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From Dublin: Galway and Kerry 3-Day Budget Tour
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From €389 per person
This three-day trip takes you from Dublin through the west and southwest of Ireland by coach, covering more ground than most people manage in a week on their own. It’s built for budget travellers who want a proper guide and a bit of company along the way.
Day one heads west through Connemara and arrives in Galway, where the evening is yours - the pubs and traditional music scene in Galway are genuinely worth staying out for. Day two follows the Atlantic coastline south, passing through the Burren and stopping at the Cliffs of Moher before continuing into Kerry. Day three is the Ring of Kerry, with views of Ireland’s rugged southwest coast, before the drive back north.
The guide is with you throughout all three days, bringing the landscapes and local history to life with stories, legends, and songs taught along the route.
Priced from EUR 389 per person. Hostel dormitory accommodation is included, with B&B and apartment-style upgrades available if you’d prefer more privacy. Breakfasts and entrance fees are included. Lunch and dinner are at your own expense. The tour departs from Dublin city centre.
The route west on day one passes through Oughterard on the N59 - the last village before Connemara proper, on the western shore of Lough Corrib. It’s the angling village for the second-largest lake in Ireland, and Buach Beag café does soup and sandwiches made that morning if you need something before the bog roads narrow.
The first evening in Galway is the best part of day one. The city has over 70 pubs concentrated in a medieval core that’s walkable in half an hour - from wherever the coach drops you, Shop Street and Quay Street are where the action is. Tigh Coili and the Crane Bar both run trad sessions most nights; the Crane Bar in particular has a village-pub feel that pairs well with a day spent in Connemara. Sessions start around nine or ten, not eight, so settle in for dinner first.
For dinner on that first evening, Ard Bia at Nimmo on the quayside does a locally-led menu that changes with the market. If you want something quicker, the Gourmet Tart Company does counter seating, hand pies, and coffee. Ask your guide for their current read on what’s good - they’ll know what’s opened and what’s changed.
Day two through the Burren is genuinely unlike anything else in Ireland. The limestone pavement runs for miles, and in May the wildflowers that push up through the cracks are a spectacle that botanists travel from Europe to see. If the guide stops the coach and suggests a short walk on the limestone, take it.
Ballyvaughan sits at the bottom of the Burren where the limestone meets the bay - the N67 coast road runs through it on the way south. Monk’s Pub on the harbour does the chowder the village is known for: heavy with mussels and salmon, served with brown bread. Order it for lunch if the timing works. Corkscrew Hill, the hairpin road climbing south out of the village, was built in the 1840s as famine relief work - the guide will likely mention it, but look at the walls on either side.
Lisdoonvarna is ten minutes from the Cliffs of Moher on the road in from the Burren - a spa town built around four natural mineral springs that still bubble. The Roadside Tavern does trad sessions most weekends. If you pass through in September, the Matchmaking Festival has been running since 1857.
Doolin is the village most directly associated with the Cliffs of Moher walk. Three hamlets, four pubs. Gus O’Connor’s on Fisher Street has been running sessions since 1832, and the coastal path south from the harbour to Hag’s Head is the free version of the cliff walk - open headland, no turnstile. McGann’s seafood chowder is not a tourist gesture.
Liscannor is eight kilometres south of the Cliffs of Moher visitor centre on the coast road - a working pier and three pubs. Vaughan’s Anchor Inn has been run by the Vaughan family since 1979 and has a kitchen the village is known for: seafood off the local boats, Michelin-recommended for years. This is also where John Philip Holland, who designed the first submarine the US Navy accepted into service, was born in 1841.
On day three, Killarney is your Ring of Kerry hub. It’s a railway town with Ireland’s first national park out the back door - ten thousand hectares of lakes, oak woods and the only native red deer herd left in Ireland. The park walk at Knockreer is ten minutes from the station, empty most mornings. Courtney’s on Plunkett Street is the trad pub the locals will send you to.
Kenmare is forty minutes south of Killarney on the N71, the handsome end of the Ring of Kerry. Sir William Petty laid out the three streets in 1670 and the town has stayed inside that triangle ever since. Bean & Batch café on Main Street was Munster best café 2023 - the coffee is Cork Coffee Roasters, the sandwiches fill you. If you want a bigger sit-down lunch, Davitt’s on Main Street does seafood chowder and Irish stew done properly.
Sneem is the knot in the Ring of Kerry - the Sneem River splits the village in two, North Square and South Square, with a stone bridge between them. The Blue Bull on South Square is the pub: painted blue, stone walls, low ceilings, a fire most evenings. Five minutes behind the church, the Sneem River drops in a series of stepped salmon cascades that aren’t signposted for coaches - find them on foot, across the bridge and along the river path.