Trinity College and the Long RoomThe Book of Kells is in the Treasury under the Long Room. Most of the Long Room's books are out while the building is restored, until the end of 2027.Guide
A first-timer's week in Ireland
One week is enough to see Dublin, one prehistoric landscape, the southwest and the west coast, and not enough to do the whole island, so this route picks a handful of regions and stays in each one long enough to be worth the drive. It runs Dublin, the Boyne valley, Kilkenny, Cork, Kerry, Clare and Galway, anticlockwise, and it ends where the airport traffic is easiest.
Day one and two, Dublin
Give the city two days and walk it. The three things we would not skip are the Book of Kells at Trinity College and the Long Room, the National Museum of Ireland, Archaeology for the bog bodies and the gold, and Kilmainham Gaol, which explains more of modern Irish history in ninety minutes than anything else in the country.
If the weather holds, St Stephen's Green and The Phoenix Park are the two green spaces worth the detour, and the Phoenix Park is big enough that you can walk in it for an hour and meet nobody. St Patrick's Cathedral and Christ Church Cathedral are within ten minutes of each other if you want both.
Day three, the Boyne valley
An hour north of the city is the oldest thing you will see all week. Newgrange is a passage tomb older than the pyramids and it is entered on a timed tour from the visitor centre, not driven to, which catches people out. Knowth beside it has more carved stone than anywhere else in western Europe.
Fifteen minutes away, the Hill of Tara is a set of low earthworks in a field and reads as nothing much until somebody explains that this was the seat of the high kings, at which point the view does the rest. Finish at Trim Castle, the biggest Norman castle in Ireland, and sleep in Kilkenny.
Day four, Kilkenny and the road south
Kilkenny Castle and St Canice's Cathedral and Round Tower are five minutes apart and you can climb the round tower, which is one of only two in the country open to climb. The medieval streets between them take an afternoon.
On the way west, Rock of Cashel stands on a limestone outcrop over the Tipperary plain and is the single most dramatic ruin in the country. It is twenty minutes off the motorway and worth every one of them.
Day five, Cork and Blarney
Blarney Castle is the busiest attraction in the county and the gardens are the reason to go rather than the stone. Give it a morning and be there early.
In the city, The English Market has been trading since 1788 and is where to eat, and Cork City Gaol on the hill above is the quieter half of the day. If you would rather be outside, Mizen Head is the furthest southwest point of the mainland and the walk out to the signal station is the best hour on this coast, though it is a long way west of the city.
Day six, Kerry
This is the day people give to the Ring of Kerry and we would give it to Killarney National Park instead. Ross Castle is on the lake at the edge of the town, Torc Waterfall is a ten minute walk off the road, and The Gap of Dunloe is a mountain pass you can walk into as far as you like and turn back.
If you want the coast, Slea Head on the Dingle peninsula is the better drive and about half the length, with Gallarus Oratory on it, a corbelled stone church that has kept the rain out for centuries. Skellig Michael is off this itinerary on purpose: landings are weather dependent and limited, and building a day around one is how a week gets ruined.
Day seven, Clare and Galway
North from Kerry you reach the Cliffs of Moher, which need an early start or a late one and nothing in between. Inland from them, the Burren is bare limestone with Poulnabrone Portal Tomb sitting on it in the open and Aillwee Cave underneath.
Finish in Galway. If you have an extra day, Inis Mor and Dun Aonghasa on the edge of its cliff are the best single day out on this whole route, and the ferry is short. Sailings depend on the weather, so keep it as the flexible day rather than the fixed one.
Where to sleep, roughly
Four bases cover the week: two nights in Dublin, one in Kilkenny, two somewhere between Killarney and Kenmare, and one in Galway. That is four unpackings in seven days, which is about the most anybody enjoys.
Kenmare is the better of the two Kerry options if you want a small town, and Killarney National Park is on the doorstep either way. In Clare, Doolin puts you fifteen minutes from the Cliffs of Moher and on the ferry pier for the Aran Islands, which is the single most useful address on this route.
What this week leaves out, and why
It leaves out Donegal, Belfast and the whole northwest, because adding them means four hours of driving on two of the seven days and you would see less. It leaves out Connemara for the same reason, which is the hardest cut on the list.
It also leaves out the Ring of Kerry as a full loop. The loop is a hundred and seventy kilometres of coach traffic in summer, and the Dingle peninsula gives you the same coast in half the time. If you have eight days rather than seven, put the extra one in Connemara, not in the car.
Questions people ask
Is one week enough to see Ireland?
One week is enough for four regions at a sensible pace, which is what the route above does. It is not enough for the whole island: trying to add the north and the west coast to the same week means two long driving days and less seen, not more.
Do you need a car for a week in Ireland?
For this route, yes, from day three on. Dublin is better without one. The Boyne valley, Kerry and the Burren are all places where the good parts are between the towns rather than in them.
Which direction should you drive the route?
Anticlockwise, Dublin first. It puts the two big set pieces, Kerry and the Cliffs of Moher, at the end of the week when you have found your feet on Irish roads, and it finishes in Galway where the run back to the airport is straightforward.
The places in this guide
32 places, each with a page of its own.
Trinity College and the Long RoomThe Book of Kells is in the Treasury under the Long Room. Most of the Long Room's books are out while the building is restored, until the end of 2027.
National Museum of Ireland, ArchaeologyThe Kildare Street museum. The Ardagh Chalice, the Tara Brooch and the bog bodies are all in it.
Kilmainham GaolThe prison is kept as it was. The leaders of the 1916 Rising were held here and shot here.
St Stephen's GreenA square of park in the middle of the south side, with a lake, a bandstand and gates onto Grafton Street.
The Phoenix ParkThe walled park on the edge of the city has a wild deer herd in it and long straight roads through it.
St Patrick's CathedralJonathan Swift is buried inside the national cathedral, and there is a public park beside it.
Christ Church CathedralOlder of the two city cathedrals, and its crypt runs the full length underneath it.
NewgrangeThe passage tomb went up around 3200 BC under a mound above the Boyne. You go in on a guided tour that leaves from the visitor centre.
KnowthSmaller satellite tombs ring the mound at Knowth, which carries the biggest collection of megalithic art in western Europe.
Hill of TaraGrassed earthworks on a low ridge south of Navan, where the high kings were made. It is open ground and free to walk.
Trim CastleIreland's largest Norman castle: a square keep inside a curtain wall on the bank of the Boyne.
Kilkenny CastleThe Norman castle stands over the Nore in the middle of the city, with the long gallery inside it and fifty acres of parkland behind.More guides
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