How to Take Your Kids to Ireland--Dublin and Car Rental

Planning a trip to Ireland with your family? Let our experiences traveling with two tween-agers help you see the country, meet locals, connect with history, and keep to a modest budget!

 Previous: Steps 1-2: Time of Year and Booking Flights

Step 3: How Much Time in Dublin?

This is important, because you do NOT want to get a rental car until you're out of Dublin. (Find out why in my post about transportation.) We started our trip in Dublin and used public transport and our hoofers to see everything we were most interested in. Then we picked up our rental car to head into the rest of the country. Get out that wish list you started as a family and make sure you have enough time in the Dublin to see the things that matter most.

Medieval weapons matter to some people.

WARNING: Some of us adults (raises hand) like to do AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE every day. But I don't care how hyperactive your spouse kids are--they can't do the same pace you can. So make sure you're leaving plenty of time each day for meals, cake breaks, transportation, and time for the kids to run around a bit. You might want tot leave some time for shopping, too!

We had two full days and two half-days in Dublin, and we LOVED the things we did and places we saw. For descriptions of where we went, check out "Sights and Sites."  

Step 4: Book Dublin Housing

Now that you know which days you'll be in Dublin, book your housing for those nights. Find tips on housing in the "next step."

Pause for just a minute. At this point in your preparation, you should have a spreadsheet or trusty piece of binder paper keeping track of your decisions. It might look something like this:

You can either keep track of costs on this same sheet, or have a separate one going for those. Okay, unpause.

Step 5: Car Rental

Assuming you're following sound advice and NOT renting a car in Dublin, book a vehicle for the remaining days of your trip. Don't worry...most rental companies have a fairly generous cancellation/modification policy, so if your dates change a bit during the rest of your planning, you can adjust your car reservation. There are plenty of websites to help you figure out the ins and outs of car rental (hint: read all the fine print), so I won't cover all the nitty-gritty, but you can learn a bit more about choosing a car, whether you need a booster seat--Z did, even though he doesn't at home--and how to save money on your rental in the "Transportation" post.

The roads of Ireland are forever surprising!

Next: Steps 6-7: Itinerary and Housing