County Clare

15 - 30 guests

8 Days / 7 Nights

From $2,289

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Welcome

Key Info

Highlights

Terms

Welcome

Key Info

Highlights

Terms

Itinerary

DAY 1 ~ “Welcome to Ireland!”

Arrive at Shannon Airport and travel through scenic areas of Clare, Limerick, and Cork to Kinsale.

- - Visit Adare Village, home of iconic thatched roof cottages
  - Arrive at hotel and check in
  - Jet Lag Recovery Day
  - Relax at Spa and explore the parkland outside the hotel

Evening

- - - 6-7 Happy Hour
    - Welcome Orientation with Hot Buffet Meal and Irish Traditional Music Entertainment

DAY 2 ~ "A Doolin and Cliffs of Moher Day!”

Doolin is a tiny village of just one street and several pubs, but seems to be a must-see for many people. While at night time this is understandable, since there is good music in the pubs, by day it really isn’t worth even a short detour – but go you must see it! It is however a good place to overnight if you are doing this tour over two days. The recently opened Doolin Caves are worth a visit if you’ve skipped Ailwee or are a real cave enthusiast. Doonagore Castle (N), about 1km from the village, is worth a quick visit if you have time. It’s a pretty 15th century tower surrounded by a walled enclosure, located on a headland with great views. The castle is private, it’s owned by an American family who use it as a holiday home.

Heading south from Doolin, The Cliffs of Moher Hotel in Liscannor presents the perfect opportunity for a tasty bite to eat before experiencing the main event: the cliffs themselves. Plunging into the Atlantic, the gigantic Cliffs of Moher are the superstars of County Clare. The Cliffs of Moher Visitor Centre tells the story of the cliffs, as well as introducing you to the thriving wildlife that call them home.

Evening

- Enjoy Authentic Irish traditional music session in local pub

DAY 3 ~ “A Burren Day!”

The Burren is one of the most fascinating and lovely parts of Ireland, a huge limestone plateau with numerous megalithic remains and a protected habitat where many rare plants and flowers grow. It can look like a barren and stony wasteland in places, but don’t be misled. It’s a place full of history, with a fascinating geology, a paradise for botanists and very much a living and evolving place. Corofin is a small and pretty market town, built on the Fergus River which connects Inchiquin Lake with Lough Atedaun. Legend has it that the mythical Irish hero engaged in battle here and the town is named for him – it means “Finn’s Weir”. St Catherine’s Church, built between 1715 and 1720 by Catherine Keightley who was a first cousin of Queens Mary and Anne, is now a small museum and worth a quick visit. It’s well worth making the 3 mile detour from Corofin to visit Dysert O’Dea. The castle, now home to the Clare Archaeological Center, dates from the 15th century when it was built by the O’Dea clan, the former chieftains of the area. However this site has been inhabited since at least the 8th century, when St. Tola founded a monastery here, at the site where the ruins of a 12th century church now stand. The Romanesque doorway to this church is unique and fascinating, with 12 faces carved into the stone arch overhead, mostly human but also including dogs and birds. The area around Dysert is rich with archaeological remains, which can be seen by following a guided trail. Among them are a round tower from the 10th or 12th century, a very fine 12th-century high cross, a holy well, a 14th-century battlefield, and a stone fort, which dates from the Iron Age. On the drive from Corofin to Lemanagh Castle, you pass Lough Inchiquin, an excellent location for salmon and trout fishing and also popular with walkers. The mostly ruined Inchiquin Castle which overlooks the lake was built in 1459 for the powerful O’Brien family. The rather errie looking Lemenagh Castle, another stronghold of the ubiquitous O’Briens, was originally a tower house much like those you have seen already to-day, but was extensively altered and enlarged in the early 1600s by Conor O’Brien, to become an impressive fortified house. The area from here to Ballyvaughan is probably the most archaeologically rich in the Burren, and sites such as Caherconnell Stone Fort indicate that there have been people living here for thousands of years. The visitor centre here gives a very good introduction to the various sites in the area and is worth stopping at. Caherconnell Fort itself is an excellent example of a ring fort, which would have been not a military defense but an enclosure where a family could live safely with their animals. It dates back to the 4th century AD and was probably lived in for hundreds of years. Back on the Ballyvaughan Road our next stop is one that is very busy in high season but worth persevering with. The Poulnabrone Dolmen (the name means “hole of the Sorrows”), a megalithic tomb that dates from about 3500 BC, is the most outstanding of Ireland’s many dolmens, impressive stone monuments erected over the graves of the dead. Excavations in the 1980’s found that at least 22 adults and children were buried here, along with personal items including a polished stone axe, a bone pendant, quartz crystals, weapons and pottery. It’s a remarkable structure, and a place that seems to really leave a lasting impression. Evening

- Irish Geneology Talk
- Enjoy Authentic Irish traditional music session in local pub

DAY 4 ~ “A Free Day!”

Free Day for guests to design, choose, and do their own activities
Optional day trip to Cork City

Explore the city at your leisure. The city that ‘Corkonian’s’ cheerfully refer to as the ‘real capital of Ireland‘. The compact centre is surrounded by interesting waterways and is chock full of great restaurants fed by arguably the best foodie scene in the country.

The River Lee flows around the centre, an island packed with grand Georgian parades, cramped 17th-century alleys and modern masterpieces. St Patrick’s St runs from St Patrick’s Bridge on the North Channel of the Lee, through the city’s main shopping and commercial area, to the Georgian Grand Parade, which leads to the river’s South Channel. North and south of St Patrick’s St lie the city’s most entertaining quarters: webs of narrow streets crammed with pubs, cafes, restaurants and shops.

Cork’s dynamism is reflected in contemporary buildings, bars and arts centres. The best of the city is still happily traditional, though – snug pubs with live-music sessions most of the week, excellent local produce and a genuinely proud welcome from the locals. The tour bus will return to the hotel at 16:30.

Evening

7-11 Gala Dinner, Irish Ballad Group, and Dancing

DAY 5 ~ “An Kilkee/Spanish Point Day!”

Visit Kilkee – Shannon Dolphin and Wildlife Centre, Scattery Island Monastery boat trip, Vandeleur Walled Garden, Doonaha beach, lighthouse and fort, Carrigaholt Castle and Rinevella Beach, Loop Head Lighthouse, Doonbeg beach, fort and Golf Club, and Spanish Point Beach.

Evening

- Happy Hour
- Enjoy authentic Irish traditional music session in local pub

DAY 6 ~ “A Kinvara Day!”

The round tower at Kilmacduagh is Ireland’s tallest and is located at the centre of a scattered monastic settlement and against a backdrop of the hills of the Burren. Unlike the better known Glendalough, there will be no tour buses or crowds here, nor is there a visitor centre, in fact to get access to the building you must borrow a key from a local house. The drive from Kilmacduagh to Corofin skirts the edge of the Burren National Park, with the limestone hills on the right as you travel changing colours from purple to pink to blue to forbidding grey according to the weather conditions and the light. You will pass Ballyportry Castle, a restored 15th century tower house once home to members of the O’Brien clan, which can now be rented out as self-catering accommodation.

Coole Park and Thoor Ballylee

“The beauty, the romance of our Seven Woods,
the mysteries of the ebbing and flowing lake are dear to me,
have been well loved, and are now in hands
that will care and tend them it is likely for ever”
– Lady Gregory, 26th May 1929

Coole is at the centre of a rare and complex wetland system that is considered to be of global importance. The system includes underground rivers, seasonal lakes (turloughs), springs and swallow holes. Situated in the low-lying karstic limestone region west of Gort, Co Galway the nature reserve covers an area of approximately 400 hectares (1000 acres) where wetland and woodland meet.

Coole Park, in the early 20th century, was the centre of the Irish Literary Revival. William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, John Millington Synge and Sean O’ Casey all came to experience its magic. They and many others carved their initials on the Autograph Tree, an old Copper beech still standing in the walled garden today.

At that time it was home to Lady Gregory, dramatist and folklorist. She is perhaps best known as a co-founder of the Abbey Theatre with Edward Martyn of nearby Tullira Castle and Nobel prize-winning poet William Butler Yeats. The seven woods celebrated by W.B. Yeats are part of the many kilometres of nature trails taking in woods, river, turlough, bare limestone and Coole lake.

Kinvara is a good place for craft shops and the harbour is very pretty and gets photographers excited! If you are lucky you may see one of the traditional local boats, known as Galway Hookers (yes, really!), out on the sea here.

Dunguaire Castle just outside the town is a typical 16th century “domestic scale” castle with fortified walls, in a lovely setting right on the shore of Galway Bay. It was occupied until about the 1950s but is now in the hands of the state and nicely restored. A tour gives a very interesting view of how people lived in this type of dwelling and in the evening a Medieval Banquet is held here, something to consider for the return journey this evening perhaps.