I can’t believe I had never been to Ireland. We just spent the weekend across the water exploring one of our closest neighbours and had an absolutely great time.
I realise that it’s ridiculous to write a blog post of first impressions (especially twelve of them) of a country that we spent two days in, but we managed to pack a lot in and see a surprising amount of Dublin and Galway. But that’s what a first impression is, right?
So here are 12 of my first impressions and observations of Ireland.
It’s very green
Obviously this didn’t come as much of a surprise, given that Ireland’s nickname is the Emerald Isle, green is on absolutely everything Irish, leprechauns are green… you get the point.
But I literally don’t think we saw another colour between Dublin and Galway – a two and a half hour journey across the entire width of Ireland.
Unless, of course, you count brown cows, white farmhouses and … yeah, that’s all I can think of.
It’s blimmin’ expensive
Dublin has the reputation of being one of the most expensive cities in the world, but I really was surprised by just how expensive. Not only that, but Galway wasn’t actually any cheaper!!! Each round cost us between €13 and €14 (I think one place was even €14.20!!! For two drinks!!!).
Every museum I looked at in Dublin was at least €10, often up to €20 or even €30. I know we’re lucky being from the UK where most of them are free, but we paid €16 for the National Leprechaun Museum! Mental. Even the Guinness Storehouse, which everyone seems to do, is €25, compared with £10 or less at Scotch whisky distilleries.
When I started looking into accommodation, I was shocked that hostels in Dublin were charging £50 a night for a dorm bed – but that’s because it was a bank holiday weekend. But really, that should have set the precedent for us. We managed to spend a whopping €100 on our first day AND WE DIDN’T EVEN DO ANYTHING. WE EVEN – WE EVEN SKIPPED LUNCH. And still spent a hundred bloody euros!! Just on breakfast, dinner and six drinks.
HOW do people afford to come here on a stag do? Do they take out a second mortgage?
They give you glass bottles of coke instead of on tap
I drink rum & coke (this is where someone tells me that no wonder our drinks were so expensive), but every single place gave me a little glass bottle of coke. So I guess I could have saved a tiny amount of money by ordering another rum to use up the rest of the coke.
There are motorways
Ireland has this reputation for having awful roads that are narrow and winding, often single-track which is seemingly enough to put most American tourists off driving on them. Even my Lonely Planet book says “Ireland’s efforts to improve its dire roads have been dealt a setback. Good. If you could scoot along as you do in other First World countries, you’d reach one end of Ireland almost before you left the other. But like a properly poured Guinness, the Emerald Isle is best enjoyed slowly.”
So when we hurtled across Ireland on a smooth motorway (well – a dual carriageway, really), I was very surprised!
…and lots of tolls
Again, for a country that isn’t supposed to have great roads, I was surprised to see how many toll booths we went through. It felt like America! In fact, there are 11 toll roads in Ireland (compared to zero in Scotland), and 2 or 3 of those are just between Dublin and Galway.

They have wooden fences
Alright, bear with me a minute. Wooden fences?! Yes, really. Unlike the UK where our fields are all lined with barbed wire fences and plain wooden fence posts, in Ireland all the ones I saw were lovely little brown wooden fences.
And when every field has wooden fences and stone dykes, doesn’t it feel a bit more fairytale? It just suits Ireland so well.
It’s very flat
I didn’t see any hills in Ireland; barely even sloped fields. The whole journey was oh so very flat – but not boring; in fact, as soon as we left Dublin and got out on the open road, I felt this overwhelming sense of calm for the entire journey.
Once we got to Galway, we could see the Connemara hills in the distance, but other than that, it was virtually the horizon in eveeerryyy direction.
They use KM instead of miles
I don’t know why this surprised me so much. I guess I didn’t expect Ireland to be much different to the UK, so this threw me off. (Gosh, next you’ll be telling me they use the Euro instead of the pound)
Galway is lovely
I really enjoyed Galway, as I knew I would. It was a bank holiday weekend, so it was a lot busier than I would have liked it to be, but that’s okay. It’s so pretty and colourful, and I loved wandering around!
My favourite thing, other than the absolutely amazing beer garden we found in the perfect sunshine, was all the buskers we passed. Apart from Lisbon, this has been my favourite place for buskers!

Dublin is actually really nice, too
I liked Dublin a lot more than I thought I would. Everyone I’ve talked about it with has said, “yeah… it’s nice”. A girl at work said it felt just like any other city, which is exactly what my expectation was.
So I was surprised to spend a couple of hours on our first day soaking up the very quiet Sunday morning atmosphere of Temple Bar, checking out all the cute pubs and discovering alleyways. I wasn’t expecting to like Temple Bar at all! Of course, it was completely different when we arrived back in Temple Bar on Monday afternoon, but the bustling crowds and music seeping from every corner (both inside and out) made it another really enjoyable wander. I imagine it’s completely different again when the sun goes down.
The doors in Dublin are pretty
As we sailed into town on the airport bus, I kept noticing beautiful doors. I thought I was mad, to be honest. Why am I suddenly obsessed with doors?
Clearly though, I’m not the only one to have noticed, given that they are even on Dublin postcards!!
Everyone is friendly
Our first impression was actually how friendly the people were, which comes as no surprise to anyone. Even at the airport, everyone wore a smile, and the first place we went to for breakfast in Dublin pulled out ALL the stops – it was genuinely the most friendly café we have EVER been into (I’ll be writing about it in my Dublin post, don’t worry!). Our hotel in Galway, not so much, which was a shame.
I wish we’d had more time to enjoy Irish hospitality, and to drink at more pubs in Galway. And err, more money to do so.
I think it’s a given that we’ll be back in Ireland at some point! But this was a perfect trip to find our feet and get a teensy tiny taster of what the country has to offer.
You’d think the entry charge for the National Leprechaun Museum should be quite small…
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I see what you did there! 😉
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I’ve never been to Ireland. But some of your points definitely make me wanna go!
Jenny
http://www.jennyinneverland.com
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It’s funny how many Brits haven’t made it to Ireland! I wonder how many Irish people haven’t been here…?! It’s expensive but a really lovely place! I’d like to spend more time there.
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Have not ventured to Ireland yet but definitely want to visit! I am glad that you kept it honest as far as affordability (like for accommodation + drinks, that is good to know well a head of time). Galway looks really pretty as do all your photos. The colorful doors look awesome.
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Galway is soooooo pretty! But yes, it is pricey. Though I looked up accommodation for other weekends and it was way more reasonable lol. We ended up booking a hotel in Galway for cheaper than a hostel would have been for both of us in Dublin!!
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I’ve been to Dublin a handful of times, and while I could kinda take or leave the city itself, I love the coastline around it (easily accessible by DART). One other thing I loved was the live music in pubs/bars, which you don’t get so much over here. I’d love to see more of Ireland (and Northern Ireland, which I haven’t visited at all) someday 🙂
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Yeah I would love to explore more of Ireland’s coastline in general! I haven’t been to Northern Ireland either. I always love a bit of live music, so it was really fun to hear it seeping out of all the pubs, and out on the streets too!
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It’s so funny that you say Ireland is flat ! I went there at the end of April and I found some areas quite hilly ! The Ring of Kerry for example ! The most surprising for me was, as I am originally from Brittany in France, some landscape were quite similar but so hilly in Ireland (yeah Brittany is very flat indeed).
And I totally agree : everything is so expensive ! We rent a camper an for the road trip but wanted to stay a night at Dublin at the beginning and one at the end of our journey and the airbnb were just so unaffordable, we ended up booking a hostel but it was still pretty expensive (I could have had 2 nights in Edinburgh for the price of one in Dublin…)
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Haha to be fair, I only saw between Dublin & Galway. I could see the Connemara hills from Galway, way off in the distance! I am sure there are other areas like that, too. It’s crazy how expensive it is!! I’m definitely going to find ways to try to do it on a budget!
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Glad you enjoyed Ireland! Some of these are very similar to some of my first impressions and things I noticed about Ireland the first time I went – so expensive but very friendly people!
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Thanks! Yes I loved how welcoming it was. 🙂
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Hi Clazz, I’m lucky enough to have visited both Galway and Dublin. Ireland was so beautiful I seriously considered staying. My husband might have wondered what happened when he came to pick me up at the airport though. First impressions – stone walls and beautiful blue skies, ancient castle ruins in peoples backyards.
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Sorry for my terribly late response! Haha, I’m sure your husband would have understood! 😉 Glad you loved Ireland, I really, really enjoyed Galway and now I’m keen to check out some more towns there.
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Loving your Ireland posts. We just booked a trip for next Spring and love all of the photos and information.
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So sorry I’ve only just seen this! Thanks so much for reading – I hope you have an amazing trip!
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