Five days, a Mercedes, and a private chauffeur who knows every back road, hidden viewpoint, and local pub worth stopping at. This is Ireland’s west coast done properly - no coach crowds, no fixed schedules, just you and the open road.
The route covers a loop that takes in the best of the west: Galway’s colourful streets and lively pub scene, the otherworldly landscapes of Connemara, the Cliffs of Moher, the Ring of Kerry, and Blarney Castle. You spend two nights in Galway and two in Killarney, both perfectly placed towns with excellent restaurants and a real sense of place. The driving is all handled for you, so you can actually look out the window and take in the scenery instead of worrying about narrow roads and roundabouts.
The itinerary is flexible by design. If you spot a castle ruin you want to explore, or a village catches your eye, the chauffeur will pull over. Up to eight hours of touring per day gives you plenty of time to linger where you want and skip what doesn’t interest you. This is your trip, and the chauffeur and the car are there to make it effortless.
What’s Included
Private chauffeur-driven Mercedes E or S Class (up to 2 passengers with luggage)
Bottled water on board
Air-conditioned vehicle
All fees, taxes, and road tolls
Up to 300 km of driving per day
What’s Not Included
Accommodation (two nights in Galway, two nights in Killarney - you arrange your own)
Food and drink
Admission fees to attractions
Driver’s overnight expenses (EUR 125 per night, EUR 500 total, paid directly to driver)
Gratuities
Good to Know
Private tour for up to 2 passengers
The vehicle and chauffeur are fully licensed and insured by the Irish Government Transport Authority
Suitable for all physical fitness levels
The itinerary starts and ends in Dublin, though a different drop-off location can be arranged on request
Children and infants are welcome
Local Tips
In Galway, book accommodation well ahead. You have two nights here, which is the right amount. The medieval quarter puts you in walking distance of everything - Tigh Coili on Mainguard Street for trad sessions from around 9:30pm, Ard Bia at Nimmo on Quay Street if you want a proper dinner, the Galway City Loop walk (Eyre Square to the Claddagh and back through the laneways) for the morning before you head to Connemara. If you’re visiting in July, the city fills to capacity for the Arts Festival and Races - book six months out, or consider September instead. Spend the afternoon at Galway properly before the sessions start.
Killarney earns two nights. The town is busier than Galway but the national park at its back door is enormous and mostly empty before 9am. Walk the Knockreer demesne on your first morning (ten minutes from the station, lake views, almost no-one there). On Day 4, drive the Ring of Kerry anti-clockwise and leave Killarney before 8am - coaches go clockwise and don’t start early. Your chauffeur will know this. The Gap of Dunloe is best on foot from Kate Kearney’s Cottage if you can spare half a day within the Ring. Killarney has Ireland’s first national park right at its edge - the Torc Waterfall loop and the path up to the Old Kenmare Road takes two hours and is empty by 4:30pm.
Blarney on Day 5 - arrive before 10am. The queue for the Blarney Stone can be two hours in peak season. With an early start from Killarney (about 1.5 hours’ drive), you can be at the castle gates when they open, spend 45 minutes on the Stone and the Rock Close grounds, and still be driving east to Dublin before midday. The Rock Close - the Victorian rock garden with its Wishing Steps and standing stones - takes 20 minutes and is quieter than the castle itself.
Connemara on Day 2 rewards flexibility. The chauffeur’s knowledge is the asset here. Letterfrack, the Connemara National Park, Kylemore Abbey, the Twelve Bens - the landscape changes every ten minutes. There is no wrong way through Connemara. Tell the chauffeur what you want (mountains, coast, villages, nothing in particular) and let him drive.
Nearby on IrelandMe
Galway - A medieval city with sessions most nights, the Aran Islands 40 minutes west, and laneways that reward getting genuinely lost. Two nights is the right base for the Connemara day.
Killarney - A railway town with a national park out the back door. Ireland’s first national park - 10,000 hectares of lakes, oak woods, and the only native red deer herd left on the island. Two nights makes the Ring of Kerry and the Gap of Dunloe both achievable.
Blarney - Cormac MacCarthy built the castle in 1446, Elizabeth I complained about his smooth talk and invented a word, and now 250,000 people a year queue to kiss the stone. The Rock Close grounds are worth the stop even if the queue defeats you.
