Poulnabrone Dolmen and the Burren: the drive you do from Doolin

There's a portal tomb standing on a bare limestone hill about twenty kilometres from Doolin that's been there since roughly 3800 BC. That's older…

Fota Wildlife Park: the open-range zoo where giraffes have right of way

If you've never stood two metres from a giraffe with nothing between you and had it regard you with the mild authority of something that knows it's…

Loop Head Peninsula from Lahinch: the day Clare keeps to itself

An hour south of Lahinch, where the Shannon Estuary meets the Atlantic and County Clare finally runs out of road, there's a lighthouse that's been…

Wild Nephin National Park from Westport: Ireland's bog wilderness

There are forty-five minutes between Westport's coffee shops and one of the most genuinely remote places in Ireland, and most visitors who pass…

Glenmalure: Wicklow's longest valley and wildest half-day

Glenmalure is twenty kilometres of glacial valley running back into the Wicklow Mountains, and it's the closest thing Ireland has to genuinely…

Midleton and the Old Midleton Distillery: the whiskey half-day from Cork

There's a town about 25 minutes east of Cork that most visitors from outside Ireland have never heard of, and most visitors staying in Cork drive…

Kylemore Abbey, Connemara: the history and how to visit

Kylemore Abbey is a Victorian castle in Connemara that a wealthy Manchester doctor built in the 1860s because he loved his wife and apparently had…

Brittas Bay: the beach Dubliners escape to in summer

On any sunny Saturday in July, the N11 south of Bray moves the way a river moves when something has blocked the outlet: slowly, with a quiet…

Spike Island: the fort, the prison, and how to visit

The ferry from Kennedy Pier gives you about twelve minutes to look at the thing before you have to get off it, and that's about right. Spike Island…

The Dingle Peninsula from Killarney, the day trip that takes over

The problem with the Dingle Peninsula as a day trip from Killarney is the word 'day'. You'll need one. You might need two. And there's a fair chance…

The Vale of Avoca, where Thomas Moore wrote the poem and the mill never stopped

The Vale of Avoca runs south from the Wicklow Mountains in a long corridor of oak and ash, the kind of valley you'd drive past without stopping and…

Ennistymon: the market town three kilometres from Lahinch

The Inagh River comes barrelling through the centre of Ennistymon, drops over a series of rock ledges that the locals call the Cascades, and if you…

Howth on a Sunday: the cliff walk, the seafood, and how to actually spend the day

Thirty minutes on the DART from Pearse Street and you step off into a fishing village with a lighthouse on the horizon, lobster rolls on the pier…

Blarney Castle: the honest guide

Blarney Castle sits eight kilometres north of Cork city and draws somewhere around half a million visitors a year. The stone gets nearly all the…

Achill Island day trip from Westport

Achill Island, the largest island off the Irish coast, is connected to the mainland by a swing bridge and reachable from Westport in about an hour by…

The Causeway Coast from Belfast, the perfect day trip

The Causeway Coast is the stretch of coast between Portrush and Ballycastle in County Antrim, about an hour and a half north of Belfast. The Giant's…

Cliffs of Moher and Lahinch in one day

The Cliffs of Moher are about fifteen minutes by car from Lahinch. Most visitors do them in a rush, thirty minutes at the visitor centre, photo at…

Day Trip from Dublin to Carlingford: Just One Hour to a Different World

Day Trip from Dublin to Carlingford: Just One Hour to a Different World Carlingford is closer to Dublin than most people realise. In just over an…