I'll post this email I sent to friends last year:
Where you spend time depends on your interests. I prefer the scenic sights over the cities, so I wouldn't spend a lot of time there.
Having said that, Dublin has plenty of things to see.
1) The Guinness factory tour is always good -
https://www.guinness-storehouse.com/en 2) The Irish Distillers tour -
https://www.jamesonwhiskey.com/ie/visit-us The Midleton (Cork) tour is probably better if you want to see the actual production process. I never took the official tour, but my dad used to take me there sometimes.
3) Ireland's oldest pub -
http://www.brazenhead.com/ 4) Kilmainham Gaol -
http://kilmainhamgaolmuseum.ie/ 5) This is only if you're interested in Irish sports -
https://crokepark.ie/gaa-museum-tours 6) Shopping the nicest shopping area is around Grafton Street, with plenty of nice stores hidden in some of the side streets branching off it, and an indoor shopping center at the south end of the street.
7) St. Stephen's Green a nice park at the south end of Grafton Street. Small, well worth a look.
8) This is probably one of my favorites The Book of Kells, and the Trinity College library in general -
https://www.tcd.ie/visitors/book-of-kells/ 9) This one was fun -
https://www.littlemuseum.ie/ • If you have time to take a couple of side trips from Dublin city, you can drive or take the DART (train) to Howth, a fishing village with some great seafood restaurants -
http://www.visitdublin.com/hooked-on-howth-dublin • Another cool place is Malahide Castle, also easy to get to by car, bus or train -
https://www.malahidecastleandgardens.ie/ If you plan on doing the Irish Distillers tour, let me know. My dad worked there for a long time, and he may still be able to arrange some perks.
Ok, once you're out of Dublin, I think my priorities would be the West/Southwest and North of the country.
The West:
• For a taste of old Ireland, the only place left where people still speak Irish as a first language is the Aran Islands. The scenery is stark, but stunning. The rain and wind can howl in from the Atlantic Ocean, so bring your rain gear!
o You can take a boat or fly out there -
http://www.aranislandferries.com/ or
http://aerarannislands.ie/ o Inis Meain is the least populated island, but probably the most traditional. We spent a couple of nights there and loved it -
http://www.aranislands.ie/inis-meain-inishmaan/ o I bought an Aran sweater from these guys when I was there many years ago -
http://inismeain.ie/about • Back on the mainland, and in the same area, we have more to see.
o The Cliffs of Moher just spectacular -
https://www.cliffsofmoher.ie/ o The Burren this is a rocky, but beautiful, part of the country. One of my favorites -
http://www.burrennationalpark.ie/ o After this many years away, I'm not up on the bar scene any more, but some of the local bars have great food and traditional music at night -
https://anoige.ie/top-5-traditional-irish-music-pubs-in-clare/ o Bunratty Castle is nice. My mom has taken some of their gourmet cooking lessons, and loved it -
https://www.shannonheritage.com/BunrattyCastleAndFolkPark/ o Galway is a nice place to visit too.
The Northwest:
• If you happen to be in the area and want a hike, I've always liked this one -
http://www.sligowalks.ie/?pagid=knocknarea&menu1_topicid=walks • And if you want to stay in one of the coolest places, try Temple House -
http://templehouse.ie/ The Southwest:
• Heading more to the Southwest, the Ring of Kerry is a nice way to see the sights, and will be a lot less crowded in October.
o
https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/ring-around-the-ring-of-kerry o Muckross House -
http://www.muckross-house.ie/ o And the Dingle Peninsula is beautiful -
https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/dingle-peninsula-pure-ireland o If you have time to poke around, there are some nice villages in West Cork that are worth a look.
http://www.schull.ie/category/what-to-do/
http://www.crookhaven.ie/ The North:
• The Giant's Causeway is amazing, and you can easily see everything in a couple of hours if in a hurry.
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/giants-causeway • There's the Bushmills Distillery tour (again, let me know if going there):
http://www.bushmills.com/distillery/ • I'm not all that familiar with the rest of Northern Ireland, but this link has some good suggestions -
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/ireland/northern-ireland/travel-tips-and-articles/top-10-northern-ireland-experiences