The Republic of Ireland occupies most of a small island on the northwest edge of Europe. It is a country of green hills, bogland, stone walls, and coast — and also of cities that punch well above their weight in terms of pubs, literature, and life. The Irish are genuinely welcoming to strangers, and traveling here rarely feels like hard work.
Ireland was never colonized by the Romans, and Celtic culture survived long enough to produce extraordinary early Christian art — the illuminated manuscripts, the carved high crosses, the monastery ruins scattered across the countryside. The Viking raids of the 9th century, the Norman invasion in the 12th, and centuries of British rule all left marks. The catastrophic potato famine of 1845–52 killed a million people and drove another million to emigrate, and shaped the country's psychology in ways that still show. The Republic of Ireland came into existence in 1922 after the Easter Rising of 1916 and the subsequent War of Independence, though six counties in the northeast remained part of the United Kingdom.
The capital Dublin is where most visitors start. It earns its reputation — Trinity College, the Book of Kells, Georgian squares, a thriving pub and live music scene, and more literary history per square kilometer than almost anywhere on earth. Cork, the second city, is smaller and more manageable, with a great food market and a river running through it. Galway in the west is lively and compact, a good base for the Aran Islands and Connemara. Kilkenny has the best-preserved medieval streetscape in the country.
Outside the cities, the landscapes vary more than you might expect. The Burren in County Clare is a limestone plateau unlike anything else in Ireland or Britain — a lunar surface with wildflowers growing out of the cracks. The Ring of Kerry and the Dingle Peninsula in the southwest are dramatic coast road routes. Glendalough in Wicklow is an early medieval monastic site in a valley worth visiting even in the rain. Connemara, County Donegal, and the Aran Islands all offer wilder, emptier scenery; Glencolmcille is one of the strongest Donegal stops for Gaeltacht culture and Atlantic walking.
The weather is the one thing people get anxious about, but it is rarely as bad as feared. It rains, yes — bring a waterproof — but the west of Ireland on a clear day is genuinely beautiful, and the Irish have learned to get on with things regardless.
