Quote Originally Posted by Kiltedmusiclover
Killarney is a fairly short drive from Cork City.

Killarney National Park is renowned for its hiking trails and beauty.

The ring of Kerry is quite close and I highly recommend it as well.

You will enjoy Ireland and fall in love with the hospitality of its
people.
The Ring of Kerry is nice, but as an alternative, go stay in Dingle for a few days. Great little sea side resort (includes Fungi the dolphin) and it's right near the ring of Kerry. The place has 1500 residents and 56 pubs! (somewhere I hear Jimmy Carbomb packing).

Dublin was alright, but was just another big city. Although St. Stephen's green was a nice walk. A word of caution** and I may get tarred and feathered for this but, while the idea of the guinness brewery is nice, don't waste your cash going in. Take your photo at the gates, and spend that money (it was 10 quid each when I was there) and just go to one of Dublin's many great pubs for a pint of the good stuff. The Foggy Dew, the Trad pub (great live music), and a few others in Temple bar were way more enjoyable than an hour and 20 quid for a pint each.

Belfast was great. Forget our deluded North American sense that we even have a clue about NI politics cause we don't have the foggiest idea. Just enjoy a great great city. Cool open air markets (in may anyway), the crown liquor saloon, black cab tours, murals, etc. If you want a decent hostile, check out Arnie's near Queen's University (it's in all the travel books). It's a good place with a fair size kitchen and a Tesco near by. The only down fall is the limited number of bathrooms (be quick in the morning).

We unfortunately missed the Giant's causeway, as we had planned to take the ferry from Campbelltown into NI. Unfortunately that ferry didn't start running until the month after we were there. Who wants to go to a place named after the Campbells anyway?!

Galway is a cool university town, and can be the starting points for a lot of great day trips. (Burren/Cliffs of Moher, Arran Islands, etc)

Innishmore on the Arran Islands is beautiful. We took an overnight trip from Galway that included transport to the ferry, the boat ride over (still on of my best Ireland stories), and a hotel (the only one, it doesn't even have locks on the doors) for around 40 pounds for 2 of us.

Cork was a lot of fun, and a good place to catch a transit bus to Blarney for an afternoon.

Hope this helps a bit.