4 Days in Ireland | Dublin, Galway, Cork, Cliffs of Moher, Blarney Castle + more!
We spent 4 days in Ireland at the end of April and absolutely fell in love with the country. We didn’t expect to love it as much as we did. Ireland is very progressive & inclusive, and the local people are so friendly and welcoming. We decided to base ourselves in Dublin and do day trips around the country to see the other areas we wanted to visit. You won’t need more than 2 days to see the city of Dublin, so if you’re staying for 4-5 days like we were, then we definitely recommend doing day trips to see the other beautiful parts of the country. Keep on reading to see what we did on our 4 day Ireland itinerary!
How to Get Around Ireland
The best ways to get around Ireland are by walking, public transportation, taxi/rideshare, or renting a car. Since we based ourselves in Dublin, we chose not to rent a car for our trip and we don’t think it was necessary. Renting a car in Ireland is only necessary if you want to explore more off-the-beaten path areas, or explore at your own pace.
The city of Dublin is very walkable, and we walked almost everywhere or took the tram. The tram was affordable, I think it was only €5 for a 24 hour pass. To/from the airport we used a rideshare service called Freenow. Uber does work in Ireland, but in the airport we saw signs for their preferred rideshare service called Freenow and found those prices were cheaper than Uber. Other than that, we booked tours to get us to the other areas of the country we wanted to see!
Where to Stay in Ireland
Since we based ourselves in Dublin, we spent 4 nights at The Mayson Dublin and absolutely loved it! It was located in a more industrial, up-and-coming area of Dublin that felt really hip and cool. But yet it was still in walking distance (or really close by tram) to everything we wanted to do in the city! The tram was a 5 minute walk away as well. The hotel itself was gorgeous, and had so many amazing amenities that we really enjoyed including a heated pool, sauna, gym, 2 on-site restaurants, plus a cafe in the lobby. The staff were also really kind and helpful. We would definitely stay at The Mayson Dublin again if we go back!
Find other Dublin accommodations on our favs Hotels.com!
Best Things to Do in Ireland
Cliffs of Moher
Galway
Temple Bar | Credit: Flytographer
Blarney Castle
Explore Trinity College - one of the oldest universities in western Europe! The campus is beautiful and if you are interested, you can book a tour to see The Book of Kells library on site (that is said to be inspiration for the Hogwarts Library!)
Visit Temple Bar - some locals told us they hated it here, and other locals told us they loved it. To us that meant go see it for yourself and make your own opinion and that’s exactly what we did. We really liked Temple Bar, even though it was touristy and crowded, it felt very Irish and unique! Make sure you grab a Guinness and listen to some live music while you’re there!
Go to the Guinness Storehouse - the Guinness Factory where you can learn all about the history of Ireland’s famous beer, try some samples, and so much more! I think tickets were around €25 per person to enter and we recommend booking in advance to be safe!
Do a day trip to the Cliffs of Moher & Galway - if there is one day trip you have to do in Ireland we definitely think it should be to the Cliffs of Moher. The Cliffs are just stunning to see in real life, and you’ll get to see a lot of the Irish countryside on the way. Most tours include a few hours in Galway as well since it’s nearby, and we absolutely loved Galway too! It was a cute, small, hipster town with a ton of character. We booked our tour on Expedia and had an amazing time!
Take a day trip to Cork & The Blarney Castle - We also did a day trip to Cork and The Blarney Castle and loved it as well! For this tour we booked directly with Paddywagon Tours since they had the exact one we wanted, and thought this tour was amazing! We loved our guide/driver and learned so much about the history of Ireland in addition to everything we saw on the tour. We loved the city of Cork and thought The Blarney Castle was one of our favorite things we did the whole trip! Legend says if you kiss The Blarney Stone at the top of the castle you get “the gift of eloquence” so of course, we had to try!
Take a tour of the Dublin Castle - a former castle that is now a museum & used as government building. There’s lots of cool art & other historical artifacts inside. I believe it was only €10 to enter and we booked our tickets the day of.
Go shopping on Grafton & Henry Streets - two of the main shopping streets in Dublin where you’ll find local shops & high street shops as well. Make sure you pop into Penny’s (aka Primark) since it’s from Ireland!
Find more tours & activities to do in Ireland here on Expedia!
Where to Eat & Drink in Ireland
Dublin
Cornucopia
Glas
The Saucy Cow
It’s A Trap
Cornucopia (oldest vegan restaurant in Dublin!)
McGuinness Traditional Irish Takeaway (takeway joint with tons of vegan options)
It’s A Trap (vegan cafe & bakery)
The Saucy Cow (amazing vegan burgers & loaded fried)
Glas Restaurant (high-end vegan/vegetarian food)
Electric Circus (bar with good food)
Nut Butter (good spot for lunch)
As One (good for brunch/lunch)
Milano (aka Pizza Express, tons of vegan options)
Palace Bar (traditional Irish bar)
Temple Bar
4 Dame Lane
The George (oldest gay bar in Dublin!)
Galway
The Dough Bros
The Dough Bros (has good vegan options for pizza!)
Cork
My Goodness
My Goodness (all vegan spot inside Old English market)
The LGBTQ+ Scene in Ireland
One thing we really loved about Ireland was how progressive and inclusive it was. There were rainbow crosswalks by the gay bar and lots of rainbow flags around Dublin, but when we went to the smaller villages we noticed a lot of Pride flags too. The people of Ireland understand what it’s like to be oppressed and it’s clear that they want to help fight for equal rights for all people. We felt super safe in Ireland as a lesbian couple and saw tons of other queer people & couples as well. We highly recommend going to The George which is Dublin’s oldest queer bar. The scene is for all members of the LGBTQ+ community and is really fun! We heard Street 66 is a good spot for queer women but we didn’t get a chance to visit during our trip.
If you want to see exactly what we did during our trip to Ireland, then you should check out our Ireland vlog which has even more information than what’s in this blog post! We’ll link it below for you to watch.
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