After an amazing 3-week Scotland road trip with kids, we were excited to spend just as much time exploring Ireland as a family. As with most of our trips, we weren’t just looking for the obvious sightseeing stops, we wanted to find the best things to do in Ireland with kids that mixed history, scenery, castles, coastal walks, beaches, cycling routes and easy outdoor adventures.
Ireland ended up being such a fun family destination for us. Some of our favourite memories were the big-name places you’ve probably already heard of, like Titanic Belfast, the Cliffs of Moher and Blarney Castle, but we also loved the quieter moments, like cycling on Inis Mór, hiking coastal trails and letting the kids scramble around rocky lakeshores.
This list is based on the places and activities our family enjoyed most during our own 3-week family trip to Ireland. It’s a mix of culture, outdoor adventure and family-friendly stops that made Ireland easy, memorable and fun with kids.
Still working on your family trip to Ireland? Here is our own Ireland itinerary with kids, which inspired this list of the best things to do in Ireland with kids.
This post contains compensated links.
Top 10 Things to do in Ireland with Kids
The following list of the best things to do with kids in Ireland was taken from our own family trip to Ireland. We’ve included a mix of castles, museums, easy family-friendly hikes, coastal walks, cycling routes, beaches and fun outdoor stops where children can explore. Ireland has such a beautiful mix of history, scenery and wild coastal landscapes, so you’ll see that many of our recommended family activities are outdoor focused.
We have included links to our short YouTube videos for many of the family-friendly Ireland activities on our list. If you’d like a quick overview of our favourites, check out our Top 10 Things to do in Ireland with Kids video. Please keep reading afterwards for all the details you’ll need for your family trip to Ireland.
1. Titanic Belfast
We couldn’t have been more impressed by the Titanic Belfast museum in Northern Ireland. Our kids, who were only 6 and (almost) 4 years old at the time of our trip, knew nothing about the Titanic, but the Titanic Belfast museum did a fantastic job at keeping them engaged all the way through.
I guess all it takes is adding a fun theme park style ride through the museum to keep kids interested! This interactive, family-friendly museum even had dolls hidden throughout for the kids to find.
Sneaking in fun, educational activities is one of the reasons we love travelling to Europe with kids. We loved our visit to Titanic Belfast and would confidently call it one of the top things to do in Ireland with kids.
If you’d like to see more of what the Titanic Belfast is really like, watch our Belfast with kids YouTube video. Then, you can read more about the best things to do in Belfast with kids.
2. Cycle the Aran Islands with Kids
Our self-guided family cycling trip in Connemara was easily our favourite part of our three weeks in Ireland. A big part of this kid-friendly Ireland bike tour was cycling on the Aran Island of Inishmore (Inis Mór).
We didn’t expect that we’d get to accomplish our dream of a bike trip in Ireland with kids so young, but finding a great cycling tour company like Green Marble Tours made it possible.
From our hotel on Inis Mór, we were able to cycle with our kids to Aran Islands beaches, enjoy a kid-friendly hike to the ancient fortress Dún Aonghasa and to the famous Worm Hole.
We highly recommend staying at least two nights on Inishmore. This allows you to enjoy the quiet before and after the ferries full of day trippers arrive.
You can follow along by watching our Family Cycling Holiday in Connemara YouTube video. Then you can read our posts on our Ireland family bike tour and exploring Inishmore with kids.
3. Hike the Cliffs of Moher
The Cliffs of Moher are a must-see when visiting Ireland with kids. We always like when an attraction is as impressive in real life as what we see online.
The Cliffs of Moher have a great viewing area that can easily and safely be visited with kids. We were able enjoy a kid-friendly hike along the Cliffs of Moher where we felt it was safe.
You can get a glimpse of what a visit is like in our Cliffs of Moher with kids YouTube video. Then come back and read our post on visiting the Cliffs of Moher with kids for all the information you need for your visit.
4. Explore the Dingle Peninsula with Kids
Of all the places we visited, the Dingle Peninsula was one of our favourite places to hike in Ireland with kids.
The kid-friendly hiking on the Dingle Peninsula has some incredible scenery. Our kids were able to run and explore ahead, which is something they don’t always get to do at home near Banff National Park, where we’re much more cautious about bears.
Other things to do in Dingle with kids include the Dingle Oceanworld Aquarium and Inch Beach. We suggest spending at least a morning (if not a full day) on Inch Beach with your kids.
To get an idea of what a family trip here is like, check out our Dingle with kids YouTube video. Then come back to read all about visiting the Dingle Peninsula with kids.
5. Hike Torc Mountain
Summiting a mountain isn’t always at the top of our kids’ list of things to do, but Torc Mountain was a really fun hike for them! Kids will love how the Torc Mountain trail switches between wooden boardwalks and climbing stone steps the entire way up. And for parents, the views while hiking Torc Mountain are stunning the entire way to the summit, even on a rainy day.
You can see what a family hike up Torc Mountain is really like in our Killarney National Park with kids YouTube video. Then come back and read all about hiking Torc Mountain with kids.
6. Play on the Rocks at Barley Lake
Barley Lake is a chance for your family to explore around a scenic lake high up in the mountains. Best of all, you’ll likely have it all to yourself. Aside from the impressive views, the rocks around Barley Lake couldn’t be more fun for kids to climb on.
We originally planned to go for a hike with our kids around Barley Lake, but the swampy grass made us rethink that pretty quickly. Once we saw how much fun the kids were having climbing the rocks, we figured it was a great place to sit and just take in all the scenery while they played.
Barley Lake is also located near Killarney National Park and we give all the details in our Killarney National Park post.
7. Cycle the Gap of Dunloe with Kids
One more fun activity in Killarney National Park with kids is cycling the Gap of Dunloe. This fun family bike ride starts along the bike paths in Killarney National Park, followed by a 2-hour boat ride that ends at the western edge of Upper Lake.
From there you can expect a steady, steep bike ride up the Gap of Dunloe. It’s a tough ride, but it’s short and quite doable for most. Besides, you’ll be taking plenty of breaks for pictures on the way up. Be prepared to meet cars and jaunting cars along the road.
For the bike ride down the Gap of Dunloe, it’s fast and winding so make sure you’ve tested your brakes before leaving the bike rental. And remember, take it slow. There’s no reason to rush when you’re enjoying the spectacular scenery of Killarney National Park.
Wondering if you can cycle the Gap of Dunloe with kids? You can get a sense for what it’s like in our Gap of Dunloe with kids YouTube video. Then you can get all the information about bike rentals, tours etc. in our post about cycling the Gap of Dunloe with kids.
8. Hike the Lighthouse Loop
One of our favourite hikes in Ireland! You can find the Lighthouse Loop hike on the Sheep’s Head Peninsula.
Your kids will love all the sheep along this kid-friendly hiking trail. As the name suggests, there’s a lighthouse about midway along the Lighthouse Loop trail with impressive ocean vistas all along. There’s even a lake hidden up there.
Wildflowers are everywhere on this hike, blanketing the hillsides. Your kids will enjoy climbing on some of the big rocks along the way. Just be cautious to keep them away from the steep drop-offs. It’s best to keep your kids close on the entire second part of the hike.
You can get more details on the Sheep’s Head Lighthouse Loop on AllTrails.
Before you head out, read our best tips for hiking with kids and see what we actually pack in our guide to hiking gear for kids.
9. Kiss the Blarney Stone at the Blarney Castle
We were unsure about visiting the Blarney Castle with our kids. It seemed too touristy, but in the end we are so glad we decided to visit.
We arrived at Blarney Castle early, allowing us to avoid a long line-up to kiss the Blarney Stone. The kids loved climbing up the castle and thought it was a hoot to see their dad kissing the Blarney Stone.
We expected our visit to Blarney Castle with kids to be short, but it ended up taking the better part of the day. Our kids’ favourite things to do at the Blarney Castle included the Rock Close, with its waterfall, Witch’s Kitchen, a Druid’s cave and a Fairy Glade.
After some time at the small Blarney Castle playground, we took to the walking paths through the forest to a beautiful lake. It was quiet and serene.
Overall, we thought the Blarney Castle was a great place for families to visit. We were there for five hours and our kids could have played longer.
You can see how much we enjoyed our visit to Blarney Castle in our Cork with kids YouTube video. Then come back for all the details you need on visiting Cork with Kids, one of Europe’s most kid-friendly cities.
10. Walk from Bray to Greystones
One of our favourite things to do is to find incredible spots to get in nature wherever we are, especially the ones that aren’t frequently visited by other tourists. The Bray to Greystones walk is no secret, but what a wonderful way to escape the madness of Dublin for a few hours.
It’s easy to get from Dublin to Bray by train and from there the trail is obvious. This kid-friendly hike near Dublin starts along the ocean, before starting up a hill.
The Bray to Greystones trail doesn’t stay paved the entire way, but it’s an easy enough walk. Even on a beautiful sunny weekend, this family-friendly hike was busy, but never to the point that it bothered us.
Update: Since our family holiday to Ireland, this hike has been closed for safety reasons. Refer to our Dublin with kids blog post for updates on its status.
You can see the natural beauty of this family-friendly hike in our Dublin with kids YouTube video.
What to Pack for Ireland With Kids
It’s hard to pack for a family vacation to Ireland, even in the summer. Take a moment and scroll through the pictures within this post one more time and you’ll see that we encountered every kind of weather during our trip. From rain jackets and pants to t-shirts and shorts, we had to be smart about what we packed.
We took notes while we prepared for our Ireland vacation and have shared it with you in our Packing List for Ireland with Kids. It has everything families need for traveling to Ireland with kids!
We hope that our Top 10 Things to do in Ireland with kids was useful and that it helps you have the best family vacation possible!
Our Travel Journal for Kids
Based on our family travels, our kids helped us design this Travel Journal for Active Kids! This engaging travel journal encourages kids to document their adventures, spark creativity, and stay entertained on the go – grab yours now on Amazon!
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