Best Books to Read Before Travelling to Ireland

The Wild Atlantic Way is a 2,500 km length coastal road that starts in Kinsale, Co Cork, and ends on the coast of Lough Foyle, just over the border from Derry, Co Antrim (which is in Northern Ireland). This extremely comprehensive book covers the entirety of the Wild Atlantic Way. Exploring Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way provides background information on diverse topics such as weather, wildlife, camping, outdoor activities, wild food, water safety and more.

Region by region, Exploring Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way follows the Wild Atlantic Way, providing information on towns, villages, islands, beaches and attractions as well as activities in each area, combined with inspiring photography to provide visuals. Exploring Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way the perfect companion to anyone eager to explore Ireland’s west coast as well as help visitors narrow down their trip to focus on the regions that interest them the most.

David Flanagan is also the author of several other books about Ireland, including Cycling in Ireland, Bouldering in Ireland, and Rock Climbing in Ireland. 

• Get Exploring Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way to help you prepare for your upcoming trip to Ireland’s rugged West Coast!

This comical tale tells the story of Tony Hawks’ journey of hitchhiking around Ireland. To win one of literature’s most ridiculous bets in Round Ireland With a A Fridge, British comedian Hawks sets off on a ridiculous journey to hitchhike around Ireland in one month…with a fridge in tow.

Together, they hitchhiked from Dublin through the Midlands into remote Donegal then down along the Wild Atlantic Way – Sligo, Mayo, Galway, Clare, Kerry, Cork. Following the coast, they swept through Waterford, Wexford and up through Wicklow and back into Dublin, circling all of Ireland. Along the way, Tony and his fridge have all sorts of crazy adventures: a bit of surfing, a visit to a bachelor festival, meeting a real prince and a fake king and the fridge was even christened by nuns.

Round Ireland With a A Fridge is a hilarious take on a travelogue with interesting and intriguing insights into rural Ireland and the Irish people themselves.

• Learn more about Round Ireland With a Fridge for a funny and unusual look at travelling through rural Ireland!

Sligo Folk Tales is a book by local historian and author Joe McGowan, but it is also part of a series, Folk Tales from the British Isles. Others in the series include titles such as Donegal Folk Tales, Antrim Folk Tales and more folk tales from other regions of Ireland (and the UK), making them perfect some of the best Ireland travel books to pick up on your journey.

In Sligo Folk Tales – as in each book – you will find a series of tales each tied to places within that county, compiled by local historians such as Joe McGowan. The tales will take you on a journey through the landscapes, culture, and history of some of Ireland’s most rural regions. Some of the tales are myths, others are oral histories, fairy tales, ghost stories, tales of legendary battles or heroic quests.

Here you will find tales of traditional rural ways of life among the residents of Sligo, their customs, and superstitions, alongside stories of legendary heroes, epic battles, and heroic deeds, as well as fantastical accounts of mythical creatures, faeries, witches, and ghostly goings-on.

• Purchase Sligo Folk Tales here – or look for Folk Tales from the British Isles in other counties as you travel along!

Vanishing Ireland is the first in a series of Ireland travel books that takes readers back in time to an older Ireland. Through the recollections of over 50 individuals in each book, Fennell reminds us of the old ways of Ireland that are slowly – and unfortunately – dying out.

Themes include agriculture, music, trade, landscape, bringing to life Ireland during its formative years of the 20th century through the eyes of farmers, miners, fishermen, saddlers, publicans, housemaids, musicians, and other ways of life that are dying out. With interviews paired with images, Vanishing Ireland is the perfect companion for anyone looking for the ‘old’ Ireland.

• Purchase Vanishing Ireland here.

Ireland: Eyewitness Accounts of Irish Life Since 1966 tackles the past one hundred years of Ireland through its people. Through Ireland’s living memory, editor John Bowman has collected tales on various historical events such as the Rising (from various perspectives), WWII, the revolutionary Micheal Collins, religious struggles from various points of view, the rise of the GAA (Gaelic football), emigration, marriage, censorship, women’s rights, Ireland’s vanishing language, traditional Irish music, hunger strikes, the Troubles, the 8th amendment, the Good Friday Agreement, asylum seekers, and more.

In this different take on Ireland travel books, a wide variety of authors have contributed texts, including several famous writers and activists like Constance Markievicz, Elizabeth Bowen, George Bernard Shaw, Seamus Heaney, and Edna O’Brien. This new book is a great way learn about Ireland’s history, people and culture through their own eyes.

Sounds good? Order it here.

Ireland travel books also includes anthologies, notably, The Long Gaze Back which includes over 30 stories written by Irish women. In response to the general neglect in publicans written by women in the before the 21st century, this collection provides a voice to the women of Ireland.

The Long Gaze Back was chosen for Dublin’s 2018 choice for its award, One City, One Book award, an initiative organised by Dublin Public Libraries. Designed to encourage citizens to read a book connected with Ireland – and Dublin in particular – each spring, One City, One Book then organises events surrounding the text – in the case of The Long Gaze Back, events included literary tours of Kilmainham Gaol or the National Gallery, art exhibitions by female painters, writing workshops, speeches and discussions by writers connected with the book, food festivals, theatre programmes, music events, and more.

• Purchase The Long Gaze Back here.

• Order the book here.

• Purchase the book here.

Another hilarious tale of Ireland travel books, author Pete McCarthy sets off on a discovery journey around Ireland. Obeying his own golden rule, ‘never pass a pub with your name on it,’ Pete McCarthy encounters bars and pubs bearing the name ‘McCarthy’ up and down Ireland.

Intermixed during these wanderings in McCarthy’s Bar: A Journey of Discovery in Ireland, Pete meets a host of interesting local characters or fellow travellers as he goes. This is the perfect light-hearted travelling companion for anyone who likes a good laugh.

• Find it here.

This concludes our Irish travel recommended reading list of Ireland travel books. Now that you’ve read about it, want to visit the Emerald Isle? Check out some Ireland Hiking & Biking Trips below!