Activities in Ireland
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FEATURED
Northern Ireland including Giant's Causeway Rail Tour from Dublin
13 hours (Departs Dublin, Ireland)
by Viator
Sit back and relax on this combined rail and coach day trip from Dublin to Northern Ireland. With all your travel arrangements organized for you, you'll see…Not LP reviewed
from USD$146.14 - All activities
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Doolin Ferry
Doolin Ferry.
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Phil's Walking Tours of Ardmore
Tours led by an archaeologist explore ruins in and around town.
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Lakeside Holiday Park
Besides lakeside camping, this private park rents out a range of watercraft including kayaks and rowboats. The placid waters of Lough Derg are ideal for a day exploring the shore.
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Biddy Early Brewery
A splendid antidote to Ireland’s dismal beer scene (yeah, we know about Guinness but what about some variety, huh?) can be found right at the intersection of the Ennistymon (N85) and the Kilfenora (R481) roads in Inagh, 16km northeast of Ennis. Biddy Early Brewery is a rarity for the Emerald Isle: a great microbrewery serving its own range of beers. The Black Biddy Irish Stout recalls every bit of bold flavour that’s been mass-marketed out of the corporate stouts. All beers are made with natural ingredients and there’s often seasonal specials like Buzzy Biddy, an organic honey beer perfect for long summer nights. Enjoy a pint in the airy pub or outside at tables;…
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Old Bushmills Distillery
Bushmills is the world's oldest legal distillery, having been granted a licence by King James I in 1608. Bushmills whiskey is made with Irish barley and water from St Columb's Rill, a tributary of the River Bush, and matured in oak barrels. During ageing, the alcohol content drops from around 60% to 40%; the spirit lost through evaporation is known, rather sweetly, as 'the angels' share'. After a tour of the distillery you're rewarded with a free sample (or a soft drink), and four lucky volunteers get a whiskey-tasting session to compare Bushmills with other brands.
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Dingle Boatmen's Association
In the early 1980s, Dingle fishing crews began to notice a solitary bottlenose dolphin that followed their vessels, jumped about in the water and sometimes leapt over smaller boats. When an American tourist offered to pay a boatman to take him to visit the large, friendly dolphin, an industry was born. Eleven boats now go out every day in the summer, and the Dingle dolphin is an international celebrity.
Boats leave the pier daily year-round for one-hour dolphin-spotting trips; call Dingle Boatmen's Association. It's free if Fungie doesn't show, but he usually does. The association also runs a daily two-hour boat trip for enthusiasts who want to swim with Fungie.
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Castle Archdale Country Park
This park has pleasant woodland and lakeshore walks and cycle tracks in the former estate of 18th-century Archdale Manor. The island-filled bay was used in WWII as a base for Catalina flying boats, a history explained in the visitor centre. You can hire bikes for £4/8/12 per hour/ half-day/full-day, or swap two wheels for four legs – the park offers pony trekking (£15 per hour), as well as short rides (£5 per 15 minutes) for beginners. There are also boats for hire (£55/80 per half-day/full-day), and you can also rent fishing rods (£5 per day including bait). The park is 16km northwest of Enniskillen on the B82, near Lisnarick.
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Official Black Taxi Tours
Black-taxi tours of West Belfast's murals - known locally as the 'bombs and bullets' or 'doom and gloom' tours - are being offered by an increasing number of taxi companies and local cabbies. These can vary in quality and content, but in general they're an intimate and entertaining way to see the sights and can be customised to suit your own interests. There are also historical taxi tours of the city centre.
For a one-hour tour expect to pay around £25 total for one or two people, and around £8 per person for three to six. Call and they will pick you up anywhere in the city centre. A recommended company is Official Black Taxi Tours.
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Harpers Taxi Tours
Black-taxi tours of West Belfast's murals - known locally as the 'bombs and bullets' or 'doom and gloom' tours - are being offered by an increasing number of taxi companies and local cabbies. These can vary in quality and content, but in general they're an intimate and entertaining way to see the sights and can be customised to suit your own interests. There are also historical taxi tours of the city centre.
For a one-hour tour expect to pay around £25 total for one or two people, and around £8 per person for three to six. Call and they will pick you up anywhere in the city centre. A recommended company is Harpers Taxi Tours.
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Swim with Fungie
In the early 1980s, Dingle fishing crews began to notice a solitary bottlenose dolphin that followed their vessels, jumped about in the water and sometimes leapt over smaller boats. When an American tourist offered to pay a boatman to take him to visit the large, friendly dolphin, an industry was born. Eleven boats now go out every day in the summer, and the Dingle dolphin is an international celebrity.
The Dingle Boatmen's Association runs a daily two-hour boat trip for enthusiasts who want to Swim with Fungie . Organise it in advance through Brosnan's, where you can hire wetsuits and snorkelling gear.
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Viking Tours
Cruise along the Shannon aboard a replica Viking longship, complete with costumed staff and dress-up clothes, including helmets, swords and shields. Head north to Lough Ree or south to Clonmacnoise. A round trip to Clonmacnoise allows a 90-minute stop at the ruins. Call for schedules.
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Sonairte
Just outside Laytown on the road to Julianstown is Sonairte, the National Ecology Centre. Dedicated to promoting ecological awareness, it’s a wonderful place to learn about sustainable living and organic horticulture. You can take a guided tour of the organic gardens and 200-year-old orchard, follow the nature trail or river walk, or take a course in anything from beekeeping to foraging for wild food and organic gardening. There’s a shop and organic cafe on site. The centre is five minutes walk from Laytown train station.
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Wells Spa
OK, so it’s not technically in Dublin, but this extraordinary spa in a luxurious country house is the favourite chill-out spot for Dublin’s high-flyers. Mud and flotation chambers, Finnish and aroma baths, Hammam massages and a full range of Decleor & Carita treatments make this one of the top spas in the country. Whole-day treatments include a light lunch and full use of all the pool and gym facilities. Your credit card will never have nestled in softer hands. It is 3km west of Rathrum in the village of Macreddin.
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Camaderry Mountain
You can hike up Camaderry Mountain (700m), hidden behind the hills that flank the northern side of the valley. The walk starts on the road just 50m back towards Glendalough from the entrance to the Upper Lake car park. Head straight up the steep hill to the north and you come out on open mountains with sweeping views in all directions.
You can then continue up Camaderry to the northwest or just follow the ridge west looking over the Upper Lake. To the top of Camaderry and back is about 7.5km and takes about four hours.
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Rossinver Organic Centre
All things good and wholesome come together at the Rossinver Organic Centre, which aims to promote organic horticulture and sustainable living at its beautiful grounds in north Leitrim. You can simply come and tour the beautiful display gardens, or take a course in anything from organic growing to sustainable design, cheese-making, willow sculpture, bread baking or silk painting. The cafe serves wonderful vegetarian fare baked with ingredients from the garden.
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Corleggy Cheese
Hard pasteurised goat’s cheese is something of a rarity, and prize-winning Corleggy Cheese is particularly rare due to its small production runs. Corleggy uses vegetarian rennet and is washed in sea brine, with subtle flavours thanks to the grassy grazing pastures surrounding the farmhouse where the cheese is handmade. A number of other cheeses including cow’s- and sheep’s-milk cheeses are also produced here, with flavours including garlic and red pepper, smoked cheese, cumin, and green peppercorn.
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Lagan Boat Company
The excellent Titanic Tour explores the derelict docklands downstream of the weir, taking in the slipways where the liners Titanic and Olympic were launched and the huge dry dock where they could fit with just nine inches to spare; departs from Donegall Quay near the Bigfish sculpture. The Obel Tour (£20/18) combines a Titanic boat tour with a trip to the top of the Obel, Ireland's tallest building.
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Kingfisher Trail
The Kingfisher Trail is a waymarked, long-distance cycling trail that starts in Enniskillen and wends its way through the back roads of Counties Fermanagh, Leitrim, Cavan and Monaghan. The full route is around 370km long, but a shorter loop, starting and finishing in Enniskillen, and travelling via Kesh, Belleek, Garrison, Belcoo and the village of Florencecourt, is only 115km – easily done in two days with an overnight stay at Belleek. You can get a trail map from the Enniskillen Tourist Information Centre. There's no bicycle hire available in Enniskillen, though; the nearest is in Castle Archdale Country Park.
You can buy fishing permits and licences from the tourist…
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Royal Cork Yacht Club
There is a long history of sailing in Ireland and the country has more than 120 yacht and sailing clubs, including the Royal Cork Yacht Club at Crosshaven, which, established in 1720, is the world’s oldest. The most popular areas for sailing are the south-western coast, especially between Cork Harbour and the Dingle Peninsula; the coast of Antrim; along the sheltered coast north and south of Dublin; and some of the larger lakes such as Loughs Derg, Erne and Gill.
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Jameson Dublin International Film Festival
If you're around in early spring, most of Dublin's cinemas participate in the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival, a two-week showcase for new films by Irish and international directors, and a good opportunity to see classic movies that hardly get a run in cinemas. A major criticism of the festival, however, is that many of the films included in the schedule would have earned a cinema release regardless, making it more difficult for small-budget films to find a slot.
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Rockfield Ecological Estate
Gives you an inspiring insight into sustainable living as well as traditional Irish culture and crafts. In addition to two-hour tours of the working farm, you can dine on nutritious homemade food made with organic produce from the rambling gardens (while sitting on a chair fashioned from fallen tree branches), and take part in full-day craft courses (€100 per person including lunch) such as spinning, weaving, basket-making, woodcarving and stone-sculpting.
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Connemara Smokehouse
If you’re curious to discover how salmon is smoked here, you can tour the family-run Connemara Smokehouse. Free tours show you the hand filleting, traditional preparation, slicing and packing of the wild and organic salmon, and shed light on various smoking methods before finishing up with a tasting. Advance reservations are essential. Outside tour times, it’s usually possible to stop by the smokehouse and stock up if you call ahead.
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Durrus Cheese
Call in at Durrus Cheese to see cheese-making in action. Founder Jeffa Gill is happy to talk visitors through the process of making her much-lauded creamy, rich rounds, which are for sale. Be sure to call ahead if you want to visit (the best times are 10.30am to noon Thursday and Friday). Follow the Ahakista road out of Durrus for 500m; turn right at the church and keep going for 3km until you see the dairy’s sign.
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Anna Livia International Opera Festival
Classical music is small fry, but it's getting better all the time, thanks to the efforts of promoters who attract performers and orchestras from abroad; one local success has been the Anna Livia International Opera Festival, which celebrates its fifth edition in September 2008 with two productions running on alternate nights for two weeks: Verdi's Rigoletto and Samson and Delilah by Saint-Saëns.
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Spink
You can walk up the Spink (from the Irish for 'pointed hill'; 380m), the steep ridge with vertical cliffs running along the southern flanks of the Upper Lake. You can go part of the way and turn back, or complete a circuit of the Upper Lake by following the top of the cliff, eventually coming down by the mine workings and going back along the northern shore. The circuit is about 6km long and takes about three hours.
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