My gal pal and I are going to Ireland for a week over the Thanksgiving holiday to belatedly celebrate our 40th birthdays earlier this year. She's never been but I've been once before with Hubby (who kindly drove so I could partake of the pub action freely). Since we don't want to mess with a car and only have a week, we were thinking of spending the first part of the week in Cork or Galway (via train) and maybe taking a bus day trip from there to Kerry or Kinsale (Cork) or Westport (Galway) and spend the last couple of days exploring Dublin.
Any suggestions on the plans or comments on off season travel would be appreciated!
In November the sun sets pretty early, giving you more fun in the pubs on those long nights. What you have outlined is doable although I prefer Galway over Cork. There are more day tours available from Galway. It is also a fun "young" city with plenty of pubs, restaurants and good shopping. You will probably want a pretty central location for both Galway and Dublin so you can walk to most things.
You can accomplish what you want by taking the train, buses and day tours. It sounds like fun.