Ireland “Wild Atlantic Way” Tour

The Wild Atlantic Way is a 2,500 km (1,553 miles) driving route 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 five days following the Wild Atlantic Way from Kinsale in the south near Cork up to Galway and beyond.

Itinerary

Our tour starts with a late morning car ferry from Holyhead in north Wales to Dublin Port. Our hotel, 15 miles from Dublin in the countryside, is the Palladium styled Powerscourt Hotel, next to Powerscourt House and gardens which we visit after checking in to our hotel.

The next day we visit the impressive Powerscourt waterfall and then drive through the Wicklow mountains to Glendalough, our lunch stop, where we visit the 6th century monastery ruins. After lunch we visit the romantic Mount Usher gardens before arriving at our charming hotel in the countryside west of Avoca.

The following day we visit one of Ireland’s few surviving and working woolen mills at Avoca before continuing south to Wexford where we visit the Irish National Heritage Park. Our route then takes us to our next hotel just a few miles south east of Waterford.The following morning we visit Waterford, famous for its glass-making, then continue west towards Cork where we visit the Jameson Whiskey Heritage Centre followed by Blarney Castle before we arrive at our hotel, just south of Cork, in Kinsale.

The following day we relax around Kinsale. 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 penisula to Kenmare to our hotel for the next 2 nights overlooking the sea at Parknasilla.

The next day you can relax around the hotel.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 arriving at our hotel in Aghadoe overlooking the lake.

The next day 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 drive north east up to Adare one of Ireland’s prettiest villages where our country house 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 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 head 40 miles north-west to our hotel located overlooking Lough Inagh surrounded by mountains.

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 next two nights, in Cashel overlooking the coast. The following day we enjoy a leisurely tour in the immediate lake and mountain region visiting Westport to the north before returning to our hotel to celebrate our last night in Ireland.

The following day, the 13th day of the tour, we drive across the mountains to Gallway where we take the motorway east to Dublin to catch an early afternoon ferry back to Holyhead, North Wales.