The Best Things To Do In Ireland

Hey guys! A couple years ago my family took a trip to London, UK and throughout Ireland during our spring break. I planned the trip (with the help of my mom booking tickets) so I thought I’d share with you my itinerary and what I think the best things to do in Ireland are.

We flew into London to stay with family friends for a few days and from there flew into Cork, Ireland.

Blarney Castle

From the airport we rented a car because we would be roadtripping through the country. Our first attraction was the Blarney Castle.

This castle was originally built in 1446, and is well known for it’s kissing stone. As Irish Folklore tells it, if you kiss the stone then you are gifted the ability to “speak eloquently”. It is commonly listed as a bucket list item, and when we visited the landscape looked gorgeous and straight out of a fairy tale. The surrounding area had really fun and easy hikes as well. However, there is a lot of construction on the castle now to make it safer which hurts its natural image.

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Dromoland Castle (Hotel)

After the castle excursion, we drove an hour to the hotel we were staying at called the Dromoland Castle. This castle was so cool to stay in and I felt like a princess! The rooms were incredible and the property was huge. The hotel is catered towards both families and couples, but if your kids are picky eaters they will struggle with the on-site restaurants.

The hotel provides lots of activities, and we signed up for clay disk shooting lessons which was tons of fun except for the freezing rain.

We did some exploring around the town that the Dromoland Castle and got lost in some back streets. The area had the cutest boutiques and cafes with warm soup. We even stumbled upon a castle that served as a memorial in a cemetery. This aimless wandering was my favorite part of the trip.

After a two nights of staying in the Dromoland Castle, we drove up to Galway. Along the drive, we came across serveral natural beauties that we stopped for and you should too.

Cliffs of Moher

The Cliffs of Moher were incredible! It is a must see if you are going to Ireland. Cliffs of Moher is a photographers dream, and naturally I wanted to stay there for hours. However, you have to dress really warm because the wind is crazy strong.

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Burren National Park

We did not purposely make a stop here, but as we were driving along the curvy Irish roads, we came across a part of the Burren National Park. It was so pretty and nobody was there (unlike the Cliffs of Moher). The park truly is nature’s playground and a perfect break from the drive.

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Galway

Galway is a cute little town with narrow stone roads and colorful buildings. It is known for its pub crawls because that is pretty much all you can do there. It is not the ideal spot for a family trip because of all of the pubs and not much to do for the kids/teens.

I would come back when I am older though because it is a really unique area.

After Galway, we drove 3 hours to Dublin.

St. Patrick’s Day

Dublin has this tradition called greening the city, where nearly every building has green lights reflecting on to it.

The Parade

I have no idea what I expected the parade to be, but it definitely wasn’t this. The parade was very crowded and freezing (as expected) but most of the floats and bands in the parade were from the United States! The parade was actually demonstrating several different cultures, universities, and even high schools! Most of the people in the parade weren’t even wearing green! They aren’t joking when they say that Saint Patrick’s Day is an Americanized holiday.

My mom and Emily were freezing so they went to a cafe to cozy up with some hot chocolate. Meanwhile, my dad and I went to explore. We headed to the famous temple bar and it was impossible to get to but the environment was so exciting! That is, if you can handle crowds.

Some other things we did in Ireland included going to the Leprechaun museum, Guinness Storehouse, and stumbled upon lots of street fairs and markets.

Watch my YouTube video about the trip here!

This trip crossed off so many bucket list items for me, and while Ireland may be well known for Dublin and Galway’s unique streets and pubs, I absolutely loved the country side. The natural beauty of Ireland was incredible, however the weather was less favorable. Hopefully these ideas get your brain turning when it comes to planning your next trip. If you have any questions when planning a trip, always feel free to reach out to me!

Sincerely,

Meghan Ann