Ireland for three generations: Dublin, Kerry, the Cliffs of Moher and Galway

1. Day 1: Arrive in Dublin

   Dublin Airport to your hotel in the city centre, then a short walk to St Stephen's Green

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Early welcome dinner
   • Stay in Dublin
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Dublin Airport (DUB), about 10 km north of the city, and a driver meets your family in arrivals for the ride to our central hotel, where we ask for family or connecting rooms. Land by about 2 pm if you can; many families come a day early so the children sleep off the flight, and we can book the extra night. Around 4 pm your See Sight Tours guide takes the group on a gentle first walk of under an hour on flat pavements: over the Ha'penny Bridge, an iron footbridge from 1816, up Grafton Street, where buskers play most afternoons, to St Stephen's Green, a Victorian park with a duck pond and a playground. There are benches all the way, and grandparents can take a taxi to the park and meet us there. The welcome dinner starts at about 6 pm, early on purpose, so that nobody is falling asleep at the table and the briefing on the week is short.

   Included

   • Private transfer from Dublin Airport (DUB)
   • First walk with your guide: the Ha'penny Bridge, Grafton Street and St Stephen's Green
   • Early welcome dinner and a short briefing

   Free time: Free until the late-afternoon walk

   Activity: Under an hour on foot on flat city pavements, with benches on the way.

2. Day 2: Dublin: the Book of Kells and Dublin Zoo

   Trinity College and the old city on foot, then Phoenix Park by van

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Dublin
   Day 2 details

   We are at Trinity College for the first entry of the morning, before the queue, to see the Book of Kells, a gospel book made around 800, and the current exhibition about it; children usually like the animals painted in its margins. A local guide then takes the group on an easy hour through the old city to Dublin Castle and its garden, with stories rather than dates, and we stop for a picnic-style or cafe lunch on your own. After lunch the van takes us about 4 km to Phoenix Park for the afternoon at Dublin Zoo, which opened in 1831 and has an African plains area, an Asian forest with elephants and plenty of benches and cafes. The zoo is large, so the group splits: grandparents can take the short loop and sit with a coffee, children and parents can cover more ground, and we meet at a set time at the gate. The van brings everyone back by about 4:30 and the evening is free.

   Included

   • Trinity College Dublin: the Book of Kells and the current exhibition, first entry of the morning
   • Guided walk of the old city to Dublin Castle with a local guide
   • Dublin Zoo in Phoenix Park, entry and van transfers included

   Optional experiences

   • Kilmainham Gaol (timed tickets, better for children over about 10)
   • The Little Museum of Dublin

   Easier option: Skip the old-city walk and rest at the hotel; the van collects you for the zoo after lunch.

   More active option: Walk part of Phoenix Park from the zoo to the Wellington Monument, about 2 km, and meet the van there.

   Free time: Lunch and the evening free

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot over the day, on flat pavements and zoo paths with plenty of seats; the zoo can be done slowly.

3. Day 3: The Rock of Cashel and on to Killarney

   Dublin to the Rock of Cashel, then Killarney

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Killarney
   Day 3 details

   We leave Dublin at 9 am on the motorway south, about an hour and three quarters to Cashel in County Tipperary, with a comfort stop on the way. The Rock of Cashel is a cluster of medieval buildings on a limestone outcrop: a round tower, a roofless cathedral and Cormac's Chapel, consecrated in 1134. Children can count the carved faces and run on the grass inside the walls; the path up from the car park is short but steep, and grandparents who would rather not climb can see the Rock well from the town below. We have a sit-down lunch in Cashel at about 12:30, then drive about two hours on to Killarney, with a stop to stretch our legs on the way. No leg of the day runs past about two hours. We reach our hotel in Killarney town by about 4:30, and we ask for one with a swimming pool, so the children can swim before an early dinner on your own.

   Included

   • The Rock of Cashel, entry included
   • Sit-down lunch in Cashel

   Easier option: Stay in the van or a cafe in Cashel and see the Rock from the town; the guide brings photos and stories down.

   More active option: Walk down from the Rock to the ruins of Hore Abbey in the fields below, about 1 km, and back up.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free in Killarney, with the hotel pool where available

   Activity: About an hour on foot at the Rock, including a short steep path and some uneven ground inside the walls.

   

4. Day 4: Killarney National Park: jaunting car, farms and Muckross House

   Killarney to Muckross, Torc Waterfall and back to Killarney

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Killarney
   Day 4 details

   Killarney National Park starts at the edge of town, so this is a short driving day. We are at Muckross House for one of its first guided tours, a Victorian mansion of about 65 rooms where Queen Victoria stayed in 1861; the tour lasts about 45 minutes, and children are welcome. Next door are the Muckross Traditional Farms, working farmhouses from the 1930s and 1940s with animals, a blacksmith and kitchen fires lit in season, laid out along a level path. Then the whole family rides a jaunting car, the horse-drawn cart Killarney is known for, along the lakeshore, and grandparents sit the whole way. Lunch is at the cafe at Muckross. On the way back we stop at Torc Waterfall, about 20 m high and a few minutes' walk from the road, and are in town by about 2:30 for a free afternoon. Dinner is at about 6 with live traditional music, early enough for the youngest.

   Included

   • Muckross House guided tour
   • Muckross Traditional Farms (in season)
   • Jaunting car ride in the national park
   • Sit-down lunch at Muckross
   • Torc Waterfall
   • Early dinner with live traditional music

   Optional experiences

   • A guided tour inside Ross Castle (timed tours in season), in the free afternoon
   • Hiring bicycles for the flat lakeshore paths from Killarney town

   Easier option: Ride the farm's shuttle between the farmhouses instead of walking the full path, where it runs, or wait in the cafe.

   More active option: Climb the steps above Torc Waterfall to the viewpoint over the lakes, about 45 minutes up and down.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Killarney, with the hotel pool where available

   Activity: About 2 to 3 hours on foot on level park and farm paths, with a short uphill walk at Torc Waterfall.

5. Day 5: Inch Beach, Dingle and Slea Head

   Killarney to Inch Beach and Dingle, the Slea Head loop and back to Killarney

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Killarney
   Day 5 details

   A day trip, so nobody packs. We drive about an hour west to Inch Beach, a sand spit of about five kilometres running out into Dingle Bay, and give it an hour: the sand is wide and firm, children can paddle and build, and grandparents can sit at the beach cafe. Twenty minutes on is Dingle town, where we visit Dingle Oceanworld, an aquarium with Irish sea life, penguins and a walk-through tunnel tank, then have lunch together. In the afternoon we take the Slea Head loop, about 45 km on a narrow road along the cliffs, in a minibus that can pull in where it likes: Slea Head for the view to the Blasket Islands, Dunquin, and the Great Blasket Centre, which tells the story of the island families who left in 1953. We are back in Killarney by about 5:30, after about three and a half hours at the wheel across the day, with no leg longer than about an hour and a quarter. The evening is free.

   Included

   • Inch Beach
   • Dingle Oceanworld aquarium
   • Sit-down lunch in Dingle town
   • The Slea Head loop: Slea Head and Dunquin
   • The Great Blasket Centre (in season)

   Easier option: Stay at the beach cafe at Inch, and in Dingle town in the afternoon instead of driving Slea Head; the van collects you on the way back.

   More active option: Walk the length of Inch Beach towards the point and back, about an hour, while the others paddle.

   Free time: Evening free in Killarney

   Activity: Short walks on sand and level paths, with some steps at the Blasket Centre. Slea Head is exposed; bring a windproof layer.

   

6. Day 6: The Shannon ferry and the Cliffs of Moher

   Killarney to Tarbert, the ferry to Killimer, the Cliffs of Moher and Galway

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Galway
   Day 6 details

   This is the day that joins Kerry to Galway, about four hours at the wheel and 235 km in all, with no leg longer than about an hour and a half. Moving in one day saves the family a one-night stop and another repack. We leave Killarney at 8:45 and drive about an hour and a quarter to Tarbert for the car ferry across the Shannon Estuary to Killimer, about twenty minutes on deck, where children watch for dolphins (sightings are not guaranteed). Another hour and a quarter brings us to lunch near the cliffs at about 12:15. The Cliffs of Moher run for about 14 km and rise to about 214 m; we give them an hour and a half, on the paved paths and viewing platforms by the visitor centre, which are walled on the sea side, and up to O'Brien's Tower for those who want the slope. The last leg follows the coast road through the Burren by Ballyvaughan and Kinvara into Galway at about 4:15 to 4:30, with time to settle in before an early dinner on your own.

   Included

   • The Tarbert to Killimer car ferry across the Shannon Estuary
   • Sit-down lunch in north Clare
   • The Cliffs of Moher visitor centre and cliff paths

   Easier option: Stay on the level paved paths and the walled viewing platforms near the visitor centre, with the cafe close by.

   More active option: Walk the cliff path north to O'Brien's Tower and a little beyond, about 40 minutes there and back.

   Free time: Evening free in Galway

   Activity: About 90 minutes on foot at the cliffs on paved paths with a gentle slope; the cliff edge is fenced near the centre but not further along, so children stay with an adult.

   

7. Day 7: Connemara and Kylemore Abbey

   Galway to Oughterard, Recess and Kylemore Abbey, then back to Galway

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Galway
   Day 7 details

   We head west into Connemara, about an hour and a half on a good road past lakes, bog and the Twelve Bens mountains, with a stop in Oughterard. Kylemore Abbey sits on a lake under a wooded hill: a castle-like house built in the 1860s, home to Benedictine nuns since 1920. We see the restored rooms, then take the shuttle bus (or the level lakeside path, about 20 minutes on foot) to the six-acre Victorian Walled Garden. Lunch is at the abbey restaurant. A few minutes away at Letterfrack, the Connemara National Park visitor centre has short, easy trails and play space for children before the drive back past Killary Harbour and Leenane. We are in Galway by about 4:30, time for the Salthill Promenade on the edge of Galway Bay: a flat seafront walk of about 2 km with a beach, a playground, and the local habit of kicking the wall at the end.

   Included

   • Kylemore Abbey, its restored rooms and the Victorian Walled Garden, with the shuttle bus
   • Sit-down lunch at Kylemore
   • Connemara National Park visitor centre and a short trail
   • The Salthill Promenade with your guide

   Optional experiences

   • The Upper Diamond Hill trail to the summit (about 7 km, 442 m), for fit teenagers and adults

   Easier option: Take the Kylemore shuttle both ways and rest at the visitor centre cafe in Letterfrack.

   More active option: Walk the Lower Diamond Hill loop in Connemara National Park, about 3 km with gentle climbs, while the others stay near the centre.

   Free time: Evening free in Galway

   Activity: About 2 to 3 hours on foot on level garden paths and gravel trails, with optional climbs.

   

8. Day 8: Galway's old town and back to Dublin

   Galway's Latin Quarter, then the motorway to Dublin

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Dublin
   Day 8 details

   A slow morning: breakfast without a rush, then a short guided walk of Galway's Latin Quarter, the medieval streets between Eyre Square and the river, with the Spanish Arch, Galway City Museum (free to visit) and the street performers on Shop Street. The walk is about an hour on flat, pedestrian streets. Lunch is on your own in the Latin Quarter, where every taste is easy to find. At about 1:30 we board the van for Dublin, about 210 km and two and a half hours on the motorway, with a comfort stop half way. We reach the hotel by about 4:30, in time for a rest and the farewell dinner at about 6, where the children can tell the table what they liked best and the grandparents get to say it was the cliffs.

   Included

   • Guided walk of Galway's Latin Quarter and the Spanish Arch
   • Galway City Museum
   • Early farewell dinner in Dublin

   Easier option: Skip the walk and sit in a cafe on Shop Street; the guide meets you there.

   More active option: Walk along the river from the Spanish Arch to the Salmon Weir Bridge and the cathedral, about 1.5 km, before lunch.

   Free time: Lunch on your own in Galway

   Activity: About an hour on foot on flat, pedestrian streets.

9. Day 9: Depart Dublin

   Your hotel in Dublin to Dublin Airport

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast
   Day 9 details

   The last morning is free. Have breakfast at the hotel, take the children back to St Stephen's Green, or visit the National Museum of Ireland's natural history building on Merrion Street, known as the Dead Zoo, which is free to enter (it is closed on Mondays, so on a Monday departure the Green is the walk). Your guide arranges the transfer to Dublin Airport, about 10 km north of the centre and normally 30 to 45 minutes away depending on traffic, timed to your family's flight. Book a flight that leaves after about 11 am so nobody is rushing breakfast; an earlier flight is fine and we time the transfer for it. If you are flying to the United States, allow extra time: Dublin Airport has US preclearance, so you pass US immigration and customs there before boarding. Extra nights at the same hotel can be booked. Your guide sees each family off before saying goodbye.

   Included

   • Private transfer to Dublin Airport (DUB)

   Free time: Morning free until your transfer

   Activity: Book a flight leaving after about 11 am; US-bound travellers should allow time for preclearance.

Wildlife and weather: Ireland's weather changes by the hour, so your guide keeps each day's order flexible: a wet morning in Killarney starts indoors at Muckross House, and the beach at Inch moves to whichever hour is drier. Cliff paths at Moher and Slea Head can close in a gale; the walled platforms at the visitor centre usually stay open. Seabirds, puffins among them, nest on the Cliffs of Moher from about April to July. June has light until about 10 pm, which helps children's bedtimes less than it helps photos.

• Dublin2 nights
• Killarney3 nights
• Galway2 nights
• Dublin1 night