Women-only Ireland: Dublin, Kerry, the Cliffs of Moher and Galway

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Dublin, slowly

   Dublin Airport to your hotel in the city centre, then a short walk to dinner by St Stephen's Green

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Dublin
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Dublin Airport (DUB), about 10 km north of the city, and a driver meets you in arrivals for the ride to the hotel in the centre, within walking distance of Trinity College and Grafton Street. Nothing is planned until 6 pm, so check in, sleep off the flight or take a slow first look at the shops on Grafton Street. Arriving a day early is easy to arrange. At 6 your See Sight Tours guide, a woman, meets the group at the hotel for a briefing: pubs and keeping your drink with you, the late-night crowds in Temple Bar, licensed taxis with a yellow roof sign, walking back alone, and the places where it is easy to eat alone on free evenings. Then a 20-minute stroll past the Georgian houses to St Stephen's Green, where a bust remembers Constance Markievicz, who fought here in 1916 and in 1918 became the first woman elected to Westminster. Welcome dinner is nearby. You are back at the hotel by about 9:30.

   Compris

   • Private transfer from Dublin Airport (DUB)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide at 6 pm
   • Evening stroll to St Stephen's Green and the Markievicz bust
   • Welcome dinner a short walk from the hotel

   Temps libre : Free until the 6 pm briefing

   Activité : About 30 minutes on foot on flat city pavements. Land by about 3 pm to reach the briefing comfortably.

2. Jour 2 : Trinity College, Georgian Dublin and a music session

   Dublin on foot: Trinity College, Dublin Castle, Merrion Square and O'Connell Street

   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : Dublin
   Détail du jour 2

   We walk to Trinity College for the first entry of the morning, before the queue builds, to see the Book of Kells, a gospel book made by monks around the year 800, with the exhibition Trinity runs while the Old Library's Long Room is closed for conservation; we see what is open that season. Trinity was founded in 1592 and first admitted women as students in 1904. A local guide, a woman where available, then walks us through the city's story: over the Ha'penny Bridge and through Temple Bar by day, the courtyard of Dublin Castle, the painted doors of Merrion Square, and the GPO on O'Connell Street, headquarters of the 1916 Rising. Here the story includes the women of Cumann na mBan who carried messages and nursed under fire, and Elizabeth O'Farrell, the nurse who carried Pearse's surrender. The afternoon is yours: the National Museum of Archaeology on Kildare Street is free. In the evening your guide takes the group to a traditional music session and walks back with anyone ready to go.

   Compris

   • The Book of Kells and the current exhibition at Trinity College, first entry of the morning
   • Guided walk of historic Dublin with a local guide, a woman where available: the Ha'penny Bridge, Temple Bar, Dublin Castle, Merrion Square and the GPO
   • Evening at a traditional music session with your guide, and company back to the hotel

   Activités en option

   • Kilmainham Gaol guided tour (extra, roughly EUR 8 to 10, book ahead; your guide can help)
   • The Guinness Storehouse (extra, roughly EUR 26 to 30)

   Option plus facile : Leave the walk after Dublin Castle and rest at the hotel before the evening.

   Option plus active : Walk on from Merrion Square along the Grand Canal towpath, about 3 km, with your guide's map.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free in Dublin

   Activité : About 3 hours on foot on city pavements, with time to sit at the museum or a cafe.

3. Jour 3 : The Rock of Cashel and on to Killarney

   Dublin to Cashel, then Mitchelstown, Mallow and Killarney

   • Environ 4 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Killarney
   Détail du jour 3

   We leave Dublin at about 8:30 and take the motorway south-west through the Midlands, about two hours to Cashel in County Tipperary. The Rock of Cashel rises out of flat farmland, a limestone outcrop crowned by a round tower, a roofless 13th-century cathedral and Cormac's Chapel, consecrated in 1134, with Romanesque carving and some of the oldest surviving wall paintings in Ireland. This was the seat of the kings of Munster until it was given to the church in 1101. We spend about an hour and a half on the Rock, then sit down to lunch in Cashel town below. In the afternoon it is about two hours more through Mitchelstown and Mallow into County Kerry, with the mountains showing ahead as we near the coast. This is the longest drive of the trip apart from day 6, about four hours in all, split evenly by the Rock and lunch. We reach Killarney in the late afternoon. The evening is free: the town is small and its centre is easy to walk, and your guide offers an informal pay-your-own dinner for anyone who wants company.

   Compris

   • The Rock of Cashel: the round tower, the cathedral and Cormac's Chapel
   • Sit-down lunch in Cashel

   Option plus facile : Stay at the foot of the Rock and see Cormac's Chapel and the cathedral from the lower path; the climb from the car park is short but steep, and the visitor centre has seating.

   Option plus active : Walk the field path down from the Rock to Hore Abbey, under 1 km each way, before lunch.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Killarney

   Activité : About an hour and a half on foot on the Rock, on grass and uneven stone with a short climb from the car park.

   

4. Jour 4 : Killarney National Park before the coaches

   Killarney to Ross Castle, Muckross House and Abbey, Torc Waterfall and Ladies View, and back

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Killarney
   Détail du jour 4

   Killarney National Park begins at the edge of town, and today we take it slowly. Early, before the day tours arrive, we walk the shore path of Lough Leane to Ross Castle, a 15th-century tower house we see from the outside while the lake is still. Then on to Muckross House for one of its first guided tours of the morning: a Victorian mansion finished in 1843, whose estate was given to the state in 1932 and became the core of Ireland's first national park. From the house a level path leads through the gardens and along the lake to Muckross Abbey, a Franciscan friary with an old yew tree growing in its cloister. A short drive takes us to Torc Waterfall, a ten-minute walk up a wooded stream, then we climb the road to Ladies View, the lookout over the Upper Lake named after Queen Victoria's ladies-in-waiting, who admired it in 1861. We are back in town by about 2 pm, with the afternoon free for a late lunch and a rest. Tonight we have dinner together with live traditional music, and walk back to the hotel together.

   Compris

   • Ross Castle from the outside and the Lough Leane shore path
   • Muckross House guided tour, its gardens and Muckross Abbey
   • Torc Waterfall
   • Ladies View over the Upper Lake
   • Dinner with live traditional music

   Activités en option

   • A guided tour inside Ross Castle (timed tours in season), in the free afternoon

   Option plus facile : Ride from Muckross House to the abbey and back in the van instead of walking.

   Option plus active : Climb the steps above Torc Waterfall to the boardwalk and viewpoint over the lakes, about 45 minutes up and down.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free in Killarney

   Activité : About 2 to 3 hours on foot on level park paths, with a short uphill walk at Torc Waterfall.

5. Jour 5 : Inch Beach, the Slea Head Drive and a night in Dingle

   Killarney to Inch Beach and Dingle, then the Slea Head loop and back to Dingle

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Dingle
   Détail du jour 5

   We drive west out of Killarney, about an hour and a quarter to the Dingle Peninsula, stopping at Inch Beach, a sand spit of about five kilometres running out across Dingle Bay. Dingle town is in the Gaeltacht, where Irish is spoken day to day, and we have lunch there before the Slea Head Drive; we ask for a women-run kitchen and name it when one is confirmed. A minivan is the right size for this narrow cliff road. We stop at the clochans, dry-stone beehive huts on the hillside at Fahan, at Slea Head for the view to the Blasket Islands, and at Dunquin. The Great Blasket Centre tells the story of the island community, abandoned in 1953, whose writers included Peig Sayers, a storyteller whose life of the island, Peig, was read by generations of Irish schoolchildren. Coming back past Gallarus Oratory we reach Dingle by about 5 pm. Tonight your guide takes the group to a music session and walks back with anyone ready to go.

   Compris

   • Inch Beach
   • Sit-down lunch in Dingle town, at a women-run kitchen where one is confirmed
   • The Slea Head Drive: the Fahan beehive huts, Slea Head and Dunquin
   • The Great Blasket Centre (in season), with the story of Peig Sayers
   • Gallarus Oratory
   • Evening at a traditional music session in Dingle with your guide

   Option plus facile : Skip the uphill field path to the beehive huts and watch the view from the van.

   Option plus active : Walk the coast road from Dunquin pier to the Great Blasket Centre, about 2 km, and meet the van there.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free in Dingle before the music

   Activité : Short walks at each stop, on sand, grass and a sloping field path at Fahan. Slea Head is exposed; bring a windproof layer.

   

6. Jour 6 : The Shannon ferry, the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren

   Dingle to Tarbert, the ferry to Killimer, the Cliffs of Moher, Poulnabrone and Galway

   • Environ 5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Galway
   Détail du jour 6

   This is the one day over the driving cap, about five hours at the wheel and 280 km, because it joins Kerry to Galway; the alternative is a one-night stop in Clare and another repack. No leg runs much past an hour and a half. We leave Dingle at 8:30 for Tarbert and the car ferry across the Shannon Estuary to Killimer, about twenty minutes on deck at around 10:30. Lunch is a sit-down meal in west Clare, then we reach the Cliffs of Moher at about 2, after the midday peak. The cliffs run for about 14 km and rise to about 214 m above the Atlantic, and we give them two hours: time to walk north to O'Brien's Tower, built in 1835, and south along the path towards Hag's Head. Heading north by Lisdoonvarna we stop at Poulnabrone, a portal tomb more than 5,000 years old on the bare limestone of the Burren, then follow Galway Bay by Kinvara into the city by about 6:30, with the evening free and your guide's list of places to eat.

   Compris

   • The Tarbert to Killimer car ferry across the Shannon Estuary
   • Sit-down lunch in west Clare
   • The Cliffs of Moher visitor centre and cliff paths, with two hours on site
   • Poulnabrone dolmen in the Burren

   Option plus facile : Stay on the paved paths near the visitor centre and the viewing platforms by O'Brien's Tower.

   Option plus active : Walk south on the cliff path towards Hag's Head for about 30 minutes, then turn back, away from the busy central section.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Galway

   Activité : About 2 hours on foot at the cliffs on paved and gravel paths, with some slopes. Paths close in high wind.

   

7. Jour 7 : A day in Connemara

   Galway to Oughterard, Recess and Kylemore Abbey, Connemara National Park, Killary Harbour and back by the Maam valley

   • Environ 3.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Galway
   Détail du jour 7

   Connemara is the reason to stay two nights in Galway. We head west on the N59 through Oughterard and out into open bog and lake country, with the Twelve Bens and the Maumturk mountains rising ahead. By mid-morning we are at Kylemore Abbey, a castle built in the 1860s for Mitchell Henry and home to Benedictine nuns since 1920; the visit takes in the restored rooms, the Gothic church he built in memory of his wife Margaret, and the Victorian Walled Garden. Lunch is at Kylemore. In the afternoon we stop at Connemara National Park at Letterfrack, where the short trails take under an hour and the Diamond Hill loop is there for walkers, then drive along Killary Harbour, a long, narrow sea inlet, to Leenane and back through the Maam valley. If the day is very wet we swap the order and spend longer indoors at Kylemore. We are in Galway by about 6 pm, with the evening free.

   Compris

   • The drive through Connemara by Oughterard, Maam Cross and Recess
   • Kylemore Abbey, its Gothic church and the Victorian Walled Garden
   • Lunch at Kylemore
   • Connemara National Park at Letterfrack
   • Killary Harbour and Leenane

   Option plus facile : Take the shuttle bus between the abbey and the walled garden, and a short level trail at the national park.

   Option plus active : Walk the Diamond Hill loop, about 7 km and 2.5 to 3 hours, to the 442 m summit with views over Kylemore and the islands; the van waits for you.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Galway

   Activité : About 2 hours on foot on gravel garden paths and park trails; the Diamond Hill loop is steep and rocky near the top.

   

8. Jour 8 : Galway's Latin Quarter, Clonmacnoise and back to Dublin

   Galway on foot, then east across the Shannon to Clonmacnoise and on to Dublin

   • Environ 3.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Dublin
   Détail du jour 8

   A last morning in Galway, on foot with your guide: from Eyre Square down Shop Street and Quay Street through the Latin Quarter, past St Nicholas' Collegiate Church, founded in 1320, to the Spanish Arch and the river mouth, with the Claddagh across the water. On the way we pass Bowling Green, where Nora Barnacle grew up before she left for Europe with James Joyce in 1904. We leave at about 11 and drive east across the Shannon to Clonmacnoise, a monastery founded by St Ciaran in the 540s on a bend of the river. Its round towers, ruined churches and carved high crosses stand inside a walled graveyard by the river, and the small Nuns' Church was completed in 1167 by Derbforgaill, a queen of Breifne. Lunch is nearby. From there it is about two hours to Dublin on the motorway, arriving in the late afternoon with time to rest. In the evening we gather for a farewell dinner in the city centre.

   Compris

   • Guided walk of Galway's Latin Quarter, St Nicholas' Collegiate Church, Bowling Green and the Spanish Arch
   • Clonmacnoise monastic site, the Nuns' Church and the visitor centre
   • Sit-down lunch near Clonmacnoise
   • Farewell dinner in Dublin

   Option plus facile : Skip the Galway walk and meet the group at the Spanish Arch, or rest at the hotel until the 11 am departure; at Clonmacnoise the visitor centre and the paths near it are level.

   Option plus active : Walk the full Galway loop on along the river to the Salmon Weir Bridge and Galway Cathedral, about 3 km more, before the van leaves.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free in Dublin

   Activité : About 2 hours on foot, on pavements in Galway and grass paths at Clonmacnoise.

9. Jour 9 : Depart Dublin

   Your hotel in Dublin to Dublin Airport

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   Détail du jour 9

   The last morning is free. Have breakfast at the hotel, take a final walk to St Stephen's Green or the doors of Merrion Square, or make a last stop at the shops on Grafton Street. Your guide arranges the transfer to Dublin Airport, about 10 km north of the centre and normally 30 to 45 minutes away depending on traffic, timed to your flight. Book a flight that leaves after about 11 am so you are not rushing breakfast; an earlier flight is fine too, and we time the transfer for it. If you are flying to the United States, allow extra time: Dublin Airport has US preclearance, so you pass US immigration and customs there before boarding. If you want more of Dublin, we can book extra nights at the same hotel. Your guide sees each woman off and checks each departure before saying goodbye.

   Compris

   • Private transfer to Dublin Airport (DUB)

   Temps libre : Morning free until your transfer

   Activité : Book a flight leaving after about 11 am; US-bound travellers should allow time for preclearance.

Faune et météo : Ireland's weather changes by the hour in every season, so we keep the order of a day flexible and switch Connemara stops around in heavy rain. The Cliffs of Moher and Slea Head are windy, and cliff paths can close in a gale. Seabirds, puffins among them, nest on the Cliffs of Moher from about April to July. Days are long in June, with light until about 10 pm.

• Dublin2 nuits
• Killarney2 nuits
• Dingle1 nuit
• Galway2 nuits
• Dublin1 nuit