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The one-week Ireland trip that works: two nights in Dublin, three in Killarney (day-tripping the Ring of Kerry and the Dingle Peninsula), and two in Doolin or Galway for the Cliffs of Moher, the Burren and the best trad music in the country. Three bases, a hire car from Day 3, and no packing your bags every single morning.
The shape of the trip.
A week is the sweet spot for a first trip to Ireland — long enough to do Dublin properly and get a real run at the west coast, short enough that you don't need to plan like a military campaign. The trap most one-week itineraries fall into is a different hotel every night. This one doesn't: three bases, unpack three times, and let the day trips do the driving.
It runs Dublin → Kerry → Clare/Galway, which keeps the driving legs sensible and saves the biggest scenery for when you've found your feet on the roads. Read our guide to renting a car in Ireland before you book anything — it covers the insurance and narrow-road realities the rental desks gloss over.
Day 1 — Arrive in Dublin
Land, drop your bags, and resist the urge to nap. Dublin is a walking city, so start on foot: Trinity College and the Book of Kells, Grafton Street, and St Stephen's Green cover the classic first afternoon. In the evening, eat early and find live music — and here's the honest bit: have your one look at Temple Bar, enjoy the atmosphere, and then drink somewhere else. The pubs a few streets away are better and half the price.
Don't hire the car yet. A car in Dublin is a liability — parking is expensive and you won't use it. Collect it when you leave on Day 3.
Pick your neighbourhood carefully — it matters more than the hotel. Our where to stay in Dublin guide breaks the city down area by area.
Day 2 — Dublin's Big Hitters
Book Kilmainham Gaol well ahead — it sells out days in advance and it's the single best history stop in the city, told brilliantly by the guides. Tickets are only sold through the official Kilmainham Gaol Museum website, not the tour resellers, so book direct the moment your dates are set. Pair it with the Guinness Storehouse (the Gravity Bar view over the city earns the ticket price) or the whiskey alternative at Jameson Distillery. In the afternoon, choose your Dublin: EPIC (the emigration museum, genuinely moving) and the Ha'penny Bridge north of the river, or the National Museum and Georgian squares south of it.
Finish with a proper session in Stoneybatter, where the locals actually drink. Make an easy evening of it on foot — start at The Glimmer Man, wander down to Walsh's (grab the lovely old snug if it's free), then The Belfry, and finish at The Cobblestone in Smithfield for the music. The Cobblestone is the one unmissable stop: it's the real thing, a proper trad session pub, and the whole crawl is barely ten minutes' walk end to end.
Kilmainham Gaol and the Book of Kells are the two that sell out. Kilmainham is booked direct on the official museum site; the Guinness Storehouse and most other Dublin attractions you can sort below. Either way, do it before you fly.
Guinness Storehouse & Dublin ticketsDay 3 — Dublin to Killarney, via the Rock of Cashel
Collect the hire car and head southwest. It's motorway most of the way (about 3.5 hours direct), but break it at the Rock of Cashel — a spectacular medieval cathedral complex on a limestone outcrop, more or less exactly halfway and ten minutes off the M8.
Arrive in Killarney with the afternoon to spare and spend it in Killarney National Park: Muckross House, Torc Waterfall, and the Ladies' View lookout over the lakes. Evening in town — Killarney does hospitality better than almost anywhere in Ireland.
Base here for three nights and leave the bags unpacked. Book central so you can walk to dinner. Full guide: where to stay in Killarney.
Day 4 — The Ring of Kerry
The big one: a 179km loop around the Iveragh Peninsula. Leave before 9am and drive it clockwise — the tour coaches go anticlockwise by convention, so clockwise keeps you out of their convoy. Highlights: Sneem's coloured houses, the beaches around Waterville, the Skellig viewpoint near Portmagee, and the Kerry Cliffs. The joy of the Ring is in the pull-ins, so build in more stops than you think you need.
Not keen on driving the loop yourself? You don't have to. A guided coach tour from Killarney does the whole Ring in a day and lets someone else take the narrow bends while you watch the scenery — a good option after a long drive down the day before, or if the idea of Irish roads is putting you off. You'll find them in the tours below.
If you've booked months ahead and the Atlantic cooperates, a landing tour to Skellig Michael is a once-in-a-lifetime add-on — but treat it as a bonus, not a plan, because roughly a third of sailings are cancelled by weather.
Boat trips and guided Ring tours book out fast in summer — reserve well ahead.
Ring of Kerry & Skellig tours Skellig Michael eco cruise from Portmagee (no landing)Day 5 — The Dingle Peninsula & Slea Head
Day-trip west to the Dingle Peninsula — quieter than the Ring and, many would say, more beautiful. The centrepiece is the Slea Head Drive, a 38km loop past Ventry Beach, Coumeenoole, Dún Chaoin Pier and the Gallarus Oratory. Drive it clockwise and give it at least half a day. Lunch on seafood in Dingle Town, then back to Killarney for the evening.
Honest aside: Dingle absolutely deserves its own overnight — that's what our 4 days in Kerry itinerary does. But in a one-week trip, the extra hotel change costs you more than it gives; the day trip version keeps the week calm.
Day 6 — North to the Cliffs of Moher & Doolin
Leave Kerry via the Tarbert–Killimer car ferry across the Shannon (20 minutes, runs hourly, no booking needed) — it saves a long detour through Limerick and feels like part of the adventure. You'll reach Clare by early afternoon.
Go to the Cliffs of Moher late in the day — after 4pm the coaches are gone, the light is better, and the visitor centre crowds thin out. Then settle into Doolin, a tiny village that happens to be the trad music capital of Ireland. A session in one of its three famous pubs — McGann's, Gus O'Connor's and McDermott's, all serving good food alongside the music — is the evening sorted. Prefer city energy? Galway City works as the base for these two nights instead — same day trips, more restaurants, less village magic.
Doolin is small and books out early — sort this one first. Full guide: where to stay in Doolin.
Day 7 — The Burren & Galway City (or the Aran Islands)
Two great versions of your final day. Version one: spend the morning in the Burren — the strange, beautiful limestone landscape inland from Doolin, with the Poulnabrone dolmen as its 5,000-year-old centrepiece — then give the afternoon and evening to Galway City: the Latin Quarter, buskers on Shop Street, dinner in the West End.
Version two: take the ferry from Doolin to the Aran Islands for the day — Inisheer is the closest and the most doable — or the Cliffs of Moher cruise that sees the cliffs from sea level, which is arguably the better angle.
A note on flights home. Both versions assume you fly out on Day 8 — with a night still to come, Day 7 works exactly as written. If your flight is on Day 7 itself, treat it as a travel day instead: a lighter Burren morning, then the drive back to Dublin (roughly 2.5–3 hours, plus fuel and time to drop the car), and save the Aran Islands or the Cliffs cruise for a return trip rather than trying to squeeze a full day in before a flight.
Ferries and cruises run March–October and fill up on fine days.
Doolin ferries & cliff cruisesGetting Home
From Doolin or Galway it's about 2.5–3 hours on the motorway back to Dublin Airport. For a morning flight, either drive back the evening before and stay at an airport hotel, or build in a comfortable 4-hour buffer — the M6 is easy, but you don't want your last memory of Ireland to be a sprint through Terminal 2.
Make It Longer (or Shorter)
With 10 days, you can give Kerry the extra nights it deserves and add Connemara and the Clifden coast after Galway. With only 4, our 4 days in Kerry itinerary focuses purely on the southwest. The base-yourself structure holds at every length.
Two of the drives on this route have full guides of their own: the Slea Head Drive on the Dingle Peninsula, and the Clifden to Roundstone Drive in Connemara.
Practical Tips for This Itinerary
Book the small towns first. Doolin and Killarney's central hotels are the pinch points — in summer, sort them four to six months ahead.
Don't take the car into Dublin. Collect it on Day 3 when you leave; you'll save money and stress.
Drive the big loops early. The Ring of Kerry and Slea Head are different experiences at 8.30am versus 11am.
Pack for four seasons. The west coast does all of them before lunch. Layers and a rain jacket, whatever the forecast says.
What a Week in Ireland Costs (2026)
Ireland isn't a cheap destination, and pretending otherwise helps nobody. Here's an honest per-person breakdown for two people travelling together in shoulder season (April–May or September–October), sharing a hire car and a double room. Peak summer runs noticeably higher, especially on accommodation.
| What | Rough cost (per couple, the week) |
|---|---|
| Hire car (small automatic, 5 days from Day 3) | €300–€450 |
| Fuel for the west-coast loop (~1,000km) | €120–€160 |
| Accommodation (6 nights, mid-range double) | €900–€1,500 |
| Attractions & a couple of tours | €150–€250 |
| Food & drink (pub dinners, breakfasts, the odd pint) | €500–€800 |
| Tarbert–Killimer ferry, parking, sundries | €25–€35 |
| Approximate total for two | €2,000–€3,200 |
Excludes flights. The two biggest levers are when you go (shoulder season can halve accommodation) and how far ahead you book — Doolin and central Killarney beds are the first to sell out and the first to spike in price.
The car is the one cost you can genuinely trim by comparing early. We use DiscoverCars to check the Irish depots side by side — it's where we've found the best small-automatic rates for this exact loop.
Compare Ireland car hire pricesFrequently Asked Questions
Is one week enough for Ireland?
For a first trip, yes — comfortably, if you resist trying to see everything. This route covers Dublin plus the best of the west coast without rushing. The whole island in a week is not a trip, it's a driving endurance event.
Should I do this route clockwise or anticlockwise?
As written — Dublin first, then Kerry, then north to Clare and Galway. It front-loads the easy motorway driving while you adjust to Irish roads, and ends near Galway for a relaxed final day.
Do I need a car for this itinerary?
From Day 3, yes — the Ring of Kerry, Slea Head and the Burren aren't realistically doable otherwise. In Dublin, you're better off without one.
What about Northern Ireland, Cork or Donegal?
All worth it — on a longer trip. Adding them to a week means undoing the thing that makes this itinerary work: enough time in each place to enjoy it.