The capital
Most trips begin in Dublin, a compact Georgian city of museums, literary history, parks and famous pubs, with the sea and the Wicklow Mountains close by. Give it three nights, and use it as a base for day trips to Glendalough, Howth and the ancient tombs of Newgrange.
The west
Across the country, Galway and Connemara bring you to the most musical city in Ireland and a landscape of bog, lakes, mountains and stone walls that runs to the Atlantic. The Aran Islands lie just offshore. South of Galway, Clare and the Cliffs of Moher combine the country's most visited natural sight with the strange limestone of the Burren and the trad music village of Doolin.
The south west
Killarney and Kerry is the Ireland of postcards: lakes, oak woods and the highest mountains on the island, with the Ring of Kerry, the Dingle Peninsula and the island monastery of Skellig Michael within reach.
The south
Cork is Ireland's second city and its food capital, built around the English Market, with Cobh, Blarney, Kinsale and the coves of West Cork nearby.
Putting it together
A classic loop runs Dublin, Galway, Clare, Kerry, Cork and back to Dublin in ten days to two weeks. Trains link Dublin with Galway, Cork and Killarney, and coaches and tours fill the gaps along the coast. With only a week, pair Dublin with one region of the west rather than racing round the whole island. Our places to visit list and the free trip planner help you choose.