Two weeks drive around Ireland in February

Ireland | Feb 11 - Feb 24, 2024

This trip was specifically planned to exclude places we'd been before and INCLUDE some small towns where our respective families came from, two generations back.

That said, thoughts about this trip:

1) We took it in February. The plus side was that there were much fewer crowds, and a lot more locals to chat with in the pubs, restaurants, hotels, etc. The minus side is that a number of attractions were closed, partially closed, or just a lot less fun/interesting in the cold, wet, rainy weather. But we chose that, and we knew what we were getting.
2) If flying from the US, definitely fly home from either Dublin or Shannon airports, and not Belfast or anywhere else. Dublin and Shannon have US Customs pre-authorization. You go through the process on that end, which I think is nice, so when you arrive in the US, exhausted from a long flight, you don't have to deal with Customs there.
3) There was very little here that we wouldn't recommend. If we had to pick something, we found Armagh City to be both much less friendly and much less accommodating to special dietary needs than most of the other places we went. We also can't comment much on Dublin, as we didn't venture into the city but only stayed overnight after a late arrival, and overnight prior to an early departure.
4) The Western side of the country is amazing. The Ring of Kerry, the Dingle Peninsula, Randles & Rose and Wyatt hotels, Killarney, Tralee, Westport. Galway was also amazing, but as we're more rural people, it was slightly less to our liking, although still great. The Hardiman hotel's beds weren't really comfortable, and while the people were very friendly, there's no on-site parking, so you have to park 3 blocks away and pay for it (make sure you get the voucher so it's merely a cost and not an expensive one).
5) If you do travel into Northern Ireland, remember that the prices are now in pounds rather than euros, and the speed limits are now in MPH rather than KPH.

All in all, the team was fantastic and checked in regularly to see how we were doing.