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Know before you go

Road trips, driving tips, and insider knowledge from a team that has driven every road on the island.

All Destinations & Attractions Road Trips & Itineraries Things to Do & Experiences Travel Tips & Advice

A long cobbled city square at winter dusk filled with a Christmas market of timber chalets under strings of warm fairy lights, red brick Georgian buildings with slate roofs and chimney stacks around the square, an illuminated Christmas tree and a large Ferris wheel behind the rooftops, wet cobbles reflecting the glow

Dublin Christmas Markets: Which Ones Are Worth the Drive

An honest guide to Dublin's Christmas markets this season: which sites are running, what each one costs, and where the car actually goes, from the Luas park and ride to the RDS, where there is no event parking at all.

A wide Dublin shopping street at dusk in December hung with warm fairy lights and large illuminated chandelier decorations strung between the buildings, wet paving reflecting the glow and Georgian brick shopfronts on both sides

Things to Do & Experiences

Christmas in Dublin: Lights, Markets and Where to Park

An honest guide to Christmas in Dublin: where the lights are and when, what the markets actually are this season, what city-centre and park-and-ride parking costs, and the M50 toll deadline nobody warns you about.

The County Clare coastline in Ireland: tiered grey limestone cliffs falling into a rough Atlantic sea, a headland running north, wind-burnt grass and a low drystone wall under heavy overcast sky

Road Trips & Itineraries

County Clare by Car: The Complete Self-Drive Guide

How to drive County Clare: sequence the county properly, from Bunratty and Ennis to the Cliffs of Moher, Doolin and the Aran Islands, the Burren, Lahinch, Loop Head and East Clare, with real distances and honest trade-offs.

A small Irish lakeside town at the foot of a broad lake with a long many-arched stone bridge over the water, slate-roofed houses and a squat square stone tower among trees, wooded hills behind under overcast Atlantic light

Things to Do & Experiences

Killaloe, Lough Derg and East Clare by Car

Driving East Clare from Killaloe: the new bypass and the pedestrianised old bridge, parking and the town trail, St Flannan's Cathedral, the swim and the forest above Two Mile Gate, and the boat to Inis Cealtra.

A small Irish seaside town wrapped around a horseshoe bay, with a long curved sandy beach, a promenade and seafront terraces below green headlands under soft overcast Atlantic light

Destinations & Attractions

Kilkee and Loop Head by Car: The West Clare Coast

Driving the West Clare coast: parking and the beach at Kilkee, the cliff walk and the Pollock Holes, the road out to the Bridges of Ross and Loop Head Lighthouse, and what is not worth the detour.

A single megalithic portal tomb of two upright limestone slabs carrying one large flat capstone, standing alone on bare cracked limestone pavement in the Burren uplands under an overcast sky

Things to Do & Experiences

Poulnabrone Dolmen and the Burren Uplands by Car

Driving to Poulnabrone Dolmen: where the car park is and what is free, the best hour to beat the coaches, what the excavation found, Caherconnell Stone Fort, Kilfenora and the Burren uplands on the R480.

A small Irish seaside village on the Atlantic with a stone promenade and sea wall along a broad sandy bay, slate-roofed houses behind and a low green headland at one end

Things to Do & Experiences

Lahinch by Car: The Promenade, the Surf and the Golf Links

Driving to Lahinch: where to park and what it costs, the beach and lifeguard rules, how the village became Ireland's surf capital, what Lahinch Golf Club charges visitors, and the ten-minute run to the Cliffs of Moher.

A small Irish town gathered along its river with grey slate rooftops, a modest church tower and a low stone bridge over the water

Destinations & Attractions

Ennis by Car: Parking, the Town Trail and the Road to Shannon

Driving to Ennis: where to actually park and what it costs, the friary and the free town trail, the Market Place car park trap on market mornings, and the twenty-minute run to Shannon.

Cracked grey limestone pavement with hazel scrub, drystone walls and Galway Bay in the distance

Destinations & Attractions

The Burren by Car: The National Park, Aillwee Cave and the Coast Road

Driving the Burren: where the National Park trails actually start, what Aillwee Cave and Caherconnell cost, the R477 coast road under Black Head, and the ground you may not walk on.