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V.2 Wendy Perrin - Tobart & Steingart Ireland Trip
Daren & Susan Tobert and Bruce & Anna Steingart
Monday 25th August – Tuesday 2nd September 2025
Monday 25th August – Tuesday 2nd September 2025
Picturesque coastal towns and villages, green pastoral fields, soaring cliffs, wild barren landscapes, the crash of the ocean, the laugh of a local. Ireland is romantic, and authentic, a home away from home where both old and modern seem to cohabit seamlessly on a small island in the middle of the sea. Packed with history and tradition your days are spent exploring the island of Ireland’s famous and off-the-beaten-track sites of natural, cultural and political interest. A world-renowned food scene means your evenings are spent dining in style and with the promise of a pub just around the corner, music and laughter are never far away. Your trip to Ireland will surprise and delight you but the people of Ireland will stay with you, long after your journey has taken you home.
Docking in Dublin Port this morning, your guide will be waiting for you as you disembark, and together you will make the journey west, to Galway County and to the wild Connemara region.
En route, we recommend a stop at the ancient monastic site of Clonmacnoise. St Ciarán founded his monastery on the banks of the River Shannon in the 6th Century. The monastery flourished and became a great seat of learning, a University of its time with students from all over Europe. Today the ruins include a Cathedral, two round towers, three high crosses, nine Churches and over 700 Early Christian grave slabs.
As we continue to the coastal regions, feast your eyes upon the breathtaking shores of one of Ireland’s only three fjords before heading to the expanses of Connemara. Once described as “a savage beauty” by author Oscar Wilde, explore the wild, windswept region.
Check into Ballynahinch Castle Hotel, once owned by an Indian Raj, this traditional hunting lodge has seen presidents and dignitaries grace its halls and rooms for generations. Today, surrounded by thousands of acres of estate land and forests, Ballynahinch boasts fine dining, a traditional pub, on-site fly fishing and a remote escape in the wilds of Connemara.
Your guide will join you for dinner this evening as you raise a glass to your adventure ahead.
*estimated drive distance Dublin to Connemara – 290Km about 3.5/4 hours total drive time
Overnight: Connemmara | Ballynahinch Castle Hotel
Room Type: 2 x Classic Riverside
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
We take a drive through the windswept Twelve Bens Mountain Range to Killary, Ireland’s only fjord where we visit a local sheep farm for a private sheepdog demo in this wild and remote landscape. watch the magnificent and intelligent collies work the sheep from mountainside to pen with only the calls and commands of its owner to follow.
Enjoy some tea and cake with Tom the farmer and chat about rural life in Ireland. Later this afternoon, we walk an abandoned famine route along the southern shoreline of the fjord and your guide helps you understand the life of locals during this time, why emigration was the only option to survival and just how cut off communities were.
Overnight: Connemmara | Ballynahinch Castle Hotel
Room Type: 2 x Classic Riverside
Meals Included: Breakfast and Lunch
Today we leave behind the wilds of Connemara, making our way farther south to Clare.
En route, we take the opportunity to stop in Galway City, a charming Medieval-era city with a thriving arts and food scene. Joining a couple of local food aficionados, you’ll sample some of Galway’s hidden foodie gems from scones and jam to oysters, cheeses to homemade breads and jams.
This evening we take advantage of a quiet evening to visit The Cliffs of Moher after the crowds of the day have departed. Standing over 800-foot tall, the cliffs are home to a myriad of seabirds and a hive of activity.
This evening join a local pub landlady with one of Ireland’s largest private whiskey collections for a unique tasting experience.
Check into your small boutique hotel this evening in a scheduled part of the countryside with an award-winning tasting menu.
*estimated drive distance and time Connemara to Clare- 140km /2.5 hours
Overnight: Ballyvaughan | Gregans Castle
Room Type: 2 x Classic Rooms
Meals Included: Breakfast and Lunch
It’s hard to resist the allure of one of the many islands that dot the Irish coastline and today you will take to the water and ferry to The Aran Islands. The history of these islands goes back millennia and today Gaelic is still the daily spoken language of the inhabitants.
The Aran islands seem to defy their size by all they have to offer: breathtaking scenery, medieval castles, cliffs and prehistoric forts are all to be found on this little group of islands. Inis Mór, the largest of the three islands, is your destination today where you will meet two brothers who offer a unique off road tour of the islands.
Overnight: Ballyvaughan | Gregans Castle
Room Type: 2 x Classic rooms
Meals Included: Breakfast and Lunch
A bit of an early set-off time this morning we leave Clare and head south. Today most of you will be playing golf at Dooks with tee-off times for 11:55 and anyone not golfing is welcome to explore with the guide or go ahead to Sheen Falls Lodge.
Following your game, we cross the mouth of the river Shannon and enter ‘The kingdom’ otherwise known as Kerry. As we journey, our route takes us through lush countryside with stunning views around every corner.
Your 5-star hotel, Sheel Falls sits in the heart of the countryside, close to the little market town of Kenmare with some fantastic restaurant options both onsite and in Kenmare, you are in for a culinary treat this evening.
*Please note, that golf is not included but I suggest today is a good day if you are planning to look at tee times.
*estimated drive distance/ time – 215km/ 3.5 hours
Overnight: Sheen Falls Lodge
Room Type: 2 x Deluxe Rooms
Meals Included: Breakfast and Lunch
Killarney National Park is the most famous of Ireland’s national parks – and with good reason, as it is flourishing with breathtaking mountains, lakes and waterfalls. Historic manor houses and abbeys make for an interesting visit but Killarney is best explored via a private boat trip across the lake with a boatman who’s furry friends join him daily. Join Dux on a calm boat tour across the lakes of Killarney surrounded by the mountains on all sides.
Before leaving Killarney we suggest you step back into the past on Muckross Traditional Farms and visit a very different Ireland – the Ireland of the 1930s and 1940s. Then, a trip to the well was still a daily chore for the housewife and electricity had yet to be introduced to the countryside.
Overnight: Sheen Falls Lodge
Room Type: 2 x Deluxe Rooms
Meals Included: Breakfast and Lunch
Today you will travel to the southern shores of the Iveragh peninsula, also known as The Ring of Kerry, where you will meet one of our favourite characters. A fisherman, foraging expert, storyteller and a true Irish gent, John, will take you on a wander along the shoreline learning about life on Ireland’s west coast all the while regaling you with tales of characters from the region, from lonely monks to 18th century civil rights activists to mythical heroes.
Take some time today to tour The Ring of Kerry stopping at picturesque bays and harbours and points of interest along the way before returning to your hotel in Kerry this evening.
Your guide will join you again this evening for dinner, toasting your week in Ireland and final night together.
Overnight: Sheen Falls Lodge
Room Type: 2 x Deluxe Rooms
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Leaving Kerry and the wild Atlantic coastline behind you this morning we make our way back to Dublin. Your guide will leave you at your hotel to enjoy a final night in Ireland.
Arriving early afternoon there is time to check in and grab a bite to eat before your private walking tour with a local guide through the city’s vibrant streets. With its mix of 1,000 years of architecture from the mediaeval to Georgian to modern, Dublin is a beautiful blend of traditional and contemporary surroundings. Your guide is a historian who will bring the city to life with colourful tales of life in the city in times gone by.
This evening, enjoy dinner at one of Dublin’s many award-winning restaurants before departing tomorrow.
*estimates drive distance/ time – 350km/ 4 hours
Overnight: Dublin | The Merrion Hotel
Room Type: 2 x Garden Queen
Meals Included: Breakfast
A private airport transfer will take you from your city centre hotel to Dublin airport. Waving farewell for now we hope you are taking with you special memories and wonderful stories of your explorations.
Meals Included: Breakfast
Alternative rooms including upgrades are available upon request
The per person cost of the above itinerary is €8,255 based on four people sharing two rooms.
