What I Miss About Ireland; And Why You Should Travel to Ireland

Oh boy, I almost don’t even know where to begin! We took a trip to Ireland for our 10-year anniversary and it was amazing! The country of Ireland is beautiful and the people are so nice! If you are thinking of taking a trip this is a super easy trip to take! We did the whole planes, trains, and automobiles. All were very easy, even the driving part. I believe we got super lucky, because the week we were there it hardly rained at all. It was nice out, the skies were clear, and the grass fields were a lush green. It was perfect.

We started in Dublin for the first few days. I loved that city because you could walk it and see so much! We tried to fit in many tours and activities. I think my favorites were the musical pub crawl (where we went from bar to bar one night with a group of musicians and learned about traditional Irish music), the Kilmainham Gaol (old Irish jail with a ton of history that is now a museum), and going to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells.

Dublin, Ireland

After Dublin we headed to Cork via train. We met the nicest couple on the train, and they actually walked us towards our hotel, The Imperial Hotel (I highly recommend it). The people there are extremely nice! Another boy (about 20-years old) paid for our taxi ride. Cork was small city, but also easy to walk and had a lot to see. This is where we got our rental car so we could see other close-by towns. We wanted to head to Blarney and Kinsale.

Cork, Ireland

The Lovely Couple We Met

I’ve always heard you can’t go to Ireland without kissing the Blarney stone, so we drove to Blarney castle and took the tour. It was a long wait in line to see the castle and kiss the stone, but it was worth it. We can say we did it now! We also picked up a picnic lunch that day and ate in the green fields outside the castle. It was a nice day.

Blarney Castle, Ireland

Kissing the Blarney Stone

Kinsale was just gorgeous. It’s the “sister city” to Newport and it looked a lot like it (Irish-style). It had boats on the water, cute restaurants, and a little downtown with shops. We walked around the town and ate there. Also a great town to visit if you are planning a trip.

Kinsale, Ireland

The next phase of our trip took us to Killarney. We wanted a different pace from the city-life we had already experienced (one big city and one small city), so now we were out on the coast at a Bed and Breakfast. Killarney was a great town (all walkable) with wonderful pubs, restaurants, and shops. We saw some pretty churches there too, and just enjoyed the everyday living of the Irish people. One day we took the car and made it out to Dingle Peninsula (where we saw Inch, Dingle, and Slea Head). It was absolutely breath-taking out there, but I will admit the roads along the mountains were a little hard to navigate (very narrow) and a little scary to drive. Well worth it though! So gorgeous! And Dingle itself was just a cute town! Definitely make sure to make it there. It was also cool seeing the Irish Famine Cottages, Beehive Huts, and Dunbeg Fort (500 BC) on our way out to Slea Head.

Killarney, Ireland

Dunbeg Fort, Ireland (500 BC)

Inch, Ireland

Slea Head, Ireland

Slea Head, Ireland ~ View from Up Top

Ireland has so much to see and do, the people are great, there is no language barrier, and the trip actually seemed quite affordable. Let me know if you have any questions about things to do or places to stay. I obviously could write a novel (not just a blog post) about everything we did, so there are many more recommendations I can give!