October can be one of the best times to visit and experience Ireland: There's still plenty of daylight and the crowds have all vanished. The autumn colors supply an additional luster to the Irish scenery. There's no better time to hit the road into the spectacular Northwest of Ireland, along the Wild Atlantic War through Counties Mayo, Sligo, and Donegal.
Traveling by private coach, this small-group (6-10 maximum) tour will take you off the beaten- track into hidden Ireland that few visitors get to see.
Fri 6th Oct - Sun 15th Oct 2023
Per person double occupancy: $4000.00
Single supplement: $600.00
For booking and inquiries, contact us at info@uniqueirishtours.com.
Pickup at Dublin Airport for the drive to the charming town of Westport in County Mayo, a great hub to explore Connemara and Achill Island. On Clewe Bay with views of Croagh Patrick, Westport is a must-see Irish destination. After checking in to our hotel and dinner, traditional Irish music will be on in the famous Matt Malloy's pub.
Today we will travel to nearby Achill Island, the largest of the Irish isles with some of the highest sea cliffs in Europe. We will visit the Elizabethan Pirate Queen Grace O'Malley’s Castle, the Famine-era Deserted Village of some 80 houses, as well as several of the sites used in the filming of The Banshees of Inisherin.
Today you will be traveling in the footsteps of one of the worst disasters of the Irish Famine: the Doolough Tragedy along the Famine Trail, taking us from Mayo, into Connemara, and County Galway. The scenery is both spectacular and haunted by the lives lost and departed during the Famine.
Taking in one of Ireland’s most scenic fiords, Killary Harbour, we will stop at the Field Pub in Leenane before traveling up to Sligo for our overnight.
After a morning orientation talk by a local Yeats expert, we will explore the scenery that inspired many of Yeats’s great poems and formed his imagination, including Hazelwood, Glencar Falls, Gleniff, and Drumcliff Churchyard.
Dinner will be at a restaurant in Rosses Point on Sligo Bay.
In the morning we will visit the tomb complex of Carrowmore, one of the most extensive Neolithic sites in Europe.The afternoon is free for activities, such as a seaweed bath, golf, hillwalking, or strolling and shopping in Sligo town.
We will head up to Ulster and into one of the most fascinating parts of Ireland,
County Donegal, where "Up here, it’s different". Donegal has 1,000 miles of coastline and a quarter of all the beaches in Ireland, and we will explore many of them on our way to our overnight on the Inishowen Peninsula.
A short drive across the border is Derry, the walled city with so much history.
You will tour the walls and go into the Bogside and the sites of some of the defining events of the Troubles.
Leaving Derry we will take in the view from Grianan of, the magnificent hill fort guarding the Inishowen.
Taking in some of the most spectacular scenery in Ireland, we will follow the route of the Inishowen 100, up to the northernmost tip of Ireland, Malin Head, to the Doagh Island Famine Village before making our way back to our hotel for a relaxing evening beside Lough Foyle.
Heading to Dublin for homebound flights, we will stay the night about 30 minutes from Dublin Airport, but a world away at the grand Killishee Country Hotel, in Kildare.
The evening features a gala farewell dinner.
Accommodation in 4-star hotels
Full Irish breakfasts
Three evening meals
All tour transportation and admissions fees
Pick up and delivery at Dublin Airport