Family trip to Ireland 🇮🇪 in April 2026

My mom had always wanted to go to Ireland. She was told by her father that the Ennis were from Irish heritage. Her wish finally came true this year. It was a large group of us, so we arranged a tour package with our own personal driver. The Onizuka's departed from LAX, all 11 of us. My sister in law's parents met us in Dublin.

The Aer Lingus flight there was around 9 hours. It was a long flight, and it gets harder as you get older. Getting through immigration was painless, and once we got to baggage claim we met with our airport shuttle driver. Unfortunately, some of the kid's luggage was lost and so they had to buy a few things in Dublin. Once outside the airport, we immediately felt the cold chill. As expected, Ireland was very green. It was very windy on the first day.

The Brooks Hotel was located in the heart of Dublin, and it was quite crowded. We walked to St. Patrick's Park on the first day and then headed to Guiness Brewery...not knowing that reservations were needed in advance! We also checked out Dublin Castle. For dinner, we went to a Turkish restaurant. The kids ate at McDonald's earlier, and looking at their menu, they had some pretty interesting stuff on there they don't have in the U.S.

St. Patrick’s Park

Guinness brewery

The following day in Dublin was cold and drizzling. We went to see the Kilmainham Gaol prison to learn about the Irish independence movement against the English occupation.

From there we took a cab back to the hotel before walking to the EPIC museum. The EPIC museum was another great place to learn about Irish history of emigration. We booked a consultation with a staff member at that museum to look into the Ennis history.

I had done personal research in the past on Ancestry.com and was able to trace the Ennis lineage back to the mid 1800's. They were mostly centered in western North Carolina. There were some Civil War records of Ennis from North Carolina. The museum staff lady was wonderful and spent quite a bit of time piecing together our lineage that confirmed by past research was on the right track; that the Ennis spent most of their U.S. history in North Carolina. I will create a separate blog about this rabbit hole I went down.

For dinner, we went to a restaurant called The Old Mill which was known for having delicious Irish pub food. It was cold and drizzling still, and we had to wait for a table. Once inside it was cozy and warm. I had the Guiness beef stew which was hearty and hit the spot.

The following morning, I walked around the hotel and had a nice conversation with the bell hop at the hotel. Our private tour van came, and we headed out of Dublin towards Rock of Cashel. It is an old 12th century building that was originally the seat of the kings of Munster, and according to legend St. Patrick himself came here to convert the King. Our driver William was from this area and told us he came from a dairy farming family.

After lunch we drove up into the mountains a bit and then headed towards the coastal town of Kinsale. Along the way we learned about hurling from our driver William which is an Irish sport that is similar to field hockey. We arrived in the afternoon to our hotel whoch is situated right by the bay, and very scenic.

The following day, it was drizzling, windy, and foggy. We went to Old Head which is a well-known golf course that overlooks the ocean.

We then went to Charles Fort which is an old fort from the late 1600's. After the fort, we went on a boat ride around the bay, and luckily the weather started clearing up. We saw several tractors driving through town and William told us they are hauling cattle waste to farms for use as fertilizer. Some of the tractors were driven by teenagers!

The daylight is longer here in Ireland, so after eating delicious seafood for dinner we still had daylight. The kids found a stray dog running around, and luckily we were able to reunite it with its owner. My brother had tried fishing in the morning to no avail and wanted to try again so we went across to the other side of the bay. Unfortunately, nothing…seems like fish here are harder to catch.

The following day we went to Drombeg stone circle which is a mini stone henge.

And then proceeded to Killarney Lake Hotel where we stayed for a few nights.

Killarney National Park is a popular destination, with lakes and beautiful mountains. There is a nice wide path that goes around one of the large main lakes which connects points of interest found along it.

View from higher part of the park.

Muckross House

After Killarney we headed towards the coast. We stopped at Inch Beach to take in the spectacular views. Our tour van on the sand.

View around Waymont.

Dingle, coastal town where we had lunch.

Right around this time, the fuel shortage from the Iran conflict was becoming an issue because protesters had started causing disruptions around the country protesting the high fuel costs. We saw lines at the petrol stations because people were filling up just in case.

The ferry line to get across from Tarbert to Killimer was longer than usual as a result. William said he’s never dealt with such a backlog before.

Getting off the ferry.

We arrived to Lahinch where we were going to spend our final two nights before heading back to Dublin. Lahinch is famous for its PGA golf course and is the place to stay to visit the famous Cliffs of Moher.

The following day after visiting the cliffs (which was blowing 40+ mph winds) we also visited a sheep dog demonstration area which was neat. Those dogs are amazing, and it’s incredible to think that man bred them to be working dogs.

We decided that it was best to head out to the airport early to avoid the protests so we left really early the following morning. We saw a few protesters on the highway, but we made it to Dublin Airport without any problems.

Ireland is a beautiful country. Maybe in the warmer months it would have been nicer weather but William said in Ireland you never know what the weather will do because it’s affected by the Atlantic Ocean. The people are kind, and I enjoyed the trip. I hope to make it back again soon because there are many more places I would like to see.