These are hotels that will make you feel pampered and special and lucky in locations you are quite likely to visit on a tour of Ireland.
Naturally they all have the great accommodation, service and facilities but they also have that extra ‘something’ that makes a good hotel a truly great one.
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This is a full day tour which will last into the evening, taking in all of the main sights on the Burren and some lesser known ones as well.
We’ve made suggestions for places to eat along the way and also for what will be a well deserved dinner in the evening.
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Tulla is a place steeped in traditional music and this annual event draws some of the best, and best known, musicians in the country to the small town.
While the programme is of a very high quality, just as enjoyable are the many informal sessions that take place in the pubs and on the streets.
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One of the premier traditional music festivals in Ireland, Feakle always has an excellent line up and is a very friendly festival, with lots of local participation.
As well as music there is dancing, storytelling, a ceilí and the tours of the local area, which is worth visiting in its own right.
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This is Ireland’s premier traditional music summer school, held annually in memory of the late, great piper Willie Clancy.
Students from all over the world flock to Miltown Malbay for daily classes taught by masters in Irish music and dance. There is also a programme of lectures, recitals, dances and exhibitions and many informal sessions.
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The ubiquitous stone walls or fences seen in Ireland are the object of much curiosity from visitors, particularly those built without mortar in the west and south.
They are however a practical and useful way to divide land, especially when money is scarce and land is poor. They are also historically interesting and geographically diverse, in fact a lot of Ireland’s history is in those stones.
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Away from the crowds around the Cliffs of Moher there is a quieter but no less beautiful stretch of coastline in Clare, around peaceful Loop Head.
It is a sparsely populated area which will reward those prepared to get off the beaten track and its lighthouse can even be rented and stayed in as the ultimate getaway retreat.
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A three-day Surf & Music Festival held annually on the beach in Kilkee, Co Clare, combines surfing activities with a strong line up of live music acts who perform on the beach.
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Books clubs have become tremendously popular and this annual festival celebrates the love of books and of reading – it’s an event for readers, not writers.
The festival gives book lovers a rare opportunity to listen to and meet with an impressive list of authors of both fiction and non fiction work who attend annually.
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This annual event which draws thousands of traditional music lovers to the tiny village of Doolin is held in memory of local tin whistle and flute player Micho Russell, and his brothers Gussie and Packie.
The headline concert in 2009 features Líadan, a hugely popular 6 member all female band who play in a unique style which blends the old with the new.
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The Burren is a unique landscape, a vast limestone plateau stretching inland from the Cliffs of Moher, below which is a subterranean world of caves, rivers and lakes.
In Spring and Summer it is ablaze with flowers, many of them rare, which attract abundant bees, butterflies and birds. There are literally hundreds of megalithic remains here, the most famous being the Poulnabrone Dolmen.
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Ennis is a good place to hear traditional music at any time, but during this festival it is the only place to be, with hundreds of formal and informal sessions taking place.
It’s a very relaxed and friendly affair, so even those with only a passing interest in the music will enjoy it, those who love Irish music will be in heaven!
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