Our Ireland road trip route

We love trains, planes and big cities. But sometimes a country is best explored in a car in the country side.

Ireland is a beautiful country with a lot to offer but since we only had 4 short days we chose to focus on the South West region. We would have loved to have a full week (or month) exploring the vast countryside but if you are short on time this route can work for you to. 

Day 1

We flew into Dublin (the cheapest to fly into from most places) and rented a car from the airport. This worked well since we were finishing our week in Ireland with a 2 night stay in Dublin. We immediately drove SW to the town of Kilkenny. We spent the afternoon exploring the beautiful castle and enjoying our first Guinness and stew at a local pub.

From there we drove to the relatively large city of Cork and checked into a hostel for the night. Each pub in Ireland is a tourist destination on its own. Every pub is unique - some have history, others have good music but all have a great friendly vibe. We really utilized this time to begin to plan our road trip. The Irish are extremely chatty at pubs (mostly since Guinness takes so long to pour) and we asked everyone we met what route we should take to see the SW.  They are more than happy to give you a ton of recommendations and we were more than willing to take them.

Side note: We would have loved to have had a full day in Cork and if you can expand your trip we highly recommend adding a day here. 

Day 2

We left Cork very early and followed the N22 to Gougane Barra.

Gougane Barra Lake is absolutely gorgeous and the small church St Finnbarr's Oratory is worth a quick look.

We paid the 2€ entrance fee to drive around the Gougane Barra park and it was totally worth it. It is so incredibly beautiful inside the park, with the greenest forests I have ever seen. Seriously, it's a one of kind experience in Ireland and shouldn’t be missed.

We grabbed coffee and scones at the small cafe (Cronin's Bar and Cafe) opposite the lake. As usual the Irish owner was ridiculously friendly, giving us tons of advice on where to go next.

From there we followed road R584 to N71 where the road met the sea for the first time.  The most breathtaking stop was along Glengarriff, just pure natural beauty.

We followed the road around the Beara peninsula and took the Healy Pass (also known as R574 but you will see plenty of signs for Healy Pass) which took us up over some gorgeous chalky maroon colored mountains where the sheep graze right next to the road. The clouds were hanging low this day and as we drove higher into the mountains we ended up engulfed inside the clouds. When we emerged we were on the other side of the range in a completely different colored valley. It’s times like this where Ireland seems like another planet. 

We finished the day by driving to Killarney (Via R571 to N71).

Day 3

Another early morning to beat the crowds on the Ring of Kerry. We choose to drive the ring road in the NW direction. Our first stop was the Kerry Bog Village which has a herd of beautiful Kerry bog ponies.

These ponies were close to extinction with only 20 left in 1994. A local man nursed the population back to health and now there are 300 registered ponies as of 2011. We probably spent way too much time there because I was obsessed with them.

From there we continued down the road which offers so many different towns and pull overs to explore.  We followed this guide as we drove and found it to be full of information. 

The cliffs of Kerry in Portmagee is a must do stop off the Ring road. Insanely beautiful cliffs and if you can’t make it out to the cliffs of Moher it’s a great alternative. 

From there we got back on the road and continued to Killarney National Park. I could have spent another full day just exploring this park and if you can add an extra day I recommend adding it here. We got a chance to see Molls Gap and Ladies View which are both unbelievably breathtaking. 

Day 4

We left Killarney early and spent the early hours driving to the Cliffs of Moher. It was so windy when we arrived we felt like we may blow away. It was still pretty beautiful despite the weather though. 

We ended our Road trip by driving and staying in Glasgow for the night. 

Day 5

This morning we woke up early to drive the 3 hours back to Dublin airport and return the car. 

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6 reasons why roadtripping Ireland is easier than you think

There are some trips that in order to do correctly simply require a car. Ireland is one of those trips.  When planning the Ireland portion of our travels we had quite a few reservations before we took the plunge, rented a car and mapped out our own road trip.  I understand the fear and the hesitation, it seems daunting to do it all yourself. But I’m here to tell you its not. 

Here’s a list of all the things that worried us and why we were wrong.

Driving on the wrong side of the road

This is a big one, I get it. It's unfamiliar – you’ve probably seen a narrow road or driven without GPS (hello 1999) – but driving on the complete opposite side seems exponentially harder.  It's not. While I (Tessa) chose to remind Matt at basically every roundabout and turn to stay on the left, he found that after an hour of driving it starts feeling natural. Every person we've talked to who has made the switch agrees with us too. The steering wheel is still in the middle of the road and on highways it practically makes no difference at all. Also it means you get to check another thing off your bucket list. 

Small Roads

I’m not going to lie, if you choose to drive in Ireland there will be times you are driving down a “2 lane” road wondering where the second lane is. But the truth is that if the road is small, it's probably because no one drives it very often. Also, small roads means small cars, so while two Hummers wouldn’t fit on certain roads, the cars you will encounter (and be available to rent) will do just fine. When you come to a smaller side road, drive slow and cautiously. If you see another car approaching there is always a shoulder to pull on to, that is unless the Irish driver hasn’t already done so. Remember these people have been doing it for their whole lives so you can do it for one week. 

The rental car process itself

Renting a car in your home country can be a big enough headache by itself - hidden fees, damage insurance, second driver waivers, on and on. But if you’ve done it one place you can do it in another, especially a country where they speak English! The only thing to look out for is that collision damage insurance provided by many mainstream credit card companies exclude Ireland. Blame the small, wet roads or driving on the left side, but credit card companies don't trust foreigners driving in Ireland anymore. Simply buy the insurance from the rental company and enjoy the peace of mind on your road trip. 

GPS

Like a lot of budget travelers, when we travel we never buy international data plans and instead stick to using wifi. It works well but can be challenging when renting a car and navigating a foreign country. One of our favorite tricks is that you can predownload maps of countries on Google Maps (or most gps apps) and then continue to use them once you get on the road.  Even when your phone is on airplane mode, location services continues to work (without charging you data) and you can follow a predetermined route quite easily. As a side note we also used an Ireland fold out atlas that the rental company provided and found Ireland to be one of the easiest countries to navigate. Their ring roads had tons of signs directing you to not only stay on the correct route but also pointing you towards scenic lookouts and popular tourist destinations off the ring road. 

Icy Roads

We went in the winter and were worried we wouldn’t be able to explore any of the countryside if things got too cold and wet. Ireland is pretty far north and, being unfamiliar with weather and road conditions in Ireland, we assumed we might have some trouble. Thankfully Ireland doesn’t really have snow and it doesn't get that cold, it just rains. So if you are like us and find yourself eager to explore Ireland in the winter don’t hold back for fear of icy roads. 

Making the itinerary

Ultimately this one is up to you. However, we found that picking a region (we choose the Southwest, but met tons of people who swore the North and East were just as beautiful) and driving the main ring roads and looking for interesting stops worked out amazingly. Ireland has so many beautiful off the beaten path spots that you can’t go wrong.  Just make sure you drink a Guinness otherwise you’ve wasted your trip! 

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