How Long Should Your Ireland Vacation Last?
How long is the ‘perfect' Ireland vacation? Everyone has an answer but the scientific study may surprise you.
This article is also available as a podcast. To listen please scroll to the player at the bottom of the page to listen.
How Long is the Perfect Ireland Vacation?
I'm a member of quite a few Ireland vacation advice groups on various websites and one of my biggest pet peeves is when people respond to a question with “That isn't enough time,” or “You should stay longer.”
Not everyone has unlimited time to spend on vacation. We all have a life to live, and vacation is just a part of that.
So let me begin with this statement – however long you have in Ireland is ‘enough time' for your vacation.
Is it enough time to do ‘everything'? No. But you could stay for years and not ‘see it all'. So let's lose the ‘not enough time' mindset before we begin.

Perfect Ireland Vacation Length – My Opinion
My opinion is based on North American travel – US and Canada. If traveling from Australia or New Zealand this might be too short; traveling from Europe it could be too long.
I think a 10 day vacation is almost ideal.
Day 1 & day 9 are spent traveling.
Days 2 thru 8 are spent exploring, relaxing, and enjoying Ireland.
And day 10 is your day to regroup before returning to your ‘real life'.
If you can stay longer… great! But 10 days offers a full week in Ireland, travel days that don't have to include anything else, and a day to reset before ‘real life' resumes.

Science Says This is the Perfect Vacation Length
According to the Journal of Happiness Studies eight days in the minimum length a vacation should be. Whether this is because you need that much time to forget about work or if a vacation of this length requires you to off-load work to someone else is up for debate.
The study also showed that, by day 11, vacation enjoyment tends to drop and people begin to miss their home and regular routines.
Traveling in Ireland Podcast Episode 126
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