Things to do & places to visit during your tour of Ireland 

Your Accommodation - please click on the links for more information

  Day 1& 2 : Adare 

Arrive at Shannon Airport and after picking up your baggage, meet your driver and transfer to your hotel. Adare Manor . 

Tours from Adare would include 

Limerick and the Bunratty Folk Park, which features cottages from various parts of Ireland and a 19th Century street capturing the atmosphere of a bygone era.  

The enchanting village of Adare is well worth a lot of time. There are three abbeys here as well as the Desmond Castle and the Trent Jones golf course surrounding the neo-gothick Adare Manor.  There are three antique shops in the village of which the most attractive is George Stacpoles.  He is the president of the Irish Antique dealers association and his wife is a noted couturier.

 Limerick is a busy city and has several major attractions - the Hunt Museum in the 18^th century customs house, King John's Castle, St Mary's Cathedral and the Georgian House on Pery Square.  

In Adare village is an excellent restaurant called The Wild Geese (061) 396451

Day 3,4, & 5 : Kenmare

The traditional full day tour is around the Ring of Kerry, a full day 120 mile tour of constantly changing mountain and coastline scenery with plenty of stops to admire the lovely views. Take a tour of the gracious 19th Century Muckross House that is filled with antiques and memorabilia. Travel through Caherdaniel and Waterville at the western end of the peninsula and enjoy the bracing Atlantic breezes. Continue your drive through the colorful village  of Sneem and the vantage point of Moll's Gap.  Return to Kenmare in time to relax or walk around the town before dinner.  

In Kenmare itself there is a Sea safari down Kenmare Bay from the harbour, as well as the prehistoric stone circle.

Another long tour is to follow the Beara Peninsula over the Healy pass, then cruise a short distance through Bantry Bay, passing families of seals en route to the magical island of Garinish and its splendid gardens and Martello Tower

On return to dry land head on to  Bantry House.

 Kenmare there are many restaurants worth trying.  Three of note  are 

Day 6 & 7  Cong

From Kenmare to Ashford is a long drive, through Ennis, Gort (where Lady Gregory collected around her the genesis of The Abbey Theatre) and Galway.

Athenry & Tuam are nearby towns where much of the medieval city can still be traced on the ground.   Galway city is a busy port, university and medieval city; Nora Joyce’s House, Lynch Castle, Spanish Parade, St Nicholas' Church , The City Walls and Shop Street are just some of the highlights.

Cong with its Augustinian abbey founded in the 12th century and its associations with the John Wayne film The Quiet Man.  If you follow Lough Corrib to Maam.  Visit the Gowla Mines and then follow the main road through the middle of Connemara to Clifden, a busy little market town and return via Kylemore Abbey.

To the north of Ashford is Westport. Westport, a harbour town mostly built in the 18th century by the Marquis of Sligo, kinsman of Grace Kelly, whose house is open to public viewing.  Wesport has several excellent craft shops and restaurants.

From Westport visit Turlough Park, just outside Castlebar.  Ancestral home of the notorious duellist Fighting Fitzgerald, it is now the National Museum of Country Life.  On the way you will pass Ballintunbber Abbey, where the actor Pierce Brosnan was married.

Cong has few restaurants.  Of note is Echoes Restaurant, Cong, 092 46059

Day 8, 9 & 10

Cliffs of Moher & Galway Bay -  Journey through the Burren country, an area of barren limestone hills full of the remains of an ancient civilization.  Drive along the Atlantic coast of County Clare. Stop to view the Cliffs of Moher, an impressive wall of rock that rises 700 feet above the pounding waves.  In Gort. Visit Thoor Ballylee, a 16th Century tower house owned by the poet, W.B. Yeats, who wrote many works here stimulated by his surroundings and visit Coole Park, home to lady Gregory who founded Dublin's Abbey Theatre. Play Lahinch, one of the great championship links courses, or Doonbeg, the newest and most challenging links course, designed by Greg Norman.  A beautiful course, but guaranteed to amaze even professionals with its difficulty. 

Behind Dromoland Castle is Mooghaun Fort.  Access is by foot via a forestry car park signposted off the N18 road between Newmarket-on-Fergus and Dromoland. This famous Iron Age fort is regarded as one of our most remarkable antiquities.

Craggaunowen, situated on 50 acres of wooded grounds,  interprets Ireland's pre-historic and early Christian eras, featuring a stunning recreation of some of the homesteads, animals and artefacts which existed in Ireland over 1,000 years ago.  These include:

• A Crannog - an artificially constructed lake island dwelling, home of Bronze Age Chieftains.
• A Ringfort - the typical residence of Celtic farmers in the Iron Age
• A Dolmen - one of the earliest Stone Age tomb types
• Fulacht Fia - the field kitchen of the Fianna, the legendary soldiers of the High Kings of Ireland.
• A Togher - portion of an Iron Age roadway dating back to 148BC.
• The 'Brendan'- the leather-hulled vessel built by Tim Severin and sailed by him and his crew across the Atlantic in the mid-1970s to prove that it was possible for early-Christian monks from Ireland to have reached America in the 7th Century.
• Rare animal breeds, including Wild Boar - which are actual species of the prehistoric era. Overlooking all is Craggaunowen Castle, built by John MacSioda MacNamara around 1550.

Glor Irish Music Center, Ennis, County Clare  Tel: 065 6845370

Glor is a state-of the art concert venue dedicated to the performance of traditional Irish music and will feature the country's top ten musician in a friendly and intimate theatre setting. Nightly programme suitable for tour operators seeking new and exciting venues for groups and individuals. Restaurant and bar facilities available, and a retail outlet.

For an unusual evening The Corn Barn in Bunratty Folk Park is the perfect setting for a celebration for all the best tradition of Ireland today. You are invited to enjoy the company of the finest singers, dancers and musician of the local villages and experience the homeliness, friendship and warmth of a true traditional Irish evening.  

A Map of the West of Ireland

The main route is marked in yellow

Suggested tours are marked in purple

Each tour is a full day.

	Adare Manor 061 396566

Located 20 miles from Shannon Airport. Adare Manor Hotel & Golf Resort, set on the banks of the River Maigue, boasts splendour in its luxuriously finished rooms. The Manor “structurally” as it exists today was not begun until 1832. The Second Earl of Dunraven and his wife, Lady Caroline Wyndham, were living in a Georgian house built in the 1720's by Valentine Quin, grandfather of the first Earl. But Lord Dunraven, crippled with gout, was unable to participate in the usual activities of a landed gentleman of leisure, so Lady Caroline devised the idea of a new manor house to give him something important to do. The present earl sold it in the 1990 and it became the resort that it is now. The Oak Room Restaurant provides haute cuisine laced with Irish charm. Indoor heated pool, fitness room, spa. Outdoor pursuits include fishing, laser shooting, horseriding, and the Robert Trent Jones Senior championship golf course. An ideal venue for a romantic getaway!

Sheen Falls 064 41600

Uniquely set on the shores of Kenmare Bay & Sheen River, only 2km from the heritage town of Kenmare. The country manor house was built in 1691 by descendants of Sir William Petty. Its magnificent setting -- 300 secluded acres of lawns, forests and gardens in the midst of southwestern Ireland's heather-covered mountains  The restaurant La Cascade, offers a distinctive fine dining experience overlooking the Sheen Waterfalls. Choose from an extensive array of Estate activities from salmon fishing to horseriding, or unwind with luxurious treatments in our Health Spa. Dedicated staff uphold the most outstanding service.

	Ashford Castle 094 954 6003

13th century castle located 1/2 hour from Galway. Once the estate of Lord Ardilaun and the Guinness Family, Ashford opened as a luxury hotel in 1939. The castle's great hall is lavishly decorated with rich panelling, fine period pieces, Objects D'Art and masterpiece paintings. 83 guest rooms are of the highest five standards with incredible lake or river views.

	Dromoland Castle  061 368144

Located 13km from Shannon Airport. Stately halls, elegant public areas and beautifully furnished guest rooms are steeped in a timeless atmosphere that is unique to Dromoland.  The present building was completed in 1835 but the first building constructed here seems to have been a fifteenth or early sixteenth century tower house.  In 1962, Donough O'Brien, the sixteenth Baron Inchiquin, sold Dromoland Castle and it became a hotel. The international reputation for excellence is reflected in the award-winning cuisine in the castle's Earl of Thomond & Fig Tree Restaurant in the Dromoland Golf & Country Club. A completely renovated 18-hole championship golf course, fishing, horseriding, clay shooting, health and beauty clinic and much more.