The Cliffs take a day. The bar takes the evening.
Which Cliffs of Moher coach actually stops in the Burren. What a Jameson tasting costs against Teeling down the road. Whether Glendalough beats the Boyne Valley when you have one spare day out of Dublin. Reviews of every tour you can book in Ireland.
The cliffs, the black stuff and a valley in the Wicklow hills.
A first week in Ireland hangs off these three. What each one costs and what the people who took it say.
01The 400km dayDublin to Cliffs of Moher, including Wild Atlantic Way and GalwayDublin to Moher and back inside a day, with the Burren limestone and an hour in Galway on the way home.
02For a wet afternoonGuinness Storehouse Entry TicketTimed entry at the brewery, seven floors up to the glass bar with the city laid out under it.
03The hills, an hour southKilkenny, Wicklow Mountains & Glendalough Day Tour from DublinA monastic valley, two lakes and the Kilkenny medieval mile, all within an hour of the Liffey.
The Irish days out that sell before anything else.
The whole Irish catalogue →These carry more travellers than anything else between Malin Head and Mizen, and the reason each one holds its place.
1
Dublin to Cliffs of Moher, including Wild Atlantic Way and Galway
Travel from Dublin to the Cliffs of Moher, the Burren, and Galway on a 13-hour Wild Rover Tours day trip. You get two hours at the cliffs, an optional Galway walk, onboard Wi-Fi, entry tickets, and live stories about Irish music, folklore, and history from guides such as David, Stephen, Sarah, and Eve.
From · $90
Our verdict on it →
2
Guinness Storehouse Entry Ticket
from $34
3
Dublin to Cliffs of Moher, Burren, Wild Atlantic Way, Galway Tour
from $94
4
Dublin to Belfast Black Cab, Dunluce Castle and Giant’s Causeway
from $96
5
Kilkenny, Wicklow Mountains & Glendalough Day Tour from Dublin
from $48
6
Wicklow Mountains, Glendalough & Kilkenny Tour
from $45
7
Irish Rock ‘N’ Roll Museum Experience Dublin
from $26
8
Dublin Highlights and Hidden Gems Guided Walking Tour
from $29
Pot still, porter or a gin you distil yourself. Pick the evening.
Ireland does its best talking beside a tap. Three kinds of evening, what it costs to get through the door of each, and the city that does it best.
Dublin first. Then whichever coast your hire car reaches.
A Georgian capital on a brown river, the limestone shelf above the Atlantic, a lake valley in Kerry, a harbour city with a castle on the hill, the west coast trad town, and the bogland behind it. Six starting points and the best day out from each.
Dublin is a walking city with a brewery at one end and a library at the other.
The full Dublin shelf →
Nothing here is more than half an hour on foot from anything else, which is why the guided walks work and the bus tours mostly do not. These three carry more travellers than anything else in the city.
Plain or guidedBrewery entry, or the full tasting1-2h · from $34 · half-hourly capsThe plain ticket gets you the seven floors and the pint at the top. The tasting add-on puts a guide beside you on the way up, which matters more than the extra pour.
The other glassBow Street against Teeling1h · from $24 · book the late slotJameson runs the polished one in Smithfield. Teeling is ten minutes south, still distilling on site, and cheaper. Both end in a tasting flight, only one smells of the working still.
The morningTwo hours on foot, 1916 to Molly Malone2h · from $22 · rain or shineThe city fits inside a two-hour loop: Trinity, the castle, the GPO with the bullet holes still in the pillars, and the Liberties. Start early, before Grafton Street fills up. The west coast is 1,600 miles long and best seen from the water.
A cruise along the base of the Moher cliffs, where the scale finally lands. The ferry out to Inisheer, where the stone walls start at the pier. Dolphins off Dingle, seals in Dublin Bay and a surf lesson on a Sligo beach nobody else has found.
Clare is 214 metres of cliff and a moonscape behind it.
Most people see Moher from the visitor centre and leave. The walk south to Hag’s Head is empty within ten minutes. The boat below shows you the height properly. And the Burren, all bare limestone and gentians, is the other half of the county.
Every Clare day out →
Passage tombs, round towers and a castle you queue up to kiss.
Newgrange was built before the pyramids. The Book of Kells has been in one room since the Famine. These are the three most travellers book, and the shortcuts to the rest.
Kerry is where the coach tours go, and they are right to.
The Ring is a 179-kilometre loop that takes a full day whoever drives it. Killarney puts three lakes, a national park and a jaunting car rank inside the town. Over the mountain, Dingle keeps the boats, the harbour and the better pubs.
- 1Ring of Kerry Guided Day Tripfrom $67
- 2Guided Climb of Carrauntoohil with KerryClimbing.iefrom $96
- 3Lakes of Killarney: Boat Cruisefrom $18
The real price of a day out on this island.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. A good share of the best Irish days come in under the price of dinner in Temple Bar.
City walks, museum and brewery entry, distillery tastings and the short hops out of the ports.
The full-day standards: Moher from Dublin, the Ring of Kerry, the Causeway coast and the Aran ferries.
Private drivers, small-group multi-day runs and the once-a-trip splurges that earn it.
Three things that happen nowhere but Ireland.
Castles and coastline exist all over Europe. A tomb aligned on the winter sunrise, an amateur sport played at that speed, and a fiddle tune that has never been written down do not.
Newgrange
A grass-covered passage tomb in the Boyne bend, raised around 3200 BC by farmers with no metal tools. For a few mornings around the winter solstice the sunrise runs the length of the passage and lights the chamber at the back. Access is by shuttle from the visitor centre only, in small timed groups, and the solstice places go by lottery.
- 1Celtic Boyne Valley & Ancient Sites Day Tour From Dublin★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 865 reviews
- 2Boyne Valley with Newgrange and Bru Na Boinne Entry★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 635 reviews
- 3Dublin to Newgrange, Monasterboice Small Group Guided Tours★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 500 reviews
Hurling
A stick of ash, a leather ball, and a sliotar struck ninety metres through the air by players who are not paid a penny for it. Every county has a team and every pub has an opinion. The experience sessions hand you a hurley in a real club ground and let you find out how hard the striking actually is.
- 1Hurling Tours Ireland – Hurling Experience in Kilkenny★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 149 reviews
- 2Experience Gaelic Games in Dublin★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 106 reviews
- 3Hurling Experience in Kavanaghs Bar, Freshford, Kilkenny★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 31 reviews
The session
Trad is passed ear to ear, which is why two fiddlers from Clare and Donegal play the same reel differently. A session is not a gig: the players sit in a circle facing each other, not the room, and the tunes run in sets until somebody starts a new one. Galway and Dingle keep the best ones going nightly.
- 1Traditional Irish Musical Pub Crawl★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,787 reviews
- 2Irish Music and Dance Show with Dance Lesson★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 567 reviews
- 3Trad on the Prom Ticket with Irish Music and Dancing★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 482 reviews
Four Irish bookings that will not wait for you.
Most of this island can be sorted the night before over a pint. These four run on timed slots, small-group caps and ferry timetables that take no interest in when your flight lands.
- 01Dublin Book of Kells, Castle and Molly Malone Statue Guided TourTrinity sells the Book of Kells and the Long Room on timed entry, and the summer morning slots go weeks out.
- 02Guinness Storehouse Entry TicketThe brewery runs on half-hourly entry caps. Turn up without a slot in July and you are queuing on Crane Street.
- 03Galway to Inisheer Aran Islands, Cliffs of Moher and Boat TripThe Aran ferries run to a printed timetable and stop entirely when the swell gets up. There is no later boat.
- 04Boyne Valley with Newgrange and Bru Na Boinne EntryNewgrange can only be entered on a shuttle from the visitor centre, in small groups, and the last one leaves early.
It rains on roughly half the days here. Plan the wet half.
The forecast is rarely wrong and rarely dramatic: soft rain, blown sideways, for two hours, then sun. The answer is not to cancel the day, it is to have somewhere indoors to put the middle of it. A warehouse, a museum, a workshop bench or a theatre.
By place - the capital, the coasts and the counties
Dublin, the Wicklow hills, Cork, Kerry, Galway: the loop almost everybody drives first.
KilkennyReviews that went up this week.
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Turtle Bunbury’s Dublin: A Self-Guided Audio Tour from a Celebrated Author
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Trek the Tombs and Trails in the Dublin Mountains
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Taste traditional Irish food in the heart of Dublin
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Private Tour of Dublin Museums (Walking Tour)
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Small Group Bucket List Sights Walking Tour with a Local Guide
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Dublin 6 Whiskey Tasting & 3 Food Pairing Walking Tour with Local
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Merry Ploughboys Irish Night Dublin Admission Ticket
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Private Tour to Hill of Tara, Trim Castle and more
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Dublin Storytelling Pub Tour – 3 stops, drinks & local snacks
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Guinness Storehouse: Entry ticket + Perfect Pint Pub Tour
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