Last year, my husband and I spent the weekend in Mayo while our boss and his wife spent the weekend in Dublin. (we were working in Manchester and flew over for the weekend).

We had a great time - no one was there at the bed and breakfast in Westport, so we ended up staying at a different place, I climbed Crough Patrick for the 3rd time, we visited Knock, found my grandfather's house, got lost several times and ended up driving down a boreen to get back to Ireland West Airport Knock. As I told my husband, nothing in Ireland ever goes as planned, but it always works out.

My boss had a miserable time - he wanted to see an authentic Irish pub, and didn't realize that there are a lot of young people in Dublin, and they like to drink at noisy places!

BTW - driving around my grandmother's hometown of Castlebar - we saw round towers, wind turbines and a Tim Horton's!

then head west and then go north. Hook Head lighthouse , Dingle Peninsula, the burren (sp) is beautiful. I highly recommend the towns of Sneam and Kinsale. Also all the towns you find along the way. If youcan find a copy of the book "The Connemara Bus" by Ann Milholland Webb, published in 1999 by Leathers Publishing in Kansas, I recommend it. It's subtitled
A journey through the past in Ireland.

A professor I had in College recommended a bookstore in Galway, "Kenny's Bookshop" it's on High Street. My professor said she & her husband went there each year for vacation. Mind you now, my professor was Jewish, but she loved Ireland. Kenny's was great.

Bar District. Tons of stuff to see and do. http://www.dublin.ie/disp_list.aspx?catid=35

Driving: Newgrange is a must. http://www.irelandview.com/attractions.php

I'll add some links.

on the left side of the road!

Friends went there a couple of times, look up ancestors that sort of thing. Stayed at B&B's and went to the Blarney Stone.

Bring a good rain coat.

Warned by a cop at the train station to watch your bags. Other than that, I loved Ireland.

Also drive out to see the Irish National Stud and Japanese Gardens - it's an awesome place to see where some horse racing champions have been put to stud and live in a bucolic lovely place. The tour is well worth it and spend time taking the paths among the Japanese Gardens as they're so unique and a totally unexpected place to see in Ireland. The Black Abbey is on the same grounds and it's really beautiful to see the ruins and all of the old headstones there - just another piece of wonderful history to see.

Enjoy your trip - if you end up having the opportunity and get to Kerry, the Ring of Kerry tour is wonderful as you get to see so much beauty and history. It's an interesting part of the countryside.

Also, Knowth and Tara. These are tombs and other Megalithic structures dating back to around 3200 BC, about the same age as Stonehenge. Way cool! (Also check out the "Links" section in the link below for several of other sites about Ireland.)

http://www.knowth.com/newgrange.htm

I also recommend a trip up to Northern Ireland, if you have some time. You can take the train up to Belfast and many of the other cities/towns. Belfast is an interesting place. Have a pint at the Crown Pub. Van Morrison is known to show up there every so often. Some neat stuff on the north coast, including Bushmills, where the distillery is located. Not far from that is the Giant's Causeway. If you are at all into interesting geological formations, this is definitely a place to visit.

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/giantscauseway/

Anyway Hertz had nothing else.

Driving on the RIGHT side of the car, on the RIGht side of the road and shifting gears with you LEFT hand is not easy in a strange city. My wife never claimed to be a better driver again. She refused to drive out of Dublin.

And strangely, it seems quite natural to me. I just kept having to remind myself that everything I know is wrong.

n/t

When you need a bathroom, you should ask where the toilet is, not ladies or men's room, not bathroom. For god's sake, don't say "fanny". It doesn't mean your butt. Drink Smithwick's (Smit'icks), instead of Guiness. Pissed is drunk, not angry. Say slante instead of cheers. Sorry I can't figure out the phonetic way to tell you how to say it. I'm sure you can google it and get the audio. They speak Gaelic more in the west and especially on Inish Mor, but even if they speak English there you can't understand a word they are saying. Um, if they ask your name for a reservation, it's surname, not last name. The Irish are not quaint, they are European, so remember that and you'll do ok.

Their Summers aren't like ours. The hottest it's ever been in the recorded history of Ireland was 91.9 degrees. NYC beat or tied that around 30-40 days last Summer alone.

Do you have to buy for the whole bar or just the folks you're sitting near? Doesn't that get expensive?

Charles Karel Bouley, a talk show host in San Francisco, who goes by the name Karel. He plans to go each year, so I think he really loves it. Here's a travel blog he wrote for the Huffington Post about his trip, which included motorcycle trips, last year with his niece and a friend.-
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charles-karel-bouley/coming-full-circle-irelan_b_838533.html

Here's the article that preceded that one, if you're curious about St. Patrick's Day in Dublin-
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charles-karel-bouley/st-patricks-day-in-irelan_b_837631.html

Dublin was where I spend most of my time and found it to be a beautiful and fun city! A lot of my recommendations have already been mentioned in this thread -- Guinness Brewery, Jameson Distillery, Temple Bar District, Trinity College, St. Patrick's Cathedral, etc.

There are a number of "hop on, hop off" bus tour companies drive a big circle through the city with stops at all of the big tourist attractions (including those above). These tours are very flexible and allow you to stop at whatever attractions are of interest to you, getting back on whenever you're ready to go to continue the tour. This would be a good way to allow you to see a lot of the city in a short period of time. Here is a link to the company that I went with (highly recommended!): http://www.dublinsightseeing.ie/

Have a day to spare and up for a trip? I recommend taking a day trip out to the west coast to visit the Cliffs of Moher. The bus tour takes you through the countryside (beautiful!) and stops at the Cliffs of Moher, which is absolutely one of the most beautiful and serene places I have ever visited. It's about a 10-hour round trip from Dublin and a fun day excursion to get you out of the city. http://www.cliffsofmohertours.ie/

Visit Phoenix Park. At about three times the size of Central Park in NYC, this is an absolute must see. Rent a bike (there's a convenient bike rental place at the park's main entrance) and ride through the park. It's a fun way to get away without really leaving the city.

Have a meal at Gruel. Delicious food that is relatively inexpensive, and one of my favorite restaurants in the city. http://www.gruel.ie/home.html

I absolutely fell in love with Ireland and I can't wait to visit again. Have a fun trip!

Don't skip Northern Ireland! A day in Belfast. See the murals, get a snug at the Crown (http://www.crownbar.com/). Drive along the northern coast and stop at the Giant's Causeway. See the murals in Derry.

On the west coast, visit the Dingle peninsula, including Dunquin, great hostel with sea views (http://www.hostelz.com/hostel/14694-Dunquin-Dun-Chaoin-Hostel) and the westernmost pub in Europe. Visit Doolin for some traditional Irish music. I also recommend the Rock of Cashel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_of_Cashel).

Even in the summer, the waters are cold, but if you can stand it, take a swim. There is a great swimming beach on Dingle bay across from the haunted hostel (http://www.irelandlogue.com/accommodation/ballintaggart-house-dingle.html), or if you are the literary type, you can still swim at Forty-Foot at Sandycove, south of Dublin.
While in Dublin, head to Howth for seafood.

Sorry to take up so much space and time, but I love the place. If you pass through Ballybofey-Stranorlar, stop and say hello to the butcher McNultey; he's a cousin of mine.

Catch a race, or some Gaelic football, or a hurling match. And above all, enjoy the Craic and some Powers whiskey!

GET OUT OF DUBLIN! Get on a train and head west. I spent almost my entire time in Galway, with trips to the Aran Islands and County Clare to the Burren, and to the the Cliffs of Moher, which I feel is a MUST. But please if you go, stay away from the edge as advised. People die every year and you can still see everything even up behind the fence. It's just a low fence and doesn't block any of the view at all. I could see the ocean crashing onto the rocks at the base no problem and didn't need to risk death to do so. Also, you don't necessarily need a car, at least I didn't, but I suppose it will make you a bit more independent. I saw a lot without a car. I was alone so it seemed ridiculous to hire a car on my own. Would have gotten lost anyway. I wanted to get up to Donegal but didn't have time so I'd recommend thinking about going there. There are tons of festivals and things to go to in the summer so there won't be any shortage of choices. If you can handle caves there's the Marble Arch caves at the Geopark in counties Fermanagh and Cavan. Lots of archaeological and geological sights to see there besides the caves if you can't do caves. Heard good things about it. I went into Aillwee cave in the Burren while I was there and that was pretty cool. Many people couldn't do it, they hung out at the gift shop while the others went up. There is so much to do and, this is just my personal opinion of course, but 4 days in Dublin is about 3 days and 23 hours too long there. Not that there aren't lots of things to do and see, there certainly are, but it's just too much like Manhattan for my taste. Too many people and the traffic is awful. That's where I felt claustrophobic, not the cave.

One more thing, I would have given anything to go to Northern Ireland and I will my next trip. You should look into that. Have fun!