Roadtrip Ireland: Guinness, Quaint Villages & Breath-taking Scenery

Galway: Guinness, Takeaways & Damp Hostel Beds

Having been to Dublin a couple of times before, I felt like I hadn’t visited the legendary ‘real Ireland’, that so many travellers before me had raved about, and so with a friend, booked a trip to visit the West Coast to see what all the fuss was about.

Landing at Shannon Airport, we grabbed a hire care and headed into the small city of Galway. We dropped our bags at a hostel and headed straight out to Eyre Square, the city’s main square, for our first few pints of Guinness. I quickly concluded – it’s true what they say, Guinness is better in Ireland.

Connemara: Sunshine, Seafood Chowder & Rugged Coastlines

The first stop on this epic road trip was a drive the Galway coastline through some quaint little villages, taking in Spiddal, Carraroe, and onwards to Roundstone.

The weather was glorious, the scenery ridiculously beautiful and rugged, and the pint of Smithwick’s plus seafood chowder in the arty village of Roundstone hitting the spot.

We continued to Clifden – another tiny village, before tackling the “Sky Road” – a 17km loop of more rugged coastline, rolling hills and Atlantic views. One of Ireland’s best drives, it was breath-taking at times, and it appeared that we had it all to ourselves as hardly saw another car.

From there we pushed on, driving past the Twelve Bens mountain range and Lough Corrib, (Lake Corrib – Ireland’s second largest lake), eventually looping back through Galway and into County Clare, stopping at a cute B&B in tiny Ballyvaughan, for the night.

The Burren, Cliffs of Moher & Good Friday Pain

The next day, we drove through the stark, lunar‑like landscape of The Burren to the Cliffs of Moher. Despite the crowds, the cliffs were spectacular – 200 metres straight down into the Atlantic – stood like giants rising from the ocean protecting the land from the fierce storms that the Atlantic can throw up.

The quaintness of the little villages did not stop, as we next stopped at Doolin – a tiny village with confusing signage. Irish road signs are a national sport – 20 signs for B&Bs, but none for the actual place you’re trying to reach. But we found it and brief exploration on foot – apart from several pubs, there wasn’t much else going on.

This was becoming a regular theme – beautiful village, no-one much around but several pubs. It sometimes felt there were more pubs than houses. Which may well be why the Irish drink so much – they practically live in pubs.

We continued to Lahinch, where we found a surprise beach and even more surprisingly given our feeling of being so remote, was packed with people – thanks primarily to a freak West-coast Ireland 23‑degree day. Clearly people were out in force in case this one day was “The Summer”

In that heat, we needed a pint – but we hadn’t counted on Ireland being completely dry on Good Friday. Everything was shut. It was a shock that a country so in love with alcohol would have a day where it was not physically possible to buy any, anywhere. Painful.

We drove through Ennis to Bunratty Castle, hoping to go include and get some solid history under our belts from this 15^th Century masterpiece – only to find that too was closed.

And by now, not only thirsty, but we were hungry but every time we stopped anywhere, everywhere was closed.

Starving, we pushed on to Limerick, wandered the city, and finally found a café and inhaled food just as the thought of eating each other limbs had entered our minds.

That’s if someone else hadn’t hacked off our limbs before we even had a c hance – Limerick is known as “stab-city” due to the violent crime between gangs in the city.

It’s hard to imagine Ireland having violence when all you hear is that adorable accent and people with rosy cheeks and a Guinness in hand, but as the waitress warned me to put my belongings back in my bag and keep my bag tight to me, it was clear, this city was a bit rough.

Surviving Limerick, we headed on to Tralee in County Kerry to stay for the night. Tralee, with 25,000 people was a sizeable town compared to what we had been witnessing but it was a brief stop for the night before moving on to more scenic adventures.

Dingle Peninsula: Stunning Passes, Harbours & the fun of the Irish

We drove the Dingle Peninsula via the narrow, dramatic Connor Pass, then looped around Slea Head and Dunmore Head – the best scenery in Ireland in we were told. It was certainly the best we had seen on this trip. Totally jaw-dropping. It made Galway’s coast, which had been spectacular, look like a poor little brother – as rolling hills, wild farm land and empty sandy beaches dotted the landscape all around,

We wandered Dingle harbour, then headed to Glenbeigh for yet another delicious seafood chowder and the obligatory pint.

Afterwards we tackled the Ring of Kerry – a 179km tourist circular loop taking in some of Ireland’s most stunning coastal scenery. Frist stop was Waterville for photos of yet another village with what seemed like a population of 5 but contained 20 pubs. We then headed to Killarney and for the first time on this trip, we actually hit some traffic – it was a shock after roaming so free for so long on so many quiet winding roads to finally reach some civilisation.

But we didn’t stay long in the hustle and bustle we headed to Killarney National Park, and just as we thought it couldn’t get any more beautiful, we hit the most stunning scenery of the trip – the Muckross Lakes area – 3 lakes of outstanding natural beauty – Unreal.

Back in Killarney, it was rammed. We had a great night out on the town – many bars were heaving and we joined in the fun. Another fact – the Irish sure know how to have fun.

Kinsale & Kenmare: Forts & One Perfect Irish Town

The next morning, we drove to the historic port village of Kinsale, just outside of Cork, as we now reached the Southern Coast. We wandered around it’s colourful streets with houses and shops painted in bright pastel colours – giving Havana in Cuba a run for its money.

We drove up to the fort for views over Kinsale harbour, then headed to the small town of Kenmare – the surprise gem of the trip. A gorgeous little town full of restaurants and pubs.

In the evening, we went in O’Connor’s – a proper old‑man pub – sinking pints of Guinness and great conversation with the ever-so-friendly locals. Bliss.

Homeward Bound

If ever there were a drive to an airport that was surrounded by stunning scenery, this had to be it. Just when we thought the trip was over, we were treated to more dramatic scenery through Killarney to Kerry Airport.

I had seen what the fuss was all about. Truly breath-taking scenery. Villages oozing character and charm. Unbelievably friendly locals. Good food and of course incredibly Guinness. All blessed in sunshine. An epic trip, never to be forgotten.