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’Essential Ireland’ offers 4 specialised tours:
7 day Luxury Castles & Classics tour of Ireland (overnight in Ashford Castle)
7 day Wild Atlantic Way tour (Killarney, Dingle and Galway)
5 day True North Tour (Northern Ireland and Donegal)
& Award-winning Private tours of Ireland for groups of friends and families
‘Essential Ireland Tours’ emphasizes history and culture, and we travel in comfort. We guarantee great music, food, pubs, and fun on every journey. You may only visit Ireland once; it’s important you experience the Essential Ireland.
The majority of our small group tours are led by Stephen McPhilemy, a passionate historian and renowned tour-guide who been Rick Steves' right-hand Tour Guide in Ireland for over 25 years.
Click here to see our 2024 Tour Dates
’Essential Ireland’ offers 4 specialised tours:
7 DAY ESSENTIAL IRELAND TOUR
5 Day Tour
for small groups
vip tour of ireland's castles
Essential Ireland is the brainchild of Stephen McPhilemy, one of Ireland’s leading Tour-Guides who has been Rick Steves' Irish protege for over 20 years,
and Irish-American Entrepreneur and Ireland-lover, Patrick Wade. Hosting and welcoming guests to Ireland is their passion.
We have a special discount code for you to celebrate the launch of our new website and VIP tour. It's valid until January 6th. Enter the following code in the checkout when booking your tour to get 20% off
Get €150 off your next Wild Atlantic or Castles & Classics Essential Ireland Tours with this Black Friday special offer code: Ireland or €115 off the True North Tours with this code: Ireland-North
Limited places so Book Now! Offer valid until 4 December
Our fun concept of cost-effective, VIP travel for small groups, was a response to the hundreds of travel requests from international friends, our clan and families, and people in our extended networks who desired:
Luxury Tours - with a value-for-money, affordable price
Small-group Tours - 8 to 16 people average - safe & unique
Lively Tours - Itineraries framed by Stephen & Patrick’s unique travel style; relaxed, insightful, fun and focused on essential Irish experiences
Tour-time & Free-time - A nice mix of tour-time/free-time philosophy, freedom to enjoy your own free time while also maximising your tour activities.
100% Irish Experiences – A tour that emphasises authentic Irish experiences and meeting the Irish people, everyday!
We aim to have you experience life like a local for the week (except of course you’ll sleep in luxury hotels and B&B’s). Our tours immerse you in the local culture for a week
Stephen McPhilemy and Patrick Wade are the co-founders of Essential Ireland Tours. One Irish and one Irish-American, they met 20 years ago while Patrick was backpacking through Ireland and Stephen was his tour-guide.
Two decades later they (and their Irish Wolfhounds) are experienced and respected figures in the Irish tour and hospitality scene with a passion for providing high quality tours. Authentic Irish experiences for unbeatable value.
One of the unique features of Essential Ireland Tours is that we bring our own in-house professional travel-photographer and videographer with us on all tours.
Catch up with the latest news from Essential Ireland Tours
This is an incredible honour for Irish people. Newgrange is one of Ireland's most sacred ancient sites.
Stories and legends of the Cliffs of Moher
If you have any queries or questions, or would like to Stephen McPhilemy (who has Rick Steves' trusted right-hand man and tour-guide in Ireland for over 20 years) to custom build a special itinerary for your own private group of family or friends, send us a wee note right here
Explore the wonderful world of Essential Ireland Tours
