Taking a two week road trip around Ireland wasn’t originally part of my travel plans. But I had made my way to Amsterdam earlier than I expected, and I had to be in London in two weeks to meet my sister, so I had some unplanned time on my hands.

I had toyed with the idea of Ireland at some point in the planning stages, but when I saw how cheap it was going to be to fly from Amsterdam to Dublin (and then Dublin to London), that sealed the deal. So I booked the flight, reserved the rental car, and I was off!

WARNING: This is quite the post, with LOTS of pictures, so only read it when you have some time on your hands!

DUBLIN

I arrived in Dublin and immediately set off to do some exploring. I walked around the city a lot, met up with a colleague of my mom who gave me all sorts of amazing advice (along with a fantastic map) about where to go on my road trip, and, of course, visited the Guinness Storehouse!

I got to learn about how they make the liquid heaven known as Guinness, how to properly taste the brew, and, as seen above, pose with all their fun mascots (I did used to be a sea lion trainer after all…couldn’t resist!).

THE RENTAL

I ended up renting my car from Expedia and had no issues with them whatsoever. I had to get an automatic, which is WAY more expensive than a manual car. But since I don’t know how to drive stick, I was SOL in that department. Then, because I was traveling by myself, and on the other side of the road, I decided to take out the full insurance on the car. The total came to about $650 for 11 days, but I used some points from a credit card and knocked the price down to $450, or about $41/day. Not too bad after all!

DAY 1 - DUBLIN -> NEWGRANGE -> BELFAST

After collecting my car and settling into driving on the left-hand side of the road, I made my way to the infamous Newgrange.

Newgrange is a well known known Irish passage tomb and dates all the way back to 3,200 B.C.E. - this makes it older than both Stonehenge AND the Great Pyramids of Giza! The large mound is approximately 80m in diameter and is surrounded at its base by 97 very large stones. The most impressive (and well known) of these stones is the highly decorated Entrance Stone.

After having a fun time learning about Newgrange (we even got to go inside!), I set my course for Belfast.

Now, while I had a SIM card for my phone in Ireland, stupid me forgot that Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, and therefore Google Maps no longer worked for me as soon as I crossed the border! Needless to say it is very interesting trying to find your way to your hostel when you have no idea where it is in a city that isn’t exactly small.

After several hours I finally arrived, and was pretty much immediately pulled into a group tour with two Brazilians and another American. Belfast is infamous for it’s ‘Black Taxi Tours‘, and I THOROUGHLY recommend if you ever make it to Belfast to take this tour.

The tour guides are taxi drivers, most of whom were involved in the years of conflicts within Northern Ireland. It was a history I admittedly knew next to nothing about, so I very much enjoyed learning about it.

We were taken to parts of the city that you probably wouldn’t see if you were traveling by yourself outside of one of these tours.

Our amazing driver showed us all the infamous murals on the sides of buildings and houses that depict important stories or events in the conflict’s history (such as the ones below).

We also got to visit the Peace Walls, something very reminicent of the Berlin Wall. It is a series of border barriers that separate the nationalist and unionist neighborhoods. The purpose of the Peace Walls is to minimize violence between Catholics (most of whom are nationalists who identify as Irish) and Protestants (most of whom are unionists who identify as British). Some parts of the walls have gates in them that allow passage during the day but are closed at night (so you better be back by closing time!).

People from all over the world sign their name to the Peace Walls to support peace in this area.

It was incredible to hear our tour guide’s stories about the conflicts, and to realize that it’s still on-going! Though it isn’t nearly as bad as it was in the latter part of the 20th century, protests still happen nearly every night. And the wall is always a reminder of the real potential for violence (as well as the violence of the past). I mean, can you imagine having this as your backyard view?

It was an enlightening and humbling experience, and again, if you ever find yourself in Belfast, this is a tour/history lesson that everyone should take.

DAY 2 - BELFAST -> DARK HEDGES -> GIANT’S CAUSEWAY -> DONEGAL

This was one heck of a driving day. Very long, so much to see, and tiny winding roads that never ended. Seriously Irish roads are the size of one car but are two way.

I got to see some VERY colorful sea side towns

Some more beautiful views of the eastern Irish coast

The mysterious and spooky Dark Hedges (featured in Game of Thrones)

And of course, Giant’s Causeway, an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. Most of the columns are hexagonal, although there are also some with four to eight sides.

DAY 3 - DONEGAL -> WESTPORT - THE WILD ATLANTIC WAY

Because of the crazy amount of driving I did on day 2, today was a bit more about the lazy, coastal driving. I jumped on the Wild Atlantic Way, a 1,553 mile tourist trail along the western coast of Ireland.

And for good reason. It’s absolutely GORGEOUS.

DAY 4 - WESTPORT -> KYLEMORE ABBEY -> CONNEMARA NATIONAL PARK -> GALWAY

The day started off with a drive to Kylemore Abbey is a Benedictine monastery founded in 1920. I didn’t go inside (lots of driving to do that day), but it was a gorgeous sight from across the lake anyway.

The Connemara National Park was a stunning drive (sorry I’m really trying to come up with new adjectives to describe the scenery) away from the coast a bit, through some of the western interior.

Eventually, as I got closer to Galway, the Wild Atlantic Way brought me back out to the coast and I was afforded more (how about this one) dazzling views.

DAY 5 - GALWAY -> CLIFFS OF MOHER -> ENNIS

A road trip to Ireland wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the Cliffs of Moher! It shockingly only rained or was cloudy a few times while I was in the country, and the morning I was at the Cliffs was one of them. But even though the sun wasn’t shining, the scenery was exquisite (getting fancy now with my adjectives).

Also, for the majority of my trip I was staying in some wonderful hostels, including this one in Ennis (where I stopped for the night) called the Rowan Tree Hostel. See not all hostels are shabby holes in the wall!

DAY 6 - ENNIS -> INCH BEACH

This particular day of road tripping was by far one of my favorites.

I continued to follow the Wild Atlantic Way. I didn’t really need my GPS on my iPhone most of the time because there were always these helpful signs to point me in the proper direction.

I made my way to the Dingle Peninsula and the Slea Head Drive. I am IN LOVE with the Dingle Peninsula. Let me show you why.

I mean I really don’t need to say much more do I? Half the time, looking at that water, I wasn’t sure if I was in Ireland or the freaking Caribbean (then the cold wind blew and reminded me).

I finally ended up at a hotel at Inch Beach that I basically had all to myself…for $20. This was the view from my hotel that evening.

My love affair with the Dingle Peninsula is an intense one, and stems mostly from how beautiful the whole area is (also the fact that Dingle is probably one of the best names for a place EVER).

DAY 7 - INCH BEACH -> RING OF KERRY (WEST) -> CLIFFS OF KERRY -> KILLARNEY

The Ring of Kerry is another must do on an Ireland road trip. I went in the westerly direction, which is the most common way to travel apparently.

My first stop was a visit to the Cliffs of Kerry. It sits on a farmer’s land, and there’s a small entrance fee, but it’s worth it.

The drive continued through some of the interior of the southwestern part of the country. More pretty (I’ve given up) and scenic views!

DAY 8 - KILLARNEY -> CORK

Day 8 was a pretty leisurely one as I made my way towards the city of Cork.

I reached the city around noon, so what does one do when in Cork?

Kiss the Blarney Stone of course!

Nothing like hanging upside down off the side of a castle and essentially making out with millions of strangers simultaneously. Oh Ireland how I love you.

The Blarney Castle and grounds are actually quite lovely in and of themselves, so make sure you take a stroll around the area aka don’t just go to kiss the stone!

DAYS 9-11 - CORK -> DUBLIN

I had a lot of time to kill (and only a short distance to travel) before I had to return my rental car to Dublin. At this point I was pretty dang exhausted from all the driving I’d been doing, so I took it really slow. I was off the coast for the most part now, and onto more mainstream roads, so the pictures weren’t as plentiful (or visually pleasing), so I unfortunately don’t have many to share.

LOUIE’S SCRAPBOOK

However, since I didn’t do this road trip completely on my own, I also decided to take pictures of my travel parter in crime for this trip, Louie.

Louie was my VW Golf rental car. I named him Louie thanks to the fun RomCom called Leap Year, which is set in Ireland. ‘Louie’ is a running joke throughout the whole movie…and I just love the way he says Louie, so there you go.

I give you Louie’s own personal scrapbook of some of the places he visited in Ireland.

IRELAND TRAVEL VIDEO

So there you have it! My 11 days road tripping around Ireland was incredible and I would do it all again in a heart beat.

And since I had a blast making my very first travel video, I thought I’d make one especially for Ireland! The music you hear in the video is made by the Uilleann pipes, which are the national bagpipes of Ireland. At the end of the video is a short clip of someone playing the pipes live. I had the opportunity to sit in on a 3 hour class on the Uilleann pipes, all about the history of them, how they’re made, and even got to learn how to play!

It’s an absolutely gorgeous sound, so enjoy!

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Have you ever taken a road trip in another country? Drive on the other side of the road?