Ireland, from Dublin, 4-5 days, car. What to do?

[Fordian]

Hey, i, in October, you had 4-5 days in Ireland, with a car, arriving in Dublin, what would you do? Obvs day in Dublin; Trinity, museum. Then, where? Realistically?

Wicklow mountains? New Grange? Ring of Kerry? Moher? Not all! But, which?

West coast! Go across from Dublin to Connemara and work down from there.

Glorious!

Galway, Clare, West Coast for me!

Get in your car and drive to Belfast 😀

I realise I should have said my travelling companions will be 2 ppl who know nothing of Ireland. One is lovely, Canadian, and no idea re Northern Ireland and Ireland.

This needs to be highlights.

I've made 2 trips to Ireland; and am quite familiar with NI.

Galway, connemara and cliffs of moher. Ailwee caves and karst landscape of the Burren.

Galway is only 3 hours from Dublin in a car these days.

Or...

Longer car journey of 5 hours to Kerry. It really is so beautiful. We were there recently and accidentally went off the major roads, over a small mountain, adjacent to a small lake and the scenery was spectacular and completely unspoilt. The roads were tiny though, the kind you need to beep before the corners!

Enjoy your trip!

I'd skip Dublin and go straight to Galway. Or further away Clonakilty is lovely.
Closer to Dublin I'd definitely go to Glendalough. Nearby Blessington / Roundwood/ Powerscourt waterfall are lovely places. If you like the TV show Vikings it was filmed in Roundwood and the scenery is gorgeous.

www.wanderlust.co.uk/discover/discover-ireland/content/ireland-three-day-road-trip-itinerary-long-weekend/

Kinsale, for the seafood!

Thank you, everyone! All ideas welcome!

Dublin, maybe walking tour and Book of Kells? Not interested in the Brewery.

We went 10 years ago (!) and I thought New Grange was amazing - being able to go inside the underground chamber felt really special. Would definitely recommend

Living in Dublin and I would allocate 1 full day in Dublin, 1 day in car to the wicklow mountains ( 1 hour away) especially lough Tay ( Guinness lake), powers court and Glendalough,1 day to Galway or probably Belfast, 1 day in Kilkenny ( 1 hour away by car), come back in the evenings and see Dublin. That would minimise travel and optimise sightseeing. Pm if yiu have questions

A few hours in Dublin for Book of Kells etc, then go straight to the West Coast! Look out for Wild Atlantic Way signage. Kerry is especially beautiful. There are lots of nice hotels in Killarney. If your companions are Star Wars fans, remember to visit the Blasket Islands!

If you are walkers I recommend driving to Glendalough, already mentioned by @CameraCoffeeCrochet . A beautiful highlight of the Wicklow mountains and you can do a short walk or a long one up and around the lake (took my sister and I 3 and a half hours with a stop for lunch). It's less than an hour from Dublin if you don't want to go too far

You're thinking of the Skelligs. Not sure when the season ends for the boats going out, if the OP is there in October.

OP, what do your friends like doing? My version of Dublin is Georgian buildings/TCD, MoLI, IMMA, the Hugh Lane and the National Gallery and/or Museum, but that's not going to work if they aren't interested in art or literature.

With only another four days I would probably drive straight across and spend the rest of the time in Galway and Clare -- a day in Galway city for good seafood and pubs and a nice vibe, and a day in Connemara (mountains, scenery), then spend the rest of the time in Clare (the Burren is a spectacular karst landscape and while it's wonderful for fairly small-scale walking (Black Head Loop, the Burren Way, the Cliffs of Moher), caving and cliff-climbing, there are also wonderful monuments/ruins (Corcomroe Abbey, Caherdaniel Fort), dolmens (Poulnabrone), forts, beaches, indoor things like the Burren Perfumery (which is utterly lovely and has a gorgeous garden), craft/knitwear (Ekotree in Doolin)/potteries/galleries, some nice villages and small towns (I like Ballyvaughan and Ennistymon). Lots to do in a small, visually lovely area with a community thinking carefully about sustainable, ecofriendly tourism. And you can nip back onto the motorway back to Dublin easily for your return trip.

I think West Cork and Kerry are the glories of the country, but too far to make the best use of your time this trip.

Driving holiday in Co Kerry (along with walking, sea swimming, hiking/climbing, horse riding, golf, boat trips, seafood/live trad music in cosy little village pubs).

Killarney town & lakes, Muckross House, Moll’s Gap & Bearna Peninsula, Dingle & Blasket Islands, Parknasilla Hotel & Kenmare town.

All of the above plus more random driving. The scenery is something else.

But possibly too far from Dublin to make the most of it.

Thank you, all ideas welcome.

A lot depends on what week in October you're going to be there.

Unless you're all very hardy souls, sea swimming isn't realistic, or maybe even golf or pony trekking.

I think you should bank on driving and seeing specific local attractions. ThreeGuineas' suggestions sound great. I also second the suggestion of Glendalough and the Wicklow Mountains, plus Kilkenny.