Best Things to do in County Clare

Best Things to do in County Clare

Clare is full of great stuff to do and see, its a great spot to spend a few days or a week or two if you wanna experience the real Ireland, green fields, creamy pints of Guinness, plenty of craic, even mighty craic!!

Depending on your budget, and exceptions Clare has loads to offer, you would be very busy each day exploring the old sites, interesting visitor centres, cool little pubs and beautiful beaches with large waves for plenty of surfing! Clare is a fairly small area to travel around, so you can get around there pretty quickly, by car or bus whichever way you are doing it!!

See my post on The Best Pubs in Clare, Clare has some lovely Irish pubs!!

Visit the Town of Ennis

The town of Ennis has many cool things to see, Irish pubs, old historic buildings, monuments, and the town itself is just a wonderful little Irish town. The town has a Daniel O Connell monument, a FREE museum to visit, where you will see some really old Irish artefacts.

Ennis has some great pubs, and a vibrant Irish music scene, it’s definitely worth a visit! Ennis is home to the Ennis Friary which dates back hundreds of years to when Ireland was run by High Kings, the Friary is open to the public, its steeped in history and cool architecture.

The Burren Region

The Burren region has it all, really cool coastal views, beautiful unique karst grey landscape, flora, and wildlife everywhere, birds, beaches and history. The whole area is a wonderful spot to visit, full of activities, the whole area of the Burren is a site to look at and read up on, its an amazing place!

It one of those places you will remember visiting because of the landscape, its just class. It’s a magical area. The area is visited by large numbers of tourists each year, loads of Irish people visit the Burren on day trips and holidays.

See my article on The Burren region here!

Surfing in Lahinch

If you like to surf, Lahinch has some great waves to catch, the area is well known for large waves. Lahinch is full of surfers all year round mad to catch a few waves.

Lahinch is full of holiday homes, it has some campsites and caravan parks. The town has some lovely little Irish pubs. There are a number of companies offering surfing on the beach, you can hire out all the gear you need, a wetsuit and surfboard, and away you go!!

Cliffs of Moher

Ireland’s most beautiful natural attraction the Cliffs of Moher is such a nice place to visit, it’s just beautiful. The Cliffs of Moher is one of the sites you got to see in County Clare, it’s the kinda place you will remember for years and years after visiting there.

The visitor centre has a cafe, restaurant and gift shop. Its Ireland second busiest tourist attractions. The visitor centre has a cool virtual reality movie to check it, and it’s delightful!
A tip for visiting the cliffs is to book your tickets online to save money and try to visit around 12.00 noon or later in the afternoon like 4.00 pm.

See my post here on a full guide with everything you need to know while visiting the Cliffs of Moher!

Take a Boat Trip to See the Cliffs of Moher

Another cool thing to do in Clare is taking a boat trip to see the Cliffs from the sea. It’s a nice boat trip to take, you get to see Ireland’s coolest natural attraction from a cool angle, out at sea.

These boat trips are a great way to get some savage photos of the Cliffs of Moher. The views from the boats show the coastline that makes the Cliffs Of Moher so popular and world-famous.

Bunratty Castle and Folk Park

Bunratty Castle and the folk park is full of exciting stuff to see. The old medieval castle is full of history, charm and the folk park has a lot of old Irish thatched cottages, and various other old buildings, and you will see some Irish wolfhounds dogs. There’s Bunratty mead available to try, it’s a sweet alcohol liqueur that kinda tastes like some wines, but Bunratty mead is much nicer. If that not enough you can try some freshly baked Irish soda bread and apple tart.

The area has some great shopping outlets including the woollen mills, tis a great spot to spend a few hours or even a day wondering around learning about life in Ireland back in the day!

Rock Climbing in the Burren Region

The Burren has lots of rock, it has 250 square kilometres of limestone in total, that’s a lot of rock. If you want some adventure or are into rock climbing, the Burren region has a few sites that rock climbers really enjoy. The views from the Burren are unreal and something to remember.

Cliffs Walk from Doolin to the Cliffs of Moher

There are many nice walkways in Clare, the cliff walks from Liscannor to the Cliffs of Moher and onto Doolin are some of the nicest you will see.

There are just so scenic, it’s unreal. Walking these paths you will see some of the most beautiful scenery if you need a workout these routes are a fine workout indeed! The areas can be windy and quite dangerous in parts so, be prepared and dress appropriately.

Aliwee Cave

County Clare has a number of caves to explore, some caves are turned into visitor attractions. Aliwee cave offers guided tours of the cave, with a very interesting bird of prey experience that included flying birds trained to perform. You can go down deep into the large cave, learn about the cool formations in the cave, there is a waterfall to see underground, it’s really cool!

You can learn about the brown bears that lived in the Burren region many years ago. The birds of prey experience has cool bird flying displays with the brilliant Burren landscape in the background.

Poulnabourne Dolmen

This site is one of the oldest in Ireland, its steeped in history. Poulnabourne is an old burial site, that dates back 5,200 years. Its an old portal tomb, the site was excavated by a team of Archaeologists finding bodies dating back thousands of years. It’s FREE to visit, considering its as old as the pyramids in Egypt, it pretty amazing.

There is a FREE car park just next to the old portal tomb. Poulnabourne is one of the most photographed sites in Ireland.

See my article about how to get to Poulnabourne Dolmen here!

Caherconnell Stone Fort and Sheepdog Demonstrations

Ireland is full of stone forts, Caherconnell fort is a really nice place to visit, its full of interesting stuff to see. The visitor centre has some interactive displays.

There is a nice cafe and gift shop to wander around and maybe pick up a few gifts. There are sheepdog demonstrations, these demonstrations are really enjoyable, you can see the clever sheepdogs chase and round up the sheep, it’s really amazing.

Trump International Hotel and Golf Course

If you’re into golf, the Trump International Hotel and golf course is somewhere you might wanna visit, its located in a beautiful part of Ireland in Doonbeg, the hotel is on a beautiful land bank with coastal views that are amazing.

The golf course is one of Ireland best golf courses, it’s a beautiful course to play. The hotel is a great place to stay while visiting Ireland, it’s truly a top-class hotel.

Loophead Light House

Loop head lighthouse is located on the Wild Atlantic Way route, tis some area to see on a nice day! The lighthouse dates back to 1670, it’s open to the public. The current lighthouse was built in 1854, the range of the amazing light from the lighthouse can span 23 miles which are pretty amazing.

The lighthouse features an exhibition about Irish lighthouse history, there is some cool stuff on display to see, you can go inside the lighthouse and explore it!

Kilkee Cliffs

Kilkee is a coastal town with a beautiful bay and beach, it’s visited by around 250,000 visitors each year. Many Irish people have holiday homes in Kilkee and the surrounding areas. The town has a number of nice cafes, pubs and accommodation options.

Kilkee Cliffs are located just outside the town, the cliffs are amazing, the views of the Atlantic Ocean from the Kilkee cliffs are special. The Kilkee cliffs are completely FREE to visit, its just another pure class spot that Clare has to offer.

I hope you enjoy Clare and it gives you many memorable experiences, I welcome any recommendations or suggestions by email to info@allthings-ireland.com

See my post on the amazing Wild Atlantic way route in County Clare, its some road trip!

Thanks
John C
All Things Ireland