Luxury holidays in Ireland
Drive the Wild Atlantic Way to castle hotels, open fires and a pint poured with patience. Tell us your family's county, and we plan the route and every night's stay.
It comes off your final price, and is refunded in full if you don't go ahead.
Ireland
7 days · 6 nights
Glasson → Athlone → Shannonbridge → Terryglass → Mountshannon → Killaloe
You board at Glasson on Lough Ree and visit the world's oldest licensed whiskey distillery before Athlone. The barge drifts through the Callows to Clonmacnoise and down to Lough Derg. Portumna Castle, oysters in Galway and a falconry display end the week at Killaloe.
Millions of people around the world have Irish roots, and arriving often feels like a homecoming. The welcome is real: a fire in the hotel lounge, a pint poured with patience, a stranger in the pub who wants to know which county your family left.
The west is the Ireland of postcards, with the Cliffs of Moher, the limestone of the Burren and the coastal road around the Ring of Kerry. Castle hotels in Clare and Mayo let you sleep inside the history, and Dublin has Trinity College, the Book of Kells and a lively music scene. Newgrange in the Boyne Valley is older than the pyramids at Giza, and the Shannon offers quiet water for a week by barge.
Guided days that show the landscape and the people at their best.
Walk the city of Joyce, Beckett, Yeats, Wilde and Swift, from its great libraries to the pubs and streets that appear in their work.
Fly west from Dublin over the green midlands to the karst of the Burren and the Atlantic cliffs on a private helicopter flight.
Stand on the Atlantic cliffs, then walk the Burren's limestone pavement, where wildflowers and fossils fill the cracks.
Follow the coast road around Dingle, stopping at the golden sands of Inch Strand beneath the mountains.
Walk with a guide past Torc Waterfall to the summit of Torc Mountain for views over the lakes of Killarney.
See Cork's university quarter and Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral, then head out to Blarney Castle and its gardens.
Spend a morning foraging in the woodland with an experienced forager, then sit down to a fireside lunch using what you found.
Kerry and Clare suit coastal drives, while Dublin and the Boyne Valley suit history and city life.
Georgian squares, Trinity College and the pubs of the capital, with Kilkenny's medieval castle a short drive south.
A slow cruise between lakeside villages such as Terryglass and Killaloe, with stone churches and quiet towpaths.
Galway's music and harbour, the Cliffs of Moher and Kenmare's coast in the far south west.
Castle hotels and Shannon barges book early for the long summer evenings, so plan ahead.
Cold, wet and short days on the Atlantic coast.
Quiet and damp, cosy pubs and few visitors.
St Patrick's Day celebrations on the 17th, changeable weather.
Spring green and longer days, the river season begins.
Often the driest month, long light evenings.
The longest days, ideal for the coast and the Shannon.
Warmest month, busy in Dublin and Galway.
Summer festivals and mild days on the water.
Calm and mild, quieter after the summer.
Autumn colour and more rain, river season ends.
Wet and windy with short days in the west.
Christmas in Dublin, wet and cool elsewhere.
Dublin has non-stop flights from Europe, North America and the Gulf, and Shannon puts you closer to the west.
Edinburgh and London are each a short flight across the Irish Sea.
London, Edinburgh and a canal cruise past Loch Ness.
Tell us when you want to go, for how long and who is travelling. Your travel expert replies in writing with a trip shaped around you.
