The Causeway Coast, Donegal, Connemara and Kerry in one unhurried loop, with your own driver-guide.
Start Point
Dublin Airport
(Start and Finish)
Duration
12 Days,
11 Nights
Group Size
Couples to
Groups of 26
Twelve days through Ireland’s greatest landscapes and stories, from the streets of Dublin to the wild edge of the Atlantic. This 12-day tour of Ireland runs north first, to the Giant’s Causeway and the walled city of Derry, then down the whole west coast through Donegal, Connemara and Clare to Kerry, before heading home by way of Blarney. Ancient sites, sea cliffs, small villages and the music and food that make the place what it is, all at an unhurried pace with your own private guide.
The Emerald Isle is our middle-length grand tour: long enough to reach the far corners, relaxed enough to enjoy them. Some days come with a choice built in, and anything else can change too. We never say no on tour.
Arrive in Dublin in the morning and head north. If time permits, visit Newgrange, a passage tomb more than 5,000 years old, which makes it older than the pyramids of Giza. Armagh follows, the city St Patrick chose for his principal church, where the cathedral sits on his hill and the Georgian observatory has watched the sky since 1790. You reach Belfast by evening.
Overnight: Belfast
The day begins at the Dark Hedges, an avenue of tangled beech trees planted in the 1700s that became the King’s Road in Game of Thrones. At Carrick-a-Rede, test your nerve on the rope bridge swinging about 30 metres above the sea to a tiny island. Then it’s on to the Giant’s Causeway, where tens of thousands of basalt columns step down into the water. Evening brings you to Derry.
Overnight: Derry (2 nights)
Walk the full circuit of Derry’s walls, the only complete city walls left in Ireland, with the story of the siege and the city told as you go. Then cross into Donegal to explore the Inishowen Peninsula. At Malin Head, the island’s most northerly point, the old signal tower looks out over the Atlantic. On the way back, Glenevin Waterfall sits at the end of a short wooded walk. You return to Derry for a second night.
Overnight: Derry
The Grianan of Aileach, a stone ring fort on a hilltop and once the royal seat of the northern Uí Néill kings, looks down over Lough Swilly and Lough Foyle. Fanad Head Lighthouse stands on its headland between Lough Swilly and Mulroy Bay. In Donegal town, Donegal Castle is the restored stronghold of the O’Donnell chieftains.
Overnight: Donegal (2 nights)
Killybegs, Ireland’s largest fishing port, is at its liveliest when the trawlers land. Sliabh Liag is next, with sea cliffs among the highest in Europe and nearly three times the height of the Cliffs of Moher. Maghera Beach is a quiet stretch of sand and caves below the mountains. The Glengesh Pass then drops in hairpin bends towards Ardara, a village long known for its tweed, where a hand-weaving demonstration ends the day.
Overnight: Donegal
Heading south, Benbulben’s flat-topped ridge fills the view over Sligo. At Drumcliffe churchyard, W.B. Yeats is buried in its shadow, under the epitaph he wrote for himself. The evening is yours in Galway, a city of music pubs and narrow lanes.
Overnight: Galway (2 nights)
Choose your morning. You can watch a sheepdog demonstration on a working Connemara hill farm. Or take a catamaran cruise on Killary, one of only three fjords in Ireland, under Mweelrea, the highest mountain in Connacht. Either way, the afternoon brings Kylemore Abbey, the castle-like abbey on a lake shore that is home to Benedictine nuns. You return to Galway for the night.
Overnight: Galway
This is a longer travel day with big rewards. The Burren is a landscape of bare limestone where Arctic and Mediterranean flowers grow side by side. Follow the Black Head coast road to the Cliffs of Moher, Ireland’s most visited natural attraction, rising more than 200 metres from the Atlantic, with the viewing platforms and O’Brien’s Tower to explore. A ferry across the Shannon estuary then carries you into Kerry.
Overnight: Killarney (3 nights)
The day can start with a jaunting cart ride, a pony and trap through Killarney National Park (optional, extra). Then head out along the Dingle Peninsula and the Slea Head Drive, a clifftop loop with the Blasket Islands offshore. Weather permitting, cross the Conor Pass, one of Ireland’s highest mountain roads. Finish with a walk on Inch Strand before heading back to Killarney.
Overnight: Killarney
The classic loop around the Iveragh Peninsula. The Red Fox Inn and Kerry Bog Village show how rural Kerry lived, and the Irish coffee at the Red Fox is the perfect warm-up. If you chose the fjord on Day 7, this is your chance for the sheepdog demonstration instead. Moll’s Gap and Ladies View, named for Queen Victoria’s ladies-in-waiting, look down over the lakes. Torc Waterfall is the last stop before Killarney.
Overnight: Killarney
Leaving Kerry, the road runs east to Blarney Castle and its gardens, where you can kiss the Blarney Stone for the gift of the gab. From there it’s a long drive to Dublin for your final night, with stops along the way to break the journey.
Overnight: Dublin
Your driver-guide takes you to Dublin Airport or your onward hotel. Until next time.
Included
Every tour is bespoke, so tell us your dates and group and we will tailor it and quote.
This 12-day Ireland itinerary covers most of the island in one loop. It starts with the ancient east at Newgrange and Armagh, then takes in the Causeway Coast and the walled city of Derry. From there it follows the Atlantic south through Donegal, Sligo, Galway and Connemara, crosses Clare to the Cliffs of Moher, and finishes with three nights in Killarney for the Dingle Peninsula and the Ring of Kerry. The last full day brings you back to Dublin by way of Blarney Castle. What it leaves out is mostly the south-east, Cork city and a full day in Belfast, which suit a separate trip or an extension. With two nights in Derry, Donegal and Galway and three in Killarney, you are not packing a case every morning, and the long travel days are broken up with good stops. If you have less time, the Rose of the South West covers Kerry, Clare and Connemara in six days.
Either works, and the choice depends on what you enjoy. The sheepdog demonstration takes place on a working hill farm in Connemara, where a farmer and his dogs move sheep across the mountainside on whistled commands. It is up close, practical and often very funny, and it suits families and anyone who likes seeing rural Ireland at work. The Killary cruise is quieter and more scenic. You sail the length of one of only three fjords in Ireland, with Mweelrea, Connacht’s highest mountain, rising on one side and mussel rafts dotted across the water. It suits travellers who want a slower morning and big views. The good news is that you do not have to lose the other. If you pick the cruise on Day 7, we can usually fit a sheepdog demonstration into the Ring of Kerry on Day 10. Tell us your preference when you enquire, or decide on the day.
Every Creagh tour is quoted individually, which is why there is no price table on this page. The cost depends on the number of travellers, the vehicle size, the time of year and, above all, the accommodation you choose. A couple staying in castle hotels will have a different quote from a family group in comfortable town hotels, even on the same route. When you enquire, tell us your dates, your group and the kind of stays you like, and we will send back a clear quote. It covers your private driver-guide and vehicle for the whole tour, fuel, tolls, parking, ferry crossings and the driver’s own expenses. Where we arrange accommodation, hand-picked hotels with breakfast are included too. Lunches, dinners, attraction entrance fees and gratuities are not included, so you always know exactly what is covered before you book. There are no surprises once you land.
The Emerald Isle and The Full Irish share much of the same country, but they are built differently. The Emerald Isle runs anticlockwise from Dublin, heading north first to the Causeway Coast, Derry and Donegal, then down the west coast to Kerry. The Full Irish runs the other way, south first through Cork and West Cork, and adds two days that this tour does not have: a full day in Cork city and Cobh, and a day in Belfast with the Black Cab tour and Titanic Belfast. In return, The Emerald Isle includes Fanad Head and Killybegs, which the Full Irish skips. If you have two weeks and want the fullest picture of the island, choose The Full Irish. If twelve days is what you have, or you want Fanad Head and Killybegs on the route, The Emerald Isle is the better fit. Either route can be adjusted, so you can borrow a favourite stop from one to add to the other.
Twelve days is a long time to spend with one person, so it helps that the person is good company. Creagh Travel is a Cork family business, guiding since 2006. Lloyd Creagh is a certified, badged tour guide, a member of the Independent Tour Guides Association, and a driver trusted with visiting heads of state. His father Greg brings more than 40 years as a driver-guide.
Travellers rate Creagh 5.0 on TripAdvisor. The reviews talk about deep history told with humour, songs on the road, punctual pickups and a guide who went out of his way. Vehicles range from a Mercedes V-Class to a 26-seat coach, so the tour fits your group rather than the other way round. You can also browse all our private tour packages.
Tell us your dates, your group and the stops you care about most, and we will shape the twelve days around you.
Tell us your dates and plans. We reply personally, no obligation.
