Ireland Tour for Solo Travelers: Dublin, Killarney, Galway & More

The calm waters of the River Liffey run through the heart of Dublin. River barges drift under modern and antique bridges. Halfpenny bridge stretches across the river connecting neighborhoods in an elegant arch. After breakfast, your guide meets you at the hotel. You leave Dublin behind for the storied countryside away from the cityscape. You arrive in County Wicklow where coastline, woodlands, and an exceptional mountain range merge brimming with walking trails. The image of the Emerald Isle comes to life, overflowing with lush grass and verdant trees.

The glassy waters even reflect the color on the rippling surface. The town of Glendalough contains the image of the romantic Ireland landscape that draws people from around the world. Valley forest covers two dark lakes creating a tranquil ease in the isolated atmosphere. Two churches pop out of the center of a group of rocks. Locals whisper myths about the stones, having provided sacred milk for two orphaned babies. Many of the stones have made their way into the churches to house the restorative powers. You continue onward to New Ross, the town of John F. Kennedy’s ancestors, before reaching Waterford.

Taste the luxurious and hearty flavors of a traditional Irish breakfast. The plate almost overflows with bacon and sausages, fried eggs and potatoes, vegetables and soda bread, all cooked in creamy butter, accompanied by a cup of steaming tea. After your meal, you make your way out of Waterford and visit the seaport town of Youghal. Soon you arrive at Blarney Castle, home of the celebrated Blarney Stone. The castle was constructed in the 15th century and maintains its firm and powerful structure. The main keep towers over the countryside around 90 feet tall. The famous Blarney Stone stands at the top of a steep spiral staircase. The air is cool around the stone path, and your footsteps echo around you.

You can see the long drop between the battlements and the stone. A modern safety rail connects the walkway to the wall where you have to bend back, extend your body, and press your lips to the legendary cold stone. The view is stunning, overlooking the expanse of trees and rolling hillsides in the distance. The surrounding stone adds an earthen quality to the scents of pine and spruce. Kissing the stone gifts people with unparalleled speech, able to talk sweetly about everything and anything. As you continue your travels through Ireland, you can hear the smooth stories from locals encircling the island.

After breakfast, you meet you guide for an adventure around the breathtaking scenery along the Ring of Kerry. The circular route is over 111 miles long encompassing exceptional coastline where you watch the emerald grass turn to rugged rocks and slope downward into the Atlantic. At Ladies View, you have a panoramic view of the landscape, where reflective pools sit between two craggy mountain peaks. The jagged island of Skellig Michael rises to a peak of 716 feet, once settled by Coptic monks in search of solitude from the 6th to the 12th century.

Monastic buildings perch on an outcrop in the rock atop around 600 steps. The beehive cells wind around the church and a vegetable garden faces southbound in an attempt to protect the produce from the wind. The stellar beauty of the scenery is matched by the rugged history around the drive, including records of Vikings raiding the monastery on Skellig Michael in the 9th century. The brisk breeze swirls around the coast and brings a sea mist to the air. Gannets nest on the island ledges and glide in the wind.

The wondrous mountains and placid lakes surround the town of Killarney. You wake up to the serene sounds of wildlife rumbling through the forest underbrush. The stories of local banshees could fill fairytale books but in Ireland the stories locals tell are not fairytales but legends, passed down from friends and family members, and verified by a witness. There is a rhythmic quality to the way people tell each tale, with fierce reassurance of its reality and a whimsical glint in their eyes.

After breakfast, you leave behind Killarney and the national park making your way around the Dingle Peninsula to Adare. Adare is often touted as Ireland’s, “Prettiest Village.” The town center has preserved the 19th century thatched cottages to create a picture perfect image of a charm. The whitewashed walls almost glow beneath the firm, angular thatched roofing. Gardens blossom and are trimmed around the doors and windows of the homes.

Historic religious houses date back to before the Reformation, the oldest dates to around the 13th century. A Franciscan friary was erected in the 15th century and now decorates the center of Adare Golf Club near the River Maigue. A stunning tower continues to stand and now casts a shadow over the golf course. The countryside is filled with enchantment for everyone to enjoy, where the people are eager to fill your ear with local history, whether historically documented or personally witnessed.

The sunlight drifts above the exceptional historic estate of Bunratty Castle and Folk Park, an area dedicated to the life and times of Ireland in the 18th and 19th centuries. The 15th-century castle is well preserved, standing as a medieval fortress with honorable walls and halls filled with valor. Surrounding Folk Park takes visitors back in time to the witness the village life, where farmhouses and furnishings reflect Irish societies’ normal lifestyle. Continue to the dramatic Cliffs of Moher. When you reach the coastal edge of Ireland, the layers of rock stand beneath a carpet of green. The cliffs rise 706 feet above the stoic cobalt ocean.

The wind sweeps upward from the water and carries a casual mist. The elements, from dashing wind to crashing waves, have shaped the landscape into the breathtaking marvel that you see. The highest point is O’Brien’s Tower, a stone tower at the cliffs’ midpoint built in the 19th century. When the waves thunder against the rock, it echoes into the quiet sky. Witnessing the tremendous landscape confirms the stories that you have heard from the friendly locals from the moment you touched down in Ireland. The scenery has shaped the legends like the elements have shaped the scenery.

The medieval city of Galway sits on Ireland’s western coastline, filled with intimate people and an uncompromising connection to music. The River Corrib flows alongside the cityscape feeding into the Atlantic. The nearby castle was originally constructed in the 12th century allowing for the city to evolve around the protected lands of the stronghold. After breakfast, you meet your guide and venture out into the wilds of the countryside for an excursion to Connemara. The coastline around the peninsula lattices, filled with pockets of untouched and undiscovered beauty.

Small bays and coves hide around golden sand beaches. Long valleys stretch across the inland, giving way to dark-water lakes. The quartzite peaks of the Twelve Bens roll along the horizon. The highest peak reaches 2,392 feet tall with a rusty glint against the blue sky. Kylemore Abbey stands on the shores of the river like a palace, surrounded by emerald trees and quiet current of the water.  The façade is 142 feet in width, made with granite. The interior holds 33 bedrooms. It was originally constructed to be a palace for a wealthy doctor but bought by Irish Benedictine Nuns in 1920.

The countryside expounds emerald trees and grasslands. After breakfast, you are escorted to the sprawling greenery around Knock and the snow-white Catholic Marian Shrine. You continue to Drumcliff, a village in known as the final resting place of W.B. Yeats. An Irish High Cross dating to the 9th century marks the ruins of the 6th century St. Colmcille monastery.  Yeats’s grave is marked with a pristine headstone near the open gravelly roadway. It reads, “Cast a cold Eye/ On life, on Death./Horseman Pass by.”

The words echo the rhythms you have heard throughout your trip, voiced in the traditional and not-so-traditional music that pours from pubs and people’s stories. Lough Glencar straddles the counties, fed by a picturesque waterfall careening through the trees. The nearby town of Donegal lines the canal, situated near the mouth of the river that feeds into the sea. The day is filled with quiet charisma, emanating from the soft pleasures of poets and lakeshores, rather than the drama of cliffs and crashing waves.

The countryside in the morning contains a quiet elegance, absent of people and almost primal in its solitude. A thin layer of morning dew washes over the grass. Your guide meets you after breakfast and takes you through the vast, elegant countryside returning to the bustling streets of Dublin. The city feels more powerful than when you first arrived, different than the tranquil calm of the countryside. Even the music along Grafton Street is filled with more raw energy, striving to tell a story that felt simpler along the lakeshores. The history is undeniable and embraces you, resurfacing as antique enchantment.

Laughter spills out of pubs and cafes. The Little Museum of Dublin is almost hidden in its small subterranean entrance. The museum houses the minute details that explain the evolution of the city and its people over Dublin’s 1,000-year history. It recently installed a permanent exhibition displaying the personal effects of U2. The museum explores the simple artifacts that combine to create a big picture. The city sweeps you up in its stories, whether told collectively by a gregarious group of people at the pub or shared in the antique Georgian facades on the street. The only add to the city’s joyful exuberance.

The familiar aromas of a full Irish breakfast linger around the dining room. The aroma of freshly cooked bacon is present before the sizzle. The city comes to convivial life, filled with people rushing to work, strolling over Halfpenny Bridge, sipping tea in a café watching other push forward to work. After breakfast, your private transfer will escort you to the airport for your flight home. You have discovered the magnificence of Ireland, cast in castles, set in stones, emanating from the friendly people and the exceptional stories they tell.

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