1 Week in Ireland Itinerary
Thinking of visiting the land of Guinness? The famous filming location from Star Wars? The country known for having hapyp sheep? Ireland is a popular travel destination for any number of reasons, and for Canadians with only minimal vacation time it can be a great way to get a taste of Europe when you don’t have weeks and weeks of travel time. As an added bonus, if you are willing to travel in the off season Ireland can also be a great place to do on a budget. In October 2024, I was able to do this trip (flights and tours included) for about 1600 CAD. With one week, you might also be wondering how much will be possible to visit. If you fly into Dublin the 1 week itinerary I’d recommend travelling to Galway, visiting the Cliffs of Moher, taking the train to Killarney where you can visit Dingle and the Ring of Kerry and continuing on through Cork and back to Dublin.
Here’s a breakdown of what to except when doing Ireland on the more-budget side and in a week.
Is October A Good Month To Visit Ireland?
One of the main ways to travel affordable is to go in off season. When looking at flights from Calgary, Alberta we saw quite a few deals to travel in October and ended up flying UltraBasic on WestJet for around $540 roundtrip for a week. The good news is even with this lower class of airline ticket you can still bring a carry-on bag since it is an international flight. The other good news is that the flight is only 7 hours so if you get stuck in a middle seat in the back of the airplane it is also not the end of the world.
Now onto the bad(ish) news. First, when travelling in October the weather in Ireland can be a toss up. First, it will likely be rainy so a rain jacket, poncho and if you’re backpacking a rain cover are a MUST. The second recommendation I’d give is that in October, the week before Halloween a lot of things shut down until the summer, and tours might be cancelled. So keep this in mind for planning if you don’t want to rent a car. In our case, our tour to Dingle was cancelled since we were the only two people that had booked the tour.
Why Ireland Is The Best First Solo Trip or First Europe Trip for the inexperienced.
Also lots of vegan friendly options (almost everywhere in Dublin and Galway - highly recommend for this as well).
One of the easiest countries to navigate, everyone speaks English and people are helpful with directions. Train is easy to use, I was worried not renting a car but that wasn’t the case at all.
Day 1: Dublin
We landed in Dublin and took the city express bus. This was the EASIEST airport to get out of that I’ve seriously experienced in Europe.
The bus was 10 Euros.
The caveat is we had our backpacks all day, so I’d maybe look into storage. But for a few hours for breakfast and walking it wasn’t bad.
We walked on the cute stores, grabbed lunch and a coffee and made our way to the Heusten station.
Again with jet lag you might want to take this day chill, book an earlier train etc. but if you wanted to give yourself a first taste of Ireland, this was a great way to do it.
Take train to Galway about 2 hours on a larger train with chargers etc. for anyone working remotely, this was an okay time to work, as wifi was a bit slow and there wasn’t always cell service.
Also the train: https://www.irishrail.ie/en-ie/rail-fares-and-tickets/fares-info/dublin-galway
We checked in here: https://www.airbnb.com/slink/YMLyJSGY
Excellent budget option. About a 30 min walk from the train, but by the water which was beautiful. The walk only felt long the first time.
Day 2: Cliffs of Moher
Keep in mind that renting a car would give you the most flexibility but Ireland is so doable with trains and buses.
We started our day at a place called
WYLDE for breakfast.
We walked over to the Kinlay Hostel for our tour. This one we booked was about 75 CAD per person.
We did find out that the Wild Atlantic Way closes to big buses on October 24. So this might mean renting a car or doing a more private tour is the only option at a certain point.
The tour guide was awesome and typically only works for Ireland’s west .com. This site might be helpful for booking other activities.
Stay in Galway one more night
Day 3: Travel to Killarney
Killarney is the starting point for scenery like the Ring of Kerry.
From Galway, it was about 5 hours and a few train switches. Beautiful scenery the whole way.
Lovely place! New and cheaper
https://www.airbnb.com/slink/TsmyZy8n
Keep in mind this is a room in someone’s home who has kids so if noise bothers you this might be worth keeping in mind.
The weather was rainy so we ended up spending the afternoon listening to live music in some of the local pubs. However, if the weather had been better I’d recommend doing the walk to Ross Castle and spending the afternoon/early evening there before visiting the pubs.
Some favourites:
O’Connors
The Grand (later in the evening)
Day 4: Killarney - Day Trip to Ring of Kerry
Killarney is a great starting point to Ring of Kerry. Most people rent a car, however if you’re like us and find that driving on the other side of the road is too intimidating a day trip is also a good alternative.
This one was great! And they also made a special stop to the Torc waterfall.
Day 5: Killarney - Dingle
So this was our original plan for the day.
However, since we were travelling in the second last week of October there weren’t tons of tourists and our tour was cancelled.
So we made this the day we went to Ross castle, did the boat and hit a pub.
Day 6: Cork & Blarney Castle
From Killarney, you can travel to Cork in about 1 hour and 45 minutes. Therefore, with a short itinerary it is easy to give yourself nearly a full day in the city. In our case, we left Killarney at 6 in the morning so we could be at Blarney Castle by 9, which meant that me and my friend were taking turns napping on the train. From the train station to the location where we could catch the bus to the castle it was only about a 15/20 minute walk.
However, since we had to drop off our luggage somewhere we had to make a quick detour to 365ITHUB. We had no issues and paid 5 Euros for the day. After dropping off our bags we crossed over the bridge to wait for our bus. What we learned the hard way was that the bus was not at the bus station and was actually a local bus stop which the locals were happy to point out for us. Although, we were a little later than we’d hoped the bus ride was relatively easy (and cheap since it was local transport). Once we arrived at the castle we purchased our ticket, explored the grounds and ventured in the castle. Depending on the type of traveller you are, I’d estimate you could spend anywhere from 2 hours to the entire day here if you like to take your time. We spent about 3 hours and checked out all the grounds, while also grabbing a quick coffee and snack (and yes if you’re vegan they did have vegan sausage rolls).
Afterwards, we hopped back onto the bus and went back into the city of Cork. Cork has a few cute streets if you want to wander around, however, most notable is the Deck of Cards Houses, which basically are a set of houses in different colours that are lined up on a steep street. In our case, we were unable to make it. But, I would recommend taking a late train out of Cork and into Dublin so you can take the 1 hour and 40 minute commute to visit one of the most photographed in the country.
Day 7: Dublin
On our day 7 you have some options. If the Guinness Factory was high on your list then you might choose to add that to your itinerary. Otherwise, we used this day to hit a few local pubs, check out the classic Temple Bar.
What Should I Pack When Visiting Ireland?
First, for fall fashion. A cute toque, a trench coat and a chunky scarf. As items that take up a lot of space for the light packer, keep in mind these items you might be wearing more than you’re storing.
