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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

Downpatrick Head in County Mayo, Ireland, a flat topped headland of layered limestone cliffs with the detached Dún Briste sea stack standing offshore in the Atlantic

Downpatrick Head and the Ceide Fields by Car: North Mayo's Edge

Driving north Mayo: Dún Briste and the Downpatrick Head loop, the blowhole, the church ruins and the ÉIRE 64 wartime marker, Céide Fields and its visitor centre, Killala, the abbeys on the way and the cliffs at Benwee Head.

Main Street in Cong, County Mayo, Ireland, with low stone and rendered houses, the ruined medieval abbey at the end of the street and the river crossing under a low stone bridge

Destinations & Attractions

Cong and Ashford Castle by Car: The Quiet Man Country

Driving Cong and Ashford Castle: what you can actually walk into at the castle, parking in the village, Cong Abbey and the monk's fishing house, the Quiet Man locations that are and are not here, the dry canal, the Guinness Tower and the Lough Corrib cruise to Inchagoill.

Killary Harbour in County Galway, Ireland's only fjord, a long dark inlet running between steep mountain walls with lines of black mussel buoys on the still water and low cloud over Mweelrea

Destinations & Attractions

Leenane and Killary Harbour by Car: Ireland's Only Fjord

Driving Killary Harbour and Leenane: where to park for the best fjord view, the N59 versus the R335, Aasleagh Falls, the Doolough valley and its 1849 memorial, Mweelrea, the mussel lines, sheep on the road, and honest times for every stop.

The quartzite summit ridge of Diamond Hill breaking through heather and blanket bog in Connemara, with the peaks of the Twelve Bens behind and Atlantic light

Destinations & Attractions

Connemara National Park by Car: Diamond Hill and the Visitor Centre

Driving to Connemara National Park near Letterfrack: where to park, what is free, the four waymarked trails ranked honestly, honest times for Diamond Hill, the boardwalk and quartzite ridge, midges, dogs and the history you walk past.

The conical quartzite mountain of Croagh Patrick rising above green farmland and stone walls at Murrisk in County Mayo, with Clew Bay behind

Things to Do & Experiences

Croagh Patrick by Car: Parking, the Climb and the Reek Sunday Crowds

Driving to Croagh Patrick in County Mayo: where to park at Murrisk, honest climb times, the loose quartzite cone, the three pilgrim stations, Reek Sunday crowds, private-land access and what to drive instead when the cloud is down.

A large Victorian neo-Gothic castle of grey stone with castellated turrets at the foot of a green mountain, mirrored in the still dark water of a Connemara lake

Destinations & Attractions

Kylemore Abbey by Car: Parking, Timing and the Victorian Walled Garden

Driving to Kylemore Abbey in Connemara: free parking outside the gates, the shuttle and lakeshore walk out to the six-acre Victorian walled garden, the neo-Gothic church and mausoleum, opening hours, and how to time your visit around the coach tours.

The Carrow Beg river running through the middle of a Georgian Irish town, with stone bridges, painted townhouses and a mountain rising behind

Destinations & Attractions

Westport by Car: Parking, the Greenway and Croagh Patrick

Westport is Ireland's best-planned town and the natural base for west Mayo. Where to park, the Great Western Greenway, Croagh Patrick and Reek Sunday, the famine memorial at Murrisk, Clew Bay and the drive through the Doolough valley.

A cliff-top road on an Irish Atlantic island with dark sea cliffs, a rocky cove and a stone wall along the edge

Destinations & Attractions

Achill Island by Car: Keel, Keem Bay and the Atlantic End

Achill is Ireland's largest island and the only one you drive onto. The Atlantic Drive, Keel and Keem Bay, the Deserted Village, where the parking runs out in summer, and how to fill a day on the island without spending it in the car.

An empty road curving along the Atlantic coast of Ireland at golden hour with stone walls and green fields

Travel Tips & Advice

Ireland Travel Tips for First-Timers: What Nobody Tells You Before You Drive

The practical first-trip guide to Ireland: why the car decides the itinerary, what the weather will do, the paperwork that stops trips at the desk, how the roads actually work, what things cost and the social rules nobody explains.