Ireland: the Wild Atlantic Way from Donegal to Dingle

1. Day 1: Dublin Airport to Donegal

   Dublin Airport to Sligo, then Donegal town

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Lunch on the way and a welcome dinner
   • Stay in Donegal
   Day 1 details

   We meet at Dublin Airport at about 11 am, after the overnight flights from North America have landed, and head straight west: no city time, because this trip is about the Atlantic edge. The road runs out on the M4 and N4 across the midlands to the Shannon and Sligo, about four hours at the wheel, which is right at our daily cap, so we break it with a sit-down lunch of about an hour near halfway and a short leg-stretch later. We stay inside the Republic the whole way rather than taking the shorter roads through Northern Ireland, so there is no border question for anyone's paperwork. North of Sligo the coast road passes Benbulben's flat-topped ridge, then crosses the Erne at Ballyshannon into County Donegal. We reach Donegal town at about 5 pm, with time to check in, rest and walk the Diamond, the old market square, and the quay where the River Eske meets Donegal Bay. In the evening your See Sight Tours guide hosts a welcome dinner and a short briefing on the week: the weather, the ferry days and where the easy and active options fall.

   Included

   • Meet-and-greet at Dublin Airport (DUB) at a set group time
   • Sit-down lunch on the way
   • Welcome dinner and briefing with your guide in Donegal town

   Free time: An hour or so free in Donegal town before dinner

   Activity: About 4 hours of driving, right at the cap, broken by lunch and a short stop. Plan to land at Dublin Airport by about 10 am; the exact meeting time is sent with your final itinerary. Arriving a day early and sleeping near the airport makes this an easy first day.

2. Day 2: Slieve League and south-west Donegal

   Donegal town to Killybegs, Teelin and Slieve League, Glencolumbkille, the Glengesh Pass and Ardara, then back

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Donegal
   Day 2 details

   The day for the sea cliffs most visitors to Ireland never see. We drive west past the fishing harbour at Killybegs to Teelin and the Sliabh Liag visitor centre, and go up to the Bunglass viewpoint before the late-morning traffic. From there the cliffs of Slieve League rise to about 600 m above the Atlantic, roughly three times the height of the Cliffs of Moher, streaked red and ochre by the minerals in the rock. We give the viewpoint and the cliff-top path a full 90 minutes. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Carrick or Kilcar, then we continue to Glencolumbkille at the end of the road, an Irish-speaking valley where the Folk Village's thatched cottages show how people lived here over three centuries. The way back climbs the hairpins of the Glengesh Pass and drops into Ardara, a weaving town where Donegal tweed is still sold from the shops on the main street. We are back in Donegal town in the late afternoon, and the evening is yours.

   Included

   • Slieve League from the Bunglass viewpoint with your guide, including the visitor centre shuttle where it runs
   • Sit-down lunch in Carrick or Kilcar
   • Glencolumbkille Folk Village
   • The Glengesh Pass and Ardara

   Easier option: Stay at the Bunglass viewpoint and the first stretch of the path, which is close to the car park.

   More active option: Walk the cliff-top path from Bunglass towards the summit with the guide, as far as the wind allows; about two hours there and back on rough, steep ground.

   Free time: Evening free in Donegal town

   Activity: Wind on the cliff-top can be strong; the guide decides on the day how far along the path we go.

3. Day 3: Donegal Castle, Yeats country and Sligo

   Donegal town to Mullaghmore Head, Drumcliffe, Glencar and Carrowmore, then Sligo

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Sligo
   Day 3 details

   We start at Donegal Castle when it opens: the O'Donnell chieftains' 15th-century tower house, with a Jacobean manor added by the English settler who took it over in the early 1600s. Then south along Donegal Bay to Mullaghmore Head for the open Atlantic view and the outline of Classiebawn Castle on the skyline. At Drumcliffe, W. B. Yeats is buried in the churchyard under Benbulben, as he asked in his poem, with his epitaph cut in the stone: Cast a cold eye on life, on death. Horseman, pass by. A short walk at Glencar takes us to the waterfall Yeats wrote into The Stolen Child. After lunch in Sligo at your own pace, we visit the Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery, one of the largest groups of stone tombs in Ireland, some older than Newgrange, with Knocknarea and its great cairn standing over it. The rest of the afternoon and the evening are free in Sligo town, where the Garavogue River runs between the pubs.

   Included

   • Donegal Castle at opening
   • Mullaghmore Head
   • Yeats's grave at Drumcliffe, under Benbulben
   • The walk to Glencar Waterfall
   • Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery

   Optional experiences

   • A seaweed bath at Strandhill, booked and paid on the day

   Easier option: Skip the Glencar walk and the Carrowmore paths and spend the afternoon in Sligo town.

   More active option: Climb Knocknarea (327 m) to Queen Maeve's cairn with the guide, about 45 minutes up a steep path, for the view over Sligo Bay.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free in Sligo

   Activity: The Glencar path is short but can be wet; Knocknarea is a steep climb on a made path.

   

4. Day 4: Westport, Killary Harbour and into Connemara

   Sligo to Westport, the Doolough Valley and Killary Harbour, then Kylemore and the Inagh Valley to Oughterard

   • Drive about 5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Oughterard
   Day 4 details

   A long day, about 280 km and five hours at the wheel, over our 4-hour cap because it is the only way to link Westport, Killary and the Inagh Valley without another one-night stop. We leave Sligo at 8:30 am and stop at least every 90 minutes. First Westport, a planned Georgian town on the Carrowbeg River, for coffee and a walk on the Mall, with Croagh Patrick, Ireland's holy mountain, in view over Clew Bay. Then through Louisburgh and the empty Doolough Valley, where a stone cross remembers the starving people who walked here in 1849, down to Killary Harbour. After a sit-down lunch in Leenane we board a boat for a cruise of about 90 minutes on the harbour, a long, narrow sea inlet between steep mountains, past lines of mussel rafts. If wind stops the boat, we visit Kylemore Abbey's house and walled garden instead. We pause on the lake shore opposite Kylemore Abbey, home to Benedictine nuns since 1920, then drive the Inagh Valley between the Twelve Bens and the Maumturks to Oughterard on Lough Corrib, arriving about 6 pm.

   Included

   • Westport and the Mall
   • The Doolough Valley
   • Sit-down lunch in Leenane
   • Killary Harbour boat cruise (about 90 minutes), or Kylemore Abbey's house and garden if the boat cannot sail
   • Kylemore Abbey from the lake shore
   • The Inagh Valley road

   Optional experiences

   • Kylemore Abbey's house and Victorian walled garden, in place of the cruise if you prefer, paid on the day

   Easier option: Stay on the cruise boat's covered deck; the other stops are short and close to the van.

   Free time: Evening free in Oughterard

   Activity: About 5 hours of driving, over the cap on purpose, broken by Westport, the Doolough Valley, lunch, the cruise and Kylemore, with a stop at least every 90 minutes; the guide may swap the order to suit the weather.

5. Day 5: Inis Mór, the largest Aran Island

   Oughterard to Rossaveal, ferry to Inis Mór, then back

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Oughterard
   Day 5 details

   A day on an island where Irish is still the language of the houses. We drive through the Connemara Gaeltacht to Rossaveal and take the ferry, about 40 minutes, to Kilronan, Inis Mór's harbour village. An island minibus takes us west along a road lined with dry-stone walls to Kilmurvey, and from the visitor centre we walk up to Dún Aonghasa, a prehistoric stone fort built in rings on the edge of a cliff about 100 m above the sea. There is no wall on the seaward side, so the guide keeps the group back from the edge. Lunch is a sit-down meal on the island, then we stop at the seal colony on the north shore before the afternoon ferry back. Ferries in Galway Bay depend on the wind. If ours is cancelled, the day becomes a Connemara coast loop through Roundstone, Dog's Bay and the Sky Road above Clifden, with lunch in Clifden, and you get a refund for the island part.

   Included

   • Return ferry from Rossaveal to Inis Mór
   • Island minibus
   • Dún Aonghasa and its visitor centre
   • Sit-down lunch on Inis Mór
   • The seal colony

   Easier option: Stay in Kilmurvey village or at the visitor centre while the group climbs to the fort.

   More active option: Hire a bike in Kilronan (included) and cycle the island instead of the minibus, or walk with the guide along the limestone cliffs from Dún Aonghasa towards Poll na bPeist, the Worm Hole.

   Free time: Evening free in Oughterard

   Activity: The walk up to Dún Aonghasa is about 900 m long, uphill all the way on rough, uneven rock.

6. Day 6: The Burren, the Cliffs of Moher and the Shannon ferry to Dingle

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

   • Drive about 5.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Dingle
   Day 6 details

   The longest day, about 300 km and five and a half hours at the wheel, which buys three unhurried nights in Dingle. We leave at 8 am and break it into four parts. First the Burren: past Kinvara to Ballyvaughan, then into the grey limestone pavement, where arctic, alpine and Mediterranean flowers grow side by side in the cracks from May into early summer. We walk out to Poulnabrone, a portal tomb more than 5,000 years old, and then on a short guided walk across the pavement. Lunch is a sit-down meal in the Burren. In the afternoon we stop for an hour at the Cliffs of Moher, which reach 214 m; if most of the group saw them on an earlier trip, we vote to spend that hour on a longer Burren walk instead. From Killimer the car ferry crosses the Shannon Estuary in about 20 minutes, plus the wait at the slip, to Tarbert, and we drive on through Tralee to Dingle, arriving about 6:30 pm. Dinner tonight is included, in town.

   Included

   • Poulnabrone portal tomb
   • A guided walk on the Burren limestone
   • Sit-down lunch in the Burren
   • The Cliffs of Moher visitor experience
   • Killimer to Tarbert car ferry across the Shannon Estuary
   • Dinner in Dingle

   Easier option: Stay in the van or the cafe at the Cliffs of Moher and at Poulnabrone; both are short walks from the car park.

   Free time: Late evening free in Dingle

   Activity: The longest drive of the trip, over the 4-hour cap on purpose: it saves a one-night stop between Connemara and Dingle. It is broken by the Burren walk, lunch, the cliffs and the ferry, with a stop at least every 90 minutes.

   

7. Day 7: The Slea Head Drive

   Dingle around Slea Head to Dunquin, Ballyferriter and Gallarus, then back to Dingle

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Dingle
   Day 7 details

   We drive the Slea Head loop clockwise, the direction tour coaches are asked to use, so the sea is on the left the whole way. Past Ventry we stop at the Fahan beehive huts, dry-stone clocháns on the hillside farms, then round Slea Head itself, where the Blasket Islands appear offshore. At Dunquin the Great Blasket Centre tells the story of the island community that lived out there until 1953 and the writers it produced, Peig Sayers and Tomás Ó Criomhthain among them; we give it a full hour. Lunch is a sit-down meal near Dunquin or Ballyferriter. In the afternoon we visit Gallarus Oratory, a boat-shaped church of dry stone that has kept the rain out for a thousand years or more, and the Romanesque church and ogham stone at Kilmalkedar. We are back in Dingle by mid-afternoon for free time in town. In the evening your guide takes anyone who wants to go to a pub with a traditional music session.

   Included

   • The Slea Head Drive with your guide
   • Fahan beehive huts
   • The Great Blasket Centre
   • Sit-down lunch on the peninsula
   • Gallarus Oratory and Kilmalkedar church
   • An evening at a traditional music session with your guide

   Easier option: Every stop is a short walk from the van; stay aboard at any of them.

   Free time: Late afternoon free in Dingle

   Activity: Short walks on uneven ground at the beehive huts and Gallarus.

   

8. Day 8: Great Blasket Island and a free afternoon

   Dingle to Dunquin pier, boat to Great Blasket Island, then back to Dingle

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Dingle
   Day 8 details

   Yesterday you saw the Blaskets from the shore and heard their story; today we go across. From Dunquin pier, down a steep path, a small passenger boat makes the crossing in about 20 minutes to the Great Blasket, which has had no permanent residents since 1953. We spend the morning walking through the ruined village, along green paths above the white strand where seals haul out, and up the island's spine for the view back to the mainland, with your guide telling the island's stories in the places they happened. There is little to buy on the island, so we carry a packed lunch from Dingle, included in the price. We are back in Dingle by early afternoon, which is yours: the harbour, the craft shops, the distillery tour or simply a long lunch. The boats run in season and only in calm seas; if they cannot sail, we walk part of the Dingle Way on the coast west of town instead. The farewell dinner is tonight.

   Included

   • Return boat from Dunquin to Great Blasket Island, season and weather permitting
   • A guided walk on the island
   • Packed lunch on the island
   • Farewell dinner in Dingle

   Optional experiences

   • Dingle Distillery tour, booked and paid on the day

   Easier option: Skip the crossing and take the morning at your own pace in Dingle.

   More active option: Walk the length of the island's ridge path with the guide, about 3 hours there and back.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Dingle

   Activity: The path down to Dunquin pier is steep, and boarding is from a small pier; the island has rough paths and no shelter.

9. Day 9: Inch Beach, Killarney and Shannon Airport

   Dingle to Inch Beach and Killarney, then Shannon Airport

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast
   Day 9 details

   A gentle last morning on the way to the airport. We leave Dingle after breakfast, at about 8 am, and follow the south shore of the peninsula to Inch Beach, a sand spit of about 5 km reaching out into Dingle Bay, for a short walk on the strand. Then on to Killarney for a coffee stop of about half an hour in the town centre, with the mountains of the national park at the end of the street. From Killarney the road runs north through Castleisland and Abbeyfeale to Limerick and Shannon Airport, which we reach at about 12:30 pm. Book a flight leaving after about 3:30 pm: Shannon has United States preclearance, so travellers flying to the US clear US immigration and customs before boarding and need to allow extra time. If your flight is earlier, or you want to stay on, we can arrange a private transfer or an extra night near the airport at cost. Your guide sees you into the terminal.

   Included

   • Inch Beach
   • Coffee stop in Killarney
   • Drop-off at Shannon Airport (SNN)

   Activity: Book a flight leaving Shannon after about 3:30 pm.

   

Wildlife and weather: The Atlantic coast gets rain in every month and wind can cancel the island boats, so each boat day has a land plan. May and June bring long days and the Burren's flowers; seals are on Inis Mór and the Blaskets most of the season.

• Donegal2 nights
• Sligo1 night
• Oughterard2 nights
• Dingle3 nights