West Coast of Ireland Roadtrip Itinerary

If you’re visiting Ireland, and only visit Dublin with a day trip to the Cliffs of Moher, you’re missing out on a lot. A lot of charm, beauty, culture, and character. When my best friend and I visited for a long weekend, we made Dublin our home base, but took 2 days to road trip.

Day 1

Part of the beauty of Europe is the INCREDIBLY cheap flights… We flew Dublin to Kerry for $50. Granted, it was a 45-minute flight, but $50 was so nice! We left Dublin at 9, and were in our rental car by 10am. We rented through Enterprise and it was around $150 including insurance. We were greeted with a beautiful rainbow as soon as we received our car, which I took as a sign of the start of a great trip!

I took the first drive and about 10 minutes into driving, I started feeling comfortable with driving on the opposite side of the car and the road! I set our navigation to Dingle and we hit the road. We stopped quite a few times from Kerry Airport to Dingle, specifically at Inch Beach, because the views were too beautiful to not stop and take it in fully. Even with stopping, the drive took maybe 2 hours total from Kerry Airport to Dingle.

We arrived in Dingle to sunshine and 50-degree (Fahrenheit) weather and we were ready to shop and eat and have a pint! However, we didn’t realize so much of the town would be closed for the winter. The vibe of the town is very much “summer beach town,” which I loved! Dick Mack’s, a famous pub, was open, but their leather smith (who makes amazing belts) was on winter holiday and wasn’t returning for a few more weeks.

We grabbed lunch at a little pub near the water called James Long and it was pretty good! There are plenty of food options here so I say see which one speaks to you when you visit :) Once we finished our food (a grilled cheese for me), we drove the Wild Atlantic Way along Slea Head Drive. I’m unfortunately unable to share the exact way we went, but we simply followed the signs for “Wild Atlantic Way.” The drive without stopping is maybe 45 minutes, though you will want to stop quite a bit. We stopped 4 times, once to hold and feed some baby lambs at a farm and bed & breakfast, and it took us around an hour and a half total.

I hope to stay in Dingle one day!!

From here, we started our drive toward the Gap of Dunloe - about an hour and a half away. Our hope was to get there right before sunset and ride the carriages through the Gap during sunset with some hot chocolate. The universe had other plans for us - wrecking into a ditch and meeting dairy farmers!

This excursion threw a wrench into our planned itinerary as we had to wait for a tow truck to pull our car out of the ditch, but it all worked out since the Gap of Dunloe was closed for winter anyway!! Once our car was out of the ditch, we drove on to Cork. This took us about an hour and 45 minutes to arrive to our hotel.

We stayed at Hayfield Manor, a beautiful hotel tucked away in Cork. We were greeted by the valet, who took our luggage and our car, and we quickly changed in our room to hit the town. Dinner was at Bella Napoli where the star of the show was the seared scallops. The pasta was good, not life-changing, but the scallops were amazing.

We knew we wanted to visit Mutton Lane, a celebrated and awarded pub. It is tucked down an alleyway, where patrons crowd to stay warm and cozy and drink their pints. We had such a fun time in here - the pints were great, the patrons and staff were so friendly, and it was cozy atmosphere.

We meandered back to our hotel to have a nightcap in the library, a passionfruit martini, of course, then made our way to bed. When we woke up the next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel, which was a great choice for us. The options were locally-sourced and prepared in-house, and I had the best yogurt of my life at Hayfield Manor. I did not expect a yogurt to change my life, but here we are. I’m unable to buy it where I live, and I miss it terribly.

Day 2

We ate breakfast at the hotel, which I surprisingly do recommend! Their entire breakfast menu looked delicious, plus they offered a buffet selection that I loved. I ordered the avocado toast + picked up some local yogurt that changed my life. I’ve never LOVED yogurt, but this yogurt was unreal…

Once we finished breakfast, we checked out of Hayfield Manor and stopped by Blarney Woolen Mills right outside of Cork to look at the Irish wool sweaters - my other obsession on this trip. Something unique about this stop was their mill on the second floor. They had someone there to show you how they make Irish sweaters, the history of different kinds of weaves, and you can even embroider a sweater or scarf.

Next on our road trip itinerary is the Viking port town of Waterford, also home to Waterford Crystal. We hoped to find some crystal champagne flutes for my best friend’s wedding in June, but none were perfect for her wedding so we left empty handed (though the crystal pint glass was calling my name…)

We hoped the drive back would be on major road ways since we didnt have much luck on the residential streets, but Maps sent us on windy, local roads. They were beautiful and we passed through neighborhoods and farms and alongside a castle a few times! We took a bit of a convoluted way back, wanting to stop at Barack Obama Plaza and gas station… It is everything you’d hope for!

After 3 hours in the car, we made it back to Dublin, dropped our car off at St. Stephen’s Green Shopping Center, and walked 5 minutes back to our hotel!

The drive was easy, the views were otherworldly, and the people we met along the way were incredibly kind and hospitable.