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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

Grey limestone medieval Irish tower house castle with battlements rising above trees in a County Clare village

Bunratty Castle and Folk Park by Car

Driving to Bunratty Castle and Folk Park: the Exit 6 turn off the N18, the free car park, the 4pm castle cut-off, the 26-acre Folk Park, the banquet, and the ground that is off limits.

Atlantic island landscape in the Aran Islands with pale limestone pavement divided by dry stone walls into small green fields beside the sea

Destinations & Attractions

Aran Islands by Car and Ferry: Inishmore, Inisheer and the Doolin Crossing

Getting to the Aran Islands by car and ferry: why there is no car ferry, Doolin versus Rossaveel, pier parking, Dún Aonghasa, Inis Oírr, Inis Meáin and the private ground you cannot walk.

Tall vertical sea cliffs of grey limestone dropping sheer into the Atlantic in County Clare, with a green cliff top plateau and evening light on the rock face

Destinations & Attractions

Cliffs of Moher by Car: Parking, Timing and the Visitor Centre

Driving to the Cliffs of Moher: where the car park is, why the fee is the ticket, how to time your visit, what is open on the coastal walk, and the birds on the great stack.

A wide elevated view over the island-studded waters of Clew Bay in County Mayo, Ireland, with Croagh Patrick rising on the right under soft overcast light

Road Trips & Itineraries

County Mayo and Connemara by Car: The Complete Self-Drive Guide

A five-day self-drive through County Mayo and Connemara: Westport and Clew Bay, Achill and Keem Bay, the Ceide Fields and Downpatrick Head, Knock and Cong, Kylemore Abbey, Connemara National Park and the Killary fjord.

A wide empty Atlantic beach of pale golden sand curving into Killala Bay in the west of Ireland, backed by low grassy dunes with marram grass and sea thrift at sunset

Destinations & Attractions

Enniscrone and the Sligo to Mayo Coast by Car

Driving the Sligo to Mayo coast by car: Enniscrone beach and Kilcullen's Seaweed Baths, Easkey's reef breaks and Roslee Castle, the coast road under the Ox Mountains, Ballina and Killala's 1798 round tower.

The pilgrimage grounds at Knock in County Mayo, Ireland, with the modern basilica with its curved roof standing behind a broad open plaza and grass verges

Things to Do & Experiences

Knock Shrine and Ballintubber Abbey by Car: Mayo's Pilgrim Roads

Driving Mayo's pilgrim roads: the Knock apparition of 1879, the basilica and the Apparition Chapel, free parking and museum times at Knock, Ballintubber Abbey and its eight hundred years of Mass, and the Tochar Phadraig.

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

Destinations & Attractions

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.