There’s essentially two ways for you to visit the Cliffs of Moher. One, you can rent a car and simply drive there from whatever town you are staying in. The trip there is extremely easy driving and there is a large parking lot outside of the site that you can easily park at. Even the 3.5 hour drive from Dublin is easy to handle as the ride is almost entirely on highways.
The second method is to join a tour group. Every time I’ve ever gone, I’ve just rented a car in Dublin and driven out there myself. So, I won’t recommend a particular tour group, but you can easily find these groups online leaving from every major town in Ireland.
There’s two pubs that are worth stopping by either on your way into town or on your way out. Typically, we’ll drive from Dublin straight to McGann’s Pub or Gus O’Connor’s Pub two grab a pint and some stew for lunch before heading to the cliffs as you’ll need some food to fuel the bit of hiking you’re about to do.
So, ultimately, just drive to Doolin, grab lunch at McGann’s Pub or one of the other local watering holes and then set your GPS for “The Cliffs of Moher” and park at the parking lot across the street. Once you’re parked, walk across the road and head towards the big building at the entrance to the cliffs. Here you can buy tickets, check out their museum and souvenir shop and/or use the restrooms.
The area around the cliffs is pretty open, and you are free to explore at your own pace and tolerance for risk. Besides the cliffs there’s O’Brien Castle which you can go inside. There’s not much in there, but it’s worth a peak.
One piece of advice…bring a jacket regardless of the weather you are experiencing in the parking lot and do not bring a hat. The reason for this is that there is almost always extreme wind on the edge of the cliffs. It gets cold and a hat will quickly be donated to the sea.
Once you’re done with the cliffs (a visit shouldn’t take more than an hour or two), you can head to Galway in the North or Lahinch or Limmerick in the South.