Travel Guide to County Clare

For a relatively small county, what makes this west coast region unique? For one, the landscapes. Clare is home to many diverse and unusual landscapes, such as the famous Cliffs of Moher – 300-meter-high sheer cliffs that fall steeply into the sea.

And then there’s the Burren – a craggy, exposed limestone landscape that seems barren and moon-like from afar, but bursts with exquisite colour and dozens of rare flower species up close. It’s one of Ireland’s most bizarre and wild landscapes and should be experienced first-hand. Clare also has beaches, forests, windblown hills and patch-work pastures of sheep and cows.

Clare also has some great heritage sites, with Neolithic monuments jostling for space alongside imposing medieval towers and quaint Irish villages. The food is very good with some of Ireland’s best seafood found here – County Clare is home to the Burren Smokehouse, so expect to find lots of lovely salmon. The village of Doolin is often touted as a top place to hear Irish trad music, so be sure to catch a session while having a pint of the local craft beer while you’re here.

Read on to learn more about what makes Clare such a special county.

Certainly the most famous place in Clare, and possibly the best-known landscape in Ireland, the Cliffs of Moher run for 8 miles or 13 kilometres along Clare’s coast. Most visitors arrive directly at the visitor centre, situated in the middle of the cliffs.

However, for outdoor lovers, the best way to properly experience the majesty and sheer size of the cliffs is to walk the cliffside path. Starting at Hag’s Head in the south where there is a place to park your car, hikers can walk along the Cliffs of Moher all the way to the visitor centre and beyond. Walking to the visitor centre and back is about 10 km and should take you about 3 hours, though it’s possible to walk one way and taxi back. There are also cliffside paths from the northern end of the cliffs.

This option allows you to enjoy the Cliffs of Moher in all their glory with fewer visitors to crowd the view. Stepping into the visitor centre is still an option for those who are interested.

Read More

While the Cliffs of Moher may get all the fame, the northern corner of Clare hides a little-visited coastal gem. Black Head combines stunning coastal beauty with the wild, craggy landscapes of the Burren. There are a number of walks of varying lengths in the region around Fanore.

Black Head offers a mixture of ancient green roads, quiet laneways and expanses of exposed limestone, similar to landscapes in the national park. As with other parts of the Burren, Black Head is a place of wild and rugged beauty, with exceptional floral displays during the spring and summer.

Calling to mind images of fantasy worlds, J.R.R. Tolkien spent time visiting the Burren while writing The Lord of the Rings, and fantastical landscapes like Black Head and the Burren influenced locations in Middle Earth within his classic trilogy. Explore this exceptional landscape while hiking the best of Kerry & Clare.

Doolin

Doolin is one of Ireland’s most musical villages. Sitting on the coast at the north end of the Cliffs of Moher and close to Black Head further north, this colourful and vibrant village is the perfect base for exploring Clare’s most amazing outdoor places, particularly the northern expanses.

Doolin is also one of the two places from which the ferry runs for the Aran Islands. Plenty of traditional pubs, local trad music groups and delicious cafes and eateries make Doolin a small but incredible part of Clare.

Ennis

Ennis is Clare’s main population centre. It should tell you something about the size and density of the county when you learn that the population of Ennis is just about 28,000.

Far from a throbbing metropolis, Ennis is a quaint bustling market town, the perfect starting point for travel in County Clare. Home to an adorable downtown district, a historic abbey, and a wide selection of cafes, pubs and restaurants as well as shops, get your cultural fix in Ennis.

Clare might not be Ireland’s most Neolithic-heavy region, but like most of Ireland, the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages are never far away. One of the most incredible monuments is Poulnabrone – an impressive portal tomb capped with a huge capstone.

This tomb is between 5,200 and 5,800 years old, and excavations unearthed the remains of at least 21 burials on site.

Learn more about Ancient Ireland here.

Burren Perfumery

A perfumery inspired by the landscapes unfolding on every side, the Burren Perfumery is a unique place in County Clare. The fascinating perfumery uses locally sourced and foraged ingredients to engineer its organic scents and cosmetics.

Passionate about sharing the magic of the Burren with visitors, the soaps and perfumes smell delicious and evoke the amazing biodiversity of the region. Learn more here.

Aillwee Caves

The Burren is riddled with caves and caverns. Many are closed off to the general public, while others have yet to be discovered. The most famous – and accessible – is Aillwee Caves in north Clare. Discovered in 1944 by Jack McGann and opened in 1973, walk through the cool corridors amongst stalactites and stalagmites. Cross bridges over chasms and feel the spray of underwater waterfalls before experiencing true darkness when they briefly cut the lights.

Scattery Island

In the south of County Clare, Scattery Island is a small place rich in history. Visitors can take a boat out to the island and marvel at the extensive ruins of ancient monastic sites, including five churches, a cathedral and a magnificent round tower.

There’s a lighthouse too, still working, and remnants of a Napoleonic artillery battery. No humans live on Scattery, but plenty of birds have moved onto this tranquil island.  

Doonagore Castle

Overlooking the quaint village of Doolin, the 16th-century Doonagore Castle sits on a hilltop with sweeping views out to the sea. The castle bounced from the O’Briens to the O’Connors, the two mightiest clans of Clare in the late Middle Ages. But of course, as with many other places in Ireland, Doonagore Castle has a dark streak in its past. In the late 1500s, a ship from the infamous Spanish Armada sunk off the coast, and, following government orders, survivors were killed rather than cared for. While there’s no access to the castle or grounds, it makes a rather stunning photo backdrop.

Burren Wildflowers

The craggy landscape of the Burren may look monotone grey from a distance. But don’t let that fool you – up close, the Burren bursts with a rainbow of colour. Housing one of the widest natural displays of biodiversity in Western Europe, plants and blooms from the sub-arctic regions all the way to the Mediterranean grow side-by-side in the Burren, as well as plants normally found in acidic soil sprouting next to woodland blossoms.

In fact, the Burren’s open limestone pavement is often regarded as one of Europe’s most biodiverse regions, and rich ecosystems with 75% of the plants found in Ireland flourish in the Burren region, including twenty-three of Ireland’s twenty-seven types of orchid. Learn more on the national park’s website here.

Seabirds

Puffins aren’t the only sea birds soaring Clare’s coasts. From gannets to kittiwakes, many birds are making their home here. One place that supports a sizeable feathered ecosystem is the Shannon Estuary.

Bird-watchers might be interested to know that the area affords a significant habitat for many species, including the cormorant, curlew, greenshank, golden plover, grey plover, lapwing, ringed plover, shelduck, and scaup, among others. The Cliffs of Moher’s sheer walls as well as other cliff areas in south Clare also provide “apartments” for seabirds who flock to these cliffs for protection.

Interested in Irish birdwatching? Learn more here.