Welcome to Dublin! The Whiskey Island team will meet you off your flight and we’ll take you into the city for check in at your hotel. Dublin International Airport is close to the city, so no long transfer to worry about after your long flight! We’ll give you some time to relax in the afternoon and to grab some lunch. We regroup in the lobby of your hotel, and we’ll take you out on a city tour of Dublin with a special emphasis on whiskey !

In the new whiskey neighborhood of Dublin, we’ll take you to two distilleries;  Pearse Lyons & Teeling Whiskey . These visits form an ideal introduction to Irish whiskey, as we will showcase all 4 styles that make up the category. This neighborhood is also the ideal venue to illustrate the fortunes, and misfortunes, of Irish whiskey through the years – a great place to start our whiskey adventure!

Location is everything in Dublin . We will secure a hotel for you in the thick of the action, a 5/10 minute walk from the hotel will bring you to all the must-sees. If you wish, we can book a second night in Dublin, so that you have an extra opportunity to get onto Irish time, before we leave for the countryside. Our preferred hotels in Dublin are; Davenport 4****, Brooks 4****, Fitzwilliam 5*****.

We depart Dublin after breakfast for the North West. We’re taking secondary routes, passing towns and villages Like Navan, Kells, Cavan, before arriving at Lough Erne Resort where you will have an opportunity to have some lunch. The resort features two championship golf courses, one of which is designed by six-time major winner, Sir Nick Faldo.

The Boatyard Distillery in County Fermanagh is still in its infancy, its whiskey is still maturing in casks. In the meantime, they make a mean gin! We take a private tour of the distillery and try the Boatyard Double Gin. The folks are so nice at The Boatyard Distillery that they’ll give you a bottle of their delicious gin to take away with you!

Proudly owned by a Swiss / Irish family since 1989, the 4-star Harvey’s Point is repeatedly awarded Ireland’s Best Hotel by TripAdvisor. It is situated just outside Donegal Town, on the shores of Lough Eske and at the foot of the Blue Stack Mountains.

We travel down to the coastline of beautiful Donegal, to one of Ireland’s best kept secrets – the cliffs at Sliabh Liag. At 601 metres (1,972 ft), it has some of the highest sea cliffs on the island of Ireland. Although less famous than the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare, Sliabh Liag’s cliffs reach almost three times higher – a must see. We’ll have a visit to cliffs led by a local guide and lunch is available at the visitor centre.

A quick 20-minute drive will see us at one of the region’s newest additions – the Sliabh Liag Distillery at Ardara . Appreciate an alternative side of Irish whiskey making, one that honours the methods of a bygone era, inspired by the almost lost tradition for a smoky style of spirit, brought up to date with the very best distillation know-how. You will learn about the history and rich illicit distilling heritage of Donegal – you might even want a barrel of your own!

Second night at Harvey’s Point.

We depart County Donegal , travelling for a while through County Sligo with its dramatic landscapes that helped to inspire the work of William Butler Yeats, the Nobel Prize-winning poet. We hit the coast and maybe spot surfers take to the water at Mullaghmore, riding some of the biggest waves in western Europe. We’ll also take in Benbulben – one of Ireland’s most distinctive mountains.

We slip into County Leitrim, home to The Shed Distillery of PJ Rigney , the company behind Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin, Drumshanbo Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey & Sausage Tree Pure Irish Vodka, located in the heart of rural Ireland in the village of Drumshanbo. We’ll incorporate our visit with our lunch stop.

We continue south to Westport, one of the most fun places in Ireland. Tonight you will stay in a hotel in the centre of town. Westport has a vast array of pubs and restaurants, it’s very hard to have a quiet night out in Westport!

More beautiful scenery today for you in Connemara, a region made famous by the John Ford’s 1952 classic, ‘The Quiet Man’, starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. You are really in for a treat with the scenery on offer as we drive through Connemara National Park all day, we incorpate a visit to must-see in the area; Kylemore Abbey & Victorian Walled Garden. We’ll pass many pretty towns and villages all the way to Salthill on the outskirts of Galway.

We stop at a pub on our approach into Galway which has its own secret distillery onsite – Micil. It’s Galway’s first distillery in over 100 years. Padraic and his brother are 6th generation makers of Irish poitín (moonshine), you’ll enjoy some of this during a visit to this very special micro-distillery, along with their whiskey of course.

Galway. Arty & bohemian Galway is one of Ireland’s most engaging cities. It is full of life, great restaurants and brightly painted pubs heaving with live music. We’ll book you into a hotel in the downtown area, with all of the magic of the city on your doorstep.

There is the option of returning to Dublin at this point (2.5 hours drive) rendering this a 6 day itinerary. Otherwise, you are spoiled today with another very different landscape – The Burren. You will see a unique lunar landscape of bedrock incorporating a vast cracked pavement of glacial-era limestone, with cliffs and caves, fossils, rock formations and archaeological sites. We’ll visit the famous Cliffs of Moher today, in the Burren.

In the very south of Clare, you’ll find Chapel Gate Whiskey Co. who are resurrecting the lost art of whiskey bonding.  This operation is located in really beautiful rural farmland. This is an up close and personal whiskey experience , focusing on a new aspect of whiskey that we have not explored yet on tour. We’ll visit the warehouse and the blending room , and you’ll have a chance to taste directly from the casks.

We depart Chapel Gate, crossing the River Shannon by ferry bringing us in to County Kerry. We finish our journey today in Killarney, we’ll check-in at one of the good central hotels in town. Our preferred Killarney hotels are; Killarney Great Southern , or The International, both 4****

The Gap of Dunloe is an all-encompassing, scenic tour that typically involves a combination of transportation; a horse-drawn carriage ride (jaunting car) through a gap in the mountains , and a boat trip across the Killarney Lakes to return. Post card from Ireland scenery – in a day from Killarney.

Maurice O’Connell comes from a long line of famous O’Connells. He is celebrating his family’s history and impact with his whiskey company Wayward Irish Spirits. Maurice has been very busy over the past few years establishing his whiskey company step by step on his beautiful estate on the banks of Lough Leane in Killarney where he has been growing his own barley and maturing the whiskey it produces. We spend a few hours with Maurice sampling his products and exploring the journey he has been on in the whiskey world.

Second overnight in Killarney.

We’ll provide you with your last dose of stunning Irish scenery today as we make the journey east from County Kerry into County Cork, passing Molls Gap and Kenmare. We’ll stop at Glengarriff to take a boat ride out to Garnish Island. Garnish is world renowned for its gardens which are laid out in beautiful walks and it has some stunning specimen plants which are rare in this climate. Continuing east, we land in Clonakilty in the afternoon.

Clonakilty Distillery is a maritime distillery, perched on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean in the south of Ireland. This breathtakingly beautiful location, provides the backdrop for a perfect whiskey. Centuries of soft rain and ocean spray, permeate every whiskey cask, providing a complexity and subtlety of flavour. Opened in 2019 and owned by the Scully family who have farmed the local lands for generations.

Check in a preferred Cork hotel. Our personal favourites are; Fota Island, Castlemartyr, or Hayfield Manor, all 5*****

Today’s agenda is dictated by where your flights home depart from. If your return flight is from Dublin Airport, we will make our way back to Dublin today and we can build a programme around that transfer. Cork to Dublin is 3 hours. Cork to Limerick (for Shannon Airport) is 2 hours. Or if you depart from Cork, you have a full day to enjoy the second city of the Republic!

It is probable that the most suitable final visit of a 10-day whiskey tour of Ireland, would be a visit to Midleton Distillery Experience , Cork. This is the home of Jameson, Redbreast, Spot family, Midleton Very Rare and much more. We can book you on the very special Behind the Scenes tour here.

To be decided based on departure airport on day 10.