Guides - Insight Guides: Ireland

How To Use This E-Book

Getting around the e-book

This Insight Guide e-book is designed to give you inspiration for your visit to Ireland, as well as comprehensive planning advice to make sure you have the best travel experience. The guide begins with our selection of Top Attractions, as well as our Editors Choice categories of activities and experiences. Detailed features on history, people and culture paint a vivid portrait of contemporary life in Ireland. The extensive Places chapters give a complete guide to all the sights and areas worth visiting. The Travel Tips provide full information on getting around, activities from culture to shopping to sport, plus a wealth of practical information to help you plan your trip.

In the Table of Contents and throughout this e-book you will see hyperlinked references. Just tap a hyperlink once to skip to the section you would like to read. Practical information and listings are also hyperlinked, so as long as you have an external connection to the internet, you can tap a link to go directly to the website for more information.

Maps

All key attractions and sights in Ireland are numbered and cross-referenced to high-quality maps. Wherever you see the reference [map] just tap this to go straight to the related map. You can also double-tap any map for a zoom view.

Images

Youll find hundreds of beautiful high-resolution images that capture the essence of Ireland. Simply double-tap on an image to see it full-screen.

About Insight Guides

Insight Guides have more than 40 years experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides. We produce 400 full-colour titles, in both print and digital form, covering more than 200 destinations across the globe, in a variety of formats to meet your different needs.

Insight Guides are written by local authors, whose expertise is evident in the extensive historical and cultural background features. Each destination is carefully researched by regional experts to ensure our guides provide the very latest information. All the reviews in Insight Guides are independent; we strive to maintain an impartial view. Our reviews are carefully selected to guide you to the best places to eat, go out and shop, so you can be confident that when we say a place is special, we really mean it.

2017 Apa Digital (CH) AG and Apa Publications (UK) Ltd

Irelands Top 10 Attractions

There is a lot of variety packed into a small island, from the slightly faded elegance of Dublin to the wild remoteness of windswept Connemara.

Top Attraction 1

Georgian Dublin . The city retains some of its Georgian heritage for example, the characteristic doors but the real appeal is the Dubliners vibrancy and sense of fun. For more information, .

Corrie Wingate/Apa Publications

Top Attraction 2

The Giants Causeway . This astonishing assembly of more than 40,000 hexagonal basalt columns on the north coast is one of the worlds wonders. For more information, .

Kevin Cummins/Apa Publications

Top Attraction 3

Glendalough . Round towers are a striking reminder of Irelands Golden Age when, after the fall of the Roman Empire and Europe plunged into the Dark Ages, monks in Ireland (the Land of Saints and Scholars) kept alight a lone beacon of learning and civilization. For more information, .

Tourism Ireland

Top Attraction 4

The Aran Islands . An unspoiled Irish-speaking community, beaten by the Atlantic, the islands echo a much older Ireland. For more information, .

Chris Hill/Tourism Ireland

Top Attraction 5

The Wild Atlantic Way . This scenic drive takes in the famous Ring of Kerry - expect a panorama of coast and mountain, lush vegetation and sandy beaches. For more information, .

Chris Hill/Tourism Ireland

Top Attraction 6

The Burren . The moon-like plateau in Co. Clare contains ancient tombs and a remarkable variety of rich flora. For more information, .

Corrie Wingate/Apa Publications

Top Attraction 7

The Glens of Antrim . A goat sculpture at Cusdendun represents the magic of the nine steep valleys, which reminded the novelist William Makepeace Thackeray of Switzerland in miniature. For more information, .

Alamy

Top Attraction 8

The Rock of Cashel . Towering above Tipperarys green plain is a dramatic cluster of romantically ruined stone buildings, dating to the 12th and 13th centuries and the former stronghold of the Kings of Munster. For more information, .

Tourism Ireland/Stephen Power

Top Attraction 9

Connemara . The far west of Ireland is iconic a landscape of wild, rocky bog land, its deeply indented coastline covered in autumnal shades of seaweed, its stunted pine trees struggling for a foothold and mirrored in the surprisingly blue water of its many loughs. For more information, .

Corrie Wingate/Apa Publications

Top Attraction 10

Traditional Irish Music . This has influenced so many styles of music around the world, and can be heard at its authentic best everywhere from street buskers to sessions in city and country pubs. For more information, .

Corrie Wingate/Apa Publications

Editors Choice

Discover the countrys best-kept secrets, the best festivals, museums and unique attractions. Here at a glance are our recommendations, plus some tips and tricks that even the locals wont always know.