having to worry about laundry (it's free self-service on the company we use) or packing and then repacking but there's an adventure to going around on land from place to place.

I'd love to hear about how your Switzerland and Austria trip go! I'm planning on Switzerland and hopefully Liechtenstein and possibly Austria for 2026, if we didn't have our March/April cruise this year I would have done it this year but we couldn't do two big trips so close together (I'd like to go in late May/early June to Switzerland).

 

[Frwinkley]

OP here: I'd love to get some input on what I think we'll be doing:

I think our plan will be to eliminate Dublin from this trip and concentrate on the western side of the island (after Edinburgh and Belfast). We will rent a car as we head out of Belfast and fly back to the US via Shannon (returning the car there as well. We're ok with the added expense.)

I do have a few questions, if I may:

We'd like to base ourselves in 3 different locations on the Western side (3 nights each). I'd love actually to stay in only 2 places if possible, but I also don't want to spend so much time driving.

We'd love to be able to walk around in the evenings (or even in the morning), grad a meal, coffee, etc., do some shopping, etc. I don't want such a small town that is so rural that there isn't much to do when we're not off sightseeing, etc.

Galway is definitely on the list, but I'm not sure about north of there. Donegal, Slingo, I'm not quite sure.

Kilkarney? or Limmerick?

Since we are from the US and have not driven in Ireland (but have driven in other countries that drive on the left(, I'd like to limit the driving, but of course, would like to see as much as possible. I just don't want to spend all day driving.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

We'd like to base ourselves in 3 different locations on the Western side (3 nights each). I'd love actually to stay in only 2 places if possible, but I also don't want to spend so much time driving.

We'd love to be able to walk around in the evenings (or even in the morning), grad a meal, coffee, etc., do some shopping, etc. I don't want such a small town that is so rural that there isn't much to do when we're not off sightseeing, etc.

Galway is definitely on the list, but I'm not sure about north of there. Donegal, Slingo, I'm not quite sure.

The north west and west parts of Ireland are the least populated and most rural parts of Ireland. Galway and Belfast are the main cities. Outside of them all you will find are small towns. Thats just the reality of Ireland, due hundreds of years of occupation, famine and the stark reality of no infrastructure to support the population, people have left those areas and moved to other areas.

For context,
County Sligo 1,836 km² Population = 58,178 approx Number of people per km² = 32
County Galway 6,148 km² Population = 208,826 approx Number of people per km² = 34
County Donegal 4,841 km² Population = 137,383 approx Number of people per km² = 28
Belfast City 133 km² Population = 348,005 approx

In most parts of Ireland, in the small towns, there is nothing except the pubs and supermarkets open after 6pm.

This would be my advice

1. Drive Belfast to Ballina, Co Mayo. This is approx 4 hours drive. You could make a day of it, leaving Belfast in the morning, and take a detour to The Ulster American Folk Park outside Omagh and then take the route by Lough Erne, Bundoran and Sligo to end the day in Ballina.

Stay overnight in Ballina and spend the following day doing a day trip around the area.

Come back to Ballina and spend a second night

2. Drive Ballina to Galway. This is approx 2 hours drive. If you leave Ballina in the morning, you will be in Galway by lunch time. Walk around the city in the afternoon.
Full day trip from Galway
Full day trip from Galway.
Come back to Galway city after your second day trip and spend a third night in Galway

3. Wake up and drive to Shannon airport. This is approx 1 hour 30 minute drive on the M18 motorway. Depending on your flight time, you could take the longer coastal road and drive through The Burren National Park in the morning and afternoon.

4. Fly out of Shannon airport

 

[Frwinkley]

We visited Ireland summer of 2024 for my daughter’s HS graduation trip. Flew in and out of Dublin via Iceland. We did rent a car at the Dublin airport and had no issues driving, however navigating the roundabouts while sitting on the wrong side of the car and driving on the wrong side of the road required vigilance. We spent 3 days in Killarney, 2 days in Gatwick, 2 days in Belfast and 1.5 days in Dublin. Top 3 from the trip: 1) Skellig Michael - UNESCO heritage site, absolutely stunning scenery, weather can be a big issue and they limit the number of daily visitors (140 ish) to the island. Hands down the best boat tour operator is Skellig Walker. 2) Aran Islands/Cliffs of Moher tour. 3) Titanic museum in Belfast. We had a blast drinking a few pints in the local pubs and the food was surprisingly good.

Wondering if you ended your trip in Dublin. Did you spend anytime in Dublin at the beginning of your trip or did you just land in Dublin, rent a car and head to Killarney?

How was the drive from Galway to Belfast?