Day-by-day programme of this 10-day itinerary across The island loop: Dublin, the south-west and the north.
Day 1 â Arrival in Dublin
Landing in Dublin, the green and jovial capital of Ireland: a human-scale city of pubs, live music, colourful Georgian doors and a great literary tradition. A first taste in Temple Bar.
- âïļ Dublin â Aeroporto di Dublino (DUB)
- ð Temple Bar â Temple Bar is Dublin's liveliest district: cobbled lanes, pubs with red and yellow facades and live traditional Irish music (trad) at all hours. Touristy and pricey, it is nonetheless the city's festive soul, where you enjoy your first pint of Guinness to the sound of a fiddle and a bodhran. All around, Georgian doors and the bridges over the river Liffey. You dine here and sleep in the centre.
- ðĻ Wellington Temple Bar â Centro, Dublin
Day 2 â Literary Dublin
A day among Dublin's symbols: the Trinity College library with the Book of Kells, the castle, the cathedrals and the Guinness brewery, the national icon.
- ð Trinity College â Trinity College, Ireland's oldest university (1592), holds two treasures in its Old Library: the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript of the Gospels from around 800 AD of hypnotic beauty, and the spectacular Long Room, a 65-metre gallery lined with ancient volumes that looks straight out of a film. You then stroll the elegant Georgian streets towards the castle. In the afternoon, the Guinness.
- ð Dublin Castle â Dublin Castle, for centuries the seat of British power in Ireland, is today a complex of medieval and Georgian buildings with sumptuous State Apartments. All around, the old town with the two cathedrals (Christ Church and St Patrick) and the medieval quarter. You lunch in a historic pub with an Irish stew. In the afternoon you reach the Guinness brewery.
- ðŊ Guinness Storehouse â The Guinness Storehouse, in the heart of the old St James's Gate brewery, tells over seven floors the story of the world's most famous stout, born in Dublin in 1759. You discover the brewing process and rise to the Gravity Bar, the panoramic bar at the top where you enjoy a perfect pint with a 360-degree view of the city. An unmissable experience. You dine among the pubs and return to the hotel.
Day 3 â Kilkenny and the Rock of Cashel
Southwest: the medieval city of Kilkenny with its castle, the spectacular Rock of Cashel on its crag, then to Cork, Ireland's second city.
- ð Kilkenny Castle â Leaving Dublin, the first stop is Kilkenny, a delightful medieval town on the river Nore: it is dominated by the Castle, a 12th-century Norman residence with its gardens, and the centre is a maze of lanes (the 'Medieval Mile') with shops, pubs and St Canice's cathedral. You continue to the Rock of Cashel.
- ð Rock of Cashel â The Rock of Cashel is one of Ireland's most evocative images: a cluster of medieval buildings - cathedral, round tower, Romanesque chapel - perched on a spur of rock dominating the green Tipperary plain. It was the seat of the kings of Munster and, according to legend, here St Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Trinity. Often wrapped in mist, it is magical. You continue to Cork.
- ðĻ The Metropole Hotel Cork â Centro, Cork
Day 4 â From Cork to Killarney
Blarney Castle with its stone of eloquence, the pretty port of Kinsale and arrival in Killarney, gateway to the national park and the Ring of Kerry.
- ð Blarney Castle â Blarney Castle, a 15th-century fortress set in romantic gardens, is famous for the Blarney Stone: legend has it that kissing it (leaning back over the battlements) bestows eloquence. Beyond the stone, the gardens are worth it with their druidic corners and the witch's cave. You continue to the coast, to Kinsale.
- ð Kinsale â Kinsale is one of Ireland's prettiest villages: a fishing harbour with brightly coloured houses, renowned seafood restaurants (it is the country's gastronomic capital) and a history of naval battles. You lunch on the freshest seafood overlooking the water. Then you drive west, into the heart of Kerry, to Killarney.
- ðĻ Eviston House Hotel â Centro, Killarney
Day 5 â The Ring of Kerry
One of the most beautiful scenic drives in Europe: the Ring of Kerry, a coastal loop among mountains, lakes, wild beaches and villages, in the heart of Killarney National Park.
- ð Killarney National Park â You begin with Killarney National Park: mirror lakes, forests, the Torc waterfall and the stately Muckross House with its garden. It is the realm of deer and horse-drawn carts (jaunting cars). From here starts the scenic loop of the Ring of Kerry.
- ð Ring of Kerry â The Ring of Kerry is a 170 km loop along the Iveragh peninsula: you drive among mountain passes like Moll's Gap and Ladies View, colourful villages (Sneem, Waterville), windswept beaches and glimpses of the ocean and the Skellig islands on the horizon. Every bend offers a panorama, among sheep and dry-stone walls. A full day of slow driving and stops. You return to Killarney for the night.
Day 6 â Dingle and the Cliffs of Moher
The wild Dingle peninsula with the Slea Head Drive and then the icon of Ireland: the Cliffs of Moher, sheer above the Atlantic, on the way to Galway.
- ð Slea Head Drive â The Dingle peninsula, the westernmost in Ireland, is a concentrate of its wild beauty: the Slea Head Drive skirts sheer cliffs, golden beaches, ancient forts and stone huts (clochan), with the Blasket Islands offshore. It is one of the most spectacular roads of the Wild Atlantic Way, in a Gaelic-speaking area. You lunch in the pretty port of Dingle, then head up the coast to the Cliffs of Moher.
- ð Cliffs of Moher â The Cliffs of Moher are the symbolic image of Ireland: a wall of rock plunging 214 metres into the Atlantic for eight kilometres, battered by wind and waves, home to thousands of seabirds (puffins in spring). From O'Brien's Tower and the clifftop paths the view is breathtaking, especially at sunset. You then cross the lunar landscape of the Burren towards Galway.
- ðĻ Victoria Hotel Galway â Centro, Galway
Day 7 â Galway and Connemara
A day between lively Galway and the wild landscapes of Connemara: mountains, bogs, lakes and Kylemore Abbey mirrored on the water.
- ð Galway â Galway is a city to live: the Latin Quarter with its pubs and street musicians, the harbour, the long Salthill beach and a contagious energy that makes it the cultural capital of the west. You have breakfast among the cafes and set off for Connemara, the wildest and most romantic region in Ireland.
- ð Kylemore Abbey â Connemara is an epic expanse of mountains (the Twelve Bens), rust-coloured bogs, lakes and fishing villages, where Gaelic is still spoken. Its jewel is Kylemore Abbey, a Victorian neo-Gothic castle mirrored in a lake at the foot of the mountain, with a splendid walled Victorian garden. You drive at leisure among postcard panoramas. You return to Galway for the evening.
Day 8 â The Giant's Causeway
A long drive north to Northern Ireland (United Kingdom): the Giant's Causeway, a geological marvel of basalt columns, and arrival in Belfast.
- âïļ Galway â Giant's Causeway â Giant's Causeway, Bushmills
- ð Giant's Causeway â The Giant's Causeway, a UNESCO site, is a geological marvel: about 40,000 hexagonal basalt columns, formed by the cooling of lava 60 million years ago, descending in steps into the sea like a causeway. Legend attributes it to the giant Finn McCool. You walk among the wave-battered columns. Nearby, the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge and the Game of Thrones Dark Hedges. You continue to Belfast.
- ðĻ Premier Inn Belfast City Cathedral Quarter â Centro, Belfast
Day 9 â Belfast and back to Dublin
Belfast, where the Titanic was built, between the immersive museum and the murals of recent history, then the return to Dublin along the east coast.
- ð Titanic Belfast â Belfast is inextricably linked to the Titanic, built in its Harland & Wolff shipyards. The Titanic Belfast museum, in a bow-shaped building, tells in an immersive way of its construction, launch and tragic sinking. The city also offers the famous political murals of Falls Road and Shankill, witnesses of the 'Troubles', visitable by black cab. An intense, surprising city. In the afternoon you return towards Dublin.
- âïļ Belfast â Dublin â Dublin
- ðĻ Wellington Temple Bar â Centro, Dublin
Day 10 â Departure from Dublin
Return flight from Dublin. End of the tour of the emerald isle.
- âïļ Dublin â Aeroporto di Milano Malpensa (MXP)
