Liss Travels: 5 Day Ireland Itinerary

Last week I got back from a girl’s trip to Ireland. My friends from work planned a trip together for a “Spring Break” of sorts. A lot of people asked me, why Ireland? A “girls trip” should be in Mexico or Florida! The short answer for “why Ireland?” is that we all have the travel bug and had Europe on the brain. The two countries we were strongly considering were Ireland and Iceland. A few friends had said that Iceland is better for a shorter amount of time (maybe 3-4 days) instead of 6. After some thought, we decided on Ireland.

I like to use Scott’s Cheap Flights and Skyscanner to look for flight deals. The prices to go over St. Patrick’s Day couldn’t be beat. St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland? Check that off the bucket list!

Where we stayed

We stayed at the Dublin City Condo. An Airbnb is the perfect choice for five girls. This condo is a two bedroom two bathroom in a perfect city location. We could walk everywhere! I highly recommend the condo (and the wonderful owners) for a trip to Ireland. This ended up being way cheaper than staying in a hotel (especially on a holiday weekend). The Airbnb had a 4 night stay minimum, so we decided to stay in Dublin the entire 6 nights and do day trips anywhere we wanted to go.

Day 1

We arrived Saturday morning (super early) and it was St. Patrick’s Day! We took a quick nap and changed clothes and were off! Dublin was CRAZY. There were thousands and thousands of people everywhere (mainly from England we found out). The day was spent mostly walking around the city, going in and out of pubs, and just taking in the festivities. There was a very cool parade throughout the whole city center!

We of course went to Temple Bar. Temple Bar is very tourist-y but a must (especially on St. Patrick’s Day). It was packed in this area, with lines out the door at every pub. We got out of there very quickly! On St. Patrick’s Day we also went to the Jameson Distillery. I am not a whiskey drinker, but we heard from multiple people that Jameson was a great experience. We walked over to Jameson and quickly learned that you need to buy tickets for the tour in advance. We were mostly interested in just sitting in the bar and trying some whiskey drinks we didn’t mind! I had an Irish coffee and it was delicious!

Day 2

The day after St. Patrick’s Day was a little sleep in Dublin (if you know what I mean!) The jet lag was also setting in a little bit. My friend Brittany and I got up early to go to church at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. We walk out the condo door and it is a blizzard! It was unbelievable. I felt right at home!

Being Catholic, mass in Dublin was something I did not want to miss. We arrive at the cathedral and quickly find out that the service is not Catholic! I was so surprised I could have fallen over. Once I learned a little more about Ireland’s history, I wasn’t as surprised anymore (but still). The service was great and I am really glad we went. Afterward, Brittany and I got coffee at Two Pups (near the cathedral) and it ended up being my favorite coffee shop on the whole trip. It was so stinking cute.

After church, we met up with the rest of the girls for more sightseeing. We bought the 48 hour hop-on and hop-off bus tour, which I highly recommend. Tony and I did one of these in Greece and it was a great experience so I recommended we do it in Dublin. It’s nice because you get tour Dublin on a bus and it’s also your transportation for the day. Our first stop was the Dublin Castle. I learned a lot about Ireland’s history (this was a good starting point because I didn’t know much!) Overall, I thought the tour was just okay. If you are not a big museum person, I would skip it.

Our last stop of the day was the Guinness Storehouse. Every single person I talked to recommend that we do this tour. It was 25 euros and worth every cent. The tour is super well done, I can’t emphasize that enough. It is super interactive, fun, and informational. The ticket also includes a free Guinness. You can get it in any of the many bars within the storehouse or you can pour the perfect pint yourself. We chose to get “certified” and pour our own. I can now pour the perfect Guinness in 119 seconds and have the certificate to prove it! Approximately 10,000 people did the tour that day (due to the holiday weekend) so it was crazy busy. In hindsight, I would have saved it for the following day. Great experience though!

Just a cute door! The “Dublin Doors” are thing I guess. Every door was painted a fun bright color.

Day 3

On our list for our final day in Dublin were the jail and the cemetery. We kept laughing about how morbid of a day we were about to have! Our first stop was the Kilmainham Gaol (which is the prison). Many Irish revolutionaries were imprisoned and executed here in the prison by the British. It was super creepy and super interesting. We did not book our tickets in advance, but I would recommend it. We had to book a later tour because the one that was starting when we got there was full. Because we had extra time, we got to see the whole museum. If you have time, I would recommend it. The museum is super well done and is included in the price of your jail ticket.

After the jail, we hopped back on our bus and rode up to the cemetery. The Glasnevin Cemetery is the largest in Ireland, and it is HUGE! There are over 1 million people buried here. We did not do the tour, but the cemetery is free to walk around so we meandered through looking at the interesting tombs. Near the cemetery, is the Gravediggers Pub where all of the cemetery’s gravediggers used to drink their pints. This pub was like going back in time. There is no phone or TV, and a wall that separates the men and women (before they could all drink in a pub together!)

Our final tourist stop of the day was the Brazen Head pub. This is the oldest pub in Dublin and has history going back to the 12^th century. Although this pub is tourist-y, I recommend a stop just to say you went!

Day 4

On the fourth day, we took a tour through Wild Rover to the Irish countryside. Wild Rover tour to countryside. The condo owner recommended this tour, and although I had never heard of the places we would be going, it was a fabulous day. The tour started in Kilkenny, a medieval Irish city with a lot of history. Our tour guide was fantastic and gave us an excellent 45 minute walking tour of the city.

After Kilkenny, we went to the Wicklow mountains. We stopped at the Wicklow Gap for some photos and it was breathtaking. I will say, I was not expecting all of the snow! I thought the countryside would be super green (like everyone says) but we instead saw snow capped mountains (which were very pretty as well).

The next stop in the Wicklow mountains was Glendalough; a medieval monastic settlement. This is a great area for hiking! There are two gorgeous lakes that take about an hour to hike to. We ran into some locals at the upper lake, and some cute dogs! Of course I had to throw the stick for these dogs for a little bit!

Our last stop in the mountains was a working sheep farm! The best part? It was “lambing season” (the farmer’s words not mine!) and I got to hold a newborn lamb. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip!

Day 5

Our last day was our big excursion out to the Cliffs of Moher through Paddy Wagon tours. This was the activity I was looking forward to most. We definitely saved the best for last. The first stop was Kinvara, a coastal village with lots of charm. We continued down the Atlantic coast along the Galway Bay. The roads are so tiny! I couldn’t believe our bus driver could even do that drive. It was nuts. We then arrived at the “mini cliffs” to take some photos. I have never seen so much rock in my life! Lots and lots and lots of limestone!

The grand finale was of course the Cliffs of Moher. It is breathtaking. We walked along the cliffs for probably an hour and half just taking in all of the gorgeous views. If you are at all afraid of heights (like my dear husband) this is going to be a trying day for you because I was even a little freaked out. Totally worth it though for these views! This was absolutely the best part of Ireland (in my opinion!)