Lisdoonvarna Overview

A sign in town proclaims “some matches are made in Heaven..but the best ones are made in Lisdoonvarna.” For everyone the Irish, “Lisdoon” is synonymous with the Matchmaking Festival, a craic-and-snogging fest which has drawn the likes of Jackson Browne and Van Morrison to its all-day music events. More than 10,000 singles descend upon Lisdoonvarna for the festival’s six weekends (the first is in early September), and the small town’s several luxury resorts host nearly continuous dancing and live music. The festival ends with competitions for two much-sought-after titles: Queen of the Burren and Mr. Lisdoonvarna.

Local celebrity and professional matchmaker Willie Daly from Ennistymon presides over the event. No one talks about how successful the festival is at making matches that last longer than a six-pint hangover, but as one Lisdoon local puts it, “Everything works if you want it to.” For more info on the festival, contact the Hydro Hotel (☎707 4005; www.whites-hotelsireland.com), or consult the website (www.matchmakerireland.com). The festival weekends are riotous, but during the off-season, the spa- and resort-town can be extremely quiet. In the 1700s, Lisdoon saw carriage upon carriage of therapy-seekers rolling in to try the curative wonders of sulfur and copper; in 1867, the town built a pump room to provide visitors with sulfur baths. Beginning in the summer of 2006, the recently-renovated Spa Wells Health Center (at the bottom of the hill, past the Hydro Hotel) has offered a variety of hydrotherapy pools in addition to traditional massages and sulphur baths (☎707 4023). Shane Connolly runs Burren Walking Tours, which emphasize a number of options. Some walks highlight botany or visit historical and archaeological sites; others trek through the wilderness and up mountains. (☎77168; http://homepage.eircom.net/~burrenhillwalks. Available year-round; depart twice daily in summer. Dawn and sunset walks can be arranged. €15 per person.)

Several B&Bs supplement Lisdoonvarna’s luxury hotels. Dermot, of  Dooley’s Caherleigh House offers pleasant rooms flooded in light, tea and coffee, and a good breakfast. The B&B is a 7min. walk from town; pass the Esso Station across from the town square and continue straight on the Doolin Rd., past the Emo filling station. (☎707 4115. Open Apr.-Oct. €34 per person.) The newest and most comfortable of the three Sleepzone hostels,  Sleepzone Burren , past the smokehouse on the Doolin Rd., has turned the shell of a former hotel into a friendly hostel with excellent kitchen, dining room, TV room, and bar facilities. (☎707 4036. Free Wi-Fi. All rooms with bath. Dorms €15-22; singles €30-45; prices vary by season and day of the week.) The Roadside Tavern and Restaurant , just past the Esso station on the Doolin Rd., serves drinks, desserts, and a good selection of salty entrees (€10-15), which are either traditional Irish dishes or smoked fish. The hot smoked salmon with vegetables and mustard cream sauce (€15) comes with enough potato to feed a small family. The pub itself is dimly lit and decorated with shellacked postcards from around the world. (☎74084. Kitchen open daily noon-9pm. Th-Sa trad Mar.-Sept.) In addition to a tempting array of cheese, crafts, and smoked fish, The Smokehouse next door offers a 6min. video about its smoking process (factory tours are no longer available due to health and safety requirements) and free samples of organic smoked salmon. For larger groups, a 50min. lecture can be arranged. (☎74432; www.burrensmokehouse.ie. Open daily 9am-5pm. Lectures €3, students €2.)

A current bus schedule is posted in the town square; buses run regular service to the Cliffs of Moher, Ennis (via Ennistymon), Lahinch, Doolin, and Ballyvaughan. There are also buses to Galway, Sligo, Clifden, Dublin, Glengariff, Bunratty and the Shannon Airport, Cork, Tralee, Limerick, Killarney, Liscannor, Waterford, and Donegal. During the summer, local services run as frequently as seven times per day. Peter Mooney’s taxi service (☎707 4663, mobile 087 206 9019) is a welcome relief from the Burren’s inconsistent public transportation system. The tiny Lisdoonvarna library is across from the Roadside Tavern and has one computer with free Internet access. (☎707 4029. Open Tu and Th 1-4pm and 5-8pm, Sa 10am-1pm). An ATM, a bike rental store, and a superb public library with Internet access are available in Ennistymon. There is a post office on Main St. (☎707 4110. Open M-F 9am-1pm and 2-5:30pm, Sa 9am-1pm).