Ireland 2026 – Doolin
April 18
We left Dingle with a longer drive than usual ahead of us as we would need to stop at the airport in Shannon in order to add Joanna as a driver on the rental car. This would mean doing so at the Hertz counter there, which we managed to accomplish without much hassle. Our route there and then on to Doolin was quite familiar with the middle portion was on the motorway, until we hit the national road and the turnoff to the Cliffs of Moher. Visitors Centre, also known as the Experience.
Our plan for the next day and a half was to hit the Visitor Center at the top of the cliffs, do our thing there and then drive on to our lodging in Doolin for the night. The next morning we’d catch the ferry out to Inisheer, the smaller of the Aran Islanda (Inishmore is the largest) where we would spend most of the day, then return to the car and drive to Galway.
We parked in the large lots near the center (the cliffs are one of Ireland’s most popular attractions) and walked to the center, where, after paying the 10 Euro entrance fee, our first course of action was to eat lunch at the large cafeteria as we’d not stopped (except at the airport) on the way here. There were lots of options to eat, many of them hot, but we opted for a simple chicken ciabatta sandwich and a Coke Zero to split, for 17.60 Euros ($20.86).
As with just about everything we’d eaten so far on the trip, it was quite good and would last us all the way to dinner. We walked out of the center and up the path to the top of the cliffs for the amazing views available there. The cliffs run for about 9 miles and at their southern end, they rise 390 feet above the Atlantic Ocean at Hag’s Head, and 5 miles to the north, they reach their maximum height of 702 feet.
We hit the top of the cliffs south of O’Brien’s Tower, built in 1835 as an observation tower for the tourists who frequented the cliffs by Sir Cornelius O’Brien, a local landlord and Member of Parliament. It is said to have initially served as a teahouse, featuring a large round table with seats of ironwork. We walked out to the tower and then returned the same way, again pausing for another glimpse of the cliffs to the south before I returned to the Visitor Center while Joanna attempted to hike up to the top of the southernmost part of the park.
She didn’t get too far as the path ends part way up and so back in the car we drove the four miles or so to Doolin and our lodging, West Haven House, a fairly new B&B which ran us 130 Euros ($154) a night and did not include breakfast, although we would opt to purchase it the next morning at 10 Euros apiece. As we were situated on the eastern outskirts of town, we decided not to head back towards the harbor for dinner at the Ivy where we’d eaten before for lunch with our fellow travelers, but instead just walk down the street to one of the two pubs for a meal there.
Our first stop was McGanns Pub, which upon entering wasn’t very crowded, but after ordering a drink apiece at 9 Euros ($10.67) the place soon began to fill up with participants in a hen party, the Irish equivalent of a bachelorette party. Doolin, along with Galway and other similar cities, are popular destinations for this activity. We quickly decided that a quiet meal would be out of the question and after finishing our drinks, walked across the street to McDermott’s Pub, which also was completely full. We walked to a distant room at the back of the facility, only to be surrounded by two baby shower gatherings.
Doubtful that we’d ever see a server, we exited without ordering and heading back over the bridge we’d crossed stop in at the Riverside Bistro, whose menu we’d perused earlier. This would turn out to be one of the better decisions of the trip as we would enjoy a very, very good meal here. Entering, we were greeted by the owner (who may also have been the chef) and were seated between two tables of locals, one of whom we’d engage in conversation, as they remarked it was their favorite restaurant in town.
We ordered a bottle of Douro red to accompany our meal, starting with Oysters for Joanna and the Butter Shrimps for me (she helped). Each dish was excellent; the shrimp cooked to perfection. We then split the Riverside Chicken (stuffed breast wrapped in Bacon) served on mashed potatoes with au jus. Adding a side of seasonal vegetables made for as good a meal as we’ve had anywhere. To finish up, we split a Banoffee Pie (an English dessert pie made from bananas, whipped cream, and a thick caramel sauce, made from boiled condensed milk or milk jam). Our tab came to 87.91 euros ($103), truly a deal considering we’d enjoyed that bottle of wine.
The next morning, we appreciated another hearty B&B breakfast, well worth the money, particularly since the bakery we’d visited before with the kids wouldn’t open in time for us to visit it. We drove to the harbor and after parking the car we waited a bit (we were early) before boarding the Doolin Ferry to Inisheer, the smaller of the Aran Islands (Inishmore is the largest) at a cost of 52 Euros apiece ($61.60) for the round trip which included a passby at sea level of the Cliffs of Moher on the return leg.
After a smooth crossing we landed, and our first course of action was to take a St Steves recommended 30 Euro ($37) Horse Drawn Cart one hour tour of the island. Our friendly driver was accompanied by his young nephew and much conversation transpired between them and Joanna (I was seated just out of earshot). At a leisurely pace we left the shore and circled around the town’s main peak until we reached the Shipwreck of the An Plassy, a freighter that wrecked offshore on Finn’s Rock in 1960. Islanders worked with the coastal patrol to rescue the crew with no loss of life and a couple of weeks later, the unmanned ship washed high up onto the rocky shore, where it still sits today, a rusty but fairly intact ghost ship with a broken back.
Back on the narrow road we started winding our way up the back side of the island’s lone mountain, passing through countless numbers of stone fenced plots, used for gardens or grazing, it was hard to tell.
We crested the hill and passed the backside of O’Brien’s Castle, which we would return to on foot later on and descended down towards the harbor, asking our driver to let us out at the bottom of the hill instead so that would walk back up to view the ruins.
With some huffing and puffing we reached the castle ruins which dominate the hilltop and are visible from almost anywhere on the northern half of the island. Originally built as a tower-house refuge around 1400 by the O’Brien clan from nearby County Clare, it sits inside a low wall of a much older Iron Age ring fort. Cromwell’s troops destroyed the castle in 1652, leaving the evocative ruins one can see today. Finished, we opted not to hike further up the hill to the Napoleonic Tower (An Tur Faire), which was built in the early 1800s to watch for a feared French invasion that never took place, instead retracing our steps downhill we went in search of a drink or two, with time to kill before our return to the mainland.
Our first stop was at Flaherty’s Bar at the Inis Oirr Hotel, a good-sized operation where we grabbed a booth and enjoyed a relaxing hour or so drinking an Irish Coffee apiece. Finished there, we wandered down to the harbor and around a bend to land at Tigh Ned, a smaller more intimate spot where the bartender seemed to know just about everyone in the place. I had a Guiness while Joanna savored a gin and tonic made with Aran Islands Kombu Gin and Fever Tree Elderflower Tonic. It was a very nice way to end our time on Inisheer.
Soon enough it was time to board the ferry for the trip back to the mainland and after the crossing, and first dropping off passengers at the dock, we turned south for our scheduled viewing of the Cliffs of Moher from sea level. It was impressive, but not quite as spectacular as I thought it might be and also, although it is talked about in the promotion for the viewing, not one single Puffin was spotted. It was still worth the small added expense on the round-trip ticket, and we were glad we did it. We landed at the harbor and jumping in the car, set off for Galway with a detour through the Burren. We’ll cover that and more in the next post.
Links
Cliffs of Moher: https://www.cliffsofmoher.ie/
McGanns: https://mcgannsdoolin.com/
McDermott’s Pub: https://mcdermott-s-pub.com/
Riverside Bistro: https://www.facebook.com/TheRiversideBistro
Doolin Ferry: https://doolinferry.com/?utm_source=gmb&utm_medium=organic
Flaherty’s: https://www.inisoirrhotel.com/
Tigh Ned: https://tighned.com/index.html
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