2025 IRELAND'S WILD ATLANTIC WAY TOUR
AN 11 DAY TOUR OF SOUTHERN IRELAND INCLUDING 8 DAYS DRIVING THE WILD ATLANTIC WAY
THIS IS WHAT OUR CLIENTS THOUGHT ABOUT OUR 2017 IRELAND TOUR:
2017 IRELAND WILD ATLANTIC WAY TOUR
"All back to normal after our lovely trip with you and Karen. Thoroughly enjoyed it and we will definitely go back to Ireland"
Bev and Ian: St.Albans, Hert's: Aston Martin Rapide: ( repeat clients, 6th tour )
"We loved our trip, the scenery was glorious, the food delicious, the hotels sumptuous, the driving sometimes hairy, and the company most congenial. Couldn't have been better, and the birthday treats cool. We have a marvellous time."
Ian and Janet: Mercedes SLC350: ( repeat clients, 4th tour )
"We both wanted to send a big thank you for a really great adventure through the best of southern Ireland We both had a great time - the route, the people, the hotels and the food, all first rate."
Anthony and Ros: Porsche 356: ( new clients )
DATES: May 31st -June 10th 2025 11 days/10 nights
COST per person: £3,495, based on 2 people per car sharing a bedroom
The fees are based on £1 sterling =1.15 euros
Depending on the future conversion rates of £ sterling to euros at the time of receipt of your fees, we reserve the right to charge an additional premium.
The costs, per person, are based on two people per car sharing a hotel bedroom and include the following:
- Accommodation in 4-star stylish hotels ( 10 nights )
- 3-course dinners ( 10 nights )
- Breakfast daily
- Rally plate
- Comprehensive road book with daily itineraries and detailed daily route notes
- Michelin Ireland national map + Collins Ireland road atlas
- DK Eyewitness guidebook "Ireland "
- Irish Ferries outward daytime ferry from Holyhead to Dublin port with club class lounge seats and priority boarding
- Irish Ferries return daytime ferry from Dublin port to Holyhead with club class lounge seats and priority boarding
- The assistance of a Tour Director throughout the tour
- NOT INCLUDED ARE THE FOLLOWING :
- Lunches, snacks, coffees, etc.
- Drinks with dinner including bottled water and coffee.
- Entry to places of interest eg. museums, gardens, etc.
- Autoroute tolls
TOUR SUMMARY
The Wild Atlantic Way is a 2,500 km (1,553 miles) driving route that passes through nine counties and three provinces stretching from Kinsale in County Cork, in the south to County Donegal's Inishowen Peninsula in the north. Along the route, there are places and attractions which have been designated as points of interest for travellers.
Our route incorporates seven days following the Wild Atlantic Way from Kinsale, in the south near Cork, up to Galway and the Connemara Coast, where we spend 3 days
Our tour starts with a late morning car ferry from Holyhead in North Wales to Dublin Port. Upon disembarking the ferry we drive 20 miles south to Powerscourt where our impressive hotel is located. There is an option to visit the stunning house and gardens of nearby Powerscourt House.
The following day we visit the impressive waterfalls at Powerscourt. Our morning coffee stop is the working wool museum at Avoca. We then travel to Arthurstown near Waterford where our country house hotel, run by a TV chef, is based.
On our third day, we take a 10-minute car ferry and then continue west to Cork. Our lunch stop is the Jameson Whiskey Heritage Centre after which we visit the Cobh Heritage Centre a fascinating museum dedicated to the story of the Titanic. We then visit Blarney Castle before we arrive at our hotel for the night just south of Cork, in Kinsale facing the marina.
The following day we start to drive the Wild Atlantic Way which we follow for the next 7 days.
Heading west we stop to visit the Stromberg Stone Circle then across the Sheep's Head peninsula stopping to visit Bantry House and gardens then around the Beara peninsula to Kenmare to our hotel for the next 2 nights overlooking the sea at Parknasilla.
The following morning we drive around the majestic Ring of Kerry on the Iveragh Peninsula famous for its vistas of sea and mountains. Eventually, our route takes us over Moll's Gap up to Killarney where we visit Muckross House and gardens before returning to our hotel in Parknassilla.
The next day we continue around the Dingle Peninsula an ancient landscape dotted with early Christian churches, monastic settlements, and Neolithic structures. Leaving the Dingle peninsula and the coast we continue to drive north to Aghadoe overlooking Killarney lakes.
The following day we drive up to Adare one of Ireland's prettiest villages where our hotel is based.
The next morning we take the 15-minute car ferry across the Shannon River into County Clare where we drive north up the coast, then along the Cliffs of Moher one of Ireland's most remarkable natural features where the limestone plateau of the Burren plunges 1,000 ft into the seas. Here we visit the Cliffs of Moher Experience a state-of-the-art visitor centre. We then continue across the Burren, a vast limestone plateau through Galway then take the coast road to Cashel on the Connemara coast before heading inland to our hotel overlooking Loch Inagh. The next day we visit Westport and then return to a new hotel. The following day we explore this beautiful mountainous region with its lakes firstly visiting a local castle, then driving to Roundstone, a pretty fishing port. Our lunch stop is Kylemore Abbey and Gardens after which it's a scenic drive through the mountains and alongside lakes to our hotel, for the last night of the tour..
The following day, the 11th day of the tour, we drive across the mountains to Galway where we take the motorway east to Dublin to catch an early afternoon ferry back to Holyhead, North Wales
DRAFT ITINERARY
Day 1 Saturday 31st May
Holyhead to Dublin Port.
Dublin Port to Powerscourt ( 20 miles )
Our tour starts with a 10.40 a.m. Swift car ferry from Holyhead, in north Wales, to Dublin Port, see photos below:
The ferry arrives in Dublin port at 12.55
Upon disembarking the ferry we drive 20 miles south to Powerscourt in the Wicklow mountains.
Once we've checked into our hotel, there is an option to visit on foot the nearby Powerscourt House and gardens
Day 2 Sunday 1st June
Powerscourt to Arthurstown, ( 100 miles )
The following day, after a leisurely breakfast, we visit the impressive waterfalls at Powerscourt.
Our morning coffee stop is the working wool museum at Avoca
We then drive south to Arthurstown, 15 miles southeast of Waterford, where our country house hotel is based.
We then drive to the Cobh Heritage Centre a fascinating museum dedicated to the story of the Titanic.
Finally, we visit Blarney Castle, where we can kiss the Blarney Stone, see photos below:
Our hotel faces the harbour in this picturesque fishing port, see the photo below:
The Wild Atlantic Way is a tourism trail on the west coast of Ireland. The 2,500 km (1,553 miles) driving route passes through nine counties and three provinces stretching in the south from Kinsale in County Cork to County Donegal's Inishowen Peninsula in the north. Along the route, there are places and attractions which have been designated as points of interest for travellers.
The route is well-signposted with the WAW logo:
Our first visit is to the nearby Heritage Centre dedicated to the Lusitania, see photos below:
Our route then takes us southwest to Timoleague where we stop to admire the abbey.
We then continue to Clonakilty a delightful heritage town with colourful and traditional shop fronts whose hand-painted old-style signs reveal their contents:
We then continue along the Wild Atlantic Way across the Mizen Head peninsula to Bantry a large market town and fishing port.
Our lunch stop is Bantry House and Gardens, a Georgian stately home with impressive gardens and outstanding bay views, see the photos below:
Here there are two woodland walks, a walled garden and a tea room. The former stable block houses a fascinating exhibition on the failed attempt by the French Armada to invade Ireland via Bantry Bay in 1796.
We then drive around Bantry Bay to Glengarriff:
We then drive across the Beara peninsula and over the Healy Pass:
We continue on this mountain road to Ladies View where we stop to take photos of the stunning view. We then visit Muckross House and Gardens a fine Victorian residence completed in 1843 by Scottish architect William Burn. In 1861 Queen Victoria stayed there as a guest of the Herbert family who landscaped the gardens in her honour. Muckross is our lunch stop before returning to Parknasilla on a different scenic mountain route.
Day 6 Thursday, 5th June
Parknassilla to Killarney via the Ring of Kerry ( 91 miles )
Today we drive the Ring of Kerry across the Iveragh Peninsula a scenic route with wonderful coastal and mountain scenery.
Our route starts in Sneem a pretty village built around a village green where there is a statue of Steve "Crusher" Casey a local man and world-champion wrestler. Our scenic route takes us clockwise around the peninsula.
We eventually arrive in Glenburgh in the north where we turn inland and drive on a narrow road that makes its way up in the shadow of the McGillicuddy Reeks, ( the highest mountain range in Ireland), to Ballaghbeama Gap where on a clear day there are sweeping views across the windswept landscape.
We then continue northeast to Killarney Lakes to our hotel overlooking the lake.
Day 7 Friday, 6th June
Lake Killarney to Adare ( 170 miles )
Inch Point was the setting for the 1970 film Ryan's Daughter and in the bay, there are often sea otters, seals and dolphins.
Dingle, our morning coffee stop, is Europe's westernmost town and is charming with brightly painted houses, traditional shop fronts and narrow streets all of which run down to the harbour, see photos below:
We then continue along the Dingle Peninsula passing Dunbeg Fort an iron age fortress.
Our route takes us past a set of clachans or beehive huts which are pre-historic dwellings constructed in unmortared stone.
Eventually, we arrive at Slea Head the westernmost point in Europe where there are exhilarating views across Dingle Bay.
We then head to Stradbally over the Connor Pass, Ireland's highest route, winding its way to the 460metres, (1,500 ft ) summit
We then drive northeast to Tralee and drive over the mountains to Adare in Co. Limerick.
With its thatched cottages and spruce green Adare is one of Ireland’s prettiest villages beautified by the third Earl of Dunraven.
Adare also has an array of medieval buildings including three monasteries and Desmond Castle.
Our hotel is based here.
Day 8 Saturday, 7th June
Adare to Lough Inagh, Co. Galway ( 185 miles )
We leave Limerick and drive to Foynes on the Shannon estuary then we head west to Tarbert where we catch the 15-minute car ferry across the Shannon to Killimer in County Clare.
Then we drive north, hugging the coastline along the Cliffs of Moher, one of Ireland's most remarkable natural features where the limestone plateau of the Burren plunges 300 metres ( 1,000ft ) into the sea.
We stop at the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Centre where there is a state-of-the-art display explaining the phenomena.
Further north is the Burren National Park, a massive plateau of limestone, which covers the whole of northwest Clare.
Our route then takes us via Ballyvaughan to Galway.
We then continue along the picturesque coast towards Roundstone via Cashel where we head inland to Loch Inach where our hotel, an old fishing lodge, is located overlooking the lake
Dinner tonight is in the hotel's restaurant.
Day 9 Sunday, 8th June
Local Excursion, Lough Inagh to Westport return ( 90 miles )
Today we visit Westport to the north returning in the afternoon to a new hotel on the Connemara Coast
Day 10 Monday, 9th June
Local excursion via Roundstone, Clifden and Letterfrack ( 60 miles )
Today we enjoy a circular drive of Connemara and Co Galway with its beautiful coastal roads, panoramic views, rivers and lakes.
In the morning our morning coffee stop is Ballynahinch Castle Hotel.
Ballynahinch enjoys a romantic setting on the river and is an idyllic retreat encapsulating the spirit of Ireland with its traditional Irish bar.
After coffee, our route then follows the Wild Atlantic Way west along the coast from Cashel to Toombeola and then to Roundstone.
Roundstone is the most picturesque village on the Connemara coast and is perched high above the fishing harbour looking out over the island studied Bertraghboy Bay.
In the distance are the twelve Bens and Maumturks. Roundstone's vibrant culture has attracted craftsmen and artists and in summer the village hosts a regatta of traditional Galway hookers.
We then continue along the Wild Atlantic Way through Clifden to Letterfrack
Our lunch stop is Kylemore Abbey and Gardens near Letterfrack.
The abbey, which was built in the 19th century, is located on Lake Pollacappull and since 1922 has been home to a semi-enclosed order of Benedictine nuns.
Part of the abbey is open to the public but the biggest attraction is the walled garden laid out in 1860 with 21 glasshouses, see photos below:
Afterward, you can enjoy a relaxing local drive among the local lakes and mountains back to our hotel.
Dinner tonight, the last night of the tour, is in the hotel's restaurant.
Day 11 Tuesday, 10th June
Connemara to Dublin Port ( 185 miles )
We leave Co. Galway behind us and head for Dublin Port where we are booked on the 14.30 Swift ferry.
We are booked in the Club Class lounge where you have your own dedicated seats with complimentary beverages and newspapers.
Click here for a virtual tour of the Dublin Swift
Our ferry arrives in Holyhead at 16.30. and you are free to make your own way home!