The Perfect 8 Day Ireland Itinerary
I was awestruck by the dimensions of the land, as you can see many of its layers from far away.
DAY 1
In order to navigate Ireland’s public transportation, a full meal and a nap are necessary. Save the headache until later and take a taxi to whatever dreamy accomodation you booked.
You will be here for a few days, so settle in, put the clothes in the closet, and unpack those toiletries.
**Pro tip: Put on a comfortable pair of walking shoes. Don’t put on those really cute loafers you brought, or you will get blisters (actually, just leave those cute shoes at home you won’t need them for this itinerary).
Now it’s time to brave the Dublin public transportation system, or should I say, lack thereof. First, go to the post office and get a Leap card, which acts as the public transportation pass. The bus system is like the lottery. Sometimes you will get lucky, and the bus will stop, but more often than not, they will drive right past at full speed as if you were wearing an invisibility cloak. Honestly, just use the DART (the commuter train through the city) if you can.
Now (once you have successfully made it onto the bus or train to the city centre) there are two options:
If you are easily overstimulated, go straight to Temple Bar, take a quick photo, and get the he** out. Go to Stoneybatter instead and eat at Hakkahan Chinese or another one of the local pubs or restaurants lining the street.
If you are lucky and don’t get overstimulated, good for you. I am sure you can brave a pint at Temple Bar and let me know how it is.
After dinner, the treat should be the Ben & Jerry’s cookie dough ice cream sandwich. Even though you might think it wise to get some fancy European gelato, don’t. Just go to the closest convenience store and get this masterpiece of an ice cream sandwich.
DAY 2
Wake up early and grab a pastry and coffee.
The first stop of the day is going to be the Book of Kells at Trinity College.
Now, if you are like me, you might wonder why it costs €26 to look at an old book. A quick Google search will enlighten you that this “old book” is a stunning masterpiece of art, an unmatched piece of early history, and a cultural treasure. Your mind will be blown, and you will curse the American public school system for teaching you about some white dude from a few hundred years ago rather than this.
After walking through the Long Room and Trinity College, stop by St. Patrick’s Cathedral. In July, the gardens around the Cathedral are stunning. After the Cathedral, it’s time for a second coffee and lunch. Head to the Fumbally Bakery, an exquisite farm-to-table cafe and store.
After downing an iced Americano or flat white (or both) and being stunned by how good toast, eggs, and beans can be, go to the National Gallery of Ireland. With free admission, this gallery is a must for those of us on tight budgets. Though we did pay to see the William Blake exhibit, a style of romantic fantasy I am not familiar with, it made me feel like I was walking through the pages of Where the Wild Things Are.
Slightly delirious with jet lag, take a stroll through a park, stopping along the way at stores or pubs.
DAY 3
Take an early train to Howth (the earlier the better, as the crowds do build up in the summer), about 45 mins from Dublin city centre. This will be the first glimpse at the incredible landscapes to come.
Go on the Cliff Walk, an almost desert-like walk along the cliff’s edge. Don’t be too surprised by the rope railing being on the left as you walk up the trail (away from the cliff edge). Ireland, in general, seems not to care much about safety with regard to its cliff edges. Just use common sense.
Now I am not going to say exactly where we ended up because, as someone from a small town that gets infiltrated with tourists, I hate when my secret spots get gobbled up. But there are some secretish beaches marked on Apple Maps that are a slight and sketchy trek down from the path. I had done some research before the hike because I will find water to swim in anywhere I go, so I had a bathing suit on under my clothes and a small towel. Just a tip if you are a mermaid like me.
After the cliff walk, stop back in Howth for a coffee and walk around the market. This is where I bought my Claddagh ring too!
At this point, since the Irish diet consists strictly of bread, pastry, caffeine, meat, and beans. For dinner, try Cornucopia for some veggies. It is a little hole-in-the-wall right downtown between large luxury stores. A three-story masterpiece of whole foods.
DAY 4
A day trip to the Wicklow Mountains.
**Pro tip: The website says the bus leaves at 11:45 from Dublin. It, in fact, leaves at 11:30, and even when we got there ten minutes before we thought it left, we got the last two seats on the bus, so plan accordingly.
The National Park is something out of a dream of lakes and forests. Bring a bathing suit or a change of clothes. We made the mistake of not, but that didn’t stop us from entering the sparkly, somewhat discolored upper lake.
We didn’t do any long hikes, just a substantially inclined walk to the upper lake, looking down on the beauty of it from above. Though screaming children are typically an annoyance to me while trying to enjoy nature, the cute mixture of accents and giggles was endearing.
We ended up back in town an hour before the World Cup Final, as if someone had planned it ;) The first bar I wanted to go to was already full, which made me nervous about where we would get in. But as if appearing out of thin air, Sheehans had a high top open in perfect view of the TV.
~ A love letter to the girl from Spain next to me, with whom I shared a special connection, as we tried to see over the heads of the tall, annoying men who stood right in front of us. ~
DAY 5
It’s time to make our way across the county to Galway!
The three-hour train ride whizzes by as you pass through suburbs and then into the county to the western side of Ireland. We booked an Airbnb thirty minutes outside downtown, but there are a few hostels that looked nice (we went into the Galway Hostel for some Wi-Fi, and the vibes were immaculate!)
This was the first night we had gas station ramen and frozen pizza for dinner. I have a hard time sitting still, feeling guilty for not always trying to see things when I am traveling, but those evenings are necessary. We ate in bed, and I watched/scrolled through nostalgic movies on Netflix since the options were different. It was so peaceful to sit still for a few hours.
DAY 6
The first stop in Galway is Coffee Work + Press, truly one of the best coffees I have ever had.
Next, the iconic colorful houses, with the slight grey overcast of the sky, looked like a dreamy Irish landscape. Only in Ireland can it be grey and colorful at the same time.
Then on to making the “mistake” of going to Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop. Bookshops are like time warps for me. I go in, and it could be minutes, days, weeks, years before I come out. I have no idea. This bookshop was especially magical, and we probably spent an hour or an hour and a half at least, wandering through the stacks. I bought a used version of The Scarlet Letter, a book I haven’t actually read but was bookwormed in for the following days.
This day is exclusive for wandering around Galway. At some point, M and I split up for the first time, and I did my favorite activity in a new city. I turned on music, put my phone away, and just walked for hours and miles through the Latin Quarter and then to the West End. I absolutely love just wandering in a place like Galway where there is plenty of room to get lost.
For food, I recommend The Charcoal Grill kebab jointfor a quick bite to eat.
**Pro tip: Do not eat it in the park the birds are ruthless and unbothered.
DAY 7
One of the absolute highlights of this itinerary is the Aran Islands. Book a bus and ferry ticket through the Aran Islands Tours website. The sea was slightly rough but not bad at all for someone prone to motion sickness. If you are worried, Dramamine never hurts.
The custom is to rent a bike to get around the island, and I highly recommend this over thinking about walking. Enjoy the leisurely ride across the island (remember cars drive on the left!) and stop at Teach and Take Café for a tea, a cup of soup, a sandwich, a third coffee of the day, whatever you want before continuing on to the Cliffs of Aran. Once again, at the top of these cliffs, there is absolutely no guardrail. It is jarring, to say the least, that you are able to walk to the cliff’s edge. Again, common sense is necessary.
This was by far one of my favorite days. Up the first little hill on our bikes, I was awestruck by the dimensions of the land, as you can see many of its layers from far away. There is the sea, a color almost like the Caribbean, as if it were in a storm, then the first layer of land with a house and then a stone wall or slight edge to the land and then the next layer with a house and land, maybe some cows and horses, and then the next layer and so on and so on. It’s the kind of place I would want to go to in an apocalypse or simply to escape. The remoteness of it was calming, and I am sure in the winter or tourist off-season it is chillingly deserted, with the people remaining like family. I search out those types of places and find a sense of calm that I can relate to.
This evening was one where we fell into bed as soon as we were home. Dinner consisted of bananas, a baguette, Kit Kats, and Gatorade.
DAY 8
It’s the last day for adventures and one of the most incredible sights to see… the Cliffs of Moher!
The bus system is slightly better in Galway and the only option. Only once on this day did the bus drive past us, the driver going so far as to throw his hands in the air as if there was nothing he could do, the vehicle driving on its own accord as it whizzed by us. If you are visiting during peak tourist season, go to the first stop in the city center. It filled up right away when we trekked back to town to get on it.
How they get a long-ass bus (and I am talking no ordinary length bus these things are massive) to make that trek is crazy with how steep the roads and narrow the turns are. At one point, we were passing another bus, both drivers inching themselves by the other as I sat there and thought, “If we flipped to the side, we would just roll and roll and roll.” I looked away from the left window and out the right at the pretty farmland instead.
No words can describe the insanity and vastness of the cliffs themselves. We were unlucky in that the cliff trail was closed, but still it was simply unimaginable how tall these cliffs were and how clear and sparkly the water below was. I wanted to go down and swim in it, to look up from above at the vertical open terrain.
Round out the trip out with a Guinness and music back in Galway before heading back to Dublin the next day for the flight home (or wherever the next adventure lies!)
Don’t come at me, but this last evening was the first that I sat and listened to an Irish trad session at O’Connell’s Bar. I sat alone at the bar, drinking Guinness and listening to music and conversations around me. It was such a wonderful atmosphere, and the bar was so cool! The beer garden outside was very bright and chatty, and I had no issue just sitting there for an hour or two drinking and listening. Soaking up some Irish magic before returning home.
