Ireland Travel Tips

Bram Stoker couldn’t stand until he was about seven, became athletics champion of Dublin University, spent over a decade in the civil service at Dublin Castle and reviewed plays unpaid for a paper half-owned by Sheridan Le Fanu before he left for London and wrote Dracula. Here is his Irish life, his mother’s Sligo cholera account, The Snake’s Pass and a lost 1890 ghost story, what his Dracula notes actually prove, which Irish influences are documented (Carmilla) and which are lore (Abhartach, St Michan’s), and where to follow him in Dublin, including the 2026 Bram Stoker Festival.

Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin held prisoners from 1796 to 1924: debtors, Famine-era thieves, children, convicts bound for Australia, and rebels from Robert Emmet and Charles Stewart Parnell to the 1916 leaders shot in the Stonebreakers’ Yard. Here’s its history, Joseph Plunkett and Grace Gifford’s candlelit wedding in the prison chapel, the Civil War women prisoners, the volunteers who saved the ruin, the films shot there and how to book a tour.

The Blarney Stone at Blarney Castle, Co. Cork, is said to give anyone who kisses it the gift of the gab. Here’s how the kiss works, why early writers disagreed about which stone it is, the legends of a witch, a fairy queen and Robert the Bruce, what an old geology slide revealed, where the word blarney really comes from, the Rock Close and Poison Garden, and tips for visiting.

The Giant’s Causeway in Co. Antrim is about 40,000 basalt columns left by a lava lake that cooled around 60 million years ago. Here’s why most columns are six-sided, the legend of Finn McCool and Benandonner and the versions that differ, the Irish name Clochán an Aifir, how the Royal Society and Susanna Drury made it famous, the Wishing Chair and Giant’s Boot, how to visit, and Dunluce Castle, Carrick-a-Rede and the Dark Hedges nearby.

Croagh Patrick, the Reek, is Ireland’s holy mountain. Here’s St Patrick’s 40-day fast as Tírechán and the Tripartite Life tell it, where the snake legend really comes from, Reek Sunday from 1113 to today, the three stations and the Black Bell, the Lughnasa theory, what archaeologists found on the summit, the 1980s fight over gold, the Famine memorial at Murrisk and practical advice for the climb.

Clonmacnoise, Cluain Mhic Nóis in Irish, is St Ciarán’s monastic city on the River Shannon in Co. Offaly. Here’s its story, from the founding legend and the Book of the Dun Cow to the high crosses, the round towers, the Whispering Arch, the royal graves, the Viking and Irish raids, the wrecking of 1552 and the Pope’s 1979 visit, plus how to visit (the site closes from mid-October 2026 to 1 January 2027).

Glendalough, the glen of two lakes in Co. Wicklow, is where St Kevin lived as a hermit and founded one of Ireland’s great monasteries. Here are his legends (the blackbird, the angel who offered to flatten the mountains, Kathleen and the lake), the round tower and monastic city, the Viking raids, the 1214 merger with Dublin, the Spinc and Miners’ Village walks, and practical tips for visiting.

Ireland’s round towers have been called fire temples, phallic symbols and Viking hideouts. Here’s what they really were: cloigtheach, the bell house, with how to say it, when and how they were built, why the door is so high, what the annals say, the 19th-century theories George Petrie demolished, the best towers to see (and two you can climb), and how the round tower became a symbol of Ireland.

The Hill of Tara in Co. Meath is remembered as the seat of Ireland’s high kings. Here’s what’s really on the hill, from the 5,000-year-old Mound of the Hostages to the Lia Fáil, the stone said to roar under a true king, plus the Feast of Tara, St Patrick’s Easter fire, O’Connell’s 1843 monster meeting, the men who dug for the Ark of the Covenant, the M3 motorway row and how to visit for free.

Skellig Michael, Sceilg Mhichíl in Irish, is the Atlantic rock off Co. Kerry where early medieval monks built beehive huts reached by 618 steps. Here’s its real history, from the founding legends and the Viking raids to the move to Ballinskelligs, plus the South Peak hermitage, the pilgrims, the puffins and gannets, the Star Wars filming and the row it caused, and how to visit.

Thinking of spending Christmas in Ireland, or coming home for it? Here’s the season week by week, 2026 market dates checked with the organisers, what’s open on the 24th, 25th and 26th, pub laws north and south, transport, December weather and daylight, the Christmas Day swim and St Stephen’s Day racing.

Lough Tay in the Wicklow Mountains looks like a pint of Guinness from above, and the Guinness family owned the land around it for 82 years. Here’s the real story of the lake and Luggala, why the imported sand tale doesn’t stand up, and where to see the Guinness Lake without trespassing.

On 17 November 1953, the last community on the Great Blasket left for the mainland. Here’s why the Kerry island was evacuated, the books its people wrote, who owns it now and how to visit by ferry today.

We all make mistakes — losing your keys, missing a flight, or maybe forgetting your bag at the airport. But one Cork teenager took things to an entirely new level …

The Rock of Cashel in Tipperary: its history, legends, what to see, how to get there from Dublin and Cork, Hore Abbey and Cahir Castle nearby.