An Irish Babymoon

When we found out we were expecting, I was adamant that we take one last trip abroad before our little one made her arrival. Since I chose Spain as our previous vacation destination, I let David influence the location of our last big trip before we became parents. Ultimately, we chose Ireland as the perfect babymoon destination.

We started our adventure in Dublin. We arrived first thing in the morning, immediately checked into our hotel and headed out to explore the city and grab breakfast. We stopped at a cafe called the Stage Door. To our surprise, the food was great! We actually had amazing meals throughout our trip! With full bellies and caffeine, we headed out to explore the city. We made stops at the quintessential tourist spots – the Maggie Malone statue, Grafton and Dawson Streets, Christ Church Cathedral and of course several pubs along the way! I wasn’t able to grab a pint but it was still fun to listen to the music and take in the unique Irish pub scene!

And, no trip to Dublin would be complete without a trip to the Guinness Storefront and the Jameson Distillery.

We grabbed dinner at PHX Bistro and it was phenomenal- my favorite meal of the trip. After dinner we explored the Temple Bar area making a stop at Darkey Kelly’s before calling it a night.

The next morning, we headed out in our rental car to begin our weeklong exploration. Our first stop was the Rock of Cashel.

Next, we visited the city of Cork with stops at the English Market and Orso for lunch before heading to the Blarney Castle. We didn’t kiss the Blarney Stone but enjoyed our visit nonetheless. The grounds were pretty great and we enjoyed the castle much more than we thought we would.

We made our way to the small fishing village of Kinsale for the night. We loved Kinsale! It is such a cute town. We stayed at the Trident Hotel overlooking the water and spent our time there exploring the city on foot. We had diner at Bastion and David had a few drinks at Kitty Se’s which was a pretty happening place!

The next morning we were off to the Ring of Kerry. The weather wasn’t ideal but we decided to make the best of it. Our first stop was Killarney National Park. We visited Muckross Abbey House and Gardens, Muckross Abbey Castle and Ladies View before making our way to the city of Killarney. We grabbed lunch at the Irish Whiskey Experience – the food was excellent and the whiskey selection blew our minds. After a quick visit to the Monsignor Hugh O’Flahtery Memorial we headed to Ross Castle.

We checked into Balyceede Castle for the night. We were determined to stay at a castle during our trip so we were super excited to check in. The property was great!

With the weather improving, we decided to make the Dingle Peninsula our next stop. I absolutely loved the Dingle Peninsula. In fact, it was my favorite part of the trip. While the drive is certainly not for the faint of heart, the scenery more than makes up for it.

We were feeling extra adventurous so we decided to make our way to the Cliffs of Moher later that day. We found out there was a ferry we could take that would significantly reduce our driving time. It was a fun little detour. The Cliffs were absolutely stunning! And the strength of the wind was quite incredible too. It was unlike anything we’d experienced before.

We spent the night in the city of Galway. We had a great tapas dinner at Cafe Bodegas and explored the city on foot.

The next morning we decided to head back to Dublin as the weather on the west coast was rainy where the eastern part of the island was full of sunshine. We had so much fun exploring more of the city! We took in the street art and the world famous Temple Bar! After a fabulous dinner at Rosa Madre and a few pub stops we called it a night.

We headed to the Powerscourt Gardens and House the next morning. The property is absolutely stunning!

Next, we visited the quaint town of Howth just east of Dublin. This is such a great place for a day trip from Dublin.

Lastly, we visited the Famine Sculptures and enjoyed our last meal at The Pig’s Ear. The food was excellent and an amazing way to end our trip.

Bottom line:

We had such a great time in Ireland. It’s an amazing island with so much beautiful scenery to see. We will absolutely make another trip to this country with our little girl in tow.