Cliffs of MoherSea cliffs run about 14km down the west Clare coast, and the visitor centre is dug into the hillside above Liscannor.Guide
The best places to visit in Ireland, one for every county
Ask for the best places to visit in Ireland and you get the same ten names, most of them on the west coast. This list does something else: one place for every county on the island, the one we would send you to first if you had a single day there. The famous ones are here where they deserve to be, Cliffs of Moher, Giant's Causeway, Newgrange, and so are the ones nobody puts on a poster. Every name links to its own page, and every county has nineteen more behind it.
Munster
Kerry is Killarney National Park, the lakes, the oak woods and the red deer all inside one park you can walk into from the town. Cork is Blarney Castle, and go for the gardens and the rock close as much as the stone. Clare is the Cliffs of Moher, and the trick is the coastal path from Doolin rather than the car park. Limerick is King John's Castle on the river in the middle of the city.
Tipperary is the Rock of Cashel, a whole medieval town of churches on one limestone outcrop over the plain. Waterford is the Waterford Greenway, an old railway line from the city to Dungarvan that is the best day on a bike in the country.
Leinster
Dublin is Trinity College and the Long Room, the Book of Kells below and the long barrel-vaulted library above it. Meath is Newgrange, older than the pyramids and still lit by the winter sun once a year. Wicklow is Glendalough, the monastic valley with its round tower and two lakes. Kilkenny is Kilkenny Castle and the medieval mile that runs from its gate.
Wexford is Hook Lighthouse, one of the oldest working lighthouses in the world, at the end of a long bare peninsula. Kildare is the Irish National Stud and Japanese Gardens. Louth is Carlingford, a medieval village between the mountain and the lough. Offaly is Clonmacnoise, the monastery on the bend of the Shannon.
Laois is the Rock of Dunamase, a ruined fortress on its own hill. Westmeath is Belvedere House, Gardens and Park on Lough Ennell. Longford is the Corlea Trackway Visitor Centre, an Iron Age road dug out of the bog and kept where it was found. Carlow is the Brownshill Portal Dolmen, whose capstone, at over a hundred tonnes, is said to be the heaviest in Europe.
Connacht
Galway is Connemara National Park, with Kylemore Abbey a few minutes down the road. Mayo is Croagh Patrick, the pilgrim mountain over Clew Bay; if the weather is against the climb, Keem Bay on Achill is the beach to head for instead. Sligo is Benbulben, the flat-topped mountain over Yeats's grave at Drumcliffe.
Roscommon is Lough Key Forest and Activity Park, a lake, an island castle and a forest in one estate. Leitrim is Glencar Waterfall, a short walk from the road to a fall that drops into a wooded pool.
Ulster
Antrim is the Giant's Causeway, and the coast road to it is half the point. Donegal is Sliabh Liag (Slieve League), sea cliffs nearly three times the height of Moher with a fraction of the people. Derry is the Derry City Walls, the only complete city walls on the island, walked in under an hour. Down is the Mourne Mountains, granite peaks that come down to the sea at Newcastle.
Fermanagh is the Marble Arch Caves, a river running underground beneath Cuilcagh. Tyrone is the Ulster American Folk Park, the emigrant story told in real buildings moved stone by stone. Armagh is Navan Fort, the royal site of Ulster in the old stories. Cavan is the Cavan Burren Park, a limestone plateau of tombs and walking trails. Monaghan is Rossmore Forest Park, the old estate woods on the edge of the town.
How to use the list
Pick the counties you will pass through and take the one place from each; that is a week's trip with no planning. If you have longer anywhere, every county page lists twenty places ranked, with how to get there, and what is on wherever the listings have it.
The list is ours and it is opinionated. Where a county's best-known name is not the one we picked, that is on purpose: the Ring of Kerry is better known abroad than Killarney National Park, and the park is the better day. Nothing here is paid for.
Questions people ask
What is the number one place to visit in Ireland?
If it has to be one, Killarney National Park: the lakes, the mountains, the woods and a town with everything in it, and it works in rain. The Cliffs of Moher are the most visited natural sight in the Republic, and the Giant's Causeway the most visited in the North.
How many days do you need to see Ireland?
A week covers one coast properly, two weeks the island in a loop. Our first-timer's guide lays out the week; this list is the one-place-a-county version for anyone building their own.
Is Northern Ireland included?
Yes. Six of the thirty-two counties are in the North, and the Giant's Causeway, the Derry City Walls and the Mourne Mountains belong on any list of the best of the island.
The places in this guide
34 places, each with a page of its own.
Cliffs of MoherSea cliffs run about 14km down the west Clare coast, and the visitor centre is dug into the hillside above Liscannor.
Giant's CausewayHexagonal basalt columns step down into the sea below the cliffs north of Bushmills, formed as lava cooled just under 60 million years ago. It became a World Heritage Site in 1986.
NewgrangeThe passage tomb went up around 3200 BC under a mound above the Boyne. You go in on a guided tour that leaves from the visitor centre.
Killarney National ParkLakes, oak woodland and mountain on the edge of the town, with paths that start at the gate.
Blarney CastleThe keep is what most people come for, and the gardens and river walks below it take longer.
King John's CastleA Norman castle on the Shannon at King's Island, with curtain walls, drum towers and an excavated site under the courtyard.
Rock of CashelA limestone outcrop above the town carries a round tower, a Romanesque chapel and a roofless Gothic cathedral.
Waterford GreenwayForty-six kilometres on the old Waterford to Dungarvan railway, over three viaducts and through the Ballyvoyle tunnel.
Trinity College and the Long RoomThe Book of Kells is in the Treasury under the Long Room. Most of the Long Room's books are out while the building is restored.
GlendaloughGlendalough fills a glacial valley, with a round tower, a gateway and two lakes above it.
Kilkenny CastleThe Norman castle stands over the Nore in the middle of the city, with the long gallery inside it and fifty acres of parkland behind.
Hook LighthouseA black and white banded tower at the tip of the Hook peninsula, working since the thirteenth century.More guides
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