Dublin to Bunratty Castle, Cliffs of Moher, Burren Galway by Rail

Cliffs of Moher: two hours gives you time to walk the cliff path properly in both directions. The crowds are heaviest at the main viewing platform by the visitor centre - walk south along the path for ten minutes to find quieter stretches with equally good views. The sea cliffs here rank among the highest in Europe. There's an O'Brien's Tower at the northern end of the walkable section if you want the elevated view, though it carries a small entry charge on top of the park admission. The southern trail runs down toward Hag's Head, passing above Liscannor - the working pier village where the cliff walk ends and where the submarine was invented. If your group ever comes back independently, Vaughan's Anchor Inn in Liscannor is the seafood stop on this coast, and the walk south from there starts at a small car park on the R478 with no fee, no queue, and no railing.

The Burren and Doolin: the coast road from the Cliffs into Galway passes through Doolin - three hamlets, four pubs, and where the Russells kept west Clare trad music alive when the rest of the country went quiet. The Burren begins properly above Ballyvaughan, where the N67 climbs out of the village on the Corkscrew Hill - a road built in the 1840s as famine relief work. The view from the top across Galway Bay is the photo stop most groups take. If you want to understand what you are passing through, the limestone holds more than 70% of Ireland's native flowering plants growing side by side in what looks like it couldn't support a blade of grass. Lisdoonvarna, on the Burren's edge, sits between Doolin and Ballyvaughan and carries the Roadside Tavern trad sessions most weekends - better known for September's matchmaking festival, which has been running since 1857.

Galway: roughly 60 minutes of free time in the city is tight, but the medieval core is small. From wherever you're dropped, Shop Street and Quay Street are the spine, and the laneways off them narrow fast and repay wandering. For a quick dinner, Ard Bia at Nimmo on Quay Street is locally-led and changes with the market. If you just want a drink and to feel the city, Tigh Coili on Mainguard Street has a trad session most nights from around 9:30pm - the music is good enough that people drive from Connemara for it.