Ireland Things To Do

The tranquil, gorgeous Beara Peninsula and its 200km of Beara Way offer an opportunity for lone travelers to brood as they enjoy beautiful scenery. Killarney National Park is a hiking-biking-climbing paradise that makes a good gateway to the understandably heavily touristed Ring of Kerry. Trekkers along the Kerry Way traverse the same countryside without quite so much company. Several developed paths allow hikers to spend any number of days exploring Ireland’s mountain chains—the Wicklow Way passes through the Wicklow Mountains in Dublin’s backyard, while the new Sperrin Way treks through the Sperrin Mountains. South of Tipperary Town, follow the river Aherlow as it cuts through the Galty Mountains. In remote Co. Donegal, the Slieve League Mountains reach their dramatic end at the highest sea cliffs in Europe. The west coast is densely strewn with strange and beautiful geologic curiosities, including the limestone moonscape of The Burren and towering Cliffs of Moher, which soar 700 ft. above the sea. The bizarre honeycomb columns of Giant’s Causeway spill out from the Antrim Coast, a long strip of rocky crags and white beaches. Donegal’s Glenveagh National Park contains salt-and-peppered Mount Errigal. Near Enniskillen, a series of underground caves carved the limestone earth into haunting Marble Arch Caves. And just northwest of Galway lies Connemara, studded with two mountain ranges (the Twelve Bens and the Maamturks), the Western Way footpath that twists through the Maamturks, and Connemara National Park.

Wax Poetic

Natural beauty and urban grime have inspired centuries of superb literature, and the Irish are fiercely proud of the literary luminaries they have produced. Dublin has promoted (and suffered) the caustic wit of Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, James Joyce, Sean O’Casey, Samuel Beckett, Brendan Behan, Flann O’Brien, Eavan Boland, and Roddy Doyle, to name but a few. W.B. Yeats expressed poetry all over the island, but chose Co. Sligo for his grave. John Millington Synge found literary greatness depicting the domestic trials of Aran Islanders. Seamus Heaney compared the bogland’s fossilized remains of pre-Christian sacrifices to the Troubles. In Belfast, Brian Moore, Bernard MacLaverty, and Paul Muldoon capture ordinary lives in a city known only for its extraordinary events. Brian Friel’s plays bring to life the wilds of Co. Donegal. Limerick has had a successful face-lift since the poverty-stricken childhood of Frank McCourt. Farther south, the dwindling gaeltacht of Co. Kerry is preserved through the autobiography of Blasket-Islander Peig Sayers and the poetry of Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill. Ancient mythology is the most pervasive of Ireland’s literary forms—nearly every landmark is attributable to fairies, giants, or heroes.

Drink Up

The Irish claim that stout is blessed and that whiskey is the “water of life.” It follows that the island’s breweries and distilleries are its holy wells. The Guinness Storehouse guards the secret of its black magic, but doles out plenty of samples at tours end as consolation. Smithwicks, the oldest brewery in Ireland, stores a blonder brew in a former monastery in Kilkenny. Back in Dublin, the Old Jameson Distillery makes a slightly sweeter whiskey than the hard stuff stored at Bushmills Distillery in Co. Antrim, but the folks at Bushmills provide more “fulfilling” tours.

Be A Good Sport

With its expansive fields, sandy beaches, and mild climate, Ireland is the perfect place for athletics. If oceanside during the summer, sail in one of Ireland’s many regattas, at locales such as Bantry in early May, Bangor in early July, or Wicklow in late July or early August. Try surfing off the duned beaches of the Strandhill Peninsula in County Sligo. For more firmly-grounded fun, visit Croke Park in Dublin to see the All-Ireland Hurling Finals in early September and the All-Ireland Gaelic Football Finals in late September. Go road-bowling with the like of pros like Mike Barry in County Cork, or watch the horse races in Killarney, Galway, or Dingle.

Rock Out

Though Ireland’s national instrument is the harp, you’ll be able to find a much wider variety of music throughout the island. For traditional culture, jam during trad sessions at pubs in almost any city or town; counties Kerry, Galway, Sligo, and Donegal all have good reputations. Head over to Buncrana in late July for the Buncrana Music Festival, and then to Glencolmcille for the Folk Festival in early August. Enjoy the November Trad Festival in Ennis and the Jazz Festival in Dungarvan in mid-February. Check listings of Riverdance tours and other musical performances throughout the country.

Visit The Island’S Islands

The people of the Aran Islands live much like the rest of the country did around 1900—speaking Irish, eking out their living fishing in curraghs at the mercy of the sea. Off the Dingle Peninsula, the now deserted Blasket Islands were once home to several impoverished memoirists. Now they hold only pensive walks through haunting village ruins. Electricity and tap water are recent introductions to Donegal’s Inishbofin Island, but serenity and camaraderie are longstanding. Sherkin Island beckons visitors to its sandy, cliff-enclosed beaches, over-abundance of cows, and under-abundance of people. Nearby Cape Clear Island trades cows for goats, to produce the best homemade goat’s milk ice cream in all of Ireland.

Play Explorer

In Co. Meath, the 5000-year-old passage tombs of the Boyne Valley, including sights at Newgrange, Knowth, and Dowth, are architectural feats that stump modern engineers. Nearby Hill of Tara has been the symbolic Irish throne from Celtic chieftains to St. Patrick to 19th-century Nationalists. On the west coast, Poulnebrane Dolmen marks a group gravesite with a 25-ton capstone atop two standing rocks. Bend over backwards and kiss the Blarney Stone to gain the distinctly Irish gift of the gab. On the magnificent limestone Rock of Cashel, a mishmash of early Christian structures defines the skyline. Glendalough is the picturesque home of St. Kevin’s 6th-century monastery, a 100 ft. round tower, and the saint’s small stone kitchen. In Donegal, near Derry, Grianán Ailigh was first a Druidic temple, then the burial place for Aedh (divine king of the Túatha De Dannan), and finally a seat of power for the northern branch of the Uí Néill (O’Neill) Clan. The monastic ruins of Clonmacnois, south of Athlone, keep watch over the River Shannon’s boglands. St. Ciaran founded his monastery here in AD 548, and the gorgeous remains lure many a traveler to the otherwise untouristed midlands. The otherworldly Skellig Rocks astound visitors to the Iveragh Peninsula. The Rock of Dunamaise rises in Portlaoise, a scar left by Cromwell.

Frolic

Guinness runs freely during the island-wide frenzy of St. Patrick’s Day (March 17th). Mid-May brings Armagh’s Apple Blossom Festival. James Joyce enthusiasts ramble for 18 hours through Dublin every June 16, Bloomsday. In mid-July, the Galway Arts Festival hosts theater, trad, rock, and film for two weeks of revelry. Early August brings all types of musicians, artists, and merrymakers to Waterford’s Spraoi festival. He-goats compete for the title of alpha male in Killorglin’s Puck Fair in mid-August. In late August, Cape Clear Island welcomes tale-spinners to the International Storytelling Festival, while everyone in Ireland tunes in to the nationally televised Rose of Tralee Festival and Pageant. Many return happy from the Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival in early September. Fat ladies sing at the Wexford Opera in late October, and ghouls and goblins mob Derry for its carnival-like Halloween celebration. Ireland’s largest arts celebration, the Belfast Festival at Queen’s College, is a three-week winter potluck of cultural events.