Vacation apartment rentals are ideal for families traveling with autism, ADHD, and other neurodivergent conditions. It’s easier to maintain familiar daily routines, manage special diets, and most important, there’s enough space (and separate spaces) for everyone to spread out and decompress after a busy day.

Being in Dublin is easy and comfortable. Most attractions open at 10, so you’re not rushing out early in the morning unless you have a bus or a train to catch.

There’s at least one pub on every block, and more than that in the downtown tourist areas. Pubs that serve food have menus posted near the door, and most welcome kids at lunch and dinnertime. In addition to traditional Irish food, Dublin has international restaurants from every corner of the earth, many of which do take out if you need it. Our local Lidl supermarket was well stocked with an excellent selection of food that was ready to heat and serve, carried American kid-friendly classics like mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, and microwave popcorn, and they had plenty of gluten-free choices.

When we need a vacation apartment in Europe, I always start by checking on Booking.com for aparthotels. An aparthotel is usually an apartment building or hotel where all of the units are short term vacation or corporate rentals. They are generally well maintained with kitchens and laundry facilities, and professionally managed with a staff person at the front desk and a maintenance team, always a solid choice. Sometimes there’s a coffee shop on site, sometimes not.

If you’re hoping to find a unique property with historical charm, rental sites like Airbnb or VRBO are a great place to look. We’ve gotten our absolute best rentals (and one that was a major disappointment) this way. The experience really depends on the individual owner, and how committed they are to an excellent guest experience. See our post on How to Find the Best Vacation Rental for Your Family for tips on renting and vetting a vacation apartment.

If you prefer being catered to in a hotel, there are some good options for that in Dublin too. I haven’t stayed in these places, so I can’t promise that they’re perfect. It’s nice to know that at a minimum, they care about making guests with autism feel comfortable and welcomed.

The Ashling Hotel has a custom-built sensory guestroom with one queen bed and two twins. It was designed in partnership with AsIAm, Ireland’s national autism charity. To reserve this room, you need to contact their customer service department and specifically request it. The location is great - right near Heuston Station and right on the LUAS line. Take a sneak peek at the sensory room at the Ashling Hotel.

The Chancery Hotel is located in the historic area near Dublin Castle. Its features include a peaceful walled garden and acoustic water features designed to mask city center noise, and high-tech acoustic soundproofing in the bedrooms.

The Marlin Hotel Dublin is right in the center of the action, but has a reputation as one of the quietest city-center hotels. Many of its rooms face an indoor garden, screening out chaotic external noise from the surrounding area.

Castleknock Hotel is a little outside the city center, near the zoo. It offers a GoMoSo Mobile Sensory Unit free of charge upon request. It converts standard guest rooms into a quiet sensory space complete with a bubble tube, soft ambient lighting, and coregulation tools.

It’s always a good idea to contact your hotel as soon as you make your reservation to let them know you’ll be traveling with an autistic child, and request whatever special accommodations your child may need.

The Go City Dublin all-inclusive pass offers admission to a great variety of things most people want to do in Dublin, except the Book of Kells Experience, which is not included, and needs to be booked separately.

This type of pass is fantastic for a week in almost any city. It’s hard not to save money with it, but even if you didn’t, the pass has other advantages. You don’t wait in line to buy tickets, and if your museum or attraction doesn’t work out, you can leave early and visit another instead without feeling guilty. Finally, you’ll have the chance to make quick stops at interesting places along your way that you might otherwise skip because they charge admission.

Some attractions require advance reservations, so check the Go City app before heading out. The Guinness Storehouse and food tours, for example, require reservations that you can make through the app after purchasing your pass.

For families traveling with neurodivergent children, that flexibility is worth a lot. You can try something new, stay as long as everyone is enjoying it, and move on when it's time. Vacation time is precious. I hate wasting mine standing in line or feeling obligated to stay somewhere because I just paid for it.

On our first day in a new city, we like to ride the Hop On Hop Off Bus. It’s a great way to get the lay of the land without doing too much walking - perfect after a long flight. We enjoy listening to the recorded narrative on the bus, but if G prefers the music on her iPhone, we don’t stop her. We get off at short stops for photo ops, but stay on the bus when it stops at major attractions that we plan to visit later. The Dublin Go City pass includes a Hop On Hop Off ticket.

We treat each full day in a city a little bit like a school day. We get up, eat breakfast, get dressed, set up a backpack, and head out. We start each day with a timed reservation at some place we think will be crowded later on, and keep things flexible from there. Your Hop On Hop Off map and Go City app are both good resources to locate nearby options of things to do.

In Dublin, you need reservations for the Book of Kells, the Guinness Storehouse, Dublin Castle, and Kilmainham Gaol. You don’t need a reservation for Dublinia, but if you want to take their 11 AM walking tour, the best thing to do is see the museum when it opens at 10.

The Cliffs of Moher are one of the most famous places to visit in Ireland - you may think you can’t go to Ireland without visiting them. Good news: staying in Dublin doesn’t mean giving up this opportunity.

Several Dublin tour companies offer day trips to the cliffs, often with a quick stop in Galway on the way home. It's a long day, with about three hours of driving each way, plus additional time for stops. The buses have wifi, USB ports and restrooms. G relishes the opportunity to spend several hours on her iPhone without being told to put it away, but not every child will be comfortable sitting on a bus for that long.

Once you’re at the cliffs, expect great views with a sensory-friendly visitor experience. Read our full sensory review of the Cliffs of Moher.

If your child can handle a 12–13-hour day on the road, this is a family outing worth considering. If the ride is too much, it's perfectly OK for parents to take turns going solo. One parent can enjoy the Cliffs while the other stays in Dublin with your child.

Splitting up in a foreign country may seem uncomfortable, even for experienced travelers. Ireland has one big advantage for American visitors: English is the everyday language. You can navigate public transportation, ask for directions, or handle an unexpected problem without worrying about a language barrier.

Agree on a plan for the day, make sure both phones are working, and meet back at your apartment or hotel that evening. You don't have to spend every minute of your vacation together to have a wonderful family trip.

We haven’t taken these exact tours ourselves, so we can’t specifically recommend them. If you don’t want to figure out how to get to these places on public transport, or you don’t want to rent a car, these tours will get you where you want to go. As explained above, you can expect wifi, USB ports, and restrooms on these tour buses.

Dublin is a safe, modern city where everyone speaks English. The downtown area, where most of the tourist sites are located, is highly walkable, with lots of signposts that point you towards wherever you’re going. If you’re comfortable navigating the large city closest to your own home, you’ll be comfortable here too.

The great thing about Dublin is that it’s also foreign enough for you to feel like you’re somewhere special - and you are. If your family is excited about Vikings, castles, ancient ruins, or medieval history, there are plenty of things to do and see here that you just won’t find at home.