Personalized Irish travel with those who know, for storytelling, music, enchanting landscapes, and legends.
Glendalough, County Wicklow
Explore the Real Ireland
Personalized for small groups
Insider’s Ireland tours are specifically planned for—and with—the travelers who take them. Yourself, in other words. We tailor every trip to your interests, your needs, and your expectations.
Engaging, entertaining, and enlightening
Most Irish tours will bring you to Blarney Castle to kiss the famous stone; we’ll introduce you to local storytellers who will give you six different origin stories about the stone, Cork’s miracle cure for the tongue-tied. You mightn’t believe them all; but at least one of them will leave you speechless!
Flexible and fun
For the Irish, spontaneity is a key ingredient of a life well lived. That’s why our tours are designed to smoothly change tack: To attend a local festival; to linger longer at a music session that has caught fire; to hear out a great storyteller who is on a roll. Or just to get lost somewhere, as we go in search of an ancient holy well or a magical fairy tree.
Why visit Ireland?
Although the small island of Ireland is known for the beauty and drama of its landscapes—from its rugged Atlantic coast to its verdant grasslands—the best reason to visit is to meet the Irish and hear their stories. Warm, welcoming, and witty, they share not only their homeland, but also tales from all corners of the world. After all, some 20 million Irish emigrants live abroad. Throughout history and well into the 21st century, Irish writers, poets, musicians, and storytellers have spun a unique cultural web around the globe; any journey to the wellspring of all this creativity will reward and entertain in delightfully surprising ways.
Jack Kavanagh | National Geographic’s
Featured Tours
Geographic Tours
Wild Atlantic Way North
Ancient kingdoms and lyrical landscapes from Galway to Donegal via Yeats Country and the Ancient Irish Rainforest.
Northern Ireland
Unlock the ancient and recent history of Ulster’s troubled six counties as we travel from Dublin to the Causeway Coast via the Boyne Valley and Belfast.
Thematic Journeys
Ireland's Poetic Imperative
Take a poetic journey through centuries of Irish history, from the age of the filé (Celtic poet) to the era of Philo (Phil Lynott); Learn why wordsmiths are kings in Ireland and how the Irish honor their poets, songwriters, and scribes.
Ireland’s Emigration Story
Discover how the Irish went from famine to fame and fortune abroad in the course of a few generations, as you trace family roots in Ireland.
Wild Atlantic Way South
Celtic dreamscapes from Cork to Connemara on several drives of a lifetime, including the Ring of Kerry, the Beara Peninsula, and the Dingle Peninsula.
The Ancient East
Learn how Christian Ireland became a European bastion of learning and knowledge, how Ireland’s most cherished book stayed out of the hands of Vikings, and how the Normans, like other invaders, eventually became “more Irish than the Irish themselves.”
Bringing It All Back Home
Take an unforgettable tour through Irish musical history from Dublin to Doolin via the music of Nashville and Appalachia.
What Travelers Say
I’ve visited Ireland for years and consider myself an experienced traveler in the Emerald Isle. I was not prepared for the Ireland I experienced with Jack Kavanagh, however. Jack opened my eyes to Ireland’s Ancient East in a multi-dimensional way. I’d been to the Battle of the Boyne site, Newgrange passage tomb, Monasterboice, and the Hill of Tara many times before and loved every visit. Jack’s knowledge of the landscape, details of Irish history and literature, his interactions with local folks, and his guidance to a cozy small hotel restaurant in Slane, enhanced my appreciation manifold, through all the senses. Timing our arrival at Tara to a mid-winter sunset was stunning. Dublin, through Jack’s eyes, was a similarly enriching experience: literature, arts, history, sports. You name it. All shared along with spontaneous poetry and, always … humor. And humour too!
—Brian Murphy | Buchanan, Michigan
Meet your Guides
Giant's Causeway, County Antrim
Justin “Jack” Kavanagh
Dalkey Island, County Dublin
Lisa Williams
Great Sugar Loaf, County Wicklow