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2-Day Southern Ireland Tour from Dublin:Including Blarney and Cliffs of Moher
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From €199 per person
If you want to see a lot of southern Ireland in two days, this tour covers the ground well. You’ll stand at the Cliffs of Moher, cross the strange limestone plateau of the Burren, walk the grounds of Blarney Castle, and overnight in Cork before heading back to Dublin.
It’s a good mix of what the south does best - rugged coastline, dramatic cliffs, historic castles, rolling farmland, and Cork’s lively atmosphere in the evening.
The Rock of Cashel is a scheduled stop and it rewards a little extra attention. The limestone outcrop rises 60 metres above the plain with no warning at all - you’ll see it from the road before the coach pulls in. The complex on top includes Cormac’s Chapel (consecrated 1134), which holds the only surviving Romanesque frescoes in Ireland, discovered under centuries of limewash in the 1980s. The coaches tend to arrive mid-morning, so use whatever time you have at the Rock early, before the car parks fill. Walk up from the base rather than driving to the top if the group has the option - the approach on foot, watching the walls rise above you, is part of how the place works. The Hore Abbey field below the Rock is free to walk into and usually empty; it gives you the best sight-line back up to the complex.
At Blarney the queue for the Blarney Stone moves steadily but the castle grounds are the real find. The Rock Close - a Victorian garden dressed up with druidic names like the Wishing Steps and the Witch’s Kitchen - is quieter than the castle itself and worth the extra twenty minutes. The Barley Stone gastropub on the village square is a reasonable lunch stop after the queue, though the Back in Time bakery on Main Street does fresher sandwiches if you want to keep moving.
The Burren section of the tour is a drive-through experience, but even from the coach window the karst limestone is unmistakeable - a grey plateau cracked into pavements, with wildflowers growing in the joints in late spring and early summer.
Doolin is the village the Cliffs of Moher walk starts from. Three hamlets, four pubs, and a trad session going somewhere most nights. If your itinerary allows any time in the area beyond the visitor centre, Gus O’Connor’s on Fisher Street has been pouring since 1832 and the sessions run February through November. The walk south from the harbour to the cliff edge - six kilometres - delivers you to the same drop for nothing, without the car park.
Liscannor is at the southern end of the same cliff trail, eight kilometres from the visitor centre and where the Hag’s Head section of the walk begins. Vaughan’s Anchor Inn has been run by the same family since 1979 and the kitchen is Michelin-recommended - proper Clare seafood off the local boats. If the coach route passes through, it’s worth noting as a lunch stop or a base if you come back independently.
Cork is your overnight city. The evening is unstructured, which means you can make it your own. The English Market is a short walk from most central hotels and closes at around 6pm on weekdays - worth a detour on the way back from check-in if timing works.