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Dublin to Cliffs of Moher and Galway City Private Tour by Car
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From €1133 per person
This is a full day out on the west coast of Ireland, done properly. A 5-star private guide picks you up from your Dublin accommodation in a clean, air-conditioned car and takes you through some of the country’s best scenery - all in the company of your own group, with no strangers along for the ride.
The day covers the Cliffs of Moher, O’Brien’s Tower, the medieval ruins of Kilmacduagh Monastery, the Burren National Park, and Galway City. Your guide is fluent in the language you select when booking, so everything you see along the way gets proper context and local knowledge.
At the Cliffs of Moher, skip-the-line tickets mean you spend your time on the walking trail rather than queuing. Standing at the cliff edge, you’ll hear the Atlantic battering the soft shale and sandstone far below - the same views you might recognise from “The Princess Bride” and “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” O’Brien’s Tower, the highest point of the cliffs, gives you a panorama stretching across the Atlantic Ocean and out to the Aran Islands in Galway Bay.
Transportation is wheelchair accessible and infants can travel in a pram or stroller. Infants must sit on an adult’s lap during the journey. Public transport options are available nearby. This tour is available with guides in German, Russian, English, Italian, and French.
This is a private tour.
At Kilmacduagh, do the full monastery circuit. The site is compact - a 1 to 1.5 km loop that takes 45 minutes to an hour. Start at the leaning round tower (34 metres tall, gently off-vertical since the 10th century), then move through the roofless cathedral complex and the church of St John. No map is needed; follow the stone path. If you have a camera, the round tower is at its best in morning or late afternoon light when the shadows show the lean. Spend the full two hours here rather than rushing to the next stop.
In the Burren, the village stops matter. The Burren National Park passes above Ballyvaughan - the village at the bottom of Corkscrew Hill, a famine-era road built in the 1840s that winds up the limestone face. The view from the top across Galway Bay is the one your guide will likely stop for. If you have a moment in the village itself, Monk’s Pub on the harbour does the seafood chowder and the window seat looking out at the bay. Lisdoonvarna, a few kilometres further south on the R480, is the spa town at the Burren’s edge - sulphur springs, the Roadside Tavern sessions, and the September matchmaking festival that has been running since 1857.
At the Cliffs, watch the weather before you decide where to stand. The cliffs are 214 metres at their highest point and exposed on all sides. On calm days, O’Brien’s Tower gives the widest view; on windy days, the lower southern trail is more sheltered and just as dramatic. Your guide will read the conditions and advise. The southern trail runs above Liscannor - the pier village where the cliff walk ends and where Vaughan’s Anchor Inn has been doing seafood since 1979. Walking back toward Doolin from the northern end of the trail is the classic cliff-walk approach: three hamlets, four pubs, and a 2023 Michelin star at Homestead Cottage if your group wants to come back independently.
In Galway, go left off Shop Street. The medieval laneways that run between Shop Street and Quay Street are quieter than the main drag and have better food per euro - Ard Bia at Nimmo on Quay Street is locally-led and genuinely good. The Claddagh neighbourhood is a short walk from the centre and worth the fifteen minutes if you want to understand where the famous ring actually came from.
On timing: two hours in Galway is enough for a walk and a meal, but not much else. If your group wants to browse the craft shops or find a trad session starting up in the afternoon, let your guide know early so they can build flexibility into the return journey.