Today, we are joining Stephanie on her reader success story to Dublin and Southern Ireland—a place known for its lush greenery, rolling hills, and rugged coastline. She took this trip in 2022 with her family of four. Here is her story:

We are a family of four living just outside of Washington, DC, in Alexandria, VA.  In August of 2022, we traveled from Washington to Dublin. My children were 11 and 9 at the time.  This was a very special trip as I was meeting my biological family for the first time!  

I typically love to travel almost exclusively on points, but given some of the parameters we had in place, it wasn’t possible on this trip. I am still pleased with how this trip turned out and loved that points and miles helped make it a success.  

 

Flights to Ireland

We had hoped to fly business class, but we ended up choosing economy seats because of the short flight time and low availability of business class seats.  We transferred 140,000 American Express Membership Rewards® to Aer Lingus for four round-trip flights.  Direct flights were vital to us; this was the least expensive option then. 

If I were to do this trip again, I would take advantage of Virgin Atlantic’s new dynamic pricing model (from IAD, I have seen flights as low as 6,000 points to Heathrow) or perhaps use Flying Blue with a stopover in Europe.  I am continuously amazed by how inexpensive intra-European flights are, and it would be fun to add another city to the trip.  For reference, we are flying back to Ireland this March, and I found a direct Aer Lingus economy flight for 13,000 Avios points.   

 

Renting a Car in Ireland

Because we were visiting multiple cities and needed to get from place to place, we rented a car from the Dublin airport.  Be sure to check your car insurance policy and credit card insurance coverage as most, if not all, do not cover Ireland rentals! You most likely will need to add coverage. And don’t forget, most cars are manual/stick-shift, and you will be driving on the left-hand side of the road! Limited automatic transmission vehicles are available but at a much higher cost. Thankfully, my husband was able to drive a manual-transmission car.

 

Lodging in Dublin

Our trip began with three nights at the Conrad Dublin.  The Conrad is one of the more expensive hotels in Dublin, but I was looking for a bougie hotel with a family-room option.  I struggled to find a guaranteed connected room or suite to hold all four of us during peak travel season. The Conrad offers a family setup with a king room attached to a twin room, which was available for our trip. 

 

 

Here’s where things go off my usual path a bit! Ninety-nine percent of the time, I book hotels using points I have earned with the hotel chain or by transferring points to the hotel and then booking directly.  But in this case, the Conrad wanted over 500,000 points per night for the family connecting rooms, which seemed like too many points. 

I had earned a ton of American Express Membership Rewards® during our kitchen renovation with a 10x multiplier on restaurants as part of our welcome offer. I utilized the American Express travel portal to book the room instead of transferring points to Hilton.  The two rooms for three nights came out to roughly 260,000 points, which was a much more palatable total. 

As the Conrad is part of the Fine Hotels + Resorts® program (a benefit of The Platinum Card® from American Express), I was able to book the hotel and receive a slew of benefits.  We received our $200 Fine Hotels + Resorts® credit back to our card, a $100 dining credit for the hotel, daily breakfast, and early check-in at noon.  The early check-in was critical after our overnight flight!  The breakfast was exceptional and the favorite of the trip! The Conrad’s location cannot be beaten. It sits just on the edge of the famous St. Stephen’s Green and is a short walk to great shops, pubs, and historic sights. 

 

Exploring Dublin

While in Dublin, we explored the Guinness Factory and Malahide Castle and took a Viking Splash Boat Tour! My family recommended the Viking Splash tour. The amphibious vehicle takes you by land and water all around Dublin. During the tour, you see the sights while learning the history of Dublin and Ireland. It was cheesy, but incredibly informative and fun. We laughed for almost the entire tour. We paid $87 for four tickets.

 

 

We also spent an afternoon at Malahide Castle. This was a very cool castle to visit and only a short drive from Dublin. The grounds are simply stunning! The castle has a butterfly enclosure, and there is a scavenger hunt through the beautiful gardens complete with painted statues, leprechauns, and a fairy garden trail. There is also a playground nearby, which was also a nice way for the kids to blow off some steam.  

 

 

Visiting Killarney

Our next stop was Killarney and the Ring of Kerry. The drive was roughly four hours from Dublin. On the way, we stopped in Kildare, home to some incredibly quaint thatched-roof cottages. It was a small, charming city and a neat way to see a different part of Irish history. 

We again encountered the hotel room-occupancy issue in Killarney and opted for the Park Place Apartments. This rental gave us a large two-bedroom apartment with a beautiful balcony overlooking the main street of Killarney. It included a full kitchen, laundry, and plenty of relaxing space. We paid roughly $490 for two nights. 

Activities in Killarney

While in Killarney, we explored the famous Ring of Kerry and took several breathtaking hikes.  One of our favorite hikes was to see the Torc Waterfall.  Once you see the waterfall, you can continue hiking to a viewpoint that lets you see the beautiful lakes and surrounding landscape. 

 

 

It’s not an easy hike, but worth the effort to make it to the top.  While we enjoyed the Ring of Kerry, the ride is not for the faint of heart.  There are many twists and turns, and you will face off with large tour buses at many turns. If you are prone to car sickness, I would absolutely recommend taking something in advance to help. 

 

  

We stopped in a few towns to break the trip up and take photos. There are many tourist traps along the route, but there are also some sweet places to stop! Back in Killarney, we enjoyed the many restaurant options and the town. The pace was much slower and less touristy than Dublin.

 

 

Wexford, Kinsale, and Kilkenny

Our next stop was Wexford, where we briefly stayed with family. On the way to Wexford, we spent the afternoon in Kinsale. Kinsale is a small Irish fishing village known for its colorful homes, weaving streets, farmers’ market, and fishing marina. It is absolutely worth a stop and unlike other Irish cities.

After Wexford, we drove to the medieval city of Kilkenny for one night. We booked the Mount Juliet Estate, a Marriott Autograph Collection property.  This hotel is bookable on points, but we opted to pay cash at the time.

 

 

 

We were able to book one room with two queens for the four of us. This property was stunning. It is in the countryside about twenty minutes from downtown Kilkenny. It features amazing gardens, historic buildings, a golf course, a spa, and more. We wish we had stayed another night! While in Kilkenny, we explored the town, Kilkenny Castle, and enjoyed the medieval architecture. 

 

Hilton Airport Hotel in Dublin

The next day, we drove back to Dublin.  With a flight out mid-day, we opted to stay at the Hilton Airport Hotel. We dropped off our rental car the night before our flight for convenience and to save on fees. This hotel offers a frequent shuttle service, making the trip to and from the airport simple. 

We booked a suite as it offered a king bed with two beds in the adjoining space. This hotel is bookable direct with Hilton points, but the rate at the time was exorbitant. Instead, I again opted to use Chase Travel℠ and was able to cover the cost of the hotel room with 30,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards®. The room rate would have been over $600 at the time.  Was it my fanciest Chase redemption? No, it certainly wasn’t, but it worked for us at the time and helped to offset costs.  

 

 

Return Flight from Dublin

Our return flight was an adventure!  We got to the Dublin airport with plenty of time to get through security and then to the lounge before our flight. We could use our Priority Pass Membership via our card_name to get our whole family into the lounge. 

While we waited, we noticed our flight time kept getting pushed back by small increments. The next thing we knew, they called our flight.  Important to note: U.S.-bound flights from Dublin go through the U.S. immigration process at the Dublin airport.  When you land in the U.S., you will land as if you flew domestically.

Immigration lines can be extremely long, and you are only allowed to enter the area when your flight has been called. There was a huge backlog, and we were sure we were going to miss our flight. We had to self-advocate to move ahead of people in the line to ensure we got to our gate in time. 

There was a disconnect between the airline and immigration, and the proper entry time to the immigration area was wrong. I would closely monitor this process, as it was very stressful.  

 

A Cancelled Flight 😩

Just as we were finishing the immigration process, the airline announced that our flight was cancelled.  I had learned from experience that I needed to take matters into my own hands, and I immediately called Aer Lingus to get options for them to re-book us to the US.  This allowed us to skip the line of hundreds of people at the help desk. 

We were re-booked on a United flight leaving just a half hour later. Out of 300 people on our plane, only six were rebooked on the United flight, and we were lucky enough to have grabbed four of those seats.  Had we not called customer service, we would have been stuck another day!  It always pays to advocate for yourself.  We made it home only a few hours later than we had been scheduled to.

 

Bottom Line

Overall, we had a fabulous trip to Ireland. It is such a welcoming, family-friendly country! While we didn’t use points to cover every hotel cost, we could have if that option had made more sense for us.   

Thanks, Stephanie, for your reader success story to Dublin and Southern Ireland! We love to see people using points and miles in the way that works best for them. Sometimes, it’s about supplementing on a trip rather than using all points and miles!

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