One Week in Ireland: An Offbeat Itinerary

Seven days is the 6-day plan plus Belfast and the Giants Causeway, the only day in this entire family that crosses a border, a currency, and a legend all in the same afternoon. This is the full odd-facts set: all six day trips plus a Dublin city day, sequenced from least planning to most.

Book these before you go:

Day Focus Travel time from Dublin
1 Dublin city, the odd-facts version City center
2 Howth: cliff loop and fined-for-feeding seals 30-35 min by DART
3 Glendalough and Wicklow: the pint-shaped lake About 1h20 by bus or car
4 Newgrange and the Boyne Valley Guided tour only, no walk-up
5 Galway 2h20-2h30 each way by train
6 The Cliffs of Moher 3-3.5 hours each way by coach
7 Belfast and the Giants Causeway About 2 hours by train, further by coach

Day 1: Dublin city, the odd-facts version

Book Kilmainham Gaol the moment your dates are set, the cheapest major ticket in the city and the single hardest to actually get. Spend the rest of the morning at Trinity College for the Book of Kells, then the National Gallery of Ireland on Merrion Square, free admission and consistently one of the emptiest major rooms in the city center. For the full city treatment, see our Dublin hidden gems guide and the One Week in Dublin city itinerary.

Day 2: Howth, the easy win

Take the DART from Connolly, Pearse, or Tara Street, roughly 30 to 35 minutes. Walk the Cliff Path Loop, then drop into the harbour, where a colony of grey seals has been working the fishing boats for scraps for years. Buy the seal-safe fish bits sold at the harbour fish shop instead of feeding them your own chips, doing it yourself can draw a fine reportedly up to EUR 5,000.

Day 3: Glendalough and Wicklow, the pint-shaped lake

About an hour to an hour twenty each way by bus or car. St Kevin’s monastic ruins sit free to walk beside two lakes, but the odder stop is Lough Tay, nicknamed the Guinness Lake because the Guinness family imported white sand to lay along the shore so the dark, peat-stained water looks like a pint mid-pour, viewable only from roadside pull-offs on the R759. Wicklow also doubled as several P.S. I Love You film locations, including Sally Gap. See nationalparks.ie for current trail conditions.

Day 4: Newgrange and the Boyne Valley, older than the pyramids

There is no walk-up option here. Newgrange, older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids, is reachable only by guided tour from the Bru na Boinne Visitor Centre. A spot inside the chamber for the winter solstice isn’t sold, it’s drawn each year by a free public lottery through solsticelottery.ie, entries closing around 30 September.

Can I visit Newgrange without booking ahead?

No. Every visit runs through a timed guided tour from the visitor centre, with no independent route to the mound. Book as soon as your dates are fixed, especially June through August, when peak-season slots vanish within hours of release.

Day 5: Galway, the day that looks casual and isn’t

Irish Rail runs direct from Heuston Station, roughly 2 hours 20 to 2 hours 30 each way. A same-day round trip burns close to 5 hours on trains for maybe 3 to 4 hours actually in the city. Galway Bay’s traditional sailing boats are genuinely called Galway hookers, most likely named for a 17th-century Dutch fishing boat rather than any English slang, and a small fleet still sails out of the Claddagh. Consider staying the night here rather than pushing straight on to the Cliffs the next morning.

Day 6: The Cliffs of Moher, the day everyone books wrong

Roughly 3 to 3.5 hours each way by road from Dublin, considerably less from a Galway or Doolin overnight. A full-day guided coach tour from Dublin runs 12 to 13 hours total for roughly 90 minutes to 2 hours actually at the cliffs, priced roughly EUR 65-89 per person. Self-driving and paying at the visitor centre alone runs about EUR 8 off-peak or EUR 12 during the 11am-4pm peak window. See cliffsofmoher.ie for current visitor centre hours.

Is the Cliffs of Moher day trip actually worth it?

Yes, but go in with the trade already accepted: a long day for a short window at the cliffs themselves. The cliffs earn the visit outright. The single-day round trip from Dublin barely earns itself back, which is why pairing Day 5’s Galway night with Day 6 here is the better version of this pairing whenever a spare night exists.

Day 7: Belfast and the Giants Causeway, a different currency

The Enterprise train runs direct from Dublin Connolly to Belfast, roughly 2 hours 8 minutes, around 15 weekday departures, advance fares from about EUR 16-30 one way. A further coach or train-plus-bus leg gets you on to the Giants Causeway, hexagonal basalt columns that legend credits to the giant Finn McCool, supposedly building a crossing to reach a rival giant in Scotland. The stones themselves sit on a public right of way, walkable for free; the National Trust visitor centre fee mainly covers parking and the exhibition hall, not admission to the columns. See translink.co.uk for current Enterprise timetables from the Northern Ireland side.

Do I need British pounds for this day?

Yes, for cash purchases. The moment you cross into Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom, the currency switches to pounds sterling, and euro stops being spendable. Cards work at nearly every till, but carry or withdraw some sterling if you want small cash purchases covered, and don’t expect euro to work once you’re across.

Before you go

Buy a Leap Card for the DART and the city’s Luas or bus; every other day in this itinerary runs on a tour coach, rental car, or intercity train instead. Carry both euro and a card that works internationally, since Day 7 is the one day euro alone won’t cover. Book the Cliffs of Moher and the Belfast and Giants Causeway tours earliest of all, both fill well before the week you actually travel. For the honest verdict on the currency-crossing day, see our Belfast day trip page , and for everything this family covers in guide form, our Dublin Ireland day trips guide .