Michelle,

Welcome to the forum. Love your name!  I'm glad to hear you have gleaned some advice here already. 

If you want a jump-start on your short trip to Ireland consider renting a car on arrival and driving about 2 hours on your first day. That will mean spending your last 2 nights in Dublin as opposed to the 3 you have proposed. One day is a big deal when you only have 6 nights. Three days is half your trip!

Personally, I would stick more to the east instead of dashing off to cover long distances. There are wonderful things to see and do there too. But I get that you are in your 20s and want to pack in as much as you can. Blarney is probably a must on your list. Unfortunately you will spend a lot of time driving from place to place doing what I call "the green blur tour" of Ireland. 

The question is can you do what you have proposed? Yes, most of it. But you will be speeding by lots and lots of things you will never see. So it all depends on the sort of trip you want. 

Important: In February days are short. Trust me, you do not want to be driving around Ireland at night. Plan accordingly. 

So, to go with exactly what you have proposed here are my comments:

Day 1: Dublin and Dublin touring (we are getting the Dublin pass for 1 day)
Night 1: Stay in Dublin * Okay.

Day 2: Dublin and Dublin touring (free museums and such)

Night 2 Stay in Dublin * Okay.

Day 3: Pick up rental and head to Kilkenny (is it possible to do Kilkenny and ROC in one day?) * Depends. What do you want to do in Kilkenny? If it is just see the castle I would skip it and take the direct route via ROC and see Cahir Castle instead.

Night 3: End up in Cork

Day 4 Cobh and Blarney (should we do ROC here?) * Since you will be driving to the Burren, consider just Blarney and skip Cobh.

Night 4 Stay in Burren Hostel * Okay.

Day 5: Cliffs then go to Galway

Night 5: Stay in Galway * Okay.

Day 6: Head back to Dublin for our flight in the morning. Is there anything interesting between Galway and Dublin to hit on the way to break up the drive? * Clonmacnoise Monastic Site, Belvedere House & Gardens, Kilbeggan Whiskey Distillery. 

Night 6: Stay in Dublin

Day 7: Fly home. 

 

 

I know how difficult it is to accommodate everyone's "must see" list when time is short. It makes for more complications.

Dublin to Galway: @ 3 hours
Galway to Cork: assuming via the cliffs? @ 4 - 5 hours
Cork to Dublin: @ 2 - 3 hours (depending on traffic)

That seems to make more sense but still lots of driving on one day.

February you have short days and dodgy weather could be bright and sunny but cold could be lashing it down or snowing even. Daylight hours could be 8am to 5pm

Consider getting the Go Bus express from Dublin Airport to Galway or Cork and having a couple of days in either of those. Then either travel to the other for another couple or back to Dublin direct. You can do the whole thing without renting a car and I might be tempted to just wing it and see where the wind and weather takes you.

Happy to help. We know all the little tricks that make traveling easier. When you have never been before it helps to network with others who have "been there, done that". Let us know if we can help with any other concerns.

You might enjoy some of my blog articles: http://irelandyes.wordpress.com/ 

Michele,
I am very much enjoying reading your blogs! I love the pictures as well and it makes me wish February was here already!

tony2phones,
Thanks for your advice! I know I'm probably making all the newbie mistakes and I'm glad you are pointing them out.

Michele mentioned staying in the east. Should we maybe just do Belfast and Dublin this trip? Then from those 2 bases we have a lot of options and more time to spend on on them since we won't have so much travel time. I have points from using my debit card for a free day trip to Glendalough and Avoca I can use for all three of us, weather permitting. Is that something worth spending a day on?
I know, I'm ALL over the place! But from what I've been reading on this forum, I would rather sacrifice seeing the Cliffs and have an actual vacation than spend too much time planning for it and have the weather not cooperate anyways. At least it seems like around Belfast and Dublin there's many things we can do to fill but not overload our time there, especially if the weather is unfavorable.

Hey Michelle,

 

Glad you have decided to come over here, 6 days is a nice amount of time but as touched on above, this time will fly by .

 

I organise itineraries on a daily basis from Dublin and honestly having worked around the World as a Tour Leader aswell as Ireland, I suggest you pick an area and focus on immersing yourself there rather than trying to fit too much in.

The biggest complaint of doing organised tours here is that they are too rushed and they cram far too much drive time and useless 30 minute stops into one day (I know because I have worked closely with them). You have almost a week so really, I would not consider letting someone organise your entire time here.

Dublin is great but I would stay here one day. Pick out what you want to see before arriving and make the most of that day.

For your first trip to Ireland, I then suggest heading West and immerse yourself there. There is too much to see:

 

The Cliffs/Burren region

Galway

Connemara (remote untouched countryside)

A ferry trip and overnight stay on Inis Mor where you can visit the prehistoric fort Dun Aonghasa (Aran Islands)

 

With the 4 days or so travel you would really enjoy this area, Reduce your drive time.

 

I would save Belfast for your "next trip" and likewise if you are going west I would save cork/kerry and the South until next time. I'm trying to save you the stress of dricing around for half of your stay here when I really think you would enjoy doing Dublin & the West properly in the 6 days. Remember next time you come back to Ireland, You'll likely spend time in Dublin again anyway presuming you fly into the airport here.

 

Finally if you do want to see something East or especially if you have a car. Take a day or half day to drive into the Wicklow Mountains. I practically live up there on my Motorbike, I can never get enough of the place and feel home everytime I go which is pretty much every second day! I wrote a blog about it recently after watching the movie PS I Love You - haha you might find it amusing

 

Feel free to ask any questions :)

 

Derek

That time of year, travel to Inis Mor is very much weather dependent and should be done as day trip. The Ferries don't run as often so checking the schedule would be advisable, as well. Lodgings on Inis Mor will also be sparse as most places don't operate outside of the April to November time frame. In fact, most of the lodgings that I would recommend don't even start taking reservations until the end of January or into February.

If a client were to come to me and say "I have six days in Ireland, help me make the most of them" I would first ask them to build m a list of their Top-ten "musts".

As you are flying in and out of Dublin, I would be inclined to leave your Dublin days to the last. You can grab a train to either Cork or Galway on your first day.

As Michele and Tony have both already stated, sticking to the major cities will be best.

Thanks everyone! Sorry I haven't been on, this summer has been so busy!
We have found a discount on flying into Shannon and out of Dublin, so we are going that route. We are pretty much just winging the first few days, if we find an area we enjoy we'll just make base there a few nights and explore, then we'll spend the last 3 nights in Dublin. The more I read, the more I would like to hit Kilkenny and do the walking tour. So that's something we can do along the way.
I know we're doing Dublin half our trip, but with it being February, I think it'll be a great place to base. We can always use one of the days to take a day trip to Newgrange or Glendalough if the weather permits. The beginning of the trip we can do our westward sightseeing if weather permits, and if not, we'll find something to do! Also, that cuts our car rental down so we can save some more money, since we are working with a pretty tight budget.

I really appreciate everyone's input! We've definitely slowed down our itinerary a lot!

Oh I absolutely will! I've been meaning to check back in, but life just got in the way. We just got back on track since my passport should be arriving very soon! I look terrible in my picture, but that's another story.