Irish Castles
Accommodation
(3* 4* & 5* Hotel pricing Categories):
Day 1 – Dublin
Day 2 – Belfast
Day 3 – Derry
Day 4 – Letterkenny
Day 5 – Letterkenny
Day 6 – Sligo
Day 7 – Dublin
Visits and admissions –Trinity College, Bru Na Boinne Visitor Centre, Belfast City tour, Carrick a Ridge Ropebridge, Giant’s Causeway, Dunluce Castle, Walking Tour of Derry, Tower Museum, Glenveagh National Park, Glenveagh Castle, Drumcliffe Visitor Centre.
- First class coaching throughout and all transfers, arrival and departure
- Services of a professional Irish driver/ guide
Itinerary
Day 1:
Upon arrival at Dublin Airport you will be met by the tour guide in the arrivals hall. Transfer to Dublin. Dublin is the capital of Ireland and one of Europe’s most vibrant cities. Home to over a quarter of the Ireland’s population, almost one million in all, Dublin is a youthful, vibrant and dynamic city with an ever-increasing cosmopolitan influence.
Dinner/ Overnight/ Breakfast in Dublin
Day 2:
Dublin – Bru na Boinne – Belfast:
Visit Trinity College Library – The Book of Kells was written around the year 800 AD and is one of the most beautifully illuminated manuscripts in the world. It contains the four gospels, preceded by prefaces, summaries, and canon tables or concordances of gospel passages.
Visiting “Bru na Boinne Visitor Centre” on the way. It is a complex of Neolithic chamber tombs, standing stones and other prehistoric enclosures, which predates the Great Pyramids!
Onward to Belfast – the town that built the Titanic, was the only city in Ireland, which experienced the Industrial Revolution. There are many attractive Victorian and Edwardian buildings with elaborate sculptures over doors and windows. Stone-carved heads of gods and poets, scientists, kings and queens peer down from the high ledges of banks and old linen warehouses. You will take a panoramic tour of this famous city with your Guide.
Dinner/ Overnight/ Breakfast in Belfast
Day 3:
Belfast – Carrick a Rede RB – Giants Causeway – Dunluce – Derry:
After the breakfast travel along The Antrim Coast —one of the most interesting and scenic coastlines in Britain and Ireland. The Giants Causeway: The coastal scenery adjacent to the causeway is some of the most beautiful and awe inspiring that you are likely to find anywhere. The majestic cliffs and inaccessible bays combine with myth and legend to inspire, but look carefully amongst this breath-taking landscape and you will find echoes of another reality, isolated ruins, kelp walls and shoreline fields bear testament to the harder life of subsistence farming and fishing endured by past generations.
Further down the coast, the stunning Carrick-a-rede rope bridge spans a gaping chasm between the coast and a small island used by fishermen. The terrifying eighty-foot drop can be crossed via the swinging bridge – not for the faint hearted! Well worth a try (proper walking shoes or boots are recommended!).
Visit Dunluce Castle. The ruins of Dunluce Castle stand on a 100ft high basalt stack with a sea cave underneath. The ruins as seen today are breath-taking, even roofless the remains portray the air of strength this site commanded and before the advent of gunpowder would have been almost impossible to conquer.
Onward to Derry. Derry derives its name from the Irish ‘Doire Calgach’ meaning ‘the oak grove of Calgach’. Calgach was a pagan warrior who had his camp on the ‘island’ of Derry in pre-Christian times. The name survived and the town grew until the 10th century when it became known as ‘Doire Colmcille’ in honour of St Columb. Over the following centuries this name became anglicised to Derrie or Derry.
Dinner/ Overnight/ Breakfast in Derry
Day 4:
Derry – Letterkenny:
Today your day will start from the Walking Tour of Derry. Visit The Tower Museum – small but first-rate museum that traces Londonderry’s history from the prehistoric era through the present day. Especially interesting are the displays and films about Irish emigration to North America. In the afternoon the tour enters County Donegal, which presents an ever-changing spectacle of landscapes and seascapes set against a backdrop of mountains and moors, with evidence everywhere of traditional Irish culture. Letterkenny had grown into a prosperous market town by the 17th century and is now the largest and most densely populated town in Donegal.
Dinner/ Overnight/ Breakfast in Letterkenny
Day 5:
Letterkenny – Glenveagh/ Return:
No visit to Letterkenny would be complete without a visit to Glenveagh National Park, which is 16000 hectares of mountains lakes woods and wild bogs. The park has a visitor centre with excellent audio visual facilities and displays. In contrast to the natural rugged surroundings is the magnificent Glenveagh Castle, which was built in 1870-1873. Visitors can enjoy a fascinating guided tour of the Castle and gardens, which are among the finest in Ireland.
Dinner/ Overnight/ Breakfast in Letterkenny
Day 6:
Letterkenny –Donegal – Drumfcliffe – Sligo:
Today the tour enters County Donegal – first travelling through Donegal Town whose name in Irish means “Fort of the Foreigners” is situated at the point where the river Eske flows into Donegal Bay. Today, this bustling small town is still very popular with tourists and is an ideal base from which to explore the south and west of the County. Short break in Donegal. Visit Drumcliffe. At the Visitor Centre you can learn about the diverse heritage of this area. Set at the foot of the flat-topped mountain Benbulben, Drumcliffe is best known as the final resting place of the poet William Butler Yeats, but it is also the site of one of the most important battles of Irish history, and a place of pilgrimage. Continue to Sligo – County Sligo has a population of 55,000. Sligo is the county town and the largest town in the North West area. It is a colourful, bustling town, which has retained many of the beautiful shop fronts originally built in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries. These old edifices camouflage well-stocked shops that carry crafts, jewellery, trinkets, clocks, wants and necessities. Today there are pedestrianised streets along the bank of the Garavogue River filled with pubs and restaurants. It is an ideal base from which to tour, with the majestic Benbulben to the north, the mystical Knocknerea to the south, and the magical Lough Gill to the east.
Dinner/ Overnight/ Breakfast in Sligo
Day 7:
Sligo – Enniskillen – Enniskillen – Cavan – Kells – Navan – Dublin:
This morning you will travel to Enniskillen – the county town (and largest town) of Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. It is located almost exactly in the centre of the county on the natural island which separates the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. Enjoy a 45 min. Lough Erne boat trip! In the afternoon travel to Dublin via Cavan, Kells and Navan.
Dinner/ Overnight/ Breakfast in Dublin
Day 8:
Transfer to the airport/ Return flight from Dublin airport
