My husband and I first traveled to Ireland 16 years ago for his sister’s wedding at Dromoland Castle, with our then 2-month-old firstborn along for the celebration. It was a beautiful introduction to the country, but Ireland itself wasn’t really the focus of that trip.
Sixteen years and two more kids later, I wanted to go back and let Ireland take center stage.
There was a family pull, too: My great-grandparents were born in Dublin, and I loved the idea of giving our kids their own connection to a place that was already part of our family history.
The itinerary that ended up working beautifully for our family was surprisingly simple: a few days in Dublin followed by a stay in County Clare.
We got the energy and walkability of the city first—Trinity College, Grafton Street, the Guinness Storehouse and a day exploring Howth—then drove west, where city streets gave way to green fields and stone walls.
From our second home base at Dromoland Castle, we explored the Cliffs of Moher and Doolin, tried falconry, worked with championship gundogs and listened to traditional Irish music in a family’s living room.
It felt like several vacations rolled into one, without requiring us to pack up and change hotels every night.
If you’re planning a family trip to Ireland, I’d happily steal this itinerary.
Stop 1: Dublin
Dublin gave us an easy, energetic start to the trip. We could walk to many of the places we wanted to see, but there were also plenty of experiences that kept three kids interested—which, as any parent knows, is an important distinction between sightseeing and an actual family vacation.
Where to Stay in Dublin
The College Green Hotel Dublin
Location was a HUGE selling point for us. The five-star hotel neighbors Trinity College, and restaurants and shopping are an easy walk away. We even walked to the Guinness Storehouse.
The College Green Hotel sits in the heart of Dublin on the former site of the city’s historic banking district, just across from Trinity College. The five-star hotel occupies several landmark buildings, including a former 19th-century bank.
Inside, the five-story Atrium Lounge is a showstopper and offers a Literary Afternoon Tea, while the downstairs Mint Bar occupies a former bank vault and has live music on Friday and Saturday nights.
We stayed in gorgeous adjoining rooms, which gave our family of five the elusive vacation combination of being together while also having enough room to spread out.
The Best Things to Do in Dublin With Kids and TeensExplore Trinity College and the Book of Kells
Book the Trinity Trails and Book of Kells Experience bundle ahead of time. The student-led campus tour gave us a glimpse of college life—especially fun with a 16-year-old—before we continued on our own to the Book of Kells, the Long Room and the Red Pavilion.
Holding up the world! Artist Luke Jerram’s Gaia is a 23-foot-wide illuminated globe made using detailed NASA imagery of Earth’s surface. The temporary installation hangs in Trinity College’s Long Room and is designed to give visitors a little taste of the awe astronauts experience when viewing Earth from space
Spend Your First Day in Howth
This turned out to be one of my favorite planning decisions.
We headed to Howth on the day we landed, and fresh air was exactly what our jet-lagged crew needed. We cruised around Ireland’s Eye with Ireland’s Eye Ferries, e-biked to panoramic views with Howth Adventures and wandered through Howth Market.
E-biking was one of the most fun ways to see Howth. The three-hour Panoramic E-Bike Tour covers about 21 kilometers on and off road, winding around the peninsula to viewpoints overlooking the Dublin Bay UNESCO Biosphere. Bonus: The electric assist makes those Howth hills a whole lot friendlier.
It was active enough to keep everyone awake and fun enough that it didn’t feel like we were simply fighting jet lag.
Visit the Guinness Storehouse
Yes, you can absolutely do the Guinness Storehouse on a family trip.
The massive seven-floor experience covers brewing history and some of the brand’s brilliant advertising. The adults in our group added the Guinness Academy perfect-pour lesson, and we had lunch at 1837 Bar & Brasserie.
And a useful tip from a gluten-free traveler: I skipped the stout and toasted with a Rockshore cider instead.
Talk about a photo op: The Guinness Storehouse’s STOUTie experience prints your selfie right onto the creamy head of a pint. It’s an add-on to the regular tour—and yes, you’re absolutely supposed to photograph it before taking that first sip.
Make Your Own Claddagh Rings
At Silverworks, we each started with a strip of sterling silver and spent two hours learning to saw, shape and file it into a Claddagh ring.
The ultimate Irish souvenir: The Claddagh design dates back to the 17th century and is traditionally associated with Galway. Its three symbols tell the story—the heart represents love, the hands friendship, and the crown loyalty.
We also learned the meaning behind the design: The heart represents love, the crown loyalty and the hands friendship.
I love a souvenir, but I especially love one you can’t buy in an airport gift shop.
Where to Eat in Dublin
This was part meal, part art experience. The hotel’s collection inspires miniature pastries served at its Art Tea—and they made mine gluten-free. My husband opted for the Merrion Whiskey Tea, and we went home with an art book.
Almost too pretty to eat: The Merrion’s Art Afternoon Tea turns works from the hotel’s collection of 19th- and 20th-century art into miniature desserts. Each trio of pastries arrives with images of the paintings that inspired them, so you can compare the edible masterpieces with the originals.
Walk in from Dawson Street and suddenly you’re on a glamorous indoor version of a Parisian street. My picks: the rotisserie chicken and peanut butter parfait.
Save room for dessert at Café en Seine: The peanut butter parfait comes layered with chocolate crémeux and salted caramel popcorn—and the restaurant’s over-the-top Parisian-inspired setting makes even dessert feel like an occasion.
This gave me Eataly vibes, with a glorious food hall downstairs and an elegant dining room upstairs. Ask about the steak of the day, and don’t miss the house-made soda bread.
Old and new Dublin come together in a restored 1745 Georgian townhouse overlooking St. Stephen’s Green. If you can, reserve a table in the glass-roofed atrium.
We celebrated my daughter’s 16th birthday with dinner at Greyson—a very sweet spot for a very sweet 16. 🎂✨
Make Time for Grafton Street
One of Dublin’s main shopping stretches, Grafton Street is home to Brown Thomas, the city’s must-visit luxury department store.
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But don’t rush between stores. The buskers along the street are part of the experience and can turn an ordinary shopping trip into a show.
Stop 2: County Clare
Then came the complete change of scenery.
We drove west from Dublin toward County Clare, watching city streets turn into rolling green countryside and stone walls.
Our home base was Dromoland Castle—and yes, I actually gasped when we pulled up.
Where to Stay in County Clare
The 16th-century castle sits on 500 acres of County Clare countryside, with grand staircases, glittering chandeliers, roaring fires and service that somehow manages to feel both luxurious and genuinely warm.
The whole crew at Dromoland Castle, where we spent a few unforgettable days falconing, boating, exploring the grounds—and pretending castle life was our new normal.
Once the ancestral home of the O’Briens, the estate has a thousand years of family history stretching back to the early High King of Ireland, Brian Boru.
If your budget allows for one glorious splurge on an Ireland vacation, this is where I’d make it.
The Best Things to Do in County ClareSee the Cliffs of Moher From Land and Sea
My advice: Do the Cliffs of Moher twice.
First, start at the visitors’ center and walk the paved paths for those gasp-worthy Atlantic views. Then head to Doolin Pier and take Doolin Ferry Co.’s 50-minute Cliffs of Moher cruise.
The ferry ride from Doolin gave us a whole new perspective on the Cliffs of Moher—this time from sea level.
Seeing the cliffs from below gives you a completely different sense of their enormous scale, along with views of the Great Sea Stack, seabirds and even a cave used in a Harry Potter movie.
Try Falconry at Dromoland Castle
Dromoland’s falconry experience brings you astonishingly close to the castle’s birds of prey. We watched hawks soar through the trees and then land on our gloved hands.
And then we met Pickles.
Making a new feathered friend at Dromoland’s School of Falconry. Meet Pickles, the barn owl who apparently decided my head was the best seat in the house.
Pickles is an irresistible owl whom, according to our falconer, some guests have returned for one-night stays just to visit again. I get it.
Walk With the Corrib Gundogs
Former Dromoland gamekeeper Paul O’Brien leads a woodland walk with his extraordinary Labradors during the castle’s Corrib Gun Dogs Training Experience.
Watching the dogs work—and seeing the patience and trust required for championship-level retrieving—was fascinating. If you love dogs, don’t miss this one.
Getting to know Dromoland’s four-legged staff during a Gun Dog demonstration, where we watched these very good—and very well-trained—dogs show off their skills.
This family-run perfumery in the Burren hills makes small-batch fragrances, skincare, soaps and candles inspired by the surrounding landscape.
At The Burren Perfumery, tucked into the wild landscape of County Clare, fragrances and skincare are made using inspiration from the native plants and flowers of the Burren.
We watched perfumes being filtered and bottled before sniffing our way through the shop. Wild Rose Eau de Parfum was my favorite. Leave time for the herb garden and rose-covered Tea Rooms, too.
This might have been the experience that made us feel most connected to Ireland.
Musician Christy Barry and a fellow musician play traditional tunes and tell stories in a living room while Sheila serves wine, Burren smoked salmon and Irish cheeses.
A true taste of Ireland: traditional music with local musicians Christy Barry and James Devitt at Doolin Music House in County Clare.
Guests are encouraged to participate, which is how I found myself getting up to dance a jig while my children looked on in mild horror.
It doesn’t feel like attending a show. It feels like you’ve been invited into someone’s Irish home.
Where to Eat in County Clare
For a casual meal at Dromoland, The Fig Tree at the Golf and Country Club was our go-to—and, happily for me, it has gluten-free pizza. Walk out the back afterward to explore the castle’s historic walled garden.
For the full castle fantasy, book dinner at Earl of Thomond. Under crystal chandeliers, courses arrive with genuine pomp and circumstance. There are palate cleansers, wine pairings and a wonderfully dramatic tableside Irish whiskey presentation.
Dinner at Dromoland comes with a little theater: our server showed off the gleaming cloches before the big reveal.
And after a day around Doolin, we had dinner at Russells Seafood Bar, where our waiter happened to be a student of one of the musicians we’d heard earlier that day. It was one of those small-world moments that seemed to happen constantly in Ireland.
How Many Days Do You Need for Dublin and County Clare?
For our family, the magic wasn’t trying to see all of Ireland. It was choosing two home bases and exploring well from each one.
That gave us enough variety to make the trip feel huge without spending half of it packing suitcases and checking into hotels.
In the space of a few days, we had Irish coffee prepared tableside in a castle, made our own Claddagh rings, biked along the coast, stood atop the Cliffs of Moher, saw those same cliffs from the Atlantic, held birds of prey and listened to traditional music in a family’s living room.
Most important, our kids came home with their own memories and connections to a country that had already been part of our family’s story.
Sixteen years after our first trip, Ireland finally got to take center stage.
And now all five of us have reasons to go back.
Inspired to take a trip of your own? Visit ireland.com for even more inspo and follow @meaghanbmurphy on IG
Woman’s Day editor-in-chief Meaghan B Murphy is known for her high-energy, upbeat personality and YAY lifestyle. She is a certified fitness expert, hack master, Penguin-Random House author, editor, podcaster, holiday celebrity and mama of 3 (plus a fur baby!).