Nearly everyone who travels to Ireland makes a point of seeing Dublin. While Dublin does offer a wonderfully representative experience of Ireland, there is a great deal to do and see outside the city that can fill in any gaps in your Irish experience. A hike up Ireland’s mysterious mossy mountains, a lowly hour spent on the black rocky cliffs that the region as famous for, and of real taste of approval Irish dining can all help to round out your visit to Ireland. If you have a free weekend when you are in Dublin, here are three ideas for enjoyable weekend trips that you can take beyond the city with your whole family.
- Dublin Family WeekendsEtrusia UK / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA
How to get there
Hiring a car in Dublin to drive out to one of these surrounding destinations can be somewhat expensive. Nevertheless, the Irish countryside is full of vast open spaces that have nothing but narrow, winding rural lanes taking you where you need to go. If you take public transportation any of these destinations below, you’ll have a hard time exploring outside of the main parts. Hiring a car is well worth the expense. You’ll have much more freedom to explore deep inside the Irish countryside.
Doolin
if you want to experience the character of the Irish countryside, he could hardly do better than to visit the little village of the Doolin in the County of Clare and the Shannon region. Doolin is directly across the country from Dublin, a 3 Hour Dr. away.
Set against the frequently stormy Atlantic, this little coastal village with vast vistas of stock limestone landscapes is the stuff of storybooks (or great romantic sagas, if you are that way inclined).
Doolin wa a traditional fishing village for centuries. Today, Doolin is better known as the folk music capital of Ireland. if you are a music lover and to experience the rollicking musical culture of Ireland, it can be hard to knock a lot of your time into when.
Staying in Doolin and eating out at its famous seafood restaurants can be affordable and a charming experience. As small as the village is, offers accommodations for the whole range of budgets – right from camping out in bed and breakfast places to well appointed hotels.
Dingle
a writer for National Geographic (Boris Weintraub) once called the Dingle Peninsula the most beautiful place on earth. Whether you completely agreed with the writer’s opinion are not, you can’t possibly afford to be in Dublin and yet not make the three-hour drive across the country to check the possibility out. It’s the place that the Tom Cruise movie far and away was sent in. To be certain, every place around Dingle – the vast and lovely rocky cliffs that rise up directly out of the ocean, the beautiful rolling green mountains all around certainly do make for spectacular viewing. Dingell isn’t just about its beautiful natural scenery, though. It attracts a great range of natural scenery painters from around the world. Everywhere you look around this little village, you are likely to see painters set up with their canvases.
If you are thinking of entertainment for your children, Dingle is a world center for ecotourism. Dolphin boat trips, CO sanctuaries and horse riding a great attractions.
Kinsale
While Doolin and Dingle are places that you go to for their spectacular natural beauty and the rural culture that they offer, Kinsale, near Cork on the southern coast of the country, is slightly different. It is a beautiful and fashionable resort town that offers every manner of resort type activity. If your idea of a great time out involves a tiny town that is bursting at the seams with art galleries, bookshops, arts and crafts and good eating, Kinsale is for you.
Summary
Artists and filmmakers from across the world have always loved Ireland’s spectacular scenery and culture. If you find yourself in Dublin, you shouldn’t let it go at that. A drive across to these destinations and Ireland shouldn’t take more than three hours.
Josh Hayward is a personal finance consultant. He enjoys blogging where he gets to pass on his ideas online. Click the FBD home insurance link to get quotes for your car.
