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Cliffs of Moher, Burren and Bunratty with Private Chauffeur Tour
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From €1195 per person
This private tour is built around flexibility - the itinerary can be shaped around what you want to see. That said, the natural route takes you through some of County Clare’s finest stops, starting with Bunratty Castle, across the Burren’s extraordinary limestone landscape, and out to the Cliffs of Moher on the Atlantic coast.
Bunratty Castle is the most complete and authentic medieval castle in Ireland. The site was originally a Viking trading camp in 970, and the current structure is the last of four castles built here. A tour of the interior brings you through how the lords and ladies of this fortress actually lived - the stories of battles, the castle layout, the views across the Clare countryside.
The Burren is a karst landscape like nothing else in Ireland. Its cracked limestone pavement holds cliffs, caves, fossils, rare wildflowers and prehistoric sites. On its Atlantic edge, the Cliffs of Moher rise over 700 feet above the ocean and stretch for about eight kilometres along the Clare coast. The mix of dark shale and limestone meeting the Atlantic makes it one of the most photographed spots in the country - and it earns that reputation.
A word on weather: Irish conditions can change quickly, so it’s worth bringing a rain jacket and wearing sturdy shoes for the cliff paths.
The tour wraps up with a stop at Sean’s Bar in Athlone - registered by the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest pub in Ireland, and possibly in the world.
Go early to Bunratty. Bunratty is five minutes from Shannon Airport and the coaches start arriving at half ten. A morning start gets you the castle and the Folk Park before the crowd shapes the experience. The Folk Park itself covers thirty acres - it’s a reconstructed village of real relocated buildings (cottages, a forge, a 19th-century street), and most people plan an hour and stay three or four. Durty Nelly’s, the pub at the castle gate that claims 1620, is worth a drink before half seven when it’s still a real pub rather than a function room.
The Sean’s Bar stop is the right way to end the day. Athlone sits on the Shannon at the midpoint of Ireland, and Sean’s Bar is a hundred yards from the castle. Guinness World Records named it the oldest pub in Ireland in 2004, with a claimed founding around 900 AD. The wattle-and-wicker section behind the glass is the bit that convinced the National Museum, who took some coins found during a 1970s rebuild. Order a pint, don’t start an argument about the founding date, and enjoy it for what it is: a genuinely old pub in a genuinely old river town. The Shannon riverbank walk from the castle to the bar takes three minutes; the castle car park is the sensible place to leave the vehicle.
Bring a rain jacket for the Burren and the cliffs. The Burren’s limestone pavement is remarkable in any weather - that cracked, fossil-filled surface looks different in sunlight and rain - but the Cliffs of Moher path is exposed regardless of season. Wind comes off the Atlantic without announcement. Sturdy shoes matter as much as the jacket on the cliff walk.
Lunch is not included - plan it at Bunratty. The tour doesn’t include meals, so the Bunratty stop is the obvious lunch window. Gallagher’s of Bunratty does a good seafood chowder and manages the early-bird timing well. MacCloskey’s, set in the vaulted cellar of Bunratty House Mews, is the serious option if you want a longer midday break - book ahead if your group wants to eat there.