BootsnAll Travel Community

Really excited to be going for my first time. I got two weeks and I'm not sure exactly what I should do. I was thinking on traveling to London and Paris as well. Does anyone have any advice on if that's wise or not? If I only have two weeks, should I stay in Ireland or is it advisable to hit up the other two as well? Any thoughts would be extremely welcome!

Hey,

It depends what you are into, what you expect to get out of the trip and how you plan to get around?
You could easily spend 2 weeks (plus) in ireland but you could get a taste of all 3 in 2 weeks aswell. I don't know london or paris that well having only visited them briefly. But for Ireland I would recommend something along the lines of the following for a 2 week itinerary.
Keep the weekends set aside for the cities - as they can be quiet during the week, unless you are into the student scene. So dedicate one weekend to galway and one to dublin. In between I would definitely recommend a trip up to donegal, 90% of tourists head south to kerry and cork which is lovely but the less beaten but equally beautiful path is up north to Donegal. It also allows you the opportunity to visit the likes of Belfast and Derry which should give you a good overall perspective of the country as a whole and as a divided island.
Don't forget to drop into the aran islands, have a pint out the front of joe macs and watch the boats come in and out of the harbour

Enjoy

Thanks Phil! The more I think about it, the more I'm thinking of spending a week or so in Ire and then going where the current takes me I'm hoping to meet up with some other travelers since this will be my first time going abroad solo, I'm kinda looking forward to just winging it. Thanks for the advice!

Hi!

Ireland is wonderful. We went two years ago with our boys who were then 15 and 8. We rented a van, did not have any logging reservations so knocked on the doors of b&bs when we were ready to call it a day. Never had a problem -- and that was peak season in July! We went for two 1/2 weeks -- started in Shannon went north up the west coast to Giant's Causeway; south and then up to Dingle and back to Shannon. We pretty much circled the coasts. Don't miss the Burren or the mini stonehedges that are sprinkled throughout the country. Cong was a cute little town as well. If you go to Cork, you can skip the Blarney Stone but go to the main church and ring the bells of Shannon. Very close is a great pub that the locals visit. Give it a go! My advise to you, is to spend your two weeks in Irelanb but don't go as north as the Giant's Causeway. I would also skip Belfast. Everything south of Belfast east and west is absolutely enchanting. Make sure you hit all the pubs and spend lots of time speaking with the people. They were warm and welcoming and fun!

Sound like a fun trip. I am headed to Ireland the last week of OCtober to Nov 5 11 days total.

Not to disagree with the last poster, but Belfast and Derry are a must for me. But, I know alot of history about the cath/prot problems and that is where it is still most evident. For my 11 days, I will be 4 days in Dublin,4 days in Belfast/Derry and 3 days Galway.