Arrive Dublin Airport, where you concierge and guide will meet you and bring you far from the bust city streets to the banks of the River Nore Mount Juliet, once the stately home of Earls, is now wonderful resort hotel with a Jack Nicklaus championship golf course, twice host of the Amex World Golf Championships. This area of Ireland is known for its craft workers, potters, leather workers, crystal blowers and all types of artists. This evening relax in the hotel and enjoy its facilities.

Whilst the golfers play, non-golfers head into the medieval city of Kilkenny, to explore its castle, cathedral, & narrow medieval streets. This afternoon everyone will travel along the valleys of the three sister rivers through Griaguenamanagh, with its great abbey, and New Ross, where you can visit the JFK Dunbrody, a rebuilt 1840s sailing ship. Return to Mount Juliet by way of the gardens of Woodstock House, restored to their Victorian splendour.

A VIP tour of Waterford Crystal followed by a visit to the gardens of Curraghmore House, the Marquis of Waterford’s family home for nearly 1,000 years. A pub lunch here and then by way of Sir Walter Raleigh’s Youghal to Balllymaloe Gardens. Overnight in Kinsale, the gourmet capital of Ireland, where accommodation will be in an 19th century manor house hotel overlooking the harbour.

Golfers play the Old Head. While verbal extravagance might be suspect with some golf courses, it is not with Old Head Golf Links, one of the most spectacular golf courses in the world. Built along cliffs hundreds of feet above the sea, the course is a scenic marvel. It is also an outstanding layout in its own right.
Non golfers explore Kinsale, its museum to the Irish wine growers of the world, such as Hennessy, Chateau Barton & Chateau Lynch Barges. They will then visit a beautiful herbaceous garden before arriving in Cork city for lunch at leisure and an afternoon to explore the maze of streets, and the splendid indoor food market. Golfers and non-golfers come together to get ‘the gift of the gab’ at Blarney Castle before returning to Kinsale for the night.

A day of spectacular scenery as you follow the coast through Timoleague with its ancient abbey, Hindu decorated Episcopalian church and rare castle gardens. Lunch in the village of Durrus and visit a tranquil and relaxing large garden in a woodland setting where you can experience peace in an oasis of calm and beauty surrounded by a river and mill stream and accessible only by unique bridges. This afternoon travel through the Cork and Kerry mountains to the city of Killarney. The hotel here has a fascinating collection of plants, several of which are rarely found elsewhere.

Tour to Waterville where the golfers will disembark to play the most challenging links course in the west with silky velvet greens. Non-golfers visit Kells Bay Gardens, a sub-tropical jungle of ferns and succulents, and carry on around The Ring of Kerry, past golden beaches and 4,000 year old monuments, finishing the day at the great mansion of Muckross House with its gorgeous lakeside gardens.

The golfers will play Trump Doonbeg today. The owners of Kiawah Island golf resort commissioned Greg Norman to design this course, and like the great man himself the course is bold, brash and with a great deal of style. It is also controversial – visitors tend to either love or loathe. But even those who find its rough too rough, its challenges too challenging, still respect it as one of the greatest course in the world. Non-golfers will visit the Cliffs of Moher, which rise a dizzy 700 feet from the crashing Atlantic. Explore the Burren, a 350-sq mile geologic wonder in north County Clare, has been called a “tortured land of rock,” its limestone layers forming plateaus and hillsides exposed to the elements. Some of Ireland’s most exotic and rare flora can be found here. Visit some of the enchanting little craft shops and cottage gardens hidden away in the lanes and bohreens of this wild landscape. Overnight in a manor house hotel that incorporates a medieval castle (but no ghosts!)

Travel back towards Dublin following the coast of Galway Bay through colourful harbour towns. Explore the medieval city of Galway, where the 14th century city wall runs through the middle of a shopping mall. Lunch at leisure here and then head back towards Dublin by way of the Midlands of Ireland, visiting a gorgeous garden on the way. Overnight in the fashionable heart of Georgian Dublin. Tonight explore the vibrant Dublin pubs where traditional music floods out onto the city streets.

No other capital city can boast the number of quality golf courses within a small radius. From Seapoint to the European the coast is dotted with over 30 great golf links and courses.

• The Island Golf Club is a top 5 hidden gem course and host to British Open qualifiers.
• Portmarnock Golf Club is a superb but very fair test of links golf.
• The K Club Palmer Course were the Irish Open will be played in 2023
• Royal Dublin Golf Course has hosted several Irish opens in the 80s where Langer and Ballesteros battled it out. Recent years has seen the course redesigned and it is  a favourite venue for the top tournaments.
• Druids Glen Golf Club is considered by many as the Augusta of Ireland.
• The European Club is called by many the best course in Ireland without a doubt. Interesting bunkers!

Non golfers can explore the city on foot with a superb guide who will bring them to darling designer ateliers, elegant boutiques, antique shops and enchanting art galleries

Return home, refreshed, rejuvenated and an expert on all things Irish!

Our journeys are designed so that you can meet the people of Ireland and create your own memories to take home with you.  Although many of the tourist highlights are included, we avoid the tourist traps and bring you instead to the hidden Ireland, to places never found on standard itineraries, to places where you are a visitor, not a tourist!