Ireland Honeymoon- transportation help

A car is a huge part of the experience! We booked with groupon/Great Value Vacations but we did drive, I think they MAY have another option with more guided tours/no car! Cliffs of Moher was one of the highlights of our trip soooo don’t miss that!! Killarney National Park/Gap of Dunloe and Dingle were also amazing!!! I wasn’t a huge fan of Killarney or Dublin (although we did enjoy the Guinness and Jameson houses) and wouldn’t recommend spending a lot of time there... they felt like tourist traps to me. In my opinion, Dingle was the BEST!

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I definitely want to see Dingle and Cliffs of Moher. That's the dilemma right now. FH doesn't want to be stressed about driving but it seems like the best way to get around.

Could you share driving at all for less stress? I'm from Scotland which is pretty similar in nature to Ireland for getting round the more rural attractions and honestly a car is a must to do it justice. You see so much just travelling around in a car that you wouldn't quite get the same view of from a big tour bus. Plus you're stuck to the bus schedule and stop offs instead of just being able to pull over if you see something pretty or interesting that you want to explore. Scenery is everything in the Celtic countries 😍

View Quoted Comment If you do decide to drive my suggestion would be to fly into Shannon which is closer to what you want to see and less industrialized so it will give you time to adjust to the roads. We flew into Dublin and you literally get thrown into a double traffic circle right away and it’s frightening right off the bat!

I would not want to drive on the winding roads near the Cliffs of Moher. We went to Ireland last November and didn’t rent a car. We would have been too focused on the roads/driving on the opposite side to focus on the gorgeous views. We flew into Dublin, then took a train to Galway and stayed their for 2 days. We took a day bus trip out of Galway to visit the Cliffs and it was perfect! We saw soooo much more being on a bus than driving ourselves. And we didn’t have to worry about getting lost. Then we took a bus to Killarney to stay for 2 days, we walked and used bikes to get around. We stayed in air bnb for all places and in Killarney we stayed in a room in a host’s house. She did drive us to the train station and into town 1 night because it was raining but we easily could have walked. We then took a train back to Dublin for the last few days and got around their via walking and ubers. It was so easy to use the public transportation system to get from city to city. And if you’re only staying in 1 city, just do bus trip tours to visit places around the country.

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Thank you for this! We would like to do something like this- multi city. Did you plan tours and transportation ahead of time or just figure it out as you went?

I do NOT like to drive, am not the best driver, and was worried about driving on the other side of the road. But I still rented a car for my (mostly solo) Ireland trip and it was the best decision. So much of the beauty of Ireland is tooling around on the small roads. I rented an automatic to make the transition easier, but it really wasn't that difficult. It's a small country, so it isn't like you'll be driving for 8 hour stretches each day.

I didn't do Cliffs of Moher, but driving around Dingle was so easy (and not to be missed). I didn't drive in Dublin though (no car needed in the big city).

Traffic circles/roundabouts were a bit intimidating at first, but you'll be able to get the hang of them.

I’m not a fan of driving either when I’m on vacation because of the different regulations. And I’m not a fan of tours either, I like to do things on my own. Best and cheapest way is to simply plan the whole trip yourself. You can use train and bus by getting a tourist pass for transportation. Google maps works in Europe and tells you from point A to B with walking distance, different bus or train routes, is very easy. You can also book transport yourself from the different cities.
If you’re traveling the day after the wedding do a red eye flight the following night.

I went to Ireland last summer with my friend. We flew into Dublin and then right away hopped on a bus to Galway. We spent a few days there. Exploring the town, cliffs of Moher and the aran islands. Then we went to Cork to see Blarney Castle. Then we went to Cobh just to explore a small town and do the titanic experience. We then spent way to much time in Dublin before leaving for Paris. Galway was by far my favorite. We took buses everywhere we went, didn't drive once. It was nice because Irish drivers are crazy and the roads are sketchy.

Hi there Allie!

Ireland is an amazing honeymoon destination ☘

Full disclosure, I’m Irish so I'm totally biased 😂

The Cliffs of Moher is one of the most beautiful places in the world!

It would be possible to travel to all those places you want to visit (Dingle, Cliffs of Moher, Giant's Causeway) using public and private transport.

If you wanted to visit Kerry, Galway, Antrim and Dublin, my advice would be to fly in to Shannon Airport and go from there.

The best route would be Shannon airport to Galway, (visit Cliffs of Moher), Galway to Kerry (visit Dingle), Kerry to Dublin (spend a few days in capital) and Dublin to Antrim (visit Giants Causeway). You can check if it’s possible to fly home from Belfast International Airport. If not, you may need to come back to Dublin airport to catch a flight. There are a ton of direct buses from Belfast to Dublin so that wouldn't be an issue!

Let me know if you need any more insights or advice, I'm more than happy to give a locals perspective

Is there anywhere in Dublin you want to visit?

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Definitely the Cliffs of Moher, Dingle, The Guinness Storehouse, and the Giants Causeway! Maybe Blarney castle too. I think the most cost effective way to do it without renting a car is to stay in Dublin the whole time and take day trips to each of the places we want to go. The tours with transportation are only about $50 per person. Then we don't have to worry about coordinating transportation and staying in a different hotel each night. So far, this method is going to save us about $2000 so I'm hoping it works out. Still going over the logistics but we are hoping to book this weekend!

I actually just did both. Giants causeway yesterday and cliffs of moher a few days ago. We booked each individually. You don't need and al inclusive. Just book the hotel and stuff separately. The cities are easily walkable so you can get to where the tours will pick you up. Also remember you euros and pounds. Republic of ireland is a country by itself and northern ireland belongs to the uk. We haven't driven anywhere. There are plenty of taxis or we walk to places.

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Where are you staying at?

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How was the Titanic experience? Worth it or something that could be skipped?

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We've already got the red eye flight picked out! I'm hoping I can sleep the whole flight lol. The longest I've ever flown before is 3 hrs and I get antsy so I'm nervous to fly for that long.

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I think that's what we've decided to do. Stay in Dublin and just take the day bus tours to all the attractions we want to see. What did you do for dining? Any places to eat that are a must?

View Quoted Comment We stayed at the Aloft in Dublin and used wild rover tours for cliffs of moher and galway. And we stayed at the hampton inn city centre in Belfast and used Allen tours for giant's causeway and dark hedges. It was like a 15 minute walk from the aloft to the pick up spot and like 7 minute walk from the hampton inn to where the pick up spot was.

View Quoted Comment If you can afford it try getting double seats with extra legroom. Is so worth it and you’ll be just you and your husband instead of 4 people. The extra legroom makes a big difference as well.

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I went to Ireland in July of 2014. My friend and I used Groupon/Great Value Vacations. Everything was planned for us and all of our hotels were within walking distance to the hop-on/hop-off bus. I would not suggest driving over there as they drive on the opposite side of the road. We flew into Dublin and arrived early in the morning. We spent one night in the hotel there and spent the days traveling around on the hop-on/hop-off bus. The Jameson Distillery and the Trinity College Library were my favorites! We then took the train to Limerick and spent 2 nights in a hotel there. We went to King John's Castle there which was great! Then we took the train to Galway and spent 2 nights there. We took an all day bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher that also stopped at other sites along the way. We stopped at this little pub along the way for lunch and the food was amazing. The bus driver that we had on the tour knew about everything and called ahead to the pub where we stopped. Send me a message if you want more information, I can look up the things from our trip and send you other information!

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I would go to the Jameson Distillery as well. The experiences at Jameson vs. Guinness were totally different. At Jameson the tour guide takes you through the distillery and explains the whole process and you have the opportunity to ask questions. At Guinness I believe it was a self guided tour so it was a recording and I also remember it being a lot more crowded there.