And now for something completely different!
Frequently I have colleagues, friends or family asking me what they could do while they are visiting Ireland. So I decided to share my favourite spots in this article.
I have separated the activities/destinations you can do/visit within Dublin, around Dublin (often as day trips) and far outside Dublin (this may take at least one or more days). I hope you enjoy these spots as much as I did.
Note: I will keep updating this list when I come across something worth adding.
Phoenix Park Deers
In Dublin
- Go find the deers in Phoenix Park, visit Ashtown castle, visit Dublin Zoo or just have a great time walking/cycling in the park.
- Do the Viking Splash Tour and see Dublin from a different perspective.
- Visit the Botanic Gardens, Guinness Storehouse and Kilmainham Jail.
- Go sightseeing with the hop on and hop off bus tour around Dublin city center.
- Take a Sea Safari tour around Dublin Bay.
Newgrange
Around Dublin
- Climb Bray Head or do the cliff walk between Bray and Greystones.
- Visit Malahide castle and have a good time playing frisbee in the surrounding garden.
- Take photos of the seals swimming around in the harbour of Howth, go golfing at Deer Park golf course in Howth, visit the Howth cliffs or just do the Howth walk around the peninsula.
- Visit Newgrange and Hill of Tara (tour bus from Dublin), Trim castle (public transportation), go for a walk at Glendalough (bus from Dublin) or visit the Wicklow mountains national park (car recommended).
- Go diving at Dalkey island and possible see seals and dolphins swim by.
Crawling starfish in Sheephaven Bay (Donegal)
Far Outside Dublin
- See the Cliffs of Moher, walk through the unusual landscape of the Burren, visit the Poulnabrone Portal Dolmen, walk through different caverns in the Aillwee Cave, stay overnight in one of the many B&B’s in the nearby village Doolin or do the one-day bus tour (different operators).
- Bring yourself luck by kissing the Blarney Stone at Blarney castle, visit the Drombeg stone circle or just enjoy the scenic landscape in the south west coast (either by boat or follow the coastline by car).
- Travel the Ring of Kerry and Ring of Beara, visit the Skellig Islands (most boats leave from Portmagee Harbour), go diving on the Dingle peninsula or go dolphin watching / swimming with Fungie from Dingle Town harbour.
- Visit Galway for a good night out and visit the Aran Islands (by plane or boat).
- Go diving in Killary fjord or hike/drive your way around Connemara national park.
- Visit Kilkenny castle, Rock of Dunamase, Brownshill Dolmen and the lighthouse of Hook Head
- Enjoy the scenic landscapes of Donegal, walk around Horn Head and go diving in Sheephaven Bay near Horn Head.
- In Northern Ireland, visit he Exploris Aquariam in Portaferry (great for kids!), stroll around the beautiful Kearney village, hike the Mourne Mountains and of course visit the Giant’s Causeway.
Is your favourite destination missing? Share it in the comments below!
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You get about! Visited Newgrange last year -amazing! Have you visited the Burran/Cliffs of Mohher? Just back from there this week, well worth a visit. Can stay in Doolin, they have a resident dolphin that hangs around the harbour.
nice list! I would add whale watching in county Cork and taking a black cab tour in Belfast to learn about the Troubles.
Sorry but your Northern Ireland recommendations are inaccurate. It should read: “Find the Duke of York pub in Belfast, get smashingly drunk, and wake up two days later on a bench in front of the classic City Hall building.”
Maybe one day I’ll have the opportunity to visit Ireland. It always looks so beautiful in movies and pictures!
Fili! You have made me quite homesick!
My home since 1988 is in Perth in Western Australia, which has many wonderful attractions of course, ah but my heart is in Ireland!
Visit the Phoenix Park in Dublin – it is about 500 hectares, and a thirty minute walk from the centre of Dublin for a reasonably fit person (and you can get the public transport bus back, of course. On Blackhorse Avenue, which runs outside of and parallel to the northern boundary of the park, there is a pub (!) called ‘The Hole In The Wall’, so called because it is accessible from the park through a small (pedestrian) gate. The pub is very old, very quaint, with a big roaring fire in the winter, a good range of cuisine and a ‘wicked’ ( that’s ‘great’) Pint (of Guinness). In the summertime it’s lovely to sit out and spend a leisurely hour ( or three …).
I wonder if I could do for visitors to Perth what you have done here?
Thanks , except for the home-sickness !
Hello Tony,
I am glad you like this article. Just wanted to let you know that “the hole in the wall pub” still exist and is a really nice pub to go to. Thanks for recommending it here :-)