BEST OF IRELAND

ITINERARY

DAY 1 – DUBLIN
Arrival Dublin air­port where you will be met and trans­ferred by pri­vate car to your hotel down­town. The remain­der of the day and evening are at your leisure to set­tle in and begin to explore the city on your own.

DAY 2 – DUBLIN
Full day city sight­see­ing tour – Dublin.

DAY 3 – DUBLIN –BIRR CASTLE ‑ADARE — KILARNEY
After depart­ing Dublin at 09.00 you will trav­el West through the Midlands and the Slieve Bloom Mountains to the unique set­ting of Birr Castle and Gardens. The cas­tle itself is still a pri­vate home and it will not be pos­si­ble to see inside but the gar­dens are world famous and include the unique “Great Telescope” built by the 3rd Earl of Rosse in the 1840s and the largest in the world for over 70 years! The 3rd and 4th Earls were both pio­neers in sci­en­tif­ic dis­cov­ery and there is a fas­ci­nat­ing exhi­bi­tion on site. After Birr the tour con­tin­ues to the his­toric vil­lage of Adare just out­side Limerick. Often called “Ireland’s pret­ti­est vil­lage”, Adare has a won­der­ful col­lec­tion of thatched cot­tages and his­toric build­ings includ­ing the ruins of a 15th cen­tu­ry Franciscan monastery and the 13th cen­tu­ry Desmond Castle — great for pho­tos! From here it is about an hour and a half to Killarney — your base for the next two nights. Killarney has a great selec­tion of bars and restau­rants with live music every night.

DAY 4 – KILARNEY – RING OF KERRY
Today you tour one of the world’s clas­sic routes, the Ring of Kerry — 100 miles packed full of inter­est. After depart­ing Killarney on a clear day there will be views to Ireland’s high­est moun­tain, Carrauntoohil after which you join the coast road through to Cahersiveen. There will be plen­ty oppor­tu­ni­ties for pho­tos stops along the way with great views across to the Dingle Peninsula. Possible stops include the Daniel O’Connell’s birth­place and Cahersiveen ring fort before reach­ing the lit­tle fish­ing vil­lage of Portmagee. Here you can relax and sam­ple local seafood for lunch or alter­na­tive­ly cross to the island of Valentia for a vis­it to the Skellig Experience where you can learn about the near­by rocky islands and the small com­mu­ni­ty of monks who once lived there. In the after­noon you make pho­to stops in Waterville and then the top of Coonmakista Pass for one of the best views in the coun­try. From here the road drops down to sea lev­el for a vis­it to Derrynane House – fam­i­ly home of Daniel O’Connell. There are walks in the gar­dens and down to the beach as well as the house itself. The tour con­tin­ues on around the Ring with stops at Moll’s Gap and the Ladies View. There is then time for a short walk to the Torc Waterfall before arriv­ing back into Killarney.

DAY 5 – KILARNEY — HEALY PASS — KINSALE
The high­light this morn­ing is a dri­ve over the dra­mat­ic Healy Pass on the Beara Peninsula. The scenery here is just as impres­sive as the Ring of Kerry but the area receives much few­er vis­i­tors. Your vis­it here will give a true taste of Ireland’s South West. Descending from the moun­tains the waters of Bantry Bay lie in front of you and the tour fol­lows the shore line to the lit­tle vil­lage of Glengarriff where you can take a short boat trip to Garinish Island with its won­der­ful gar­dens and wood­land walks. Look out for the large seal colony on the way across. In the after­noon the tour fol­lows the West Cork coastal route through Clonakilty and Timoleague before arriv­ing in the har­bor town of Kinsale for the night. The town has a rep­u­ta­tion for good food and drink and there are many restau­rants to choose from.

DAY 6 – KINSALE — CORK – ROCK OF CASHEL — DUBLIN
After a leisure­ly start to the morn­ing you will depart Kinsale for the short jour­ney to Cork City. After an intro­duc­to­ry tour you will have some free time here to explore this vibrant city. The city cen­ter is built on an island in the River Lee, the two chan­nels of which are spanned by many bridges giv­ing many panoram­ic views. You may choose to vis­it the English Market, with its stalls sell­ing foods from all over the world, ring the Shandon Bells in the 300-year-old tow­er of St. Anne’s Church or mar­vel at the French Gothic spires of St. Finbarre’s Cathedral. Or per­haps just spend some time shop­ping and enjoy­ing lunch in one of the many bars and restau­rants – the choice is yours. In the after­noon you will start your return jour­ney towards Dublin, mak­ing a stop on route at the Rock of Cashel with its medieval monastery com­plex sit­ting high above the town, before arriv­ing back into
Dublin about 7PM. Check into your hotel for overnight.

DAY 7 – DUBLIN
Morning pri­vate car trans­fer to the Dublin air­port for your return flight.

Pricing

Ask us about the fixed start dates for 2024: May — September 2024
$2,299.00 per per­son shar­ing dou­ble occupancy

$2,795.00 in sin­gle occupancy

Inclusions:

• 6 nights hotel accom­mo­da­tions in 3* hotels
• Breakfast dai­ly at the hotels
• Transportation by deluxe 16 seat minibus
• Professional English speak­ing driver/guide at dis­pos­al from depar­ture Dublin until return
• Airport trans­fers pro­vid­ed by pri­vate car with driver
• Dublin city bus tour full day ticket