OVERVIEW

This fantastic tour leaves from Dublin 7 days a week at 6:50 am and you are back in Dublin by 7:30 at the latest that evening. We choose a circular route so that you do not see the same scenery twice the whole day. This gives you the opportunity to see new things each time you look out the window. It is important for us that you get time off the bus during the day so we try and maximise your off the bus experience as much as possible. You will be travelling the width of Ireland, ok, not the biggest country in the world but it will take roughly 3 hours to get over to the city of Limerick. The detailed itinerary is below.

You will see that it is a full day of excitement and fun and you will get the most out of the your time with us seeing wonderful scenery, castles, wild remote limestone regions and of course the famous Cliffs of Moher, not to mention the Aran Islands, Galway Bay, the Curragh, Treaty Stone, Dunguaire Castle, Fanore Beach, the Burren, Bunratty Castle, King John's Castle, the cultural villages of Ballyvaughan and Ennistymon, Lahinch beach, sites where the Spanish Armada visited, the traditional village of Doolin famous for its music, maybe a sighting of the dolphin Dusty in the Atlantic Ocean, Ring forts, bog and the famous spine of Ireland, the River Shannon! Phew, what a day!

ITINERARY

Pick up from the tourist office on Suffolk Street at 6:50 am in the morning, outside the old stone church.
You will pass by the Guinness Store House and St. Patricks Cathedral on your way out of Dublin City. On the road to the west of Ireland, you will see the first signs of Irish countryside and pass by the famous Curragh area, a place where sheep have the right of way on the roads over us humans!

As we pass through the midlands, please keep an eye out for castles in the distance, noticing the lie of the land and how it changes as you traverse across the country. The more west you travel, the wilder it gets. Fields are separated by hedges and wire fences in the east and midlands while the more west you go they will be separated by stone walls made by the bare hands of the farmers that work the land to this day. Our first stop on your trip will be the historic and Viking city of Limerick. You will cross over the river Shannon for the first time and you will be greeted by the magnificent sight of King John's Castle - a Norman king that set up home on the banks of the river. Here you will get the opportunity to stretch your legs, take a closer look at the castle, and take some pictures. You will also get to see the famous Treaty Stone where a treaty was signed between the Irish and English years ago, after the Battle of the Boyne.

Leaving Limerick, you will see Thomond Park the unofficial home of Irish rugby. We will be also going past the famous Bunratty Castle where you can have a banquet in the evening time beginning with its famous homemade mead honey wine. You are now in the province of Munster and will be travelling to the province of Connaught. On this tour you will be actually passing through 3 of Ireland's 4 provinces. Not long after leaving Limerick you will get to see an almost instant change in the quality of the farmland. The farms begin to get smaller, leaving the good arable land behind, which is more suitable for the cattle and sheep.

You will arrive at the infamous Cliffs of Moher at around 11:30 and you will get to spend an hour and a half at the cliffs wandering along the cliff edge, looking at O Brien's tower and nearly all the way down to Liscannor village. In front of you is the Gaelic speaking islands of the Aran Islands. You will have passed St. Bridgets well and O Briens folly as well. St. Bridget is considered our second patron saint after St. Patrick himself. Keep your eyes open for an array of wildlife at the cliffs, everything from fulmars, guillemots and kittehawks, to the beautiful puffins that inhabit these cliffs. The weather can seem a little erratic on the cliffs so make sure you dress appropriately for the day. It is after all the windswept Atlantic coastline.
Your lunch stop will take place in the musical village of Doolin. Music 7 nights a week fills the local pubs with many interesting characters. Saying that, the pubs have great food and a nice Irish welcome feel during the day as well. We usually stop in Fitzpatrick's pub which puts on a great chowder and main meal. Have a little walk after lunch to let your food settle on a quiet country road opposite the pub.

After lunch you will be visiting one of Ireland's greatest National Parks, the Burren. This large limestone region is home to wild donkeys and goats. Cattle roam free only the last couple of years and their manure help nourish the plants to grow in between klints and grikes. The Burren is a botanist's Nirvana! Plants that would normally only grow in tundra or arctic regions flourish in this area certain times of the year. Orchids and Gentian Blues grow wild and are simply so beautiful. As it is a national park, we do encourage all of our guests to practice a "Leave No Trace" policy within this area, so no picking of flowers or moving of rocks in the area, a practice that has become unfortunately quite popular among tourists over the last few years.

Meandering along the coastal road, your eyes will constantly be on the beauty of the coastline and the road that clings to its edge. We may get to see fishermen on the rocks below. Pass by Fanore beach and maybe glimpse Dusty the Dolphin. Our next official stop will be at Corcomroe Abbey- an 11th century Abbey surrounded by limestone hills. It was built on an old pagan site and even today the old pagan customs are still practiced on the local hills where they light fires around St. Johns Day and also during equinoxes.

After this we will get our first view of Galway Bay and down the steep hill that will take us to our next stop, the quaint village of Kinvara, a seaside village with a nice sized harbour that hosts many of the well known Galway Hooker boats that you should see moored in the harbour. Once the main fishing boat of the whole of Galway Bay, there is still quite a number in the area today and every year there is a race from Connemara to Kinvarra in the hookers. We will get to see Dunguaire Castle, a beautiful castle nestled on its own tiny headland and surrounded by water. It is also well known for its mead wine
After a good day's travelling and sightseeing it is now time to make our way back to Dublin. Finishing our full circle tour we will then go on the Galway road through Clarinbridge, home of the oyster! We will have one more stop on the road back to Dublin for a coffee and toilet stop

Arrive back in Dublin by 7:30 pm at the latest with great memories.