By Ryan Published on 16 Jun 2025

Ireland

Dublin

We kicked off our Ireland trip with four days in Dublin. Once we landed, we arrived at our hotel that was nice enough to let us check in at 10:30am. We took a quick nap since neither of us could sleep during the 8 hour flight. So after 2 hours of sleep, we started exploring, eating, and popping in and out of pubs. The Guinness does taste better here, I'll give them that. We were also really impressed with the food scene.

Grafton Street beat out the infamous Temple Bar in our minds, but you can easily see why the hype is still deserved. We hit a few of the big "tourist" spots like Dublin Castle, Trinity College, and the National Gallery of Ireland. For the most part though, we didn’t do a ton of the typical places, we were more aiming to soak up the atmosphere and see where the day took us.

Another standout for us was Phoenix Park. We took a jog one morning and just ended up there. It’s massive! We actually took a wrong turn while walking around (Google's fault, not Ryan's fault), we were stopped by security, and informed we were walking into the President of Ireland's lawn. We kindly backed away slowly.

After four days, we picked up our rental car and set out for the countryside. Driving through the Dublin streets was a quick crash course on left-side driving. So getting out on to the country roads was a little less nerve-wracking! The roads here only have space for one car but they expect it to work for two.

Glendalough

As soon as we got outside of Dublin, the landscape changed quickly. Rolling green hills and sheep-filled pastures popped up almost immediately. On the way to Glendalough, we made a quick pit stop in the small village, Roundwood, after seeing a sign for coffee. A local pointed us toward The Roundwood Stores and said we’d regret not stopping. We couldn't refuse the nice lady and it did not disappoint.

Glendalough was awesome! The whole area is lush and peaceful, with mossy trees, and a calm lake surrounded by hills. The 6th-century monastic ruins and tombstones were surreal. We strolled the paths, took some photos, met some ducks, and enjoyed the slower pace after a few days in the city.

Kilkenny

I focused intently on my driving as the lanes got narrower, while Kaitlyn fell asleep. We finally made it to Kilkenny. We knew instantly when we arrived, Ryan did a good job researching for the trip! We stayed at a bed and breakfast called Mena House, I guess Rick Steves found it before us, but either way it was amazing. The host was incredibly welcoming, and gave us a great rundown of the city. The breakfast was also top notch.

We spent time exploring the city, including Kilkenny Castle and The Black Abbey. We had some great pasta at Ristorante Rinuccini. Then we ended up in the basement of Kyteler’s Inn watching the Hurling finals (Cork vs. Limerick) with the locals, and a live trad band playing in the background. It was every Irish stereotype we were hoping for.

The next morning we drove out to Mount Juliet Estate for "Afternoon Tea" at the Manor House. This was a 500 acre estate built in the 1700s. After tea, we toured the rest of the property and both agreed it’s definitely somewhere we will want to come back in the future.

Cashel

Continuing our journey, we made a quick stop at the Rock of Cashel, a 4th century monastery still standing today. We've seen a few castles and ruins at this point, but this was hands down the most impressive. After soaking it in, we got back on the road. The cows huddled around the car to say goodbye as we drove off.

Kinvara, Galway County

Now we'd made it to the west side of the country, here we decided to stay halfway between Galway and the Cliffs of Moher. That landed us in a little town called Kinvara.

We dropped off our luggage, walked down the street and had some top-notch seafood chowder at a place called Connolly’s. We then ended the night at Tully’s Bar, where we chatted with some locals and listened to live trad music. We didn’t stay out too late though, as we had a packed day ahead.

After an early breakfast we drove to the town of Doolin. Here we caught the ferry to Inishmore, the largest of the Aran Islands. We rented bikes and pedaled around to see all the castle ruins, endless stone walls, and the feeling of stepping way back in time. It was such a cool experience. In fact, on the ferry ride back, we commented that we probably didn't even need to see the Cliffs of Moher, being as the cliffs on the island were so dramatic and incredible they couldn't be topped. Turns out we were a little naive with Ireland's ability to impress us.

We spent over 5 hours on Inishmore and biked more than 12 miles, but that was only the first half of the day. So once we arrived back in Doolin, we fueled up with some fish and chips from The Ivy Cottage, and started up the second half.

We set off for a sunset hike along the Cliffs of Moher, starting from the village and walking the trail up to the main cliff area and back—about 7 miles round trip. We were unbelievably lucky, the sun started to set just as we reached the dramatic cliffs, and for reasons unknown, we had the whole place practically to ourselves. We saw maybe 8 people total in the 4 hours we were there. It somehow felt like we found a secret that no one knew about.

The next morning, we explored Galway, which definitely lived up to its boho, artsy reputation. We made a return trip to Murphy’s Ice Cream (we told you we would) and grabbed pizza at the famous Dough Bros.

Glenties, Donegal County

We drove up north to Donegal, which might just be my favorite county in Ireland. It’s more rugged, with awesome mountains, and is full of sheep just acting wild.

We stayed in the tiny town of Glenties, which was cool since there were not many tourists, so you got to see what the slower Irish life was like. We stayed two nights in a charming bed and breakfast there, hosted by a wonderful lady who prepared a delicious and massive breakfast spread each morning.

Roddy’s Bar was the standout pub in this town. You walk in, order a drink, and get welcomed by Roddy's dog Bruno who jumps up on the barstool next to you so you can feed him peanuts. So this place easily became Kaitlyn’s favorite pub in all of Ireland!

The next day was another full one. We visited the Slieve League Cliffs, it was really impressive but Moher honestly was a tough act to follow. The highlight of the day, however, was Silver Strand Beach. Hidden away at the bottom of a winding road, this was like no beach we had ever seen before. Bright blue water, steep grassy cliffs, and sheep roaming everywhere.

Giant's Causeway

Heading to our last stay in Ireland we made a stop at the northern tip of the country at Giant's Causeway. We weren’t quite as lucky with the weather this time, it was pouring rain, so exploring was cold and very wet. So much so that we couldn’t bring the camera. Still, it was a memorable experience and really impressive to see the Causeway in person. It's a natural wonder made up of thousands of interlocking basalt columns. Nature's bathroom tile. We were glad we could see it as our last nature stop in Ireland.

Belfast, Northern Ireland

For our last night, we stayed in a small town outside of Belfast, called Donaghcloney. We thought we booked a cozy B&B, however the 18th-century home turned out to be a little creepier than the Booking.com pictures let on. Creaky floors, antique dolls everywhere, and a mattress that for sure had not been replaced since the original build. I don’t believe in ghosts... but if they exist, most of them are somewhere in that house. Still, it made for a good story and some good laughs.

We spent a quick morning in Belfast before flying out, just enough time for a quick walk, a latte, and realizing we should have spent a little more time here. We’ll have to come back at some point in the future.

We dropped off the car with the trip totaling 1,344 kilometers (or 835 miles). That has to get me some Euro street cred. (Pun very intended)

We checked in to our flight and headed to Scotland.