Dublin, Galway & Cliffs of Moher

Breakfast at Brother Hubbard

📍 Brother Hubbard, 153 Capel Street, Dublin 1

Start your day at this Middle Eastern-influenced cafe serving creative breakfast dishes. The shakshuka, Turkish eggs, and homemade bread have earned a cult following among Dubliners. The coffee is some of the city's best.

Kilmainham Gaol

📍 Kilmainham Gaol, Inchicore Road, Kilmainham, Dublin 8

Step inside Ireland's most important historical site—the grim Victorian prison where Irish revolutionaries were held and executed during the 1916 Easter Rising. The guided tour brings Irish history vividly to life, from the Great Famine through independence. The execution yard where the leaders of the Rising were shot remains haunting and powerful.

Coffee at Kaph

📍 Kaph, 31 Drury Street, Dublin 2

Start with excellent coffee at this minimalist specialty coffee shop. The baristas are serious about their craft, and the Scandinavian-inspired pastries are perfect. A favorite among Dublin's coffee cognoscenti.

Dublin Writers Museum

📍 Dublin Writers Museum, 18 Parnell Square North, Dublin 1

Explore the literary legacy of a city that produced four Nobel Prize winners (Shaw, Yeats, Beckett, Heaney) plus Joyce, Wilde, Stoker, and dozens more. The museum occupies an elegant Georgian mansion with first editions, manuscripts, and personal items from Ireland's greatest writers. The literary history feels impossibly dense for such a small city.

Breakfast at Your Hotel

📍 Your Dublin accommodation

Enjoy a final Dublin breakfast at your accommodation. Most Irish hotels serve a proper Irish breakfast—eggs, rashers (Irish bacon), black and white pudding, grilled tomato, and toast. Fuel up for the journey west.

Train from Dublin Heuston to Galway

📍 Heuston Station, Dublin to Ceannt Station, Galway

Board the InterCity train for the scenic 2.5-hour journey across Ireland. The route crosses the midlands—a landscape of green fields, stone walls, bog lands, and grazing sheep. The train is modern and comfortable with spacious seats, power outlets, and a snack trolley. Watch Ireland unfold outside your window.

Breakfast at Delight Cafe & Deli

📍 Delight Cafe & Deli, 4 Abbeygate Street Lower, Galway

Start early with breakfast at this popular Latin Quarter cafe. The full Irish breakfast and fresh pastries set you up perfectly for a day of coastal exploration. The coffee is strong and the atmosphere buzzy with locals starting their day.

Bus Éireann to Cliffs of Moher

📍 Galway Coach Station to Cliffs of Moher Visitor Centre

Board the direct bus from Galway Coach Station to the Cliffs of Moher. The scenic 1.5-hour journey travels south through the Burren's limestone landscape—a lunar terrain of grey rock and wildflowers. The route passes traditional Irish villages and stone-walled fields before reaching the Atlantic coast.

Early Breakfast

📍 Galway city center

Have an early breakfast at your hotel or a nearby cafe. You'll need energy for a day of island cycling and walking. Pack layers—the islands are windier than the mainland.

Ferry to Inishmore

📍 Galway Harbour to Kilronan Pier, Inishmore

Take the morning ferry from Galway docks to Inishmore, the largest Aran Island. The 45-minute crossing over Galway Bay offers views back to the Connemara mountains and out to the open Atlantic. The islands appear slowly—low limestone outcrops barely rising above the waves. Modern catamarans make the journey comfortable.

Breakfast and Check Out

📍 Your Galway accommodation

Enjoy a final Irish breakfast before checking out. Pack up and prepare for the journey back to Dublin. Depending on your flight time, you have options for the morning.

Optional Morning in Galway

📍 Galway city center

If time allows before your train, take a final walk through the Latin Quarter, grab coffee at Java's, or visit Galway Cathedral—a stunning modern cathedral completed in 1965 with beautiful stonework and stained glass. Or simply sit by the Spanish Arch watching the River Corrib flow into Galway Bay.