Road Trip 03 - Ireland South East - 3 days

South East

Hi lads! In this edition we are gonna travel to the South East of Ireland, less touristic than the Atlantic coast but still with a lot of beautiful places to discover.

We are gonna start from Dublin trough Wicklow mountains and his lakes to the beautiful city of Kilkenny, the amazing Rock of Cashel and all coast south-west on the way to the starting point.

The best moment to do this trip is in summer (of course), and don't forget your swimsuit!  If you are lucky with the weather, there are a lot of beautiful beaches where you can enjoy the sea.


As I always say, if you are doing the trip by motor home, camper/van or you are planning sleep in your tent, you are gonna see a lot of beautiful places to sleep in the middle of nowhere. You can download the phone app "Park4night to find a lot of places to sleep like camping, motor home areas, parking... with good information and travelers comments with pictures and ratings.

Let's start!!

How to use the map

In this map you can see different colour flags, green flags means nature places, and gray/ black flags towns and villages. The intensity of the colour means if I think the place is more important to see (more intensity) or is more skip-able  (less intensity).

Clicking in each flag you can see the name of the place, and maybe a small description and picture (I'm working in it ;-).

You can use the map as a GPS clicking the up-right button, or following this link:

Go to MyMaps Route 03

Road Trip 02 - Cork (Corcaigh) - Kerry (Kiarrai) - 4 days

                                          Cork & Kerry

"Sweet Kerry you know I love you,

And the mountains up above you.
The rivers and streams I played as a boy.
Of the places so grand, In my native Ireland.
Sure I love my County Kerry,

And that's where one day I'll be."

Seamus Moore- Sweet Kerry

This time we are going to visit Cork and Kerry Counties, one of the most incredible areas in Ireland. 

This is a 4-day Road Trip starting in Cork town and travelling for all peninsulas of the south-west Atlantic coast. 

If you are doing the trip by motorhome, camper-van or your plan is sleep in your tent, you are gonna see a lot of beautiful places to sleep in the middle of nowhere. You can download the phone app "Park4night" to find a lot of places to sleep like camping, motorhome areas, parking… with good information and traveller's comments with pictures and valuations.

For the other hand, if you prefer to sleep in a real bed, there is big offer of Airbnb houses. I recommend you to search in the area near of Killarney, or even in the town, you are gonna find wherever you look for there.

As all routes in this blog, you can find a map with all the interest points you can visit. Most of them are in the route, and other are optional to visit if you have more time and money I had when I did the trip.

And remember, you can extend the map below to use it in your phone in your Google Maps app as a GPS during your travel.

As In this trip, the distances of each stage must be very short, less of 300 km because there are more places to stop than in other place of this country. Have ready your camera because you are gonna take infinite pictures!

Let's start!!

How to use the map

In this map you can see different colour flags, green flags means nature places, and gray/ black flags towns and villages. The intensity of the colour means if I think the place is more important to see (more intensity) or is more skip-able  (less intensity).

Clicking in each flag you can see the name of the place, and maybe a small description and picture (I'm working in it ;-).

You can use the map as a GPS clicking the up-right button, or following this link:

Go to MyMaps Route 02





Cork Town: You are gonna need at least one complete day to see this city so, do it if you have time, the city deserves it.

But if you don’t have more days, you can spend some hours around the centre to make an idea of the city, or just don’t stop in Cork and make a plan to visit it in the future for 2 or 3 days. You are gonna enjoy the city.

Kilsale: Is a very Small town with beautiful buildings and views.

Castletownsend (Cork / West Cork Whale Watch): If you can spend few hours and around €50 each, you can take a boat to see whales, they say is possible to see them easily, I never tried but it must be amazing! 

Beara Peninsula: my prefer peninsula on the south-west, even over Dingle and Kerry ring because is more authentic, less touristic and it has also incredible places and landscapes

Dursey Island: This place is in the extreme of the Beara Peninsula, to go to the island there is not bridge, only a Cable transport that looks like is 200 years old, but it’s still working! For only €10 you can take the cable and go around of the Island for one of the multiple paths that are there (If you dare).

Once in Kerry county you are gonna start to find tourists for all places, is not possible to avoid so, be ready for traffic jam in your next destiny, the Killarney national park, where you can spend few hours visiting the lakes, the castle, the abbey but overall, the waterfall, very good place to refresh you if you are luckily in a warm day.

Next step is the Ring of Kerry. Try to avoid the most touristic days, like weekends during the summer. You can follow the interest points on the map and enjoy the views! These are some of them:

Kells Bay House and Gardens (Skywalk rope bridge): This place is not very well-known but I think is amazing, is a huge botanic park where is there the longest bridge of rope in Ireland.

 Skelling Islands: I haven’t had the opportunity to see this island but again, if you have time and money, you must go to these islands, the place where Star Wars VII was filmed. If you wanna go, you need to take the tour in Portmagee (Kerry ring).

The other place I want to talk about is the Gap of Dunloe:

Gap of Dunloe is a road, no longer than 11 km and is one of the most incredible roads I drove, but you need to know something. This road is usually full of people going hiking and horse carriages so if you want to drive your car there, you must do it at the final of the day, near of the sunset. The road is very narrow and is open two-way traffic so, even without hikers and carriages you are gonna be in difficult situations when cars are coming but don't worry, there are a lot of spots to pull over to allow other vehicles to pass but remember, in an uphill, give the preference to the car is going up. No too many people know it but is very useful for the drivers and the clutch of the cars are trying to go up.

Following the route, next step is the peninsula of Dingle. Its fantastic place too and I can show you more pictures and comment more places there but I don’t want to break the surprise.

You have the map with all points of interest, follow it and don’t forget to stop in any place that you want also if is not in the map. And if it’s nice, please send it me to include it in the map.

Good travel!!

Road Trip 01 - Donegal County (Contae Dhún na nGall) - 3 Days

Donegal County  (Contae Dhún na nGall)

"This is my homeland, the place I was born in No matter where I go it's in my soul

My feet may wander a thousand places But my heart will lead me back home to my Donegal."

Daniel O'Donnell - Home to Donegal

This is a 3-day Road Trip for Donegal County. It starts in Donegal Town and finish in Derry.

There are more incredible places in Donegal that are not in the way of this trip, like Arranmore Island or the Ards Forest park, so if you have more time, you can follow these points in the map. 

Remember you can extend the map below to use it in your phone in your Google Maps app as a GPS during your travel.

Distances for the main roads are not too long so if you need to rent a room or a house, do it in Letterkenny and the surrounds, is the mid-place for all steps of the route. If you are traveling in a Camper van, Motorhome or you have tour tent in your boot, you are gonna enjoy this county! you have a lot of fantastic places where you can sleep in almost any corner.

About Donegal

Donegal is one of the most spectacular counties in Ireland and strangely is not one of the most touristic places as can be Galway, Cork or Kerry. It means Donegal doesn't have this typical artificial feeling that have places like Cliff of Moher, Giant Causeway or Ring of Kerry (Incredible places, of course, but ready to support large number of tourists, so inevitably are less authentic...).

You are gonna find good roads to cross the county in no more than two hours, but t reach the most beautiful places you need to take very small roads so be patient and enjoy the travel!

Following the coast, you will see very big numbers made by white painted stones and the word "EIRE". Do you know why they were made?

Well, these numbers are called the Eire Markings, made during the Second World War, while Ireland remained neutral between 1939 and 1942. It was a way to reduce the number of aircraft landing because their crews had lost their bearings.

Another very common construction in Donegal and all the Atlantic coast are the Napoleonic Signal Towers.

These towers were constructed around 1805 as a signalling system, referred to as an optical telegraph, required that each signal station be visible to its counterparts on either side There are around 13 of these towers along the Donegal coast, I'm sure you will see more than one.


Ok, Let's start the route!

How to use the map

In this map you can see different colour flags, green flags means nature places, and grey/ black flags towns and villages. The intensity of the colour means if I think the place is more important to see (more intensity) or is more skip-able  (less intensity).

Clicking in each flag you can see the name of the place, and maybe a small description and picture (I'm working in it ;-).

You can use the map as a GPS clicking the up-right button, or following this link:

Go to MyMaps Route 01




Donegal is a small but beautiful town, you can only walk for the streets and along the river and walk to the coast to see the harbour and the old cemetery & church besides the harbour.

Following the route and stopping in the next flags of the map you can see incredible places like:  

Tullymore lighthouse, fantastic view with the cliffs behind.

Slieve League, the highest cliffs in Europe.

Maghera Adara, An amazing beach with caves and strange stones. (the valley you need to cross to reach this place is one of the most incredible places I have driven).

Assaranca waterfall, High waterfall near to the sea in a very nice area. After stop there, you can go to the upper peninsula to see the waterfall from another perspective, it's worth do it.

Next stops are near of Glenveagh Natural Park but if you have time, you can go to the Arranmore Island, that has fantastic landscapes.
Heading the way, the next area is the Errigal mountain surrounds, you are wanna stop every moment, and you can stop to reach the top of the mountain, the views are incredible.

Glenveagh Natural Park. There is a 5 km path beside the lake to go to the Glenveagh castle, it's worth the effort, the gardens and the surrounds are magic!!

Also, if you don't want to walk too much, there is a minibus line directly to the castle.
Again, if you have time, you can deviate from the route to the north to see the interest points are in the map.

Letterkenny, Is the biggest town in the area, good place to find different places to eat, to go shopping and to find places to sleep, hostels and airbnb houses. Is good choice to sleep because is good connected by roads with all other areas on this county.

Grianan of Aileach, An old stonefort (V - VI Century) in an amazing place with 360 degrees view.

Fort Dunree, A coastal defence fortification where you can see cannons and a lot of defence structures.

Malin Head signal station, The most north point in the Irish republic. Is a sight not to be missed.

Derry, Yes, I know is not Donegal, Even is not Republic of Ireland, but you need to know this beautiful city and walk along the walls.

Travel with no trouble for Ireland

“The gladdest moment in human life is a departure into unknown lands.” – Sir Richard Burton

Hello! Welcome to my first blog about traveling for Ireland.

One year ago I put my wheels over these lands and from the first minute, I fell in love with them. When I arrived here I thought this country was small, and I could see all interesting places in few travels, but I was wrong, completely wrong. There are amazing places behind each bend of the road.

Mountains, cliffs, islands, meadows, waterfalls, lakes... And incredible roads to discover all of them.
But overall the incredible people, villages, history and music are totally different as I had known before, trying to resist the influence of belonging Europe and globalization, keeping the lore, language and lifestyle of hundreds of years ago.

In this blog I'm gonna try to spread my love for these lands through different road-trips I did or I want to do.
I'm not gonna speak about the most famous places to visit like Cliff of Moher, Giant Causeway, Kerry ring, Carrick-a-rede rope bridge... there is enough information about them and yes, of course, you need to visit all of them, they are incredible places, but I think are already in the public eye.

I'm fancy to start with the first road trip but before of that I want to give you some pieces of tip I have learned during my travels for this island.

Roads. Most of the roads on countryside are very narrow and twisted, and sometimes you'll be scared when a car or tractor is coming in front of you, but don't worry, keep calm and everything will be OK. If you don't have the control of your car dimensions, you are gonna learn a lot for these roads.

I don't think driving for the countryside is dangerous or difficult, you only need to adapt your speed to the circumstances and the type of road. Remember this: In a road trip, the important is the travel, not the destiny.
If you are renting a car to do the road trip, no doubt, pay for the full insurance, you will be more relaxed for the small roads with the herbage on the sides...

Stages: Stages: You shouldn't be very optimist about the distance you plan to drive in each stage. Usually you are gonna do less of 300Km each day, you are wanna stop in all places you have in your map and more! but also you will stop more times to see the views, take pictures, buy something... And probably you are not gonna take any fast road, enjoy the moments you can use the 4th gear, is not usual…  Take your time, Plan small distances for each stage, no more than 300 km always is better quality than quantity.

Driving: Driving for any road in Ireland you can find a lot of brown indications that marks Touristic Points of Interest as Beaches, forest parks, viewpoints, historic buildings...)
Some places you will see in my road trips I found them following these indications:

Sometimes I discovered places I never heard before, and they were amazing, so I recommend you to do the same, if you have time enough, try to follow all of these indications as you can. You will not regret.

Surely you are gonna use Google Maps as Navigator. Using it you will discover that a lot of times you are driving for a good and wade road, and you can see your destiny at the road indications but Google maps leave you out of this road for a very narrow and worse road... You can trust, it will be the faster way, and I can sure you it's very interesting taking these roads, you will see beautiful places!! Also, I recommend you download the Ireland map before start the travel, You are gonna do a lot of kilometres with no phone signal.

About how is driving in this country, I can say is a very friendly country to drive, you will see Irish people are very kind and relaxed drivers. Usually the asphalt is good and the indications are clear and easy to see. During the night, most of the roads have reflective stuff on the round and the guardrails so is easy to drive during the night also if it's raining.

Sleep: If you are travelling in a motor-home, camper-van or you want to sleep in a tent, there are some camping sites, overall in the south-west and around the Wild Atlantic Way, but not too many places in other routes. 

Tents are forbidden in any place out of camping sites but I saw a lot of people doing it in any place.

For motor-homes and camper-vans is pretty easier, you can download the Phone App "park4night" where you can find places to stay overnight with users comments, pictures and rankings. This app saved my life more than one time!

For the other hand, you can have the crazy idea of sleep in a bed! OK, don't worry, you have a lot of options in the countryside and little towns for a price few times cheaper than Dublin. I usually use Airbnb, Hotels.com or Booking.com. You can sleep from €15/night!!

Pictures: You will see a lot of incredible viewpoints. A lot of times I stopped my car in the middle of a small road to catch a special view,  but remember: Pictures are not the same as the reality. I know people who when we stop in a view point, take his/her phone or camera, take a lot of pictures and return to the car... I encourage you to take your time. Try to keep these views in your mind, keep attention in the colours, the lights, the shadows, the smells, the sounds... And after that, you can take all pictures as you want. When you arrive at home and download the pictures you will discover that the images are not the same as you have seen, but always you see these pictures you will remind these smells, sounds, colours... for all your life...

So that is all, I hope you enjoy this places as I did and if you have more time and money as me, you can see more amazing places in each trip. Good luck! 

Road Trip 01 - Donegal

Road Trip 02 - Cork - Kerry