• Cork City tour: Half the fun of this stroll around the town locals call “De real capital of Ireland” is deciphering the undulating accent and the colorful local language. You might come away wearing the “blood and bandages,” but you’ll be completely uninjured and completely charmed by Cork. 

• Blarney Castle and grounds tour: Speaking of charm… how would you like to speak with charm, with eloquence, with a wit that you never knew you had before you kissed a a block of carboniferous limestone! The talk-inducing stone isn’t the only thing worth your attention in Blarney however; there’s a fascinating poison garden in the castle grounds, and Ireland’s biggest and best woollen mills and craft shop is on the far side of this charming Cork village. 

• Cobh Heritage Centre: The Queenstown Story exhibit on Irish emigration tells the age-old tale of emigration, and the center offers an on-site genealogist to trace your family roots. The tragic story of The Titanic is also featured in this must-visit museum. 

• Kinsale, culinary capital of Ireland: The Cork fishing town is the place to enjoy all the best of the Wild Atlantic catch, as well as the magnificent beef and dairy produce of Ireland’s Golden Vale stretching down through the Rebel County of Cork. 

• Beara Peninsula drive: The less said about this drive, the better—for those of us who treasure it as Ireland’s secret gem, that is. This west Cork beauty spot takes us well into Insider’s Ireland territory. 

• Ring of Kerry drive: This looping route around the rugged coastlines of the Iveragh Peninsula is one of the great drives anywhere in the world, with roads snaking around the Kerry cliffs before cutting inland to scenic Killarney National Park with its world-famous lakes. 

• Dingle Peninsula drive: A lesser-beaten path takes you around this spectacular peninsula, where a stop at the South Pole Inn in Annascaul evokes memories of local man Tom Crean’s role in the Great Age of Exploration; the storied Blasket Islands beckon today’s intrepid explorers, but, if time or Kerry weather prohibits the day’s sailings, a stopover in the Blasket Island Centre will give you the full story of these now-deserted islands; at the end of the day, the fishing village of Dingle delights with its cozy pubs, fine seafood, and musical nights. 

• The Burren National Park, Co. Clare. A walk through a truly unique landscape, where Alpine, mediterranean, and arctic flora all thrive amidst divots in the porous limestone plains. The Burren is a maze of subterranean karst caverns, topped with a lunar landscape aboveground. 

• A stop in Doolin to soak in the village spirit of this home of traditional Irish music. 

• Galway City tour with a local historian: Learn why the City of the Tribes is a town filled with ghosts. 

• Galway to Letterfrack: A Connemara coastline drive along Galway Bay that takes you through the Gaelteacht (Irish-speaking area) and the heart of the West of Ireland.