Touring West Ireland

Last month my parents came in from Boston for a trip around the county and it was a jam-packed week!  We did the standard Dublin sights: Dublin Castle, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Christchurch Cathedral, and The Book of Kells at Trinity College in the first few days. But what I was really looking forward to seeing the West of Ireland.

In 2001 I came here with a group from my college, and we toured all over the country. But that was a veeeery long time ago and I don’t remember most of what we did. So, to see all of this for essentially the first time was really exciting!

Our first pit stop was at the Rock of Cashel, about two hours southwest of Dublin. This was a last-minute addition to the tour, and I didn’t have much expectation, but boy was it a gorgeous first stop.

Next up was the famous Blarney Castle! Back in the day I was able to climb the stairs and kiss the stone, but due to the crowds we didn’t make it to the top this trip. But fear not, the grounds are enormous and exciting to explore all on their own without ascending to the top of the castle.

From there we made our first overnight stop at a hotel in downtown Killarney. The weather was gorgeous, and the downtown was very lively with a fun atmosphere. We had dinner and did some light shopping, but we didn’t see too much and will try to go back again and explore in more detail. In the morning, we had a quick stop at Ross Castle but only walked around the grounds. We then headed to what I consider the most exciting and beautiful part of our journey: Dingle Peninsula.

Dingle was a short drive from Killarney, and we stopped many times along the coast because the scenic views and the sunny skies were too beautiful to pass up. Inch Beach was gorgeous and very reminiscent of Torrey Pines beach in San Diego, CA.

One of the cutest stops we made was to #HoldaBabyLamb on Slea Head Drive. The kids were a bit turned off by the farm smells but the littlest sheep was only 2 days old, and there’s nothing cuter to see than that.

My absolute hands down favorite part of the day (and ultimately the trip) was our continued drive along Slea Head Drive to Coumeenoole Beach. I could have spent all day there, it was so gorgeous, scenic, and peaceful. But alas we had to check into our hotel so off we went to the surprisingly modern Dingle Benners Hotel.

The harbor in downtown Dingle was charming and looked like a scene out of a summer movie. It was a beautiful place to have dinner and walk around on a summer night.

In the morning the boys and I toured the Dingle Aquarium and we were shocked at how big and diverse the aquarium was. The building is small, but the exhibits were really well done, and we particularly loved the butterfly enclosure.

After Dingle we began the long journey to Lisdoonvarna, where we stayed the night. Along the way we stopped at Bunratty Castle, which was my children’s favorite of all the castles we toured on our trip. It is “the most complete and authentic castle in Ireland,” full of winding stairways to fully furnished rooms, a turret to climb, and even a dungeon! While not a place to visit for those with mobility issues, the kids adored the castle and the surrounding medieval town. We didn’t have much time to explore but we will be back.

Around 5:30 pm we finally arrived at Sheedy’s Hotel, a serene hotel about 15 minutes’ drive from The Cliffs. Martina greeted us warmly and got us checked in, and then escorted us to dinner at 6:30 in the attached restaurant. The meal was by far the best on the trip and indeed the best food I’ve had so far in Ireland.

Finally, our last sight to be seen was early on Thursday morning. After a quick breakfast we headed to the Cliffs of Moher. The morning was a bit overcast and windy, but we had high hopes as this was the main event for my parents. We arrived early at around 9:30 am, and it was not at all crowded which is key. The wind, however, was blowing in gusts at around 50-60mph. It was so windy the park staff said I couldn’t bring my kids out to O’Brien’s Tower on the cliff edge. We managed to get stunning photos of the cliffs and walked a bit of a ways up the hill to photograph the Tower from afar, but unfortunately, we did not do the long walk along the Cliff that most come to do. Luckily, as we walked back into the visitor center the rain made an abrupt appearance, so although we got wet, we didn’t miss the Cliffs entirely due to the driving rain. We packed a lot into our short 3 ½ day excursion, and I could have spent so much more time exploring and lingering in some of the towns we saw. But it was great to have the quick highlights and now I know how cool it will be to bring friends there in the future.