Join your Travel Director for a welcome dinner in Dublin and meet your fellow travellers over an evening meal. The hosted gathering offers a relaxed setting for conversation and a personal introduction to the group.

Rather than a routine dining stop, this shared occasion brings everyone together at the start of their Irish travels. Settle into the city’s sociable atmosphere while getting to know the people who will share the journey.

Pause to photograph the Rock of Cashel, a dramatic collection of medieval buildings rising above the County Tipperary countryside. Take in the view of its towers and stone walls from a vantage point that shows how commanding the site is.

Long associated with the kings of Munster and Irish religious history, the rock remains one of the country’s most recognisable historic silhouettes. This is a viewing and photo stop, not an interior visit.

Cross the Shannon Estuary by ferry and take in the broad waters where Ireland’s longest river meets the Atlantic. The open-air perspective offers a distinctive way to experience the estuary landscape between Counties Kerry and Clare.

As you pass sites linked to smuggling and nineteenth-century emigration, the crossing carries more than scenic interest. It offers a glimpse of a waterway that has long shaped movement, livelihoods and departure from Ireland’s west coast.

Visit Galway Cathedral in the City of Tribes and admire its Renaissance-style dome and rose-shaped window. Step inside to see how this imposing church brings a distinctive presence to Galway’s cityscape.

Completed in the twentieth century, it is regarded as Ireland’s last great stone cathedral. Its scale and architectural details offer a striking contrast to the medieval associations of many of the country’s older religious landmarks.

Insight Vacations

• 4 Dinner (D)
• 7 Breakfast (B)

• Dublin: A stunning combination of cobblestone walkways, emerald-green lawns and 18th-century architectural gems, Trinity College is one of Europe’s elite universities and counts poet Oscar Wilde among its alumni. See the enchanting college campus and discover insights into its impressive history. Enjoy access to view the famous Book of Kells, an exquisite manuscript of the four gospels of the Christian New Testament, renowned for the intricacy, detail and majesty of the illustrations.

• Business class coach with extended leg room
• Top-rated dining, from farm-to-table to local restaurants
• 4 & 5-star stays

Discover Dublin on a city tour with a Local Expert, travelling beside the River Liffey to see the Custom House, Guinness Storehouse, Christ Church Cathedral and St Patrick’s Cathedral. Hear how the city’s streets and buildings reflect more than a thousand years of history.

From the riverfront’s grand civic architecture to its medieval churches, this guided introduction reveals the layers of a capital shaped by faith, trade and Irish cultural life.

Walk through the cobbled courtyards of Trinity College Dublin and enjoy access to view the Book of Kells, a richly illustrated manuscript of the Christian Gospels dating from around the ninth century. Explore a university campus known for its historic buildings and green spaces.

The manuscript’s intricate decoration offers a close encounter with Ireland’s early medieval scholarship, while the college grounds evoke centuries of learning in the heart of the city.

Choose to visit Blarney Castle and kiss the Blarney Stone, the limestone block traditionally said to grant the gift of eloquence. Explore the setting of this celebrated Irish custom and take your turn at a ritual that has drawn visitors for generations.

The castle’s imposing stonework gives the legend a memorable medieval backdrop. This is one of two included Blarney experiences; travellers choose it instead of the guided gardens tour.

Choose a guided walk through Blarney Gardens with a senior gardener, whose knowledge brings the castle estate’s planting and natural features into focus. Discover rare trees in the arboretum, rock formations associated with Druid lore, and the Bog Garden’s centuries-old yew trees.

Expert commentary turns a garden stroll into a closer look at how horticulture, landscape and local storytelling meet. This is one of two included Blarney experiences, offered instead of the castle and stone visit.

Explore Killarney on a gentle orientation with your Travel Director, hearing the town’s history as you take in its shopfronts, church spires and mountain backdrop. This guided introduction helps place the lakeside town within its County Kerry setting.

Killarney has long welcomed travellers drawn to the nearby lakes and hills. Its compact streets and lively local character offer a grounded introduction to the landscapes for which this part of Ireland is known.

Travel the Ring of Kerry, the celebrated circular route around the Iveragh Peninsula, for sweeping views of mountains, lakelands and the Atlantic coast. Watch the scenery shift between rocky shoreline, beaches, sheep-dotted fields and small villages.

This roughly 111-mile route reveals the varied terrain of southwest Ireland in a single scenic experience. Its appeal lies in the meeting of sea and mountains, with historic settlements set among the peninsula’s open landscapes.

Join John of Atlantic Irish Seaweed for a shore foraging walk along the Ring of Kerry coast. Learn about seaweed and the family-run operation’s approach to using marine resources while protecting the fragile Atlantic shoreline.

This locally led experience connects coastal traditions with present-day conservation. Hear how education and sustainable practices can help safeguard the habitats beneath the tide, giving the wild seascape a new ecological dimension.

Walk beside the Cliffs of Moher and look out over the Atlantic from heights reaching approximately 214 metres. Visit the exhibition centre, and hear your Travel Director’s insights into the cliffs’ geology, history and wildlife.

Part of the Wild Atlantic Way, these sheer rock faces offer nesting places for seabirds and a powerful view of the ocean’s force. The combination of coastal walk and exhibition adds context to one of Ireland’s defining landscapes.

Explore the Connemara landscape, where rivers, lakes and quiet hills define a rugged part of County Galway. Take in the scenery around Connemara National Park as the journey reveals the region’s open terrain and mountain views.

Connemara’s character comes from its close-knit pattern of water, stone and upland. This scenic exploration gives you a sense of the remote setting that has shaped local life and makes the region distinct from Ireland’s gentler farmland.

Visit Kylemore Abbey, a turreted neo-Gothic landmark beside a Connemara mountainside. Discover the story of the nineteenth-century residence commissioned by Mitchell Henry and its later life as a home for Benedictine nuns who fled Belgium during the First World War.

The estate’s Victorian Walled Garden and church add to its storybook appearance. Together, they reveal an unexpected meeting of Victorian ambition, monastic life and Connemara’s remote natural setting.

Experience a traditional piper welcome at the Ashford estate near Cong, following the musician along the drive to The Lodge at Ashford Castle. The sound of the pipes gives this hosted arrival the character of a ceremony rather than an ordinary check-in.

Piping has long marked significant occasions and honoured guests in Irish tradition. Here, its stirring music connects the estate’s sense of occasion with a cultural custom that remains immediately recognisable.

Dine in a private room at The Lodge at Ashford Castle near Cong, enjoying a seasonal farm-to-table menu curated by Executive Chef Jonathan Keane. Dishes draw on organic produce grown on the estate and ingredients from artisan suppliers.

This hosted dinner places Ireland’s regional produce at the centre of the experience. The private setting and close connection to local growers make it a culinary occasion rooted in the surrounding landscape, not simply an evening meal.