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BEST Wild Atlantic Way 14-Day Private Luxury Tour
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From €1164 per person
Most people who visit Ireland spend a week or less and come away feeling like they only caught the edges of it. Fourteen days is a different kind of trip. With that kind of time, you can actually settle in - linger in a Connemara village, watch a sheepdog trial in a field with proper rain gear and a flask of tea, take the long way around to Kylemore Abbey, and pass through Cong without feeling like you need to keep moving.
This private tour covers the best of the Wild Atlantic Way in a luxury Mercedes with your own professionally accredited guide. The vehicle is fully insured, cleaned, and serviced, with WiFi and bottled water on board. Your guide brings local knowledge and genuine stories - not the polished version you get from a coach tour commentary, but the kind that comes from someone who actually knows the places you’re visiting. You’ll be meeting local people along the way and hearing from them directly.
The itinerary can be shaped around what interests you. If you want to stop at a woollen mill or a craft distillery, there’s time for that. If you’d rather lean into historical houses, museums, or stately homes, the route can accommodate it. Accommodation options include 4-star boutique hotels and cosy inns, with 5-star hotels and castle stays available on request. Good food is a genuine part of the experience, and your guide knows where to find it.
Connemara rewards slow travel. The landscape between Clifden and Leenane - all bog, mountain, and sea inlet - is best when you’re not rushing through it. Your guide can take detours along the Sky Road or through the Inagh Valley that most visitors never see. If there’s a morning when the mist is sitting low on the Twelve Bens, ask to take the scenic route rather than the direct road.
Kylemore Abbey has more layers than most people expect. It was built in the 1860s by a Mitchell Henry as a private home for his wife Margaret, who died in Egypt just a few years after they moved in. The Benedictine nuns arrived in 1920, having been expelled from their abbey in Ypres during World War One. The Victorian walled garden, restored by the nuns, is one of the finest examples of its kind in Ireland and shouldn’t be skipped.
The sheepdog trials are worth planning around. If your trip falls in summer, local sheepdog trials happen across the west of Ireland, particularly in Connacht. Your guide will know what’s on and when. Watching a well-trained dog work a hillside is a completely different experience from anything you’ll find in a visitor centre.
Cong is the village where The Quiet Man was filmed in 1952. The film, starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara, was directed by John Ford and is still deeply woven into the village’s identity - there’s a museum dedicated to it in the village. Beyond the film connection, Cong sits between Lough Corrib and Lough Mask and is one of the most genuinely beautiful villages in Mayo.
Let your guide know your food interests early. The west of Ireland has some of the best seafood in Europe - Killary mussels, Connemara smoked salmon, Galway Bay oysters - and your guide can steer you towards restaurants and producers that most visitors never find. This is one of the genuine advantages of a private tour over a group itinerary.