Your Irish Adventure
Places to Visit in Ireland
The iconic sights, the cities worth a night, the small towns nobody talks about, and the regions to fit them all together.
70+
Destination Guides
32
Counties Covered
30+
Towns & Cities
100%
First-Hand
Where to Start
Ireland in 90 seconds
Ireland is small (about the size of Indiana), but the roads are slow and the weather is fickle. How you slice it depends on how many days you have. Pick a frame, then build from there.
Only got a week?
Stick to one half of the island. Either Dublin plus Galway-and-the-west, or Dublin plus the Ring of Kerry and the Cliffs. Don't try to circle the whole country in seven days.
Two weeks or more?
Now you can do a real loop. Dublin to Galway to Killarney to Cork to Dublin works. Or stretch north for the Causeway Coast. We'd still build in two slack days.
Where most first-timers go
Dublin, the Cliffs of Moher, Galway, the Ring of Kerry, Killarney. There's a reason. Hit those first, then build outward into the smaller towns if you have time.
Plan Your Days
Ireland Itinerary Recommendations
Three frames, built three different ways. Pick the one that fits your trip.
IF YOU ONLY HAVE A WEEK
A Week in Ireland
Seven days, one half of the island. A tight Dublin-loop when you stop fighting the geography and just commit. Drives are slower than the map suggests, so add a buffer if your flight is on Day 8.
DublinKilkennyCorkKillarneyDingleCliffs of MoherGalway
~7
days
~950
km
1
slack day
A tight half-island loop. Dublin south to Cork via Kilkenny, then west through Kerry, up the Wild Atlantic Way to Galway. One buffer day for a Slea Head stop you wish was longer, or a rain day in Killarney. Fly home from Dublin or Shannon.
Hover a pin for the day
Seven numbered stops, one connecting line. Hover or tap any pin to see the day, place, a short note, and the post that covers it. Click to open the post.
IF YOU HAVE TWO WEEKS OR MORE
Two Weeks in Ireland
Now you have room for the proper loop. Route strip below is the spine. The day-by-day fills it in. The three guides at the bottom are the ones we hand to friends building their own version.
DublinKilkennyCorkKillarneyDingleGalwayDonegalBelfast
~14
days
~1,400
km
2
slack days
A full island circuit. Dublin to Galway, down the Wild Atlantic Way to Cork, back across the south, then a north loop for the Causeway Coast. Two slack days built in. You will need them.
Two-week loop
Eleven pins over fourteen days. Hover or tap any pin to see the day, place, and a short note. Click pins that link out to open the full post for that stop.
Three guides to take with you
Wild Atlantic Way Itinerary
The full 2,500km route from Donegal to Cork. A two-week frame works if you do not rush.
Read the guide →A Photographer's Road Trip
The slower, more scenic route. Built for people who want to stop and shoot.
Read the guide →20 Most Scenic Drives
Pick three or four of these and you have a self-built two-week loop.
Read the guide →WHERE MOST FIRST-TIMERS GO
First-Timer Route
There is a reason most first-time visitors hit the same five places. Stitch them in this order and you will see why people fall for the country.
DublinCliffs of MoherGalwayRing of KerryKillarney
5
anchor stops
~7-10
days
1 loop
Dublin to Dublin
The default first trip. Five places that earn their reputation. Stitch them in this order and you have a working loop with the country's biggest hits, plus enough buffer time to actually enjoy each one.
The Must-Sees
Iconic sights
The places everyone has heard of, the places worth the queue, and a couple worth driving an extra hour for. Most first trips pull from this list.
How to Visit the Cliffs of Moher
Ireland’s most-visited natural attraction. When to go, where to park, what to skip.
Kylemore Abbey Visitor Guide
Connemara’s lakeside abbey, the walled Victorian garden, the gothic chapel.
The Aran Islands Travel Guide
Inis Mor, Inis Meain, Inis Oirr. How to get out, what to do, where to stay.
9 Best Stops on the Wild Atlantic Way
Ireland’s 2,500km western coast. The stops worth your day.
Discovering the Boyne Valley
Newgrange, Hill of Tara, Trim Castle. Ireland’s Ancient East in a day.
Giant’s Causeway
Northern Ireland’s UNESCO site. Hexagonal basalt columns from a 60-million-year-old volcanic eruption.
Guide coming soon
Trinity College & the Book of Kells
Dublin’s 9th-century illuminated manuscript and the Long Room library. Book ahead, the queue is real.
Guide coming soon
Blarney Castle
Kiss the stone or skip it, but the grounds and the rock close are worth the wander on their own.
Guide coming soon
The Burren
Clare’s lunar limestone landscape. Hidden orchids, ancient tombs, and the coastal Burren Way trail.
Guide coming soon
Where People Stay
Cities & towns
The big cities and the small towns worth a night, ranked roughly by how much there is to do once you arrive.
Things to Do in Dublin (Activities Guide)
The capital, with twenty things that don’t involve drinking.
33 Best Things to Do in Galway
The cultural anchor of the west. Pubs, music, the Latin Quarter, Salthill.
Things to Do in Cork (City & Day Trips)
Ireland’s second city. Food markets, harbour, gaol, the lot.
27 Things to Do in Belfast
Northern Ireland’s capital. Titanic, the Cathedral Quarter, the murals.
15 Things to Do in Derry
The walled city. The People’s Gallery, the city walls, the Bogside.
15 Things to Do in Killarney
The launch pad for the Ring of Kerry, with a national park on its doorstep.
20 Things to Do in Dingle
Kerry’s foodie peninsula town. Slea Head Drive, Fungie’s harbour, distillery.
15 Things to Do in Howth
Fishing village on Dublin’s doorstep. Cliff walk, harbour seafood, market.
15 Things to Do in Bray
Wicklow seaside town. Promenade, Bray Head, the cliff walk to Greystones.
15 Things to Do in Doolin
The trad music capital of Clare. Pubs, cliff walks, ferries to the Arans.
15 Things to Do in Kinsale
Cork’s gourmet coastal town. Charles Fort, the harbour, the painted shopfronts.
Newcastle, County Down
Where the Mournes sweep down to the sea. Beach, mountain, summer crowds.
Big Geography
Browse by region
Four provinces. Pick a corner of the island and we’ll show you what’s there.
The West
Connacht
Galway, Mayo, Sligo, Roscommon, Leitrim. Wild Atlantic Way territory.
The South
Munster
Cork, Kerry, Clare, Tipperary, Limerick, Waterford. The Cliffs and the Ring.
The East
Leinster
Dublin, Wicklow, Kilkenny, Wexford. The capital and the rest of the east coast.
The North
Ulster
Belfast, Derry, Donegal, the Causeway Coast. Two jurisdictions, one province.
All 32 Counties
Pick a county
All 32 counties. The lit ones link to our best guide for that county. The faded ones are guides we haven’t written yet.
The Edge of the Island
Coast & beaches
Ireland has 7,500km of coastline. These are the chunks worth structuring a trip around.
15 Best Seaside Towns in Ireland
Where to break up the drive when the road has worn you down.
9 Best Places on the Wild Atlantic Way
Slieve League, Connemara, the Burren, Dingle. The full western coast.
Most Beautiful Seaside Towns in Northern Ireland
Portstewart, Portrush, Ballycastle, Newcastle. The Causeway Coast and beyond.
Why Everyone Flocks to Portstewart
The strand, the harbour, the seaside town that drew the crowds.
The Doolin Cliff Walk
Walk to the Cliffs of Moher from Doolin. The harder, quieter, better way in.
FROM A DIFFERENT EPOCH
Ireland's Ancient Stones
Older than the pyramids. Newgrange predates the Great Pyramid by six centuries. The country is dotted with ring forts, dolmens, and standing stones that nobody put a fence around. You walk up to them like they’re just rocks. Then you read the sign and your stomach drops a little.
Start with the Boyne Valley or the Aran Islands. The Burren in Clare has the densest cluster of prehistoric monuments anywhere in Europe.
Offshore
Islands
Ireland has hundreds of small islands. Two of them are unmissable on a first trip.
The Aran Islands Travel Guide
Three islands off Galway Bay. Stone walls, Gaeltacht, Iron Age forts.
Skellig Michael Visitor Guide
Boat from Portmagee, climb 600 steps, sleep in a 6th-century beehive cell. Or just visit.
More Islands
The rest of the offshore
Achill (Mayo) is connected by bridge so you can drive it. Bere and Cape Clear in west Cork take ferries. Tory and Arranmore (Donegal) need a boat from the north coast. Rathlin (Antrim) sits off the Causeway Coast and is the only inhabited island in Northern Ireland.
Guides coming soon
Stone, Ruin, History
Castles & historic sites
Ireland has somewhere north of 30,000 castles and castle ruins. These are the ones we send people to first.
How Many Castles Are in Ireland?
The actual count, plus where to see the most interesting ones.
Kylemore Abbey Visitor Guide
Connemara’s lakeside abbey and the Victorian walled garden.
Castles in Northern Ireland
Game of Thrones territory. Dunluce, Carrickfergus, the lot.
Dunluce Castle
The clifftop ruin on the Causeway Coast. The cliffside path is half the visit.
10 Best Castles in Dublin
From Dublin Castle to Malahide. The capital’s medieval stack.
Newgrange and Boyne Valley Tours
The 5,200-year-old passage tomb. Older than the pyramids.
Visiting the Hellfire Club, Dublin
Burned-out 18th-century hunting lodge over the Dublin Mountains. Free, weird, atmospheric.
THE ROADS THAT MATTER
The Slow Roads
The shortest line on the map is almost never the best one. Ireland’s back roads are where the country actually lives – stone-walled lanes barely wide enough for the rental, single-track passes through bogland, coast roads that the bus tours skip.
Take Conor Pass instead of the main road into Dingle. Take the inland route through Connemara instead of the N59. Take an extra hour to drive the Healy Pass between Cork and Kerry. The country opens up sideways when you do.
“If a road on the map looks too thin, it usually means take it.”
Outdoors
National parks & hikes
Six national parks, a hundred named hills, and trails from one-hour strolls to alpine day hikes.
Hiking in Galway: 10 Trails
Connemara, the Burren, the Aran Islands. From easy strolls to alpine days.
7 Best Hikes Near Dublin
Wicklow Mountains, Howth, the Sugar Loaf, all within an hour.
Mountain Biking in Northern Ireland
Castlewellan, Davagh, Rostrevor. The bike trails that opened up the north.
Beyond the Obvious
Smaller towns & quieter places
Once you’ve done Dublin and the Cliffs, the country opens up. These are the smaller places worth the extra hour of driving.
Clifden, Connemara
Connemara’s main town. Tiny, walkable, the right base for the Sky Road.
Things to Do in Sligo
Yeats country. Surf, Benbulben, megalithic tombs, an underrated coast.
Things to Do in Donegal Town
The northwest base. Slieve League, Glenveagh, the wildest coast in the country.
Things to Do in Enniskillen
Fermanagh’s lake town. Marble Arch Caves, Lough Erne, an island castle.
Things to Do in Wexford
Ireland’s sunny southeast. Beaches, Viking history, the opera festival.
Things to Do in Kilkenny
Ireland’s marble city. Compact, castle-anchored, easy from Dublin.
Things to Do in Tipperary
The Rock of Cashel, Glen of Aherlow, Ireland’s Ancient East.
Things to Do in Carlingford
Louth’s medieval village. Norman castle, mountain looming overhead, oysters.
INSIDER NOTES
Where Locals Send Friends
Seven things we hand to every friend before they fly over.
- 01Skip the touristy distillery tours.The small ones in the towns are friendlier, cheaper, and pour more generously.
- 02Stay in a guesthouse, not a chain hotel.Bed-and-breakfasts on the west coast are run by people who know exactly where you should eat tonight.
- 03Eat fish where the boats are.Howth, Kinsale, Dingle, Roundstone. Inland fish is fine. Coastal fish is the trip.
- 04Pubs after 9pm only.Before that, locals are still at work or eating dinner. The music doesn't start until late.
- 05Carry cash for small villages.Card readers still drop signal in the west. Twenty euro in small notes saves the day.
- 06Pick a base, not a tour.Three nights in one town beats one night each in three towns. Always.
- 07Talk to the bartender.Every county has one bartender who knows every walking trail, every ruin, every priest who can let you into the church.
How to Stitch It Together
Suggested routes
Pre-built itineraries to stitch the places above into a real trip. Start with one of these and rearrange to suit.
10 Days in Ireland: The Ultimate Itinerary
The two-week-shape framework you can shorten or stretch.
A Photographer’s Ireland Road Trip
Slieve League, Connemara, the Burren. Built around where the light is.
Behind This Page
Real, first-hand guides
We live in Ireland. Most of the places on this hub we’ve been to ourselves. When we recommend the Ring of Kerry over the Dingle Peninsula, or Sligo over Sligo on a Saturday night in summer, it’s because we’ve done both. Where a guide is missing, it usually means we haven’t been yet (or we’ve been but didn’t take notes).
If a place sounds right for you and you want the full breakdown – logistics, what to skip, where to eat – click through. Or use the Plan a Trip hub for the booking-side questions.