County Clare
Clare is mostly a county you pass through on the coast road, and the Cliffs of Moher are the reason to stop. We build the day around the cliffs rather than the other way round, and use whatever is left of it for the coast.
Shown as a place we design programmes around, not a package to buy. Access, opening times and site arrangements change — we build the final route around your group, your dates and your interests.
County
County Clare
Getting there
About an hour and a quarter by road, which is why it works as a stop between Galway and Kerry.
On this page
2 places we actually use, with the time we give each one.
Why we route through it
The cliffs stand 214 metres above the Atlantic, with the Aran Islands and Galway Bay out to the west and north. Forty-five minutes at the viewing area is a standard visit, and it is enough for the height and the sea. We start before nine in the morning, when the car park is still filling and the southern part of the path is empty.
The Burren lies inland from the cliffs and gets mentioned in almost every account of the county, but there is very little here that we can honestly write about it — so we leave it out rather than fill the page. If it matters to your group, we will tell you what we know and what we don't.
What we actually use
Two hundred and fourteen metres of sea cliff — about seven hundred feet — with the Aran Islands out to sea and Galway Bay to the north.
One of the few places on the west coast where the land simply stops, which is why almost every route that crosses Clare is routed through it.
Walking south from the main viewing platform reaches more open cliff with fewer people in it. This is where we go when the group wants an hour of walking rather than a photograph.
Getting there
From Galway
About an hour and a quarter by road, which is why it works as a stop between Galway and Kerry.
From Killarney
About two hours by road along the coast.
On the ground
We walk rather than coach on the path. The cliff edge is not somewhere to bring a large vehicle to.
When to go
Before nine in the morning the southern path is empty and the light is on the sea rather than behind you.
The exposure at the cliffs is enough that we tell people to pack a windproof layer even in August. The path is usually open but the wind is a factor in how long the group stays out.
Visibility decides the day. On a clear day the islands are visible; in low cloud the cliffs are still worth it but the view closes in. We keep the day flexible for this.
The main viewing area is reached on a level path from the car park. The coastal path beyond it is uneven and exposed — tell us what the group can manage.
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