Sher She Goes

Hi Donna! Thanks for the kind words. Yes – I would definitely recommend splurging a night in one of Ireland’s cool castle hotels. Have you seen my post on the list here?

Hm, I’m not sure if they have room for 4 at Gregans, perhaps you could email them to ask if one of their suites could accommodate? Gregans is a more cozy house. If you can’t get rooms there, I would still recommend making a dinner reservation. It was very good!

At Rosleague, in Connemara, the rooms are HUGE and they might be able to fit 4.

In Killarney there’s lots of options for bigger parties. We had 4 of us in a loft style room at Old Weir Lodge for incredibly affordable rates.. I think we each paid around $30/night but this was also off season. I wouldn’t say it’s luxury but definitely very comfortable.

We also stayed at the Killarney Royal in one of their corner rooms which had 2 queen size beds and I’m sure 4 would be comfortable there.

If I went back to Ireland I would love to stay at Adare Manor or Ashford. Both are pricey (depending on the season) but they seem like once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Falconry, boating, archery, golf etc. Adare opened right after my trip ended but we saw the outside renderings and it looks FAB. Ashford books out months in advance, even in the off season. They also have a cottage on the grounds which are converted into rooms, I believe those are cheaper and you still get to experience the castle + grounds.

I will say in general the Irish are very hospitable and friendly. We made a mistake one night and booked a last minute room in Dingle which only came with a twin (there were 2 of us). It was meant for a single. They were very nice at the front desk and didn’t force us to upgrade rooms. Instead, they added in an extra cot / rollaway bed.

Hi Kasey,

Thanks so much for the kind words!! I am actually planning to head back to Ireland this year!

Hm… So let me preface this by saying I don’t have kids so I may not aware of all the do’s & don’ts for young children. I would suggest spending less time in Dublin, which is most popular for its bars, and seeing the countryside. I think kids would like Dingle, with the dolphin, boat tours and the Slea Head drive is very beautiful. Skip Minard Castle, it is a long drive and they are ruins, not a still standing & furnished castle like Kilkenny. The town of Kilkenny is nice too.

Kerry is probably very kid friendly. The town center is very cute, lots of shopping, great food + ice cream, Killarney park is beautiful and kids probably like the horse buggy rides. If you have time, pop over to Wexford and the Irish National Heritage Park – the park itself is a open air museum, and then they have some excellent activities you can book like falconry, archery, dressing up like Vikings, etc. I wrote some more about it here, and you can check out their Youtube channel to get a feel for it.

Hope that helps!

Hi! It’s flexible depending on how many days you have and whether or not you’ll be renting a car! If you have 3-4 days, I would recommend staying in Dublin and taking a day trip or two :)

Hi! You can see a lot of Ireland in 4 days, but you’d probably need to rent a car (and be comfortable driving on the left). I don’t think Galway has its own airport, so you have to check for the closest airport + factor in driving time.

Aran Island would be a full day trip.
Connemara you could drive through or you could spend all day hiking and exploring.
Kylemore Abbey might still be under construction, in which case, just a couple hours (it’s mainly the garden as the castle was under renovation when I visited)
The Clifden drive is beautiful – it would take maybe a couple hours.
Galway would be nice to spend a day in, we just drove through and had lunch. Galway is a smaller city and known for its pubs so if you like nightlife you could spend the night.

It depends on how long you want to linger in each place, and the driving. Typically what do is I add all the destinations I want to see in Google Maps and use their driving distance as a benchmark. The roads in Ireland are very narrow, and we were unused to driving on the left, so I’d add 30-45 minutes longer to the Google Maps driving estimates.

At a quick glance, I’d estimate 5 days at minimum for the places you listed, and 6-7 if you wanted to take it leisurely? Hope that helps!

Hi Kit,

For the best route, plug in all the stops you want to make in Google Maps and then order your itinerary by the most efficient driving route. That’s what we did, and I recommend trying to keep driving to no more than 2.5 hours a day if you can.

Haven’t been to Doolin!

Ashford Lodge is gorgeous, you will love it. They have lots of add on activities like salmon fishing, golfing, archery, falconry etc which kids would enjoy.

We stayed in Clifden and Delphi Mountain in Connemara. Both were great, but slightly different experiences. Clifden is closer to Connemara National Park and Kylemore Abbey. We stayed at Rosleague – fabulous hotel, great service but slightly older clientele. Our review post is here if you want more photos.

Delphi Mountain Lodge was our second overnight. The hotel is more of a casual hunting lodge style and they sit on 1,000 acres so pretty scenery and also add-on activities. We tried ziplining and archery, very fun. Some more photos of that on our Facebook, here.

Hope that helps!

Hi Shannon, Sorry I don’t have a saved Google Map for Ireland. I just plugged in the destinations I was interested in when I was planning my trip. That gives me an idea though – I’ll start creating maps with saved locations for the future!

Oh, thanks for letting me know! I will fix the link.

Generally the shoulder season (May, September) is best. Summer can get pretty crowded. We’ve visited in both April and October and had a great time! There’s always on and off rain so be sure to pack a good rain jacket and some rain boots if you have.