Itinerary · 8 days · 36 places
8 Days in Ireland
Eight days from Dublin right across the island: the Georgian city, the train to Galway, Connemara with the Sky Road and Kylemore, the Cliffs of Moher from Doolin, the karst of the Burren and finally Limerick and Bunratty before your flight home from Shannon.
Open in the appThere you can adjust the plan to your dates, your pace and your interests.
Photo: Jay's Photography · Pexels
The route on the map
The plan, day by day
Day 1Arriving in Dublin
Arrival in Dublin
Hotel check-in
A base south of the Liffey around Temple Bar and Dame Street, from where half the city centre is within walking distance.
St Stephen's Green
Georgian city park with a pond, ducks and the Famine memorial, ideal for settling in after the flight.
Grafton Street
Dublin's pedestrian street with buskers, the Molly Malone statue just round the corner on Suffolk Street and Bewley's Café.
Evening: Temple Bar
Cobbled lanes with live music in every other pub — loud and touristy, but just right for the first evening.
Day 2Georgian Dublin & Guinness
Book of Kells & Old Library, Trinity College
The Gospel book illuminated around 800, and above it the Long Room with 200,000 old volumes beneath its barrel vault.
Dublin Castle
From the Norman Record Tower to the State Apartments, seat of the British administration of Ireland until 1922.
Chester Beatty Library
In the castle garden, the collection of a mining magnate: the earliest papyri of St Paul's letters, Persian miniatures and Japanese scrolls.
Christ Church Cathedral
Norman cathedral with the largest crypt in Ireland, home to the mummified cat and rat found in an organ pipe.
Guinness Storehouse
Seven floors in the old fermentation house at St James's Gate, topped by the Gravity Bar with panoramic views over the city's rooftops.
Evening: Camden Street & Wexford Street
Dubliners' own nightlife strip, with Whelan's as the go-to gig venue and bars open past midnight.
Day 3By train to the west coast
Onward to Galway
Hotel check-in
Spanish Arch & Long Walk
A remnant of the medieval city wall on the Corrib, with the colourful row of houses along the Long Walk and kayakers in the current.
Galway City Museum
Three floors of city history, from the Claddagh fishing quarter to the Galway hooker, the bay's red-sailed boat.
Galway Cathedral
Domed limestone church completed in 1965 on the west bank of the Corrib, with mosaics and a large rose window inside.
Salthill Promenade
Two kilometres of seafront promenade on Galway Bay with views of the Aran Islands; at the end, tradition says you kick the wall.
Evening: Quay Street & Latin Quarter
Narrow street packed with pubs where the fiddles strike up live from early evening — Tigh Neachtain and The Quays side by side.
Day 4Connemara: Sky Road & Kylemore
Onward to Clifden
Hotel check-in
Clifden town centre
Three streets around the triangular market square, with wool shops, church spires and the view down to the bay.
Sky Road
Narrow loop road onto the peninsula west of Clifden, with a viewpoint over the islands of Clifden Bay.
Kylemore Abbey & Victorian Walled Garden
Neo-Gothic castle on a lake, plus the tiny Gothic church and the restored Victorian kitchen garden.
Connemara National Park
From Letterfrack, waymarked trails lead up the slopes of Diamond Hill across bog, heath and quartzite slabs.
Evening: Lowry's Bar in Clifden
Old pub with hundreds of bottles behind the bar and a session at the front tables almost every night.
Day 5The Cliffs of Moher
Onward to Doolin
Hotel check-in
Doolin Pier
The small ferry pier where boats leave for the Aran Islands, with views back to the edge of the cliffs.
Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience
Fourteen kilometres of cliffs rising to 214 metres, with puffins nesting in the rock ledges in early summer.
O'Brien's Tower
Round viewing tower of 1835 at the highest point of the cliffs, with views as far as the Aran Islands and Connemara on a clear day.
Evening: session at McDermott's Pub
One of Doolin's three pubs, where the musicians sit in a circle in the evening and play without a stage.
Day 6The Burren – karst, dolmens and the Atlantic
Poulnabrone Dolmen
Neolithic portal tomb standing bare on the limestone pavement; the bones of 33 people were found beneath it.
Aillwee Burren Experience
Guided tour through the show cave with its underground waterfall and bear den, with the birds of prey centre above.
Ballyvaughan Pier
Small harbour on Galway Bay, where the mudflats are exposed at low tide and the karst hills reach down to the water.
Corcomroe Abbey
Cistercian ruin of 1195 in a quiet valley hollow, with stone carvings of flowers on the chancel vault.
Fanore Beach
Sandy beach with dunes among karst rocks, where the Caher River, the Burren's only surface river, runs out into the sea.
Evening: Fitzpatrick's Bar in Doolin
Turf fire, long wooden tables and a session that usually starts unannounced around half past nine.
Day 7Limerick on the Shannon
Onward to Limerick
Hotel check-in
King John's Castle
Norman castle from 1200 right on the Shannon, with excavations exposed beneath the courtyard and a walk along the towers.
St Mary's Cathedral
The city's oldest building, from 1168, famous for its misericords — carved tip-up seats of black oak.
The Hunt Museum
In the old Custom House, a private collection spanning the Bronze Age to Picasso, including the enamelled 9th-century Antrim Cross.
People's Park
Victorian park with bandstand and plane trees in the Georgian quarter, next to the Limerick City Gallery of Art.
Evening: Catherine Street
The city's nightlife strip between Georgian façades, with bars and live music late into the night.
Day 8Bunratty and departure
Craggaunowen – The Living Past Experience
Reconstructed crannóg on stilts in the lake, a ring fort and the leather boat in which Tim Severin crossed the Atlantic.
Bunratty Castle & Folk Park
Tower house of 1425 with medieval furnishings, and behind it a whole village of relocated 19th-century farmhouses.
Departure from Shannon
Make it your trip
Viatro AI opens this plan in the app — with map, travel times and opening hours. You change the days, pace and places yourself.
