OUR Essential Ireland BLOG

You Stay Your Way. Our exciting new tour-only option Essential Ireland Tours has introduced “You Stay Your Way”: A flexible, accommodation-independent option available across our various tours of Ireland. You’ll still enjoy: the same carefully planned itinerary all-activities included friendly guiding and memorable small-group touring experience, while organising your own hotels or other accommodation. You stay Your Way: Heres how it works: Perhaps you’d like to: use hotel lo

2027 Tour Dates Essential Ireland

the departure dates for our highly popular 11 Day All Ireland Tour

Stephen McPhilemy's top 10 things to do in Dublin

Stephen McPhilemy of Essential Ireland Tours, Packie Keeney - Donegal Person of the Year 2025, and our beloved Rubia Up Donegal - Dún na nGall Abú Rubia & I enjoyed every minute of the annual ball of the ‘Donegal Association Dublin’ and the highlight was celebrating our friend (and one of my Lifford Gaelic Football mentors) Packie Keeney, collecting his ‘Donegal Person of the Year’ award. An immensely proud moment for him, his clan and our parish It was as great to spend tim

Behold, a nice wee compilation of Essential Ireland Tour Reviews - our favourites from 25 years of welcoming guest on our award-winning small group tours of Ireland. Pam writing on Rick Steves Travel Forum, 2024 https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/ireland/first-trip-planning-tour-companies Question: We are hoping to visit in May (first trip, 3 adults) for a week, mostly hitting Wild Atlantic Way. For past trips to Europe, I've planned and booked everything direct us

Traveling through Ireland offers a unique blend of history, culture, and breathtaking landscapes. To truly experience the Emerald Isle, you need more than just a map—you need insider knowledge. Award-winning Irish tour guide Stephen McPhilemy shares his expertise in a lively conversation with his mentor, renowned travel expert Rick Steves. Together, they reveal practical tips and smart strategies to help you explore Ireland like a pro. Stephen McPhilemy has been leading his f

Stephen McPhilemy of Essential Ireland Tours at the Irish Parliament, the houses of the Oireachtas

Celebrate and enjoy St. Patricks day in Dingle! New tour departure-date announced - 15th March, 2026 7 day/6 day Ireland tour. Only €2299 per person No single-supplement & A whopping 15% discount off the tour-price if you use the promo-code NONREFUNDABLE15 Email info@essentialirelandtours.com or Click here for details St. Patricks Day in Dingle. Stephen McPhilemy and Rubia from Essential Ireland Tours at Dick Macks pub with Ogie, their Irish wolfhound Heres some cool info

Black Friday discounts

Enjoy the Fleadh Cheoil 2026 on this epic 5 day tour of Northern ireland and Donegal We have a great tour going up to the proud city of Belfast on August 3rd 2026 and the tour spends two full days in Belfast enjoying 'the fleadh' before adventuring onwards to the Giants Causeway, historic Derry and beautiful Donegal. The Fleadh Cheoil is the world's biggest festival of Irish music and culture, its like the Olympics of Irish traditional music :) Heres a link to info on this gr

2025 Essential Ireland Tour Dates. 20-50% DIscounts on our last few seats for 2025 are open for reservation! Our Wild Atlantic Way Tour has a few seats left on Sundays (most dates already sold out!) ¨ Our famous 'Castles & classics' tour is SOLD-OUT & the ever-popular 'True North' tour now has an even better price than 2024 and the August 18th departure has 4 spots left at a whopping 50% discount! Our aim is to bring you better value all the time and maximise the efficien

United Kingdom Electronic travel authorisation (ETA), required for Northern Ireland. How to apply Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom. You will need a Electronic travel authorisation (ETA) to enter. Although that is a sore point for many people who live there (whilst many others completely prefer to remain in the United Kingdom) the laws of of the UK are applicable once you enter any of the 6 counties of Northern Ireland. The £GBP pound is the official currency and

We have enjoyed a glorious 2026 Ireland tour season. There are still some last-minute availabilty on some of our tours with some fantastic discounts on offer. 🧡 7 Day Wild Atlantic Way tour (stay in Galway, Killarney & Dingle) 20% Discount by using the promo code: NONREFUNDABLE20 💚 30th August 💚 13th September 💚 20th September 💚 11th October or 🧡 5 Day Northern Ireland & Donegal 20% Discount by using the promo code: NONREFUNDABLE20 💚 7th September TO check out our 20

Essential Ireland Tours have a 'never cancel' guarantee Once you book an Essential Ireland tour, the tour is guaranteed to go. Stephen McPhilemy would rather be forced into exile, never to see Ireland again, than cancel a tour! On several occasions we have operated tours with just two people (the average group size at Essential Ireland Tours is 12 people and our maximum group size is 16). Running a tour with only 2 tour-guests is not very profitable as you can imagine, but it

We enjoyed a lot of summer fun on this recent 'Castles and Classics' Essential Ireland Tour, the weather was lovely (mostly!), just like the company (this small group of 8 was great) and Ashford Castle was simply magical. Click here to check out this little video excerpt from our arrival at Ashford Castle https://fb.watch/fEhD1TP4Fq/ ‍ The Hotel list for this tour: Saturday Sep 3rd: Ashford Castle. One of the worlds most luxurious Castles, a week before we checked in the few

Dear Tour-Guests Behold our initial release of Tour Dates for 2024 We trust theres a date here to suit you. If not pop us an email to info@essentialirelandtours.com . Is mise le meas/from me to you with respect Stephen McPhilemy Co-founder and Chief-Guide Essential Ireland Tours co-founder/Chief-Guide, Stephen McPhilemy, with Orla our beautiful Golden Eagle at 'Kingdom Falconry'. Meet both Stephen and Orla on our tours! 2024 'Castles & Classics' - LUXURY TOUR - 7 days/6 night

Here's the top 10 activity options for our free-time in Dingle recommended by Stephen McPhilemy ‍ DINGLE Sea Safari DINGLE Aquarium Pitch and putt (18 holes, par 3 and epic location) Dingle Distillery tour Belt-making in Dick Macks West Kerry Craft Guild on Main street Brian De Staic Goldsmith Workshop Hike to the Lighthouse The Harry Clarke windows Harbour cruise (weather permitting)

The Dublin hotel recommendations by Stephen McPhilemy Essential Ireland Tours pre-tour hotel recommendations All our Essential Ireland Tours Depart from Dublin on the morning of Day 1 at 9am & Return to Dublin on the final day at 4-5pm approx. ALL our 2024 tours will depart from the LEONARDO HOTEL (formerly known as ‘Jurys Inn, Christchurch’, just opposite Christchurch Cathedral in central Dublin. https://www.leonardohotels.co.uk/hotels/dublin/christchurch (The best way

"Songs for the Road. (Rebellious, Romantic, Irish)" My new album of Irish songs is out! Listen here on Apple Music Listen here on Spotify Theres 3 free songs here on YouTube for you to hopefully enjoy ‍ The Green Fields of France ("Willie McBride") a poignant anti-war song with a strong historical narrative ‍ Molly Malone One of th first songs we all learn at school I Ireland ‍ My Lovely Rose of Clare the perfect choice for a singalong when cruising the winding beautiful ro