In August 2017, Shae and I went on a trip to Ireland with a couple of our friends. It was meant to be a surprise birthday trip for Shae, but that surprise got spoiled.
We were flying into Dublin which is on the east coast, but there were also places we wanted to visit in the center, west and south of Ireland. We only had six days to see it all which could only mean one thing: Ireland road trip baby!
This trip ended up being a great mix of planning vs serendipity. I did my usual thing of creating a spreadsheet with places, addresses, costs, etc. However, some of our favorite memories will be things we did and saw that we happened upon by chance.
We loved nearly every moment of our time in Ireland, although there were some occasions when our plans went awry. A couple of flat tires, nearly every restaurant in a foodie town not taking any customers and nighttime sea kayaking being cancelled (although that ended up being a good thing). Not to mention the fact that American Airlines sent both our friends’ suitcases to a completely different country and didn’t get them back until three days later.
Still, all those are minor in the grand scheme of things and provide us with even more stories to tell! Stay tuned over the coming weeks as we’ll share everything we got up to. A medieval banquet in a castle, tattoos, a bar more than 1,000 years old, all four of us sleeping in a tiny horse caravan and abandoned monasteries.
And…
…all…
…the…
…food.
Ireland Road Trip Route Map
Here’s the route we took for our road trip around Ireland. I had to use Bing Maps as apparently Google Maps doesn’t allow you to plot more than 10 destinations along a route which is a little weird. You can view a larger version of the map here.
As you can see on the map, there’s still a huge amount of the country we didn’t get to see. This was our third time visiting Ireland though and there are many other countries we want to visit in the future. We may therefore have to leave those parts for you to explore 🙂
The first stop on our tour was Athlone, so check out our guide of everything to do there.
Ireland Road Trip
Here’s everything else that we got up to in Ireland:
- Introduction: Non-Surprise Ireland Road Trip
- 24 Hours In Athlone, Ireland: Where To Stay, Eat, Drink, Shop & Visit
- Luck Of The Irish At Kilmacduagh Monastery
- Returning To The Cliffs Of Moher
- Quin Abbey In 30 Photos
- Feasting Like Royalty At The Bunratty Castle Medieval Banquet
- Day 3: Desmond, Dingle, Dolphin, Driving And Dining
- Puckering Up At Blarney Castle
- Day 4: Kissing Stones, Flat Tires, Stunning Food & Tiny Homes
- 4 Friends + 1 Tiny Home = 1 Fun Night In Ireland
- Breakfast Serendipity At The Conservatory, Laragh
- Glendalough Monastic Site In 25 Photos
- Shot Through The Heart At The Irish Whiskey Museum
- Dublin’s Best Breakfast At Stage Door Cafe
- What To Do (And What Not To Do) In Dublin, Ireland
- Travelling With The Peppers: Saga Holiday Adventures
- Don’t Make These 10 Mistakes When Visiting Ireland
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