The Emerald Week: What to Do in Ireland for 1 Week Without Becoming a Walking Stereotype

Your Irish Playbook: What To Do In Ireland For 1 Week Without Getting Lost In A Bog

With only seven precious days to explore this myth-soaked island, strategic planning becomes essential. The following itinerary balances must-see attractions with breathing room for serendipity—that magical Irish quality where your best memories often come from unplanned detours and random encounters with locals who consider conversation less a social nicety and more a competitive sport.

Days 1-2: Dublin’s Greatest Hits (Without the Tourist Hangover)

Begin your Irish adventure in Dublin, a city where medieval history and modern tech bros coexist in a sometimes awkward but always interesting dance. Start at Trinity College ($15 entry) to see the Book of Kells—an illuminated manuscript so ornate it makes your Instagram filters look like child’s play. The Long Room library above it feels like what would happen if Harry Potter’s Hogwarts had a baby with the Library of Congress.

When planning what to do in Ireland for 1 week, many visitors make the tactical error of spending too long in Temple Bar. This neighborhood is simultaneously the most tourist-packed and least authentically Irish experience possible—imagine if Times Square were covered in pubs charging $9 for a beer. Instead, pop in briefly for a photo, then escape to The Little Museum of Dublin ($12), which brilliantly condenses Irish history for those with attention spans calibrated to TikTok videos.

The Guinness Storehouse tour ($30) offers considerably less free sampling than American brewery tours but compensates with more historical gravitas and a rooftop view that makes Dublin look like it’s trying to apologize for its notorious weather. The perfect pour really does taste different here—not because of mystical Irish water, but because your taste buds have been sufficiently primed by the seven-story temple to fermented barley you’ve just ascended.

For evening entertainment, skip the overpriced “traditional Irish music” shows marketed to tourists and instead hit O’Donoghue’s or The Cobblestone after 8pm. The unwritten rule: the further the pub is from Temple Bar, the more authentic the music and the less likely you’ll end up next to someone wearing a plastic leprechaun hat. When ordering at the bar, remember that Irish bartenders move at the speed of contentment, not urgency. The person waving money and looking impatient will absolutely be served last.

Days 3-4: The Wild Atlantic Way Sampler

Ireland’s Atlantic coastline stretches for 1,600 miles, which is 1,585 miles more than you can reasonably cover in two days. Instead, sample its most spectacular segments by heading west. The drive through the Burren region presents a landscape so lunar-like that NASA should consider it for Mars training. This limestone karst terrain manages to look simultaneously barren and fertile—a geological contradiction housing Arctic flowers beside Mediterranean plants in what botanists call “an impossible ecosystem” and what visitors call “weird rock stuff everywhere.”

The Cliffs of Moher stand 702 feet above the Atlantic, offering views that have launched a thousand desktop wallpapers. Arrive before 10am or after 4pm to avoid coach tours and their attendant selfie sticks. The $8 parking fee somehow feels both completely reasonable and highway robbery simultaneously—a classic Irish paradox. On clear days, you can see the Aran Islands; on typical days, you’ll see enough fog to convince you there might possibly be cliffs somewhere nearby.

Base yourself in Galway, a city that packs 27 times more character per square foot than any similarly-sized American city (population 80,000). Here, street performers who would headline festivals elsewhere play for pocket change, and “going for a pint” is less activity and more philosophical way of life. Local food specialties worth trying include boxty (potato pancakes, $12-15), colcannon (mashed potatoes with cabbage, $10-14), and Irish stew ($15-20) rich enough to require a nap afterward.

Budget travelers should consider smaller towns like Doolin where $100/night still gets you ocean views and breakfast cooked by someone who will also tell you their life story, complete with tangents about their cousin’s neighbor’s dog’s unusual behavior patterns. When researching what to do in Ireland for 1 week, these smaller towns offer authenticity that can’t be manufactured in tourism brochures.

Day 5: Castle Life Without Royalty

Ireland contains over 30,000 castles and ruins, which breaks down to approximately one defensive structure per five current residents. Selecting which ones to visit becomes an exercise in castle triage. Focus on those offering more than just stone walls: Blarney Castle ($18) delivers the famous stone plus surprisingly gorgeous gardens, while Bunratty Castle ($20) includes a folk park that recreates 19th-century Irish village life with impressive attention to detail and a notable absence of modern plumbing.

For those harboring midnight fantasies of aristocratic living, castle stays range from the luxurious (Dromoland or Ashford Castle at $400+/night) to castle-adjacent BandBs ($120/night) where you get the view without requiring a second mortgage. The Irish relationship with their castles reflects pragmatic irreverence—these aren’t sacred monuments but working buildings that have simply failed to fall down yet, which locals find both commendable and slightly suspicious.

When photographing castles, resist the urge to capture the same angles as every postcard. Instead, focus on details: the worn stone steps hollowed by centuries of footfalls, the arrow loops perfectly sized for medieval defense but comically small for modern visitors attempting selfies, or the doorways designed for people who apparently topped out at 5’2″—making the average American tourist fold like human origami just to enter.

Day 6: Whiskey, History, and Things You Can’t Photograph

The difference between Irish whiskey and Scotch whisky isn’t just the spelling—it’s fighting words in certain establishments. The Jameson Distillery tour ($25) provides a polished introduction to Irish whiskey production, while smaller craft distilleries like Teeling ($15-30) offer more intimate experiences and the chance to sample expressions that don’t make it to American liquor stores. The proper tasting technique involves more contemplation than Americans typically devote to alcoholic beverages, making whiskey appreciation the closest thing Ireland has to meditation.

Balance your liquid education with historical context at Kilmainham Gaol ($10), where the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were executed, or Newgrange ($25), a prehistoric monument older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids. These sites provide perspective beyond “old things”—they’re physical manifestations of the complex, sometimes painful history that formed the modern Irish identity.

For value-conscious travelers mapping out what to do in Ireland for 1 week, consider combination tickets like the Heritage Card, which covers admission to dozens of sites nationwide. Timing is everything: visiting popular attractions during lunch hours (1-2pm) often means walking right in while tour groups are busy photographing their identical plates of fish and chips.

A note on regional accents: when someone from Cork says “grand,” they mean “merely adequate.” When someone from Donegal describes something as “savage,” they’re paying it the highest compliment. And when anyone from anywhere describes something as “interesting,” they’re being extraordinarily polite about something they find completely baffling—likely your attempt at pronouncing Irish place names.

Day 7: Rural Ireland Beyond the Postcards

Spend your final day away from major attractions in smaller towns or villages where “tourist infrastructure” means a single pub that reluctantly added a food menu in 1996. These places reveal an Ireland that exists beneath the marketing gloss—communities where traditional music sessions happen because people enjoy playing together, not because a tour bus is scheduled to arrive.

Local markets (held on different days in different towns) offer souvenirs that won’t make your friends silently judge your taste. Skip the mass-produced shamrock merchandise and look for hand-knit woolens, locally-made foodstuffs, or artwork from regional artists. The prices might be higher than the airport gift shop’s plastic leprechauns, but so is the likelihood you’ll actually want to display these items after returning home.

For authentic pub experiences in rural settings, follow this simple rule: the more difficult the pub is to find, the better the experience will be. Engaging locals without being labeled “that American” requires waiting to be invited into conversation rather than forcing it, asking questions rather than making statements about your “Irish roots,” and under no circumstances attempting an Irish accent regardless of how many pints you’ve consumed.

As your week draws to a close, remember that Irish airports operate on a particularly elastic interpretation of time. Return your rental car at least three hours before your flight, as the curious Irish concept of “sure, you’ll be grand” doesn’t apply to international departure schedules. Process VAT refunds for purchases over $75, but prepare for queues that move at approximately the same speed as continental drift.