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The Cliffs of Moher running north along the Clare coast
The Long Room of Trinity College's Old Library, photographed before its books were removed
The hexagonal basalt columns of the Giant's Causeway in low evening sun, with surf breaking behind
Kylemore Abbey on the shore of its lake in Connemara
Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge between the Antrim cliffs and Carrickarede island

Things to do in Ireland: 28 experiences worth the trip

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Photo: Berthold Werner, CC BY-SA 4.0

Dublin

See the Book of Kells and the Old Library at Trinity College

Check dates and prices

Photo: Diliff, CC BY-SA 4.0

Bushmills, County Antrim (Northern Ireland)

Walk down to the Giant's Causeway stones

Check dates and prices

Photo: Chmee2, CC BY 3.0

Kylemore, Connemara, County Galway

Visit Kylemore Abbey and its Victorian Walled Garden

Check dates and prices

Photo: Alvesgaspar, CC BY-SA 4.0

Ballintoy, County Antrim (Northern Ireland)

Cross the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge

Tours in Ireland

Photo: JoachimKohler-HB, CC BY-SA 4.0

Ireland's ticketed sights are concentrated in Dublin and the Boyne valley: the Book of Kells, Kilmainham Gaol, the Guinness Storehouse and the passage tomb at Newgrange. Most of the reasons to come lie on the Atlantic side, along the Wild Atlantic Way, where the Cliffs of Moher, the Burren, the Aran Islands, Dingle and the Ring of Kerry sit a few hours' drive apart.

This list runs from Dublin to Cork and Kerry, then north up the coast through Clare and Galway to Mayo. Two entries, the Giant's Causeway and Carrick-a-Rede, are across the border in Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK and has its own entry rule.

The planning truth: a handful of places have capped or timed entry (Newgrange, Kilmainham Gaol, the Book of Kells, Skellig Michael landings) and need booking before you travel, while the west needs a car or a tour, rain gear and a spare day for weather.

28 things to do in Ireland

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O'Brien's Tower on the edge of the Cliffs of Moher

Walk the Cliffs of Moher outside peak hours

Liscannor, County Clare

About 2 hours (the ticket covers 2 hours)Book ahead

Cliffs that run about 14 km along the Clare coast and rise to 214 metres, facing west into the late light.

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The Long Room of Trinity College's Old Library, photographed before its books were removed

See the Book of Kells and the Old Library at Trinity College

Dublin

About 90 minutesTimed entry

See a 9th-century gospel book in Trinity College's Old Library, and the Long Room emptied of its books for conservation.

Check dates and pricesGuided old Dublin walk, Book of Kells entry optional
The Ring of Kerry coast seen from the lookout near Beenarourke

Drive the Ring of Kerry and choose your direction

Killarney, County Kerry

A full day with stopsNo booking needed

A 179 km loop round the Iveragh Peninsula, with Ladies View, Staigue stone fort and Derrynane House filling the day.

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The hexagonal basalt columns of the Giant's Causeway in low evening sun, with surf breaking behind

Walk down to the Giant's Causeway stones

Bushmills, County Antrim (Northern Ireland)

Book ahead

About 40,000 basalt columns step into the sea, and walking down to them is free.

Check dates and pricesFull-day coach trip from Belfast with a guide
Dublin seen from the Gravity Bar at the top of the Guinness Storehouse

End a Guinness Storehouse visit with a pint in the Gravity Bar

Dublin

At least 90 minutesBook ahead

Climb seven floors of a 1902 fermentation plant and finish with a pint in the glass-walled Gravity Bar.

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The tower of Blarney Castle, with the Blarney Stone set in its battlements

Kiss the Blarney Stone, then stay for the gardens

Blarney, County Cork

3 hours for castle and gardensNo booking needed

Lean backwards over a castle parapet to kiss a stone set there in 1446, then stay for the Poison Garden, Rock Close and lake walk.

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Croagh Patrick seen from Ben Lugmore

Climb Croagh Patrick from Murrisk

Murrisk, County Mayo

3.5 to 4 hours returnFree

Climb Ireland's holy mountain, 764 metres above Clew Bay, to a summit chapel built in 1905 with materials hauled up by donkey.

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The cathedral, round tower and castle on the Rock of Cashel

Walk the Rock of Cashel and get inside Cormac's Chapel

Cashel, County Tipperary

1 to 1.5 hoursNo booking needed

A round tower, a roofless Gothic cathedral and a chapel with the only surviving Romanesque frescoes in Ireland, on one limestone outcrop.

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The front of the Cobblestone pub on North King Street, Smithfield

Hear a trad session at The Cobblestone in Smithfield

Smithfield, Dublin

Free

Traditional music every day for over thirty years in a family-run Smithfield pub, with sessions that start early and run to closing.

Lough Leane seen from Ross Castle in Killarney National Park

Kayak across Lough Leane to Innisfallen Island

Killarney, County Kerry

About 2.5 hours on a guided tripBook ahead

Paddle across Lough Leane to Innisfallen, an island whose abbey was founded in the 7th century, and walk round its ruins.

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The white quartz front of the Newgrange passage tomb

Enter the Newgrange passage tomb on a booked tour

Brú na Bóinne, County Meath

Timed entry

Walk into a passage tomb built around 3100 BC above the Boyne, older than Stonehenge and the pyramids.

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Leo Burdock's original chip shop at 2 Werburgh Street

Eat fish and chips from Leo Burdock's on Werburgh Street

Christ Church, Dublin

30 minutesNo booking needed

Takeaway fish and chips from Dublin's oldest chipper, open since 1913 a few minutes' walk from Christ Church and Dublin Castle.

The Great Western Greenway path west of Nixon's Lough in County Mayo

Cycle the Great Western Greenway from Westport toward Achill

Westport to Achill, County Mayo

No booking needed

Ride an old railway bed round Clew Bay, off road the whole way, and let a shuttle bus bring you back.

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The stone ramparts of Dún Aonghasa on Inis Mór

Walk up to Dún Aonghasa on Inis Mór

Inis Mór, Aran Islands

1 to 1.5 hours at the fort, plus the ferry dayNo booking needed

A prehistoric stone fort on the edge of a 100-metre cliff, with no fence between you and the drop.

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Quay Street in Galway's Latin Quarter

Walk Galway's Latin Quarter from the Spanish Arch

Galway

Free

Galway's medieval core: a Saturday market by St Nicholas' Church, the best-preserved medieval lane, and trad pubs in the evening.

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A sea stack below the Slieve League cliffs in Donegal, on the Wild Atlantic Way

Drive one section of the Wild Atlantic Way, not all of it

West coast, Donegal to Cork

No booking needed

Pick one stretch of 2,500 km of signposted coast, from Slieve League's sea cliffs to the Cliffs of Moher, and take it slowly.

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The Victorian wing of Kilmainham Gaol, lined with cell doors

Book a guided tour of Kilmainham Gaol

Kilmainham, Dublin

90 minutesTimed entry

Walk through the gaol where leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were executed, one of the largest unoccupied gaols in Europe.

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Stalls inside Cork's English Market at Christmas

Graze Cork's English Market for drisheen and spiced beef

Cork

About an hourFree

A covered market open since 1788, best known for its fishmongers and butchers, and the place to find drisheen and spiced beef.

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Skellig Michael rising out of the Atlantic off the Kerry coast

Land on Skellig Michael with a permitted boat

Portmagee, County Kerry

2.5 hours on the island, plus the crossingBook ahead

Climb 618 steps up a rock 11.5 km off the Kerry coast to a monastery where monks lived until the 13th century.

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The Slea Head Drive above the sea on the Dingle Peninsula

Drive the Slea Head loop on the Dingle Peninsula, clockwise

Dingle, County Kerry

At least 3.5 hours for the Slea Head loopNo booking needed

A 38 km loop past Ventry beach, Dunbeg Fort, beehive huts and Slea Head, with the Blasket Islands offshore.

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A copper pot still at the Jameson distillery in Midleton

Tour the Jameson distillery at Midleton

Midleton, County Cork

75 minutesBook ahead

Follow the whiskey from grain to glass at the home of Jameson, Redbreast and Midleton Very Rare, ending with a tasting of three.

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Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge between the Antrim cliffs and Carrickarede island

Cross the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge

Ballintoy, County Antrim (Northern Ireland)

Timed entry

Step onto a rope bridge 30 metres above the rocks to an islet where salmon fishermen first strung a crossing in 1755.

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A street musician playing on Quay Street in Galway

Follow the buskers on Shop Street and Quay Street

Galway

Free

Fiddles, singers and small acoustic groups along Galway's pedestrian spine, under rules that keep the volume down.

Bare limestone pavement in the eastern Burren

Walk the limestone pavement of the Burren

Corofin, County Clare

Free

Walk bare limestone where lime-loving and acid-loving plants share the cracks, and see a portal tomb used from about 3800 BC.

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The front of Sean's Bar in Athlone

Have a pint at Sean's Bar in Athlone

Athlone, County Westmeath

No booking needed

A pint with traditional music in a pub certified in 2004 as Ireland's oldest, on the Shannon in the middle of the country.

The monastic site at Glendalough in the Wicklow Mountains

Walk Glendalough's monastic site and Upper Lake

Glendalough, County Wicklow

1 to 1.5 hours for the monastic site; longer with the lake trailsNo booking needed

A round tower, stone churches and crosses spread across a glacial valley where St Kevin founded a monastery in the 6th century.

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Kylemore Abbey on the shore of its lake in Connemara

Visit Kylemore Abbey and its Victorian Walled Garden

Kylemore, Connemara, County Galway

Go alone or with a tour

A turreted house on a Connemara lough, home to Benedictines, with a neo-Gothic church and a Victorian Walled Garden reached by shuttle.

Check dates and pricesConnemara day from Galway with Kylemore entry
Looking north through the Gap of Dunloe in Killarney National Park

Walk or cycle through the Gap of Dunloe

Killarney, County Kerry

About 2 hours on foot to the Head of the Gap and backNo booking needed

A glacial pass between the MacGillycuddy's Reeks and Purple Mountain, past five small lakes, best walked, cycled or ridden in a jaunting car.

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Plan your trip

  • When to go

    May to September has the longest days and the full timetable: Skellig Michael landings ran from 12 May to September in 2026, the free Burren National Park shuttle runs from May to September, and the Cliffs of Moher stay open until 21:00 from May to August. Rain comes in every season and more of it falls in the west, where Met Éireann puts the yearly average at 1,000 to 1,400 mm against 750 to 1,000 mm in the east. Winter is quieter, but hours shrink, the Blasket Centre closes from November to early March, and storms close exposed sites such as the Rock of Cashel and the Antrim coast at short notice. Fixed dates worth planning around: Reek Sunday on Croagh Patrick (last Sunday in July) and the Galway oyster festival in late September.

  • How many days

    A week covers Dublin for two or three days, with Newgrange as a half-day trip, plus one western region: Clare and Galway, or Kerry. With ten to fourteen days you can add the second region and either Mayo or the Antrim coast without spending every day in the car. Do not try to drive the whole Wild Atlantic Way in one trip; it is 2,500 km of slow, narrow coast roads.

  • Getting around

    Trains from Dublin Heuston run to Cork, Galway and Westport, and Killarney is on the Dublin to Tralee line, so a city-to-city trip works without a car. The Ring of Kerry, Dingle, Connemara and the Burren really need one, or a day tour. The whole island drives on the left; distances are in kilometres in the Republic and in miles in Northern Ireland. On the peninsulas the direction matters: tour coaches go anticlockwise around the Ring of Kerry, and the Slea Head loop is driven clockwise.

  • Money and passes

    The Republic uses the euro and Northern Ireland the pound sterling, so the Giant's Causeway and Carrick-a-Rede are priced in pounds. The OPW Heritage Card (€40 for an adult for a year, €30 for over-60s, €10 for students) gives free entry to every site run by the Office of Public Works, among them Kilmainham Gaol, the Rock of Cashel, Dún Aonghasa, the Glendalough visitor centre and the Blasket Centre. With adult tickets at €5 to €8, it pays for itself after five or six sites.

  • Entry rules

    Ireland is in the EU but not in Schengen, so there are checks on arrival. EU citizens can still enter the Republic with a national identity card, although Tourism Ireland warns that more airlines and ferries now accept passports only. Northern Ireland follows UK rules: anyone who is not a British or Irish citizen needs a UK ETA (£20) linked to a passport, even when crossing the open land border from the Republic, unless they live in Ireland. EU identity cards are not accepted for Northern Ireland.

Questions travellers ask

Do I need a passport to visit Ireland?

EU citizens can enter the Republic with a valid national identity card, but Tourism Ireland notes that more airlines and ferry companies now accept passports only, so check with yours. Other visitors need a passport valid until the end of the trip, and some nationalities also need a visa. Northern Ireland has stricter rules: EU identity cards are not accepted there.

Do I need a UK ETA to visit the Giant's Causeway from Dublin?

Yes, unless you are a British or Irish citizen or live legally in Ireland. The causeway is in Northern Ireland, part of the UK, and the £20 ETA is required even though there are no immigration controls on the land border. Apply on gov.uk: a decision usually arrives within a day but can take up to three working days.

How far ahead should I book Newgrange?

As soon as your date opens. Tickets are released online at midnight Irish time, 30 days ahead for tours from April to 1 November and 7 days ahead in winter. Only tickets from heritageireland.ie are valid, and cancellations go back online, often between 08:30 and 09:30 and between 15:00 and 16:00.

Can you still visit Skellig Michael?

Only in season, which ran from 12 May to September in 2026, and only with a boat operator that holds a landing permit. The island is closed for the rest of 2026 and reopens in 2027. Children under 12 cannot land, and the climb to the monastery is 618 steep steps.

Ring of Kerry or Dingle Peninsula if I only have one day?

Pick by where you sleep. The Ring of Kerry is a 179 km loop from Killarney and fills a full day with stops. The Slea Head loop from Dingle town is about 38 km and fits in half a day, leaving time for the Blasket Centre.

Do you have to pay to see the Cliffs of Moher?

The cliffs can be reached at several points and an 18 km cliff walk runs along them, but most people use the official visitor site. Its admission includes parking and the exhibition and is cheaper booked online than at the gate (€15 per adult); children under 12 go free with a parent.

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