Ireland was truly one of our bucket-list destinations, and has been for our entire lives. Being able to travel there together as a family, with my mom, made it so incredibly amazing. We cannot say enough good things about our trip! PenPalz, be on the look out for your postcards from the Cliffs of Moher & Blarney Castle!

I’ll share our experience, as well as some things we’d do differently, and what we recommend you do as well, if you ever get the privilege of visiting this amazing country!

1. Fly into Cork. Cork was the coolest. Cork had a whole cool-city vibe, great food scene, cool old bars, and of course, tons of history. Flying home from cork it literally took us 15 minutes from the time we parked our rental car, returned the keys, walked through security and got to our gate. Literally. It was small, easy, and cheaper than Dublin flights. Also, Dublin at the time was dealing with massive staffing issues, strikes, so we were so happy to avoid that whole mess. 

2. In Cork, we stayed at the Clayton Hotel Cork City, booked through Booking.com- and it was very nice. It had a nice pool, which I knew we could use as bribery for the long day of travel for the girls. The rooms were nice, and we could walk everywhere easily. Would definitely recommend. I would love to go back and spend more time in Cork

3. Do the kissing of the Blarney Stone at the top of the Blarney Castle. This was so fun. It was weirdly busy when we showed up there, but I think if you go toward the end of the day, you’d have shorter lines. We waited about 45 min to get to the top of the castle where the stone is. But walking the gardens and the grounds where the castle is located is just beautiful. You can get a coffee, snack, or lunch there as well. We could have spent more time, and also wish we had explored the town/village of Blarney right next to it more as well. Give yourself a whole day, or at least a half a day, to do this area. We only spent a few hours here and then had a 2.5 hour drive north. 

4. We stopped along the way in Shannon at a place called Durty Nelly’s, right off the highway. It came well recommended and it was a perfect pit-stop. To be honest, none of the food we had in Ireland was amazing. We each had a few good sandwiches (corned beef sandwich was delish), fish & chips, and we never found any sherpards pie, which we heard was amazing. The beer, the gin, and the coffee was delicious everywhere though. 

5. Then we arrived at our perfect hotel in Ennistymon, Falls Hotel & Spa. Besides the swimming pool for the girls, we didn’t take advantage of the spa portion of the hotel. But the view was beautiful. We chose this location because we knew 1. We could walk into town to explore, get food, etc. 2. We were 15 minute drive from the Cliffs of Moher. You don’t reserve tickets ahead of time for the cliffs, so we were happy to have flexibility with our scheduling. 

6. We were checking the weather for a clear in the clouds, and when we saw it happening in the afternoon, we drove out to the cliffs. We passed thru another cute town of Lahinch, where we didn’t stay because prices were too expensive, but if you’re a golfer, you should check out this area and the golfing. 

7. The Cliffs of Moher were breathtaking. Another spot where we could have spent HOURS. We would love to go another time and go hiking or a long walk along the trails. The visitor center has food, coffee, ice cream and is a beautiful spot to relax after enjoying the walk out to the cliffs. 

8. After randomly not being able to find anywhere to eat that evening, because it was Tuesday and in the small town they don’t have their kitchens open (only the bar), we ended up eating dinner at the hotel, which was delicious. I’ve heard from Irish friends that it’s not typical for places to be closed like that, but in small towns, it’s also not unheard of. So. IDK. 

9. The next day, we did some more swimming and walking around the grounds of our hotel, then headed to Dublin. Another 2.5 hour drive, there wasn’t really anywhere on the way to stop. So we drove straight through and got to our hotel. 

10. Now, our hotel was okay, location wise we walked everywhere. We stayed with the StayCity Apartments, so we had three rooms, a kitchenette and a little living room space. It was about a 1/2 mile to the Guinness factory, 1/2 mile to the Temple Bar area, about 1 mile to Gaffton street area. There were more homeless people in our area, saw some drugs and crackpipes out, but we’ve been in big cities and this wasn’t as bad as other big cities we’ve been into. So while we felt safe, I probably wouldn’t recommend staying where we stayed. For reference, hotels in Dublin were 300+ a night, when in Sicily I can find a charming hotel with an ocean or mountain view place for like 90 a night.

11. Besides Guiness Factory, which was SO fun for the whole family, I’d take or leave Dublin. Cool to see, cool to say we’ve been, lots of cool unique places and pubs, cool live music everywhere, but too expensive and would rather explore more of the country side and the shoreline.

12. The last day we had a drive from Dublin to Cork back to our airport to fly home. We stopped at the Rock of Cashel, in the town of Cashel, and it was literally the most perfect way to end the trip. We had one of our best meals in the town, and the Rock of Cashel is a memorial site (graveyard) high on a hill, beautiful stunning views, and just, so peaceful.  

A few of our big takeaways from this trip:

• Definitely rent a car and drive the countryside. Use Cork as your base.

• Sit at pubs and drink the local beers and gins or whiskeys, and get to know them and their towns. 
• It’s kid friendly enough, but it was also too expensive for kids, we wouldn’t bring them back. This is the first place we’ve said that about any of our travels. Now, there are more kid-friendly things you can do there, like anywhere, they have a zoo, wild-life safari, things like that… but tbh, hotels, flights, cars, foods, drinks, everything was just expensive it felt like we could have explored more of the history, the culture, the country, without the kids. And again, we haven’t said that about anywhere else of our travels. So, do what you will with that.
• If you want to do something specific in Dublin- like the Guiness Factory or Jameson Distillery, they are cool. But would recommend less time in Dublin and more in the other parts of the country.
• Spend more time exploring the cliffs and the country side, Cliffs of Moher and the Killarney Ring, Wild Atlantic Way, or similar. 

Okay, that’s it for now! Hope it’s helpful!