Wild Ireland

Board your independent overnight flight to Dublin.

Arrive in Dublin and check in to your hotel. The rest of the day is at your leisure to explore the city on your own. Gather at the hotel this evening for a Welcome Dinner with your crew and fellow travelers.

Take a drive through the scenic countryside to Waterford for a visit to the renowned House of Waterford Crystal where you have the opportunity to watch master craftsmen at work. After lunch at a local restaurant, continue to Cork and embark the Greg Mortimer.

The Ballinskelligs Priory was founded in the 12th century by monks who moved to the mainland from Skellig Michael after numerous Viking attacks. A number of buildings still remain, including a church, tower house, parts of the cloister, a large domestic hall, and cemetery, most of which dates from the 15th century. On a clear day, views across the bay are simply spectacular.

The dramatic Cliffs of Moher soar to over 700 feet above the crashing Atlantic and offer some of Ireland’s most stunning scenery. These rugged cliffs are part of a UNESCO Global Geopark and serve as an important nesting site for over 20 species of seabirds, including guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes, and Atlantic puffins. Step ashore for walks through this magical landscape, where wildflower-studded meadows give way to wind-whipped clifftops with amazing views of the surf-pounded coast.

This morning, arrive at Inishmore, the largest of the three Aran Islands, and an outpost of Gaelic culture where Irish-speaking residents live in traditional stone cottages. Tour the 5th-century Dún Aengus Fort, a prehistoric stone fort dramatically situated at the edge of 300-foot cliffs, the Heritage Museum, and several monastic sites. Permission pending, cruise through Killary Fjord, which extends 10 miles from the Atlantic to the quaint village of Leenane. Keep an eye out for resident bird species such as ringed plovers, mute and whooper swans, tufted ducks, and barnacle geese.

Set out to explore scenic Clew Bay, dotted with 365 low-lying islands—limestone drumlins formed during the last Ice Age. Join naturalists for a walk in Ballycory National Park, which boasts one of the largest Atlantic blanket bog systems in Europe, keeping an eye out for Greenland white-fronted geese, peregrine falcons, and corncrakes. This evening, cruise among the windswept islands along the jagged Connemara Coast, an area once described as “a place of savage beauty” by Oscar Wilde.

Enjoy a visit to Malin Head today, the most northerly point of the island of Ireland. Here you will find a variety of waterfowl as well as a watchtower built during the Napoleonic Wars and a signal station built in 1902. Continue to Glencolmcille to view a thatched-roof replica of a rural Irish village with cottages from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, a reconstructed school house, and a tiny pub.

Disembark in Portrush and travel overland to the World Heritage Site of Giant’s Causeway. This three-mile section of coastline is a geological masterpiece—some 40,000 closely-packed hexagonal columns of varying heights line the coast and descend like a staircase into the sea. After lunch, continue to Belfast and check in to the Fitzwilliam Hotel Belfast for dinner and overnight.

Board your independent flight home.