Forty minutes on the ferry from Rossaveel, and you step ashore into the Ireland your great-grandparents knew — grey limestone laced with stone walls, currachs pulled up on the slip, Irish spoken in the shop as easily as breathing. On Inis Mór the road runs out at Dún Aonghasa, a fort clinging to a cliff edge a hundred metres above the Atlantic. Nothing out here is in a hurry. Neither should you be.

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In today’s email:

• Are the Aran Islands Worth Visiting?

• Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

• From Our Love Ireland Community - 1 Million Irish Hearts

• The Irish Resort Just Named The Uk’s Best Hotel

• At The Bar: -The Little Hidden Room Every Old Irish Pub Once Had

• Around The Web: A 4,000-year-old stone circle just emerged from a Belfast field, The Puffins Are About To Leave The West Coast — Catch Them While You Can,

  🔒 A First-Timer’s Guide to Dublin and more

• From Love Ireland -The Musicians Keeping Ireland’s Oldest Songs Alive

• Irish Food You Will Love - The Three-Ingredient Mash Ireland Never Gave Up

• The Craic -You Know You Did the Leaving Cert When...

Are the Aran Islands Worth Visiting?

👉 Read the full story

Everyone asks the same question before they book the ferry — is it really worth a whole day off the mainland just to see three small islands? Our honest, boots-on-the-ground guide walks you through exactly what waits on Inis Mór, Inis Meáin and Inis Oírr: the limestone terraces, the hand-knit sweaters, the fresh lobster and warm soda bread, and a way of life that has barely shifted in five hundred years. If you want to feel the Ireland that existed long before the guidebooks, this is where you find it.

👉 Read the full story

Reply and tell us: would you cycle Inis Mór, or slow right down on tiny Inis Oírr?

Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

Top Experiences In Ireland Likely To Sell Out

2026 is going to be a busy year - Here is a list of the top experiences that will most likely sell out and you should book in advance. Don’t delay!

“...so you can focus on making memories, not managing schedules.”

Book Here

From Our Love Ireland Community

The Love Ireland Facebook Group is a community of 1.3 Million happy people!

For years, this community has shared memories, travel dreams, family stories and a love for Ireland that stretches far beyond its shores.

We’re setting ourselves a challenge.

Can we reach 1 MILLION Irish Hearts before St. Patrick’s Day 2027?

I Love Ireland

The Irish Resort Just Named The Uk’s Best Hotel

A five-star estate on the shores of Lough Erne in County Fermanagh has just been crowned the UK’s best-rated hotel by Which? Travel — the kind of place where the golf course hugs the water, the spa looks out over the lough, and the whole thing feels a world away from everywhere. If you’re dreaming of a proper Irish splurge, this one just earned its stars.

At The Bar

The Little Hidden Room Every Old Irish Pub Once Had

Look for the frosted glass and the low door tucked beside the bar — that’s the snug, a tiny private booth where women, clergy, courting couples and the occasional Garda could take a quiet drink away from the crowd. Most are gone now, but the ones that survive tell you more about old Ireland than any museum could.

Around The Web

A 4,000-year-old stone circle just emerged from a Belfast field

Aerial photos revealed cropmarks hiding a previously unknown Late Neolithic stone circle within the Ballynahatty ritual landscape — and a local schoolgirl even unearthed a broken arrowhead on the dig.

The Puffins Are About To Leave The West Coast — Catch Them While You Can

Around 5,000 puffins are still crowding the cliffs off the Blaskets before they vanish out onto the open Atlantic in early August, when the humpback whales move in to feed.

Connemara’s Galway Hookers set sail for Féile Mhic Dara

On 16 July, pilgrims cross by boat to St MacDara’s Island for Mass at a 10th-century oratory, followed by the Carna Regatta on 18 July — a proper display of currachs and traditional brown-sailed hookers.

The Irish Photographers Who’ll Make You Book A Flight

A round-up of the image-makers capturing Ireland at its most atmospheric — from Atlantic storms to soft morning light on the hills.

The Irish Food Writers Worth Following Right Now

The voices telling Ireland’s food story today — the recipe-keepers, restaurant critics and producers championing everything from farmhouse cheese to the perfect brown bread.

🔒 A First-Timer’s Guide to Dublin

Where History, Culture and Craic Collide

From Love Ireland

The Musicians Keeping Ireland’s Oldest Songs Alive

Trad music isn’t a museum piece — it’s a living, breathing tradition passed hand to hand in kitchens and back rooms across the country. Meet the artists carrying Ireland’s tunes forward, and find out where to catch a real session on your next trip.

In Case You Missed It

How to Plan an Irish Heritage Trip to Your Ancestral County

Somewhere in Ireland there's a field your family walked away from — and tracing it is easier than you think, if you start in the right order.

Best Things to Do in Galway, Ireland: The Complete Guide

Galway, the beating cultural heart of the west — a city of buskers and oyster bars, brightly painted shopfronts and the Atlantic on its doorstep, where something is always about to kick off:

From YouTube

For More From Social Media:

Love Ireland Channel

Irish Food You Will Love

The Three-Ingredient Mash Ireland Never Gave Up

Before colcannon, before champ became a Halloween staple, it was simply supper: floury potatoes whipped with butter and a fistful of spring onions, with a golden pool of melting butter in the middle. It’s humble, comforting island food at its finest — and our authentic recipe gets it exactly right.

Join Love Ireland Cooking Channel

The Craic

You Know You Did the Leaving Cert When...

...you still have stress dreams about the maths exam, even though it’s been fifteen years and you’ve never used trigonometry since.

...someone mentions “English Paper 1” and you physically tense. That exam shaped you in ways nothing else has.

...you remember the exact font of the English poetry anthology. Small serif. Forever burned into your retinas.

...you did Irish because it was compulsory and you’ve spent the rest of your life resenting the Irish language, even though it’s not Irish’s fault.

...”If you studied History, you’d remember...” is a phrase that still activates old defensive mechanisms. Everyone has one random historical date seared into their brain.

...you can recite an essay you memorised in fifth year. Perfectly. Word-for-word. Still has nothing to do with any job you’ve ever held.

...the summer it happened is a blur. You remember May, then late August. June and July are gone. Raptured.

...you had one teacher who believed in you and you still think about that teacher sometimes. Might even follow them on Facebook, if you can do so without appearing unwell.

...you remember the relief. The pure dopamine of handing in the final exam paper. Walking out of the building knowing you would never enter it again in quite the same way.

...someone got a place in university and you felt a small pinch of “oh, that could’ve been me,” even though you’re genuinely happy for them and also your career has gone fine.

...you return to your secondary school for a reunion and it feels like a museum. Everything’s smaller. The classrooms are tiny. The hallways are narrow. How did you spend so much time here?

...you occasionally see the building and feel a combination of gratitude, dread, and the vague sense that you’re still slightly owed something.

How Many Days Until An Irish Christmas?

Which Irish County Is Secretly Calling You Home?

Is your heart in wild Donegal, easy-going Cork, or the stone-walled west of Galway? Our quick “Find Your Irish County” quiz reads your temperament and points you to the corner of Ireland that fits you best — it takes about thirty seconds and it’s far more fun than it has any right to be.

Find Your Irish County

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One More Thing Before You Go

Did you know?

Ireland’s national emblem is not the shamrock but the harp — making it the only country in the world with a musical instrument as its official symbol. You’ll find the very same medieval harp on your Irish passport, on every euro coin minted in Ireland, and on the front of a pint of Guinness, all modelled on the 600-year-old Brian Boru harp kept in Trinity College Dublin.

Love Scotland Too?

If Ireland’s sunny southeast has you dreaming of more Celtic coastline, let us introduce a kindred spirit. Join 43,000 readers who wake up to Scotland every morning — castles, Highlands, whisky trails, and stories from the heart of the country, delivered just like this one.

Also From Our Family

And if the city ever calls, Love New York shares the neighbourhood secrets, hidden gems, and the NYC that never sleeps (1,100 readers and growing).

Essentials you need to pack for your Ireland Trip

UK Ireland Scotland Power Adapter Plug, TESSAN Type G Travel Adaptor with 2 USB Charger Ports 2 American Outlets, US to London England British Hong Kong Irish Kenya Dubai Qatar Wall Adapter.

In 1990, you could count Ireland's working distilleries on one hand — just two left, and the water of life had very nearly run dry. Today there are more than forty, from Bushmills on the Antrim coast to Dingle at the far edge of Kerry. Pour yourself a measure: this is the greatest comeback story Ireland ever told.

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castles and pubs in a clean, fast, made-for-mobile experience.

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Today’s Newsletter Presented By

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In today’s email:

• How Irish Whiskey Went from World Domination to Near-Extinction — and Back

• Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

• From Our Love Ireland Community - 1 Million Irish Hearts

• The Rock Where Monks Built A Monastery 600 Feet Above The Atlantic

• At The Bar: -The Dublin Pubs That Are Living Museums

• Around The Web: Ireland cleans up at the World Whiskies Awards 2026, Trim Castle: inside Ireland's largest Norman fortress,

  🔒 Could This Be Your Town? and more

• From Love Ireland -The County Where Ireland Feels At Its Wildest

• Irish Food You Will Love - The Kale-And-Potato Dish With A Ring Hidden Inside

• The Craic -Leaving Cert Myths That Have Survived Since 1924

How Irish Whiskey Went from World Domination to Near-Extinction — and Back

👉 Read the full story

For a while in the 1800s, Irish whiskey was the most sought-after spirit on earth — poured in every great city, outselling Scotch many times over. Then came a century of collapse so complete that by 1990 only two distilleries were left standing, and the whole tradition teetered on the edge of vanishing. This is the full, remarkable story of how a near-dead industry clawed its way back to more than forty distilleries and reclaimed its place at the world’s top table.

👉 Read the full story

Reply and tell us: which Irish whiskey first won you over — a smooth Jameson, a fiery Redbreast, or something from one of the new craft distilleries?

Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

Top Experiences In Ireland Likely To Sell Out

2026 is going to be a busy year - Here is a list of the top experiences that will most likely sell out and you should book in advance. Don’t delay!

“...so you can focus on making memories, not managing schedules.”

Book Here

From Our Love Ireland Community

The Love Ireland Facebook Group is a community of 1.3 Million happy people!

For years, this community has shared memories, travel dreams, family stories and a love for Ireland that stretches far beyond its shores.

We’re setting ourselves a challenge.

Can we reach 1 MILLION Irish Hearts before St. Patrick’s Day 2027?

I Love Ireland

The Rock Where Monks Built A Monastery 600 Feet Above The Atlantic

Eight miles off the Kerry coast, a jagged pyramid of rock rises straight out of the wild Atlantic — and on its dizzying summit early medieval monks carved a monastery of beehive huts and stone steps that has weathered fifteen centuries of storms. Skellig Michael is one of the most extraordinary places in all of Ireland, a UNESCO World Heritage site that feels like the very edge of the world.

At The Bar

The Dublin Pubs That Are Living Museums

Some of Dublin’s pubs have been pouring for well over a century, and stepping inside is a little like stepping back in time — snugs and sawdust, marble counters worn smooth by generations of elbows, and walls that have heard every story the city has to tell. This gentle tour through the capital’s oldest and most characterful bars is a reminder that in Ireland the pub was never just a place to drink — it was the front room of the whole community.

Around The Web

Ireland cleans up at the World Whiskies Awards 2026

Teeling’s Alex Chasko was named Master Distiller of the Year and Midleton took Distiller of the Year — a nice bit of global recognition for the home team.

The 10 best beaches on the Wild Atlantic Way — where does yours rank?

From the surf strands of Donegal to the hidden coves of West Cork, Ireland’s Atlantic coast hides some of the finest beaches in Europe.

Trim Castle: inside Ireland’s largest Norman fortress

The mighty keep on the Boyne where Braveheart was filmed is one of the country’s most impressive medieval survivals — and a brilliant, uncrowded day out in the Ancient East.

The Irish legend of the seal women — and why some families still check their children’s fingers

The selkie folklore of the western seaboard is one of Ireland’s most haunting traditions: a story of the sea that never quite lets go.

Ireland named Europe’s most desirable island destination

Readers of the Wanderlust Travel Awards voted Ireland top of the continent — proof the pull people feel towards it is very real.

🔒 Could This Be Your Town?

Step Into the Past and Trace the Footsteps of Those Who Came Before You

From Love Ireland

The County Where Ireland Feels At Its Wildest

Tucked into the far north-west, Donegal is the Ireland of your imagination turned up to full volume — Europe’s highest sea cliffs at Slieve League, empty golden beaches, Gaeltacht villages where Irish is still the everyday tongue, and a rugged beauty that rewards anyone willing to drive that bit further. It’s the county the regulars quietly rate as the finest in the land.

In Case You Missed It

Meet the Researchers Uncovering Ireland’s Hidden History

Meet the archaeologists quietly rewriting Ireland's ancient story — from tombs older than the pyramids to discoveries hiding in plain sight in fields you've driven past a hundred times:

Best Things to Do in Galway, Ireland: The Complete Guide

Galway, the beating cultural heart of the west — a city of buskers and oyster bars, brightly painted shopfronts and the Atlantic on its doorstep, where something is always about to kick off:

From YouTube

For More From Social Media:

Love Ireland Channel

Irish Food You Will Love

The Kale-And-Potato Dish With A Ring Hidden Inside

No garden supper is complete without what the plot provides — and few dishes taste more of an Irish kitchen garden than colcannon, that buttery marriage of mashed potato and kale or cabbage. It has its own folk song, and once carried a hidden ring at Halloween to tell who’d marry next. Here’s the story, and how to make it at home.

Join Love Ireland Cooking Channel

The Craic

Leaving Cert Myths That Have Survived Since 1924

The Leaving Certificate has been Ireland’s defining academic trial since independence, and around it has grown a mythology as thick as the Ordinary Level Irish paper itself.

Myth: You must study twelve hours a day. Reality: The students who actually pass study in focused bursts. The ones hunched over books at midnight are often procrastinating, rereading the same paragraph about photosynthesis.

Myth: Irish is impossible. Reality: Irish is learnable. What is actually impossible is caring about the *Dán Díreach* at 8 a.m. on a Wednesday. Motivation, not difficulty, is the barrier.

Myth: Maths has only one correct method. Reality: Your teacher has lied to you. There are many paths to the answer. The exam, however, only rewards one method. This is why teenagers weep.

Myth: You need a 600 to get into college. Reality: You need a 600 to get into the *course you actually want*. You could get 400 and still attend a college somewhere in Ireland. Geography matters.

Myth: Your life is over if you do not get honours Irish. Reality: Thousands of people left school without honours Irish. They are fine. They are everywhere. Some are your boss.

The Leaving Cert is difficult because it is designed to be. The mythology around it is invented by people who took it too seriously.

How Many Days Until An Irish Christmas?

Think You Know Ireland? Prove It.

Today’s Daily Game has five quick questions on Ireland’s landmarks, food, traditions and history. It takes two minutes, it’s free, and it’s dangerously moreish. See if you can score a perfect five.

Take The Test

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One More Thing Before You Go

Did you know?

The word “whiskey” comes from the Irish *uisce beatha*, meaning “water of life” — a name given to the distilled spirit by Irish monks as far back as the medieval period. When English speakers struggled with *uisce*, it slurred over the centuries into “whiskey,” and Ireland famously kept the “e” that Scotland later dropped — which is why the spelling still tells you, at a glance, which side of the sea your glass came from.

Love Scotland Too?

If Ireland’s sunny southeast has you dreaming of more Celtic coastline, let us introduce a kindred spirit. Join 43,000 readers who wake up to Scotland every morning — castles, Highlands, whisky trails, and stories from the heart of the country, delivered just like this one.

Also From Our Family

And if your heart wanders further south — Love Italy brings 29,000 readers hidden villages, family recipes, and the Italy that guidebooks miss:

Essentials you need to pack for your Ireland Trip

UK Ireland Scotland Power Adapter Plug, TESSAN Type G Travel Adaptor with 2 USB Charger Ports 2 American Outlets, US to London England British Hong Kong Irish Kenya Dubai Qatar Wall Adapter.

There is no smell on earth quite like bread rising in a warm Irish kitchen — buttermilk and soda, a cross cut deep into the crust to let the fairies out. This week we are baking, and today we reach further back: to barmbrack, the speckled loaf that hides a ring, a coin and a scrap of cloth inside, and tells you, slice by slice, what the year ahead might hold.

NEW: THE LOVE IRELAND APP IS HERE

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Love Ireland, beautifully built for your iPhone. Browse thousands of stories, places,

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Download it free on the App Store (iPhone) →

Today’s Newsletter Presented By

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In today’s email:

• Barmbrack — The Irish Loaf That Hides Your Fortune

• Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

• From Our Love Ireland Community - 1 Million Irish Hearts

• Ireland’s Best Cooking Classes

• At The Bar - The Kerry Pubs You Voted For

• Around The Web: Why Kylemore Abbey Was Built as an Act of Love, The Invisible Lines Running Through Ireland That Even Builders Won't Cross,

  🔒 Giants, Glens and Game of Thrones and more

• From Love Ireland -The 10 Most Beautiful Villages in Ireland — Where Would You Put Number One?

• Irish Food You Will Love - The Scones Ready In Thirty Minutes Flat

• The Craic -“Feck”: The Irish Curse Word That’s Not Quite a Curse Word

Barmbrack — The Irish Loaf That Hides Your Fortune

👉 Read the full story

Before there was a single supermarket loaf in Ireland, there was the brack: a dense, tea-soaked fruit bread studded with sultanas and, on the right night, a hidden ring. Whoever found the ring in their slice would be married within the year — and every Irish granny had a story about the year it came true. It is soft, spiced, gloriously simple to make, and it fills the house with the same warm smell as a soda loaf straight from the oven.

👉 Read the full story

Have you ever baked a brack — and did anyone in your family ever find the ring? Hit reply and tell us your secret ingredient.

“Want deep dives into Ireland every Sunday? Our premium readers already have their next edition waiting.”

Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

Top Experiences In Ireland Likely To Sell Out

2026 is going to be a busy year - Here is a list of the top experiences that will most likely sell out and you should book in advance. Don’t delay!

“...so you can focus on making memories, not managing schedules.”

Book Here

From Our Love Ireland Community

The Love Ireland Facebook Group is a community of 1.3 Million happy people!

For years, this community has shared memories, travel dreams, family stories and a love for Ireland that stretches far beyond its shores.

We’re setting ourselves a challenge.

Can we reach 1 MILLION Irish Hearts before St. Patrick’s Day 2027?

Ireland’s Best Cooking Classes

From hands-on baking to Irish coffee and whiskey cocktail masterclasses, these cooking classes offer a genuine way to taste Ireland beyond the pub. This guide rounds up the top-rated options across the country, with clear prices and formats, so you can choose what fits your trip best. It’s about learning, sharing, and coming home with more than photos.

👉 Read the full story

At The Bar

The Kerry Pubs You Voted For

Nothing follows a warm slice of brack quite like a slow pint in a proper Kerry bar. We asked you to name the best pubs in the Kingdom, and thousands of you answered — from snug harbour bars in Dingle to music-filled rooms in Killarney where the trad session runs long past closing. See which ones made your list.

Around The Web

Why Ireland should be your must-visit food destination in 2026

From farmhouse butter and seaweed to bread still baked the old way, a look at why 70% of overseas visitors now say food shapes where they choose to travel.

Ireland embraces a slower rhythm of travel in 2026

The “slow tourism” movement is reshaping how visitors see the island — fewer boxes ticked, more time in one good kitchen, one good pub, one good stretch of coast.

Ireland’s 2026 Agri-Food Tourism Programme backs rural food heritage

A new government-backed scheme is funding farm visits, artisan producers and the traditional baking that made Irish kitchens famous — good news for anyone who travels to eat.

Why Kylemore Abbey Was Built as an Act of Love

Behind Connemara’s most photographed castle lies a grieving husband, a promise, and one of the most romantic stories in Ireland.

The Invisible Lines Running Through Ireland That Even Builders Won’t Cross

A story from the Love Ireland archive for anyone planning an Irish escape.

🔒 Giants, Glens and Game of Thrones

The real-life settings of epic tales—from the Giant’s Causeway to the Glens of Antrim and beyond

From Love Ireland

The 10 Most Beautiful Villages in Ireland — Where Would You Put Number One?

- We asked you to crown Ireland's most beautiful village — and the number one choice surprised almost everyone who voted →

And YouTube

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Love Ireland Channel

Irish Food You Will Love

The Scones Ready In Thirty Minutes Flat

If barmbrack is the loaf for an occasion, the scone is the bread of any ordinary Tuesday — buttermilk, a light hand, and a hot oven, and you have warm scones split with butter and jam before the kettle has even boiled. Like soda bread, the secret is barely mixing the dough: overwork it and it turns tough. This is the recipe every Irish tearoom quietly runs on.

Interested in more Irish Recipes?

Join Love Ireland Cooking Channel

The Craic

“Feck”: The Irish Curse Word That’s Not Quite a Curse Word

“Feck” is Irish genius. It’s a swear word that’s not a swear word. Your grandmother can say it on television. A child can say it in front of a priest. It carries the emotional weight of a proper curse but none of the actual consequences.

“Ah feck it.” — This is resignation mixed with defiance. You were going to do something and now you’re not, and you don’t care. This is acceptable in polite company.

“Feck off.” — Not as aggressive as the English version. More disappointed. Someone’s telling you to go away, but it’s done with a suggestion of “you should really know better.”

“For feck’s sake.” — Frustration. Usually directed at inanimate objects, incompetent people, or the universe. You’ve tried to do something reasonable and it’s failed spectacularly.

“Fecking eejit.” — This is how you describe someone without actually insulting them. An eejit is not intelligent. They’re not malicious, they’re just confused. Adding “fecking” makes it gentle.

“Feck all.” — Means nothing. “What did you do last weekend?” “Feck all. Just stayed in.” It’s not vulgar, it’s just... nothing.

Why is this brilliant? Because Irish people got tired of proper curse words being banned on television, so they invented one that technically isn’t a curse word at all. The English “fuck” is genuinely vulgar. “Feck” is just Irish frustration with a different vowel.

Brit tourists find it absolutely baffling. They’ll hear someone say “feck” on RTÉ and assume the entire country’s swearing on air. No. It’s just Irish language innovation.

Non-Irish speakers trying to use “feck” always get it wrong. They add too much anger. They use it out of context. They forget that “feck” works best when you’re genuinely exasperated rather than deliberately offensive.

Irish people used “feck” to circumvent censorship and it became a linguistic cornerstone. This is peak Irish problem-solving: if the system won’t allow proper cursing, invent better cursing that isn’t cursing.

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Your Name, As Gaeilge — Find It In 30 Seconds

Ever wondered what your name would be in Irish? Our free Your Irish Name tool turns your everyday name into its beautiful Gaelic form in about half a minute — a lovely little thing to try over your morning tea, and even lovelier to send to the Irish-lovers in your life.

Your Irish Name?

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One More Thing Before You Go

Did you know?

The Irish word for jellyfish, “smugairle róin”, translates literally as "seal snot." Irish is full of nature words this vivid and unsentimental — a language that names the sea and its creatures exactly as they look, and never lets you forget them.

Love Scotland Too?

If you love starting your morning with Ireland, you might enjoy waking up to Scotland. Join 43,000 readers who get daily stories of castles, Highlands, whisky trails and the heart of Scottish culture — written with the same warmth you’ll find here. We think of them as family.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────

Also From Our Family

And if London calls to you too — Love London brings hidden history, local haunts and the London that locals actually love, to 3,000 readers

Essentials you need to pack for your Ireland Trip

UK Ireland Scotland Power Adapter Plug, TESSAN Type G Travel Adaptor with 2 USB Charger Ports 2 American Outlets, US to London England British Hong Kong Irish Kenya Dubai Qatar Wall Adapter.

There is a corner of County Offaly where magnolias from China, maples from Japan and the tallest box hedges on earth all grow in one sheltered demesne — planted by a family of astronomers who reached for the stars and somehow grew a paradise on the way. Ireland's soft, mild air lets things flourish here that have no earthly right to. This week, we're wandering its great gardens.

NEW: THE LOVE IRELAND APP IS HERE

We’ve just launched the Love Ireland app on the App Store — everything you love about

Love Ireland, beautifully built for your iPhone. Browse thousands of stories, places,

castles and pubs in a clean, fast, made-for-mobile experience.

Download it free on the App Store (iPhone) →

Today’s Newsletter Presented By

Share

In today’s email:

• What Is Birr Castle Famous For?

• Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

• From Our Love Ireland Community - 1 Million Irish Hearts

• The Monastic Valley That’s Greener Than Any Garden

• At The Bar: -The Pubs Where Ireland Feels Most Like Itself

• Around The Web: Powerscourt named one of the world's most 'vibrant' gardens, Why Kylemore Abbey Was Built as an Act of Love,

  🔒 Ireland’s Viking Roots and more

• From Love Ireland -The Glasshouse Gardens Hiding In The Heart Of Dublin

• Irish Food You Will Love - The Kale-And-Potato Dish With A Ring Hidden Inside

• The Craic -The Country Pub at Christmas: Sacred Ritual Disguised as Drinking

What Is Birr Castle Famous For?

👉 Read the full story

Most people breeze through the Midlands on the way to somewhere else — and miss one of the most extraordinary gardens in Europe. Birr Castle Demesne holds over 2,000 species of trees, shrubs and plants, box hedges tall enough to lose yourself in, and the Great Telescope that was once the largest in the world — a place where science and horticulture grew up side by side. It’s the perfect first stop on a tour of Ireland’s great gardens.

👉 Read the full story

Have you ever wandered a garden that stopped you in your tracks? Hit reply and tell us where.

Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

Top Experiences In Ireland Likely To Sell Out

2026 is going to be a busy year - Here is a list of the top experiences that will most likely sell out and you should book in advance. Don’t delay!

“...so you can focus on making memories, not managing schedules.”

Book Here

From Our Love Ireland Community

The Love Ireland Facebook Group is a community of 1.3 Million happy people!

For years, this community has shared memories, travel dreams, family stories and a love for Ireland that stretches far beyond its shores.

We’re setting ourselves a challenge.

Can we reach 1 MILLION Irish Hearts before St. Patrick’s Day 2027?

I Love Ireland

The Monastic Valley That’s Greener Than Any Garden

Wicklow didn’t earn the name “the Garden of Ireland” by accident — and no corner of it feels more planted-by-heaven than Glendalough, where two dark lakes sit cradled in a wooded glacial valley beneath the ruins of a 6th-century monastery. In early summer the oak woods glow and the whole valley hums; it’s the kind of green that makes you understand why the monks never wanted to leave.

At The Bar

The Pubs Where Ireland Feels Most Like Itself

After a day among the gardens, there’s no finer reward than a pint in a proper Irish pub — the snug in the corner, the trad session starting up, the barman who somehow knows your name by the second round. From centuries-old thatched country bars to Dublin’s grand Victorian watering holes, the Irish pub is less a place to drink than a place to belong. We’ve rounded up the finest across the island — and the stories that make each one worth the detour.

Around The Web

Powerscourt named one of the world’s most ‘vibrant’ gardens

A colour-analysis study has ranked the great Wicklow estate among the most vivid gardens on the planet — no surprise to anyone who’s stood on its Italian terraces in July.

Trinity College Dublin unveils a new literary walking tour and Oscar Wilde theatre experience

A seven-week summer season leads visitors through the 47-acre campus in the footsteps of Wilde, Beckett and Stoker, ending with live theatre in the Samuel Beckett Theatre.

Why Kylemore Abbey Was Built as an Act of Love

Behind Connemara’s most photographed abbey lies a restored Victorian walled garden — and a love story that explains why it exists at all.

Ireland leans into ‘slow tourism’ for 2026

The new mood is unhurried: linger in one garden, one village, one glen, and let the country come to you rather than racing through it.

Why Ireland is becoming a must-visit food destination in 2026

From coastal seafood to artisan cheese and farmhouse baking, a fresh look at why the island’s kitchens are having a moment.

🔒 Ireland’s Viking Roots

The Norse Trail From Dublin to Waterford

From Love Ireland

The Glasshouse Gardens Hiding In The Heart Of Dublin

Just north of the city centre, along the River Tolka, lie the National Botanic Gardens — a sweep of curved Victorian glasshouses, towering palms, rose walks and rare plants gathered from around the world. It’s one of the loveliest free days out in Ireland, where Dubliners slip away from the noise to wander among giant water lilies and orchid houses. Come for the great restored glasshouses or simply a slow riverside stroll — proof that some of the country’s finest gardens hide in plain sight.

In Case You Missed It

The One Plant That Defines Ireland — and Nobody Can Agree on What It Is

Even the botanists can't agree — from the shamrock to the humble whitethorn, there's one plant Ireland can't stop arguing over, and the reasons why go back centuries:

The 10 Most Beautiful Villages in Ireland — Where Would You Put Number One?

Some of them come wrapped in gardens, others in harbours and hills — here are ten Irish villages so lovely you'll want to argue over which deserves the top spot:

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Irish Food You Will Love

The Kale-And-Potato Dish With A Ring Hidden Inside

No garden supper is complete without what the plot provides — and few dishes taste more of an Irish kitchen garden than colcannon, that buttery marriage of mashed potato and kale or cabbage. It has its own folk song, and once carried a hidden ring at Halloween to tell who’d marry next. Here’s the story, and how to make it at home.

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The Craic

The Country Pub at Christmas: Sacred Ritual Disguised as Drinking

In December, country pubs become something other than themselves. They’re decorated with tinsel that’s been hanging since 2009. There’s a wreath on the door that might be real, might be plastic, honestly nobody cares.

The barman has started pulling pints with a slightly different energy. There’s purpose now. He’s not just serving — he’s participating in the season.

Specific drinks appear. Hot port. Hot whiskeys with honey. These are not on the menu because the menu is understood to be flexible during Christmas. You ask for it, he makes it, no questions.

There’s Christmas music, but not the aggressive retail kind. It’s Nat King Cole or Bing Crosby or, if the pub’s particularly old-fashioned, actual trad musicians playing Christmas songs on accordions. It’s low volume. It’s background.

Regulars arrive at their usual times. They sit in their usual seats. This is their church. The pub is simply more decorated, slightly warmer, accepting of more sentimental conversation.

Someone will cry about a relative who’s dead. This is normal. Someone else will remember them, and a small moment of collective grieving happens over pints. This is Christmas in a country pub — acknowledging loss while celebrating survival.

Families arrive later in the evening. Kids are brought in. They’re allowed to sit in the corner, eating crisps, drinking red lemonade, while adults do adult things. The pub is family-friendly for approximately four weeks per year.

There’s food. Sandwiches from somewhere. Boxty from someone’s kitchen. It’s communal. Nobody’s charging for this. The barman’s providing sustenance because that’s what you do.

The conversation is slower than usual. People aren’t rushing to get home. The pub is warm. The company is familiar. This is enough.

By late evening, the pub is full — genuinely full, not the usual scatter of pensioners and one couple. Everyone’s there. Everyone’s exactly where they’re supposed to be.

At closing, nobody rushes. The barman doesn’t rush you. You finish your drink, help someone on with their coat, and head into the cold night knowing that this will happen again next December.

How Many Days Until An Irish Christmas?

What Does ‘Gas’ Actually Mean In Ireland?

Here’s a fun 30-second detour: Ireland has a whole secret language hiding in plain sight, and “gas” has nothing to do with petrol. Pop a word or phrase into our Irish Slang Translator and see what it really means — you’ll be quoting it by the weekend.

Irish Slang Translator

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One More Thing Before You Go

Did you know?

Ireland lies on the same latitude as frozen Newfoundland and southern Alaska, yet the North Atlantic Drift keeps its coast so mild that subtropical tree ferns, echiums and even palms grow outdoors all year on its Atlantic islands. On Garinish Island in County Cork, plants from New Zealand and the Himalayas have thrived in the open air for over a century — in a place that, by latitude alone, ought to be buried in snow.

Love Scotland Too?

If Ireland’s sunny southeast has you dreaming of more Celtic coastline, let us introduce a kindred spirit. Join 43,000 readers who wake up to Scotland every morning — castles, Highlands, whisky trails, and stories from the heart of the country, delivered just like this one.

Also From Our Family

And if your wanderlust reaches even further afield, “Dream in Miles” (16,000 readers) shares world travel inspiration — hidden destinations, budget tips, and places that change you:

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Two hundred years ago a Clare landlord named Cornelius O’Brien built a small round tower on the highest point of the Cliffs of Moher — not for defence, but to give visitors somewhere to stand and gasp. He was right. Stand there today, 214 metres above the Atlantic with the wind pushing back at you, and you understand why Ireland put these cliffs on every postcard it ever printed.

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In today’s email:

• The Victorian Gentleman Who Built a Tower on the Cliffs of Moher

• Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

• From Our Love Ireland Community - 1 Million Irish Hearts

• The County Clare Landscape That Looks Like It Landed From Another Planet

• At The Bar: -The Waterford Pubs You Voted The Best In The County

• Around The Web: The seabird city clinging to the Cliffs of Moher, Why Doolin is the true home of Irish music,

  🔒 Driving the Wild Atlantic Way and more

• From Love Ireland -95 Blue Flag Beaches — And The Clare Sands Below The Cliffs

• Irish Food You Will Love - The Brown Bread That Comes With Every Bowl Of West-Coast Chowder

• The Craic -Things the Irish Abroad Miss That Nobody Else Understands

The Victorian Gentleman Who Built a Tower on the Cliffs of Moher

👉 Read the full story

Everyone photographs O’Brien’s Tower; almost nobody knows the man behind it. Cornelius O’Brien was a larger-than-life Clare landlord who, in 1835, put a stone tower on the cliff’s highest point — partly to impress the ladies he brought there, and partly because he understood, long before the tour buses, that a view this good deserved a place to take it in. It’s the little story that makes the whole clifftop come alive on your visit.

👉 Read the full story

Have you stood at the top of O'Brien's Tower — or is it still on your list? Hit reply and tell us.

Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

Top Experiences In Ireland Likely To Sell Out

2026 is going to be a busy year - Here is a list of the top experiences that will most likely sell out and you should book in advance. Don’t delay!

“...so you can focus on making memories, not managing schedules.”

Book Here

From Our Love Ireland Community

The Love Ireland Facebook Group is a community of 1.3 Million happy people!

For years, this community has shared memories, travel dreams, family stories and a love for Ireland that stretches far beyond its shores.

We’re setting ourselves a challenge.

Can we reach 1 MILLION Irish Hearts before St. Patrick’s Day 2027?

I Love Ireland

The County Clare Landscape That Looks Like It Landed From Another Planet

Just inland from the cliffs lies the Burren — 250 square kilometres of bare grey limestone that scientists still puzzle over. Somehow Arctic and Mediterranean wildflowers grow side by side in its cracks, thriving where nothing should, and it’s every bit as much a part of the Cliffs of Moher experience as the drop itself. If you’re driving from Doolin, you’ll pass straight through this lunar landscape — so don’t rush it.

Would you spend a day exploring the Burren, or head straight for the cliffs? Reply and let us know.

At The Bar

The Waterford Pubs You Voted The Best In The County

Every great cliff walk ends the same way in Clare — with a pint and a session in one of Doolin’s snug little pubs, the reward at the bottom of the trail. And since a good local is the heart of any Irish county, we asked you to name Waterford’s finest, and the results are in. Cosy, characterful and gloriously opinionated — see whether your favourite made the cut.

Around The Web

Are the Cliffs of Moher trails open in 2026?

A clear, up-to-date rundown of what’s open and closed at the cliffs this summer — including why walkers are being pointed to Doolin rather than the Visitor Centre. Essential reading before you go.

The seabird city clinging to the Cliffs of Moher

The cliff face is home to more than 30,000 pairs of nesting seabirds — including Ireland’s largest mainland puffin colony — with April to July the busiest season on the rock. Bring binoculars.

Galway Film Fleadh unveils its biggest-ever programme (7–12 July)

Just up the coast from Clare, Galway’s beloved film festival returns with 35 new Irish features and world premieres across six days — a wonderful excuse to pair the cliffs with a night at the pictures.

Why Doolin is the true home of Irish music

The little village at the northern end of the cliffs isn’t just a launch point for the coastal walk — its pubs host some of the finest traditional sessions anywhere in Ireland, most nights of the week.

Five Irish food festivals not to miss this summer

From coastal seafood to farmhouse feasts, here’s where to eat your way around Ireland over the coming weeks — perfect if a west-coast road trip is on the cards.

🔒 Driving the Wild Atlantic Way

Hidden beaches, coastal Legends and the soul of Ireland through Sligo and Mayo

From Love Ireland

95 Blue Flag Beaches — And The Clare Sands Below The Cliffs

If the clifftop wind leaves you longing for the sea itself, Clare’s coast obliges: Lahinch and Fanore sit just south of Moher, two of the 95 award-winning strands on Ireland’s 2026 Blue Flag list. Our full guide maps every one, county by county, so you can build a whole coastal trip around clean water and golden sand.

In Case You Missed It

Bunratty Castle: The Complete Visitor’s Guide (2026)

Just down the road from the cliffs, County Clare hides a 15th-century fortress where you can still dine like a medieval lord — here's everything you need to know before you go:

The Hidden Ireland You Haven’t Discovered Yet

For every traveller who thinks they've "done" Ireland, here are the corners even seasoned visitors somehow miss:

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Irish Food You Will Love

The Brown Bread That Comes With Every Bowl Of West-Coast Chowder

Order a seafood chowder in any Doolin pub after your cliff walk and it’ll arrive with a thick, dark slice of brown soda bread — dense, nutty and slathered in Irish butter. It’s the simplest loaf in the Irish kitchen and one of the most beloved, and our step-by-step recipe means you can bake the taste of the west coast at home.

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The Craic

Things the Irish Abroad Miss That Nobody Else Understands

Living away from Ireland is grand — until it isn’t. Here are the things that hit the hardest, and that no other nationality seems to understand:

Proper butter. Not the pale, tasteless version. The deep yellow, salty, slightly-too-soft-on-the-counter Kerrygold that turns toast into a religious experience.

Tayto crisps. Specifically cheese and onion. Other countries have crisps. Ireland has Tayto. This is not the same thing.

The nine o’clock news. Not for the news itself, but for the theme tune that sounds like home.

A chipper after a night out. A kebab is not the same. A burger is not the same. A battered sausage and a bag of chips at midnight in the rain? That is the same.

Mass on Christmas morning. Even if you haven’t gone in years, the absence of it abroad leaves a gap that no carol service can fill.

The way people say your name. Your actual name, pronounced properly, with the accent that shaped it. Nowhere else in the world gets it quite right.

What’s Clare’s Signature Dish? Find Your County’s In 30 Seconds

Every Irish county has a food it calls its own — and Clare’s Atlantic larder, from Burren-smoked salmon to Doolin chowder, is a story in itself. Pick a county and our little tool tells you its signature dish in about thirty seconds. A fun one to try over your morning coffee.

Your County Food

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One More Thing Before You Go

Did you know?

The Cliffs of Moher stood in as the “Cliffs of Insanity” in the 1987 film *The Princess Bride*, and later appeared as the sea-cave cliffs in *Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince*. Odds are you’ve already gasped at this stretch of Clare coastline on screen — years before you ever planned to stand on it in person.

Love Scotland Too?

If Ireland’s sunny southeast has you dreaming of more Celtic coastline, let us introduce a kindred spirit. Join 43,000 readers who wake up to Scotland every morning — castles, Highlands, whisky trails, and stories from the heart of the country, delivered just like this one.

Also From Our Family

If you love hidden history and local haunts, Love London shares the city that Londoners themselves love — a quieter, quainter capital than the guidebooks show. Have a peek:

Essentials you need to pack for your Ireland Trip

UK Ireland Scotland Power Adapter Plug, TESSAN Type G Travel Adaptor with 2 USB Charger Ports 2 American Outlets, US to London England British Hong Kong Irish Kenya Dubai Qatar Wall Adapter.

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County Donegal sits in the far north-west of Ireland, a long drive from Dublin and slightly apart from the country’s busier tourist trails. That distance is part of its character. While coach tours crowd the Ring of Kerry and the Cliffs of Moher, Donegal stays quieter, wilder, and more deeply Irish. It is the kind of place where you can stand at the edge of a sea cliff and hear nothing but wind and water.

For many readers with Irish roots, Donegal carries special weight. It is the home county of the O’Donnell, Gallagher, Doherty, and Sweeney families, among many others, and it remains one of the strongest surviving regions of the Irish language. Whole villages here still speak Irish as their daily tongue, part of what is known as the Gaeltacht. The culture you find is not a performance for visitors. It is simply how life continues.

This guide suits the traveller who prefers depth over distance. Donegal is large and its roads are slow, so trying to see everything in a weekend leads only to frustration. Give it five unhurried days and the county opens up: sea cliffs that fall almost vertically into the Atlantic, a national park built around a Victorian castle, a folk village kept alive by a remarkable parish priest, and a lighthouse on one of the most northerly points in the country.

In This Email:-

• A Slow Journey through County Donegal, from South to North - This is how to travel from the south of the county to the far north, following a route with no backtracking. Along the way you will visit five places that together tell the story of Donegal — its history, its landscape, and its living culture. You will also find a day-by-day itinerary, advice on when to go, and practical notes on getting there.

  • Donegal Castle

  • Slieve League Cliffs

  • Glencolmcille Folk Village

  • Glenveagh National Park and Castle

  • Fanad Head Lighthouse

  • A suggested five-day itinerary

  • When to visit, how to get there, and how long to spend

A Slow Journey through County Donegal, from South to North:-

Read more

Tomorrow, across America, families will fire up the grill, unfold the deckchairs, and toast a country an ocean away without quite knowing why. It’s in the surname, the grandmother’s turn of phrase, the ache that comes on when a fiddle starts up. This one is for them — the 35 million Americans who feel Ireland in their bones.

NEW: THE LOVE IRELAND APP IS HERE

We’ve just launched the Love Ireland app on the App Store — everything you love about

Love Ireland, beautifully built for your iPhone. Browse thousands of stories, places,

castles and pubs in a clean, fast, made-for-mobile experience.

Download it free on the App Store (iPhone) →

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In today’s email:

• Irish Americans and the 4th of July: The Deep Connection

• Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

• From Our Love Ireland Community - 1 Million Irish Hearts

• The Irish Soldiers Who Fought For America Before It Was Even A Country

• At The Bar: -The Pint, The Wisdom And The Wit The Irish Carried To Every American City

• Around The Web: Why the Irish-American identity stays so strong after 150 years, Where to actually start tracing your Irish family, for free,

  🔒 The Real Emerald Isle and more

• From Love Ireland -The Irishmen Who Signed America Into Existence

• Irish Food You Will Love - The Dish That Isn’t Quite Irish — But Tastes Like Home In America

• The Craic -The Country Road and the Man on the Tractor: Hierarchy of Movement

Irish Americans and the 4th of July: The Deep Connection

👉 Read the full story

When you stand at the Irish Hunger Memorial in New York and look out past the reconstructed famine cottage to the Statue of Liberty, the whole story lands in a single view: a people who arrived with nothing and helped build everything. Between 1845 and 1852, more than a million Irish crossed the Atlantic on the coffin ships. Their children laid the Brooklyn Bridge, drove the rails of the transcontinental railroad, and filled the streets of South Boston, Hell’s Kitchen and Chicago’s Bridgeport — and this is the piece that traces that journey, from the ships to the cookout, and shows you how it all still beats under an American 4th of July.

👉 Read the full story

Reply and tell us: what’s the story your family carried across the water? We read every one.

Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

Top Experiences In Ireland Likely To Sell Out

2026 is going to be a busy year - Here is a list of the top experiences that will most likely sell out and you should book in advance. Don’t delay!

“...so you can focus on making memories, not managing schedules.”

Book Here

From Our Love Ireland Community

The Love Ireland Facebook Group is a community of 1.3 Million happy people!

For years, this community has shared memories, travel dreams, family stories and a love for Ireland that stretches far beyond its shores.

We’re setting ourselves a challenge.

Can we reach 1 MILLION Irish Hearts before St. Patrick’s Day 2027?

I Love Ireland

The Irish Soldiers Who Fought For America Before It Was Even A Country

Long before the famine ships, the Irish were already woven into America’s founding. Whole regiments of Irish and Irish-descended men marched with the Continental Army, and George Washington himself paid tribute to their part in the fight. It’s a chapter most 4th of July celebrations forget — and it’s a genuinely stirring read for anyone with an Irish name at their own table tomorrow.

Reply and tell us — does your family carry a story from those years?

At The Bar

The Pint, The Wisdom And The Wit The Irish Carried To Every American City

Wherever the Irish landed, a pub soon followed — and with it came something harder to bottle: the slagging, the storytelling, the art of making a stranger feel at home before the first pint has settled. This warm little guide to Guinness, pub wisdom and the Irish gift for wit explains exactly what your ancestors packed that couldn’t fit in a suitcase.

Around The Web

Why the Irish-American identity stays so strong after 150 years

Generations on, millions of Americans still call themselves Irish first — this piece digs into why the pull of the old country never quite fades.

The New York memorial that brings the famine ships home

A half-acre of authentic Irish countryside — a real Mayo cottage, stones from all 32 counties — sits in the shadow of the Manhattan skyline, with the Statue of Liberty in the distance.

Southie: how one Boston neighbourhood stayed Irish for two centuries

From dockworkers in the 1840s to the parishes and Hibernian halls that shaped it, this is the story of the most famously Irish corner of America.

EPIC in Dublin unveils a new exhibition on Ireland’s global reach

The world’s only fully digital emigration museum — built on the very quays the ships left from — opens a fresh multimedia show running to the end of 2026.

Where to actually start tracing your Irish family, for free

The Irish government’s own genealogy portal lets you search historic church and civil records without paying a cent — the perfect place to begin before the 4th.

🔒 The Real Emerald Isle

Your journey through the Heart and Soul of Ireland

From Love Ireland

The Irishmen Who Signed America Into Existence

When the Declaration of Independence was signed, Irish names were on the parchment and Irish hands set the type that first printed it. This is the little-told story of the emigrants and sons of emigrants who helped put pen to America’s founding document — a fitting read for the eve of the 4th.

In Case You Missed It

Where to Visit the Irish Roots of America’s Founding Fathers

Some of America's Founding Fathers came from families who left Ireland only a generation or two before — and you can still walk the townlands and old homesteads where their story began:

How Americans Can Get Irish Citizenship in 2026: The Complete Guide

If tracing your roots has ever made you wonder whether you could claim Irish citizenship through a grandparent, this plain-English 2026 guide walks Americans through exactly how it works:

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Irish Food You Will Love

The Dish That Isn’t Quite Irish — But Tastes Like Home In America

Ask anyone in Ireland and they’ll tell you they’ve never eaten corned beef and cabbage in their lives — it was born not in Cork but in the tenements of New York, where Irish immigrants swapped their bacon for the salt beef sold cheap by their Jewish neighbours. It’s the perfect 4th of July plate: a dish that only exists because two communities met in America. Here’s the recipe and the surprising story behind it.

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The Craic

The Country Road and the Man on the Tractor: Hierarchy of Movement

On Irish country roads, there exists an absolute hierarchy. The tractor is at the top. This is law.

When a man on a tractor is moving from Point A to Point B, everyone else — cars, pedestrians, wheeled bins that have blown into the roadway — must reorganise their existence around his trajectory. This is not a rule written down. It’s understood, the way water understands gravity.

The man on the tractor knows this. You can see it in his posture. He’s not hurrying. The tractor moves at one speed: tractor speed. If you’re behind him, you have two options: follow at that speed, or pull into a farm entrance and wait for him to pass. These are genuinely your only options.

He will not look in the mirror. He will not acknowledge the cars piling up behind him. This is fine. He has a right to be there. The tractor is doing essential work. Or it’s going to do essential work. Or it’s returning from essential work.

The question of what he’s actually transporting is irrelevant. Could be slurry (fragrant, slow-moving), silage (seasonal, serious), hay bales (innocuous but bulk), or genuinely nothing (he’s just giving the tractor an airing). None of this matters. The hierarchy remains.

Other vehicles understand this. A Garda car behind a tractor will not speed around it. Ambulances... well, an ambulance might take their chances, but it’s a breach of etiquette.

The man on the tractor might wave at you. He probably won’t. Not because he’s rude, but because waving requires one hand off the wheel and tractor operation demands focus. Sometimes he’ll raise one hand slightly, which is essentially a royal gesture. You’ve been acknowledged.

Some tractors are ancient, held together with luck and baling twine. Some are modern, equipped with technology that costs more than most cars. This doesn’t change their status. Old or new, they own the road.

Try to speed around one. I dare you. The tractor will drift slightly, asserting dominance. Back off. Accept your place in the ecosystem.

Test Your Irish Knowledge Before The Fireworks

Think you know your Ireland? Today’s five-question quiz runs from famine-era ports to the placenames the Irish scattered across America — landmarks, food, traditions and history in one quick round. Perfect to fire off at tomorrow’s cookout and see who really knows the old country.

Take The Test

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One More Thing Before You Go

Did you know?

The White House was designed by an Irishman — James Hoban, born near Callan in County Kilkenny, who won a competition in 1792 to design the President’s residence. He modelled it in part on Leinster House in Dublin, which means the most famous home in America has a quiet twin standing on Kildare Street to this day.

Love Scotland Too?

If Ireland’s sunny southeast has you dreaming of more Celtic coastline, let us introduce a kindred spirit. Join 43,000 readers who wake up to Scotland every morning — castles, Highlands, whisky trails, and stories from the heart of the country, delivered just like this one.

Also From Our Family

And if your travels run further south — Love South Africa takes you from Cape Town to Kruger and the real South Africa every week (5,600 readers and growing):

Essentials you need to pack for your Ireland Trip

UK Ireland Scotland Power Adapter Plug, TESSAN Type G Travel Adaptor with 2 USB Charger Ports 2 American Outlets, US to London England British Hong Kong Irish Kenya Dubai Qatar Wall Adapter.

Everyone drives the Ring of Kerry. Almost nobody walks it. Yet step onto a path in Killarney National Park on a soft July morning — oak woods dripping after rain, the lakes flat as pewter, Torc thundering somewhere ahead — and Kerry stops being scenery you photograph through glass and becomes something you can smell, hear and feel underfoot. This week we’re lacing up for Ireland’s great walking trails, and Kerry is where we begin.

NEW: THE LOVE IRELAND APP IS HERE

We’ve just launched the Love Ireland app on the App Store — everything you love about

Love Ireland, beautifully built for your iPhone. Browse thousands of stories, places,

castles and pubs in a clean, fast, made-for-mobile experience.

Download it free on the App Store (iPhone) →

Today’s Newsletter Presented By

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In today’s email:

• Things to Do in Killarney — The Complete Visitor Guide

• Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

• From Our Love Ireland Community - 1 Million Irish Hearts

• Europe’s Tallest Sea Cliffs — And Hardly Anyone On The Path

• At The Bar: - The Pint Waiting At The End Of The Trail

• Around The Web: How walking Ireland’s greenways and blueways is quietly good for you, Take your pick of 2026's must-see Irish festivals,

  🔒 The Edge of the World and more

• From Love Ireland -The Mayo Valley Walk That Falls Silent When You Reach It

• Irish Food You Will Love - The Slow-Braised Bowl That Was Built For Tired Legs

• The Craic -The Art of Counting Pubs in Ireland

Things to Do in Killarney — The Complete Visitor Guide

👉 Read the full story

Killarney is the gateway to some of the finest walking on the island: the lakeside trails of the national park, the climb to Torc Waterfall, the horseshoe of the Gap of Dunloe, and the start of the 214km Kerry Way, Ireland’s longest waymarked trail. Our full guide lays out where to walk, where to stay and how to build a few unforgettable days around the town — whether you fancy a gentle lakeshore amble or a proper day on the hills

👉 Read the full story

If this stirred a longing to walk Kerry yourself, forward it to the friend you'd want beside you on the trail — some views are meant to be shared.

Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

Top Experiences In Ireland Likely To Sell Out

2026 is going to be a busy year - Here is a list of the top experiences that will most likely sell out and you should book in advance. Don’t delay!

“...so you can focus on making memories, not managing schedules.”

Book Here

From Our Love Ireland Community

The Love Ireland Facebook Group is a community of 1.3 Million happy people!

For years, this community has shared memories, travel dreams, family stories and a love for Ireland that stretches far beyond its shores.

We’re setting ourselves a challenge.

Can we reach 1 MILLION Irish Hearts before St. Patrick’s Day 2027?

I Love Ireland

Europe’s Tallest Sea Cliffs — And Hardly Anyone On The Path

If Kerry is where Ireland’s walking begins, Donegal is where it goes wild. Slieve League rises almost three times higher than the Cliffs of Moher, yet you can walk its coastal path with a fraction of the crowds. Our slow guide to the north-west maps out the quiet trails, the empty beaches and the villages worth lingering in when the light turns gold.

Would Donegal make your walking wish list? Reply and tell us.

At The Bar

The Pint Waiting At The End Of The Trail

Here’s the truth every Irish walker knows: half the joy of a long day on the hills is the pub at the end of it. Boots off, turf on, a slow pint settling on the bar while your legs ache pleasantly and the talk drifts. This lovely piece captures exactly why that first pint in an Irish pub feels like coming home.

Around The Web

Ireland’s just-opened greenways could change how you tour the Emerald Isle

A fast-growing web of off-road walking and cycling trails is linking coast, canal and countryside — and turning quiet corners of Ireland into a whole new way to see the place on foot.

How walking Ireland’s greenways and blueways is quietly good for you

Beyond the views, there’s a growing case that these gentle, flat, traffic-free trails are some of the healthiest miles you can walk in the country.

Earagail Arts Festival returns to Donegal’s Atlantic coast (10–25 July)

Fifteen bilingual days of music, theatre, film and carnival strung out along the Wild Atlantic Way — the perfect excuse to pair the north-west’s trails with a night of culture.

Galway International Arts Festival lights up the City of Tribes (13–26 July)

Two weeks of theatre, music and pop-up spectacle across 25+ venues — an ideal bookend to a few days walking Connemara.

Take your pick of 2026’s must-see Irish festivals

Tourism Ireland’s round-up of the year’s standout events, region by region — handy for building a trip that mixes trails with a bit of craic.

🔒 The Edge of the World

The drama of Ireland’s coastal Cliffs, wild Islands and windswept Beauty

From Love Ireland

The Mayo Valley Walk That Falls Silent When You Reach It

Doolough Valley is one of the most hauntingly beautiful walks in the west — a lonely road threading between dark mountains and a still lake, where the landscape does the talking and few visitors ever go. Our guide takes you through its wild, quiet beauty.

In Case You Missed It

Dunlough Castle: How to Visit Ireland’s Most Remote Ruin at Three Castles Head

There's a ruin at Three Castles Head in West Cork so remote that reaching it is half the adventure — a walk out along the cliffs to Ireland's loneliest castle:

Connemara National Park Named Ireland’s Most Loved Walk

When readers voted on Ireland’s most-loved walk, it wasn’t a cliff or a city — it was Connemara National Park, where the trail climbs straight up into the heart of the wild west:

From YouTube

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Irish Food You Will Love

The Slow-Braised Bowl That Was Built For Tired Legs

There is no better reward after a day on the Kerry Way than a bowl of proper Irish beef and Guinness stew — meltingly tender beef, dark gravy, floury potatoes, the whole thing perfumed with stout. It’s the taste of an Irish kitchen at its most generous, and our recipe walks you through every step.

Join Love Ireland Cooking Channel

The Craic

The Art of Counting Pubs in Ireland

Ireland has roughly 7,000 pubs. This means that on an island of five million people, there is approximately one pub for every 714 souls — one of the highest ratios on earth. But the statistic misses the point entirely.

Because an Irish pub is not a bar. It is the place where the parish meets itself. It is where deals are struck on a handshake, where feuds are settled over a pint (or started over one), where someone’s daughter played her first fiddle tune and someone’s grandfather drank his last.

In rural Ireland, the pub is often the post office, the hardware shop, and the undertaker’s office as well. You can buy a stamp, a bag of nails, and arrange a funeral without leaving your bar stool. This is not inefficiency. This is genius.

The great fear in modern Ireland is that the pubs are closing — and they are, at a rate of roughly two a week. Each one that shuts takes a parish notice board, a meeting hall, and a community living room with it.

So the next time you walk into an Irish pub, know this: you are not just having a drink. You are keeping a tradition alive. And that is worth raising your glass to.

What Would Ireland Call You On The Trail?

Before your next walk, find out the name the old country might have given you. Our “Your Irish Name” tool takes about thirty seconds and is far more fun than it has any right to be — a small, lovely way to feel a little closer to Ireland.

Your Irish Name

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One More Thing Before You Go

Did you know?

The Wicklow Way, opened in 1981, was Ireland’s very first waymarked long-distance trail — and it runs within 40km of Dublin city centre for its entire 127km length. That means a walker can step off a plane at Dublin Airport and be alone on a mountain ridge, deep in the Wicklow uplands, by lunchtime.

Love Scotland Too?

If Ireland’s sunny southeast has you dreaming of more Celtic coastline, let us introduce a kindred spirit. Join 43,000 readers who wake up to Scotland every morning — castles, Highlands, whisky trails, and stories from the heart of the country, delivered just like this one.

Also From Our Family

And if your wanderlust drifts further — Love France brings Paris secrets, provincial charm, and the stories behind French culture to 7,000 readers. A quiet whisper worth following:

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It’s July, and the Atlantic is showing off. Out west the boats come in heavy with brown crab and lobster, and at low tide the rocks of Connemara still glisten with the wild shore food the Irish have gathered for a thousand years. Long before shops or fridges, the sea fed every coastal family — and out on those rocks, it still does. Pull on your boots. Low tide is calling.

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In today’s email:

• The Ancient Irish Shore Food That Never Left

• Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

• From Our Love Ireland Community - 1 Million Irish Hearts

• Eat Lobster Where The Boats Still Dock On Achill Island

• At The Bar - When The Crab’s Cleared Away, The Session Begins

• Around The Web: The ten best harbour-side spots for fish and chips in Ireland, The day that once turned every Irish market town into a stage,

  🔒 Ireland’s Cultural Crossroads of the West and more

• From Love Ireland -Potato Farl: The Griddle Bread Every Ulster Kitchen Still Makes

• Irish Food You Will Love - The Irish Barman Who Invented Irish Coffee — And Nobody Believed Him

• The Craic -The Unwritten Rules of Set Dancing: A Survival Guide

The Ancient Irish Shore Food That Never Left

👉 Read the full story

Walk the rocky shore of Connemara or Donegal at low tide and you’ll find the oldest larder in Ireland, draped across the rocks in rust, olive and deepest green. Long before the potato — long before refrigeration — coastal families harvested *feamainn*, the seaweed and shore food that carried them through lean years and flavoured the good ones, and a new generation of west-coast cooks is bringing dillisk, carrageen and sea spaghetti back to the kitchen table. It’s the most Irish food there is, and it costs nothing but a pair of wellies and a falling tide.

👉 Read the full story

Have you ever cooked with Irish seaweed — toasted dillisk, or carrageen pudding the way your granny made it? Hit reply and tell us your secret.

“Want deep dives into Ireland every Sunday? Our premium readers already have their next edition waiting.”

Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

Top Experiences In Ireland Likely To Sell Out

2026 is going to be a busy year - Here is a list of the top experiences that will most likely sell out and you should book in advance. Don’t delay!

“...so you can focus on making memories, not managing schedules.”

Book Here

From Our Love Ireland Community

The Love Ireland Facebook Group is a community of 1.3 Million happy people!

For years, this community has shared memories, travel dreams, family stories and a love for Ireland that stretches far beyond its shores.

We’re setting ourselves a challenge.

Can we reach 1 MILLION Irish Hearts before St. Patrick’s Day 2027?

Eat Lobster Where The Boats Still Dock On Achill Island

There’s a particular kind of magic to eating seafood within sight of the water it came from, and few places do it better than Achill, the wild Mayo island at the end of the Wild Atlantic Way. Its small restaurants take lobster, crab and the morning’s catch straight from local boats — halved and grilled, or simply with drawn butter — and eat it with the Atlantic crashing below. It’s less a cooking class than a masterclass in leaving good ingredients well alone.

At The Bar

When The Crab’s Cleared Away, The Session Begins

A day of brown crab and brown bread on the west coast almost always ends the same way — in a pub, with a pint settling and a fiddle tuning up in the corner. But the traditional session has its own unwritten rules, and knowing them is the difference between being a welcome face and the person who claps in the wrong place. Here’s everything no one tells the visitor.

Around The Web

The ten best harbour-side spots for fish and chips in Ireland

From lobster trucks in West Cork to crab shacks in Connemara, The Journal rounds up the coastal seafood gems worth a detour this summer.

Why July is the perfect time to drive Kerry’s Wild Atlantic Way

With long daylight, fishing harbours in full swing and quieter roads in 2026, the Dingle Peninsula and Ring of Kerry are having a moment.

Roundstone: the Connemara village that quietly steals the show

A working harbour, the Twelve Bens behind it and some of the finest shellfish on the west coast — and far fewer crowds than its famous neighbours.

The amber sweet that draws thousands to one small Irish town every August

A curious, centuries-old treat that’s become a festival all of its own — and most visitors have never heard of it.

The day that once turned every Irish market town into a stage

For one day a month, the whole town became theatre — and the tradition shaped Irish life far more than the history books admit.

🔒 Ireland’s Cultural Crossroads of the West

Stories, music, and history meet between river and sea

From Love Ireland

Potato Farl: The Griddle Bread Every Ulster Kitchen Still Makes

If brown crab wants brown bread, then a plate of fresh Atlantic shellfish wants a warm potato farl — that soft, faintly chewy griddle bread at the heart of the Ulster fry. It’s made on the hotplate in minutes from leftover mash, and once you’ve torn one open and dropped in a knob of butter, you’ll understand why it never left the Irish table.

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Irish Food You Will Love

The Irish Barman Who Invented Irish Coffee — And Nobody Believed Him

There is no better full stop to a long seafood lunch on the Atlantic coast than an Irish coffee — hot whiskey, dark coffee and a cool collar of cream. But the man who first poured one for shivering transatlantic passengers spent years insisting he’d invented it while the world gave the credit elsewhere. The real story is far better than the legend.

Interested in more Irish Recipes?

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The Craic

The Unwritten Rules of Set Dancing: A Survival Guide

Rule 1: You Will Be Recruited. If you’re over fourteen and under seventy, someone’s auntie will decide you’re perfect for the next set. You have no choice. Resistance is acknowledged, then ignored.

Rule 2: Your Partner Is Assigned. Whether you want them or not. The organiser will gesture vaguely and say “You’re grand together.” You are now married, temporarily, to a stranger who dances like a startled horse.

Rule 3: The Music Dictates Everything. It’s not a waltz, a foxtrot, or a proper dance. It’s “the sets,” and the band interprets tempo according to their mood and the quality of the stout they’ve consumed. Adapt or perish.

Rule 4: There Are Formations. Four couples in a square, positions that have names nobody will explain. You’re supposed to intuit “sides,” “tops,” and the mysterious “house.” When confused, follow the person ahead and pray you’re moving the correct direction.

Rule 5: Hands Must Touch. At some point, everyone holds hands and spins. If you’re sweaty, this is noted and you will never recover. If someone’s wearing cologne, you’re breathing it for the rest of the song. This is romantic to nobody.

Rule 6: You Cannot Stop Midway. A song has begun; a song will finish. No matter how many times you’ve collided with the couple beside you, you’re committed. Toughen up.

Rule 7: Watching Is Studying. If you’ve never done this before, standing at the edge counts as learning. After fifteen minutes, you should be able to participate. This is unreasonable and yet expected.

Rule 8: The Céilí Caller Is King. Whatever they say happens. If they claim the next move is “jump while facing northwest,” everyone jumps while facing northwest. Don’t question authority.

Rule 9: It Ends When The Band Stops. Not before. Not after. When the final note dies, you’re finished. Breathe heavily. Applaud enthusiastically despite being mildly traumatised.

Rule 10: You’re Now Part of the Community. You’ve survived. Next week, the auntie will find you again. This is your life.

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Speak Like A Local Before Your Pint Arrives

Ever wondered what a Kerry fisherman means when he says the crab is only “grand”? Our Irish Slang Translator decodes the words you’ll actually hear on the quay and in the pub — and it’s far funnier (and ruder) than the guidebooks let on. Give it thirty seconds; you’ll be quoting it all week.

Irish Slang Translator

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One More Thing Before You Go

Did you know?

A European lobster pulled from the cold Atlantic off Ireland’s west coast can live for well over a century — marine biologists estimate their age by counting growth rings hidden in the stomach lining. A large female hauled up off Clare this July could have been crawling the same rocky seabed since the 1920s, quietly navigating those waters through the moon landings and the Good Friday Agreement alike.

Love Scotland Too?

If you love starting your morning with Ireland, you might enjoy waking up to Scotland. Join 43,000 readers who get daily stories of castles, Highlands, whisky trails and the heart of Scottish culture — written with the same warmth you’ll find here. We think of them as family.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────

Also From Our Family

And if your heart wanders south now and then, Love Italy (29,000 readers) shares hidden villages, family recipes and the Italy the guidebooks miss — a quiet whisper of a recommendation:

Essentials you need to pack for your Ireland Trip

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There’s a moment on the Sligo coast road when Rosses Point simply appears — two long golden strands, the white Metal Man standing out in the water, and Ben Bulben keeping watch over all of it. You slow down. You park. You forget what time it is. That’s the gift of Ireland’s coastal villages: they ask nothing of you except that you stay a while.

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In today’s email:

• Rosses Point — Sligo’s Seaside Escape

• Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

• From Our Love Ireland Community - 1 Million Irish Hearts

• Beyond Rosses Point: The Rest Of Sligo

• At The Bar: - The Dublin Pubs You Crowned The Best

• Around The Web: Galway cheese crowned ‘best in UK and Ireland’, Why Irish farmers buried their butter in bogs for thousands of years,

  🔒 Wild, Blue and Irish and more

• From Love Ireland -Waterford’s Hidden Riviera, Where The Villages Outshine The City

• Irish Food You Will Love - The Bowl That Tastes Of Every Harbour Village In Ireland

• The Craic -Ireland Invented Halloween (You’re Welcome)

Rosses Point — Sligo’s Seaside Escape

👉 Read the full story

Some villages you pass through; Rosses Point is one you stop in and somehow never leave on time. This little headland in County Sligo gives you two blue-flag beaches, a famous cast-iron sailor marking the safe channel, and the whole drama of Ben Bulben and Coney Island laid out across the bay — the kind of place that turns a quick photo stop into a lost, golden afternoon. Our full guide covers the best beach for a swim, the walks, and exactly where to watch the light change over the water.

👉 Read the full story

Reply and tell us: which Irish coastal village made you stop the car and forget the schedule entirely?

Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

Top Experiences In Ireland Likely To Sell Out

2026 is going to be a busy year - Here is a list of the top experiences that will most likely sell out and you should book in advance. Don’t delay!

“...so you can focus on making memories, not managing schedules.”

Book Here

From Our Love Ireland Community

The Love Ireland Facebook Group is a community of 1.3 Million happy people!

For years, this community has shared memories, travel dreams, family stories and a love for Ireland that stretches far beyond its shores.

We’re setting ourselves a challenge.

Can we reach 1 MILLION Irish Hearts before St. Patrick’s Day 2027?

I Love Ireland

Beyond Rosses Point: The Rest Of Sligo

If Rosses Point has you dreaming of the northwest, it’s only the opening act. Sligo folds Yeats country and his quiet grave at Drumcliff, the flat-topped drama of Benbulben, ancient cairns older than the pyramids at Carrowmore, the surf at Strandhill and the Lake Isle of Innisfree into one compact, uncrowded corner of Ireland.

At The Bar

The Dublin Pubs You Crowned The Best

When the coast road finally delivers you back to the city, there’s only one way to end the day — and thousands of you told us exactly where. From the low beams and 800-year history of The Brazen Head, Ireland’s oldest pub, to the hidden snugs and late singalongs across the city, here are the Dublin pubs Love Ireland readers rate above all others.

Around The Web

The oldest seafood festival in the world is back

Galway’s International Oyster & Seafood Festival returns 25–27 September, with the World Oyster Opening Championship, a city-wide seafood trail and more bivalves than you can count.

Kinsale, where Ireland’s food story really begins

The harbour town that launched Ireland’s gourmet reputation is gearing up for another festival season — proof that the prettiest coastal village can also be the tastiest.

Ireland, savoured slowly: six tastes of land and sea

Tourism Ireland’s pick of unhurried food experiences leans hard into the coast — oyster farms, seaweed baths and harbourside kitchens worth lingering over.

Ireland just baked through its hottest spell in 140 years

A rare heat dome pushed temperatures past 32°C, and the whole island made for the coast — a reminder that an Irish seaside village in proper sunshine is a thing to behold.

The Irish Castle That Sheltered the Survivors of Spain’s Greatest Naval Disaster

A story from the Love Ireland archive for anyone planning an Irish escape.

🔒 The Secret Life of Irish Islands

From seal colonies to Monastic outposts - this is island Ireland

From Love Ireland

Waterford’s Hidden Riviera, Where The Villages Outshine The City

Everyone knows Waterford for its crystal and its claim as Ireland’s oldest city — but slip down to the coast and you’ll find Dunmore East’s thatched cottages above a working harbour and Ardmore’s round tower standing guard over the sea. Our county guide is a love letter to the corner of the south-east most visitors drive straight past.

In Case You Missed It

Best Castles in Ireland: A Complete Guide

A turreted fortress on a headland is half the romance of the Irish coast — our complete guide to the country's best castles maps out which ones are worth the detour and which you can actually sleep in:

Connemara National Park Named Ireland’s Most Loved Walk

When readers voted on Ireland's most-loved walk, it wasn't a cliff or a city — it was Connemara National Park, where the trail climbs straight up into the heart of the wild west:

From YouTube

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Love Ireland Channel

Irish Food You Will Love

The Bowl That Tastes Of Every Harbour Village In Ireland

There is no truer taste of an Irish coastal village than a steaming bowl of seafood chowder, thick with mussels, smoked fish and whatever the boats brought in that morning, with brown bread on the side to mop the bowl clean. Every harbour from Dunmore East to Roundstone makes its own version — and ours brings that gable-end pub warmth straight to your kitchen.

Join Love Ireland Cooking Channel

The Craic

Ireland Invented Halloween (You’re Welcome)

Before America carved its first pumpkin, Ireland was already at it — with turnips. The ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, celebrated on these shores for over two thousand years, is the direct ancestor of every Halloween tradition the world now takes for granted.

The jack-o’-lantern? Irish. Farmers carved terrifying faces into turnips (not pumpkins — turnips) to ward off spirits. If you have ever tried to carve a turnip, you will understand why the Irish are considered resilient people.

Trick or treating? Irish. Children in disguise went door to door performing songs and verses in exchange for food — a tradition that crossed the Atlantic with the emigrants and came back dressed in a Spider-Man costume.

Bobbing for apples? Irish. Ghost stories by the fire? Irish. The thin veil between the living and the dead? Very, very Irish.

So the next time someone says Halloween is an American holiday, you have our permission to set the record straight. Politely, of course. We are Irish.

Which Irish County Does Your Plate Belong To?

Every coastal village has its signature catch — and every county has a dish it would defend to the last. Our Your County’s Signature Food tool takes thirty seconds and tells you what to order the moment you arrive, from Waterford blaa to Galway oyster. A bit of fun before you book the flights.

Your County Food

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One More Thing Before You Go

Did you know?

The Conor Pass above Dingle, in County Kerry, is one of Ireland’s highest mountain roads at around 456 metres — and it’s so narrow in places that buses and lorries are banned outright. Drivers have to squeeze past one another between a sheer rock wall on one side and a sudden drop to the sea-laced valley on the other, which is exactly why the view at the top feels so hard-won.

Love Scotland Too?

If Ireland’s sunny southeast has you dreaming of more Celtic coastline, let us introduce a kindred spirit. Join 43,000 readers who wake up to Scotland every morning — castles, Highlands, whisky trails, and stories from the heart of the country, delivered just like this one.

Also From Our Family

If your wanderlust stretches further south, Love South Africa brings you Cape Town to Kruger — the real South Africa, every week (5,600 readers and growing):

Essentials you need to pack for your Ireland Trip

UK Ireland Scotland Power Adapter Plug, TESSAN Type G Travel Adaptor with 2 USB Charger Ports 2 American Outlets, US to London England British Hong Kong Irish Kenya Dubai Qatar Wall Adapter.

Before Ireland was a food destination, it was a food country — and nowhere proves it like a windswept slab of grey limestone in County Clare. The Burren looks like it could starve a goat, yet it gives us smoked salmon, lobster pulled from the bay that morning, and cheese aged in stone. Today we’re following the farmhouse trail: Kerry butter, Gubbeen in Cork, soda bread that’s never twice the same. This is Ireland you can taste.

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In today’s email:

• The Rocky Wilderness That Produces Ireland’s Most Remarkable Food

• Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

• From Our Love Ireland Community - 1 Million Irish Hearts

• Why Cork Calls Its Greatest Food Hall The ‘English’ Market

• At The Bar: - The Limerick Pubs Where A Farmhouse Lunch Ends In A Pint

• Around The Web: Galway cheese crowned 'best in UK and Ireland', Why Irish farmers buried their butter in bogs for thousands of years,

  🔒 Wild, Blue and Irish and more

• From Love Ireland -Sligo’s Quiet Rise As A Farm-To-Table Food Town

• Irish Food You Will Love - The Overnight Trick Behind Ireland’s Fluffiest Scones

• The Craic -You Know You’re in Ireland When...

The Rocky Wilderness That Produces Ireland’s Most Remarkable Food

👉 Read the full story

You’d swear nothing could grow on the Burren — 250 square kilometres of cracked limestone where the soil seems to have given up. And yet this is one of the most extraordinary larders in Ireland: Linnane’s Lobster Bar at New Quay (pouring since 1954), the Burren Smokehouse in Lisdoonvarna, and the Michelin-recognised Wild Honey Inn, all knitted together by the Burren Food Trail. These aren’t novelty products for passing tourists — they’re the taste of a place that refused to be barren.

👉 Read the full story

If this stirred a craving for the real Ireland, forward it to the friend you'd want beside you at that lobster bar — some meals are better shared.

Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

Top Experiences In Ireland Likely To Sell Out

2026 is going to be a busy year - Here is a list of the top experiences that will most likely sell out and you should book in advance. Don’t delay!

“...so you can focus on making memories, not managing schedules.”

Book Here

From Our Love Ireland Community

The Love Ireland Facebook Group is a community of 1.3 Million happy people!

For years, this community has shared memories, travel dreams, family stories and a love for Ireland that stretches far beyond its shores.

We’re setting ourselves a challenge.

Can we reach 1 MILLION Irish Hearts before St. Patrick’s Day 2027?

I Love Ireland

Why Cork Calls Its Greatest Food Hall The ‘English’ Market

If the Burren is where Irish farmhouse food grows, Cork’s English Market is where it all comes to be sold. Trading since 1788, it’s the beating heart of Ireland’s self-styled food capital — stalls of Gubbeen and Ardrahan cheeses, spiced beef, buttered eggs and fish landed that morning. But the name puzzles every first-timer, and the story behind it says a lot about how Cork sees itself

Reply and tell us: which market stall would you make a beeline for?

At The Bar

The Limerick Pubs Where A Farmhouse Lunch Ends In A Pint

A morning on the food trail deserves an honest pint to finish it, and County Limerick quietly keeps some of the best snugs in the country. Our readers voted for their favourites — the spots where the welcome is warm, the Guinness is patient, and nobody’s in a hurry to clear your table.

Around The Web

Galway cheese crowned ‘best in UK and Ireland’

Killeen Farmhouse Cheese, a hard goats’ gouda made by Marion Roeleveld on a single farm near Portumna, took the Supreme Champion title at the 2026 Artisan Cheese Awards — beaten from a record 643 entries by nobody. Proof that Ireland’s farmhouse revival is winning on the world stage.

Flavours of Fingal returns to the fields north of Dublin

On 4–5 July, Newbridge House and Farm — ten minutes from Dublin Airport — turns into two days of producers’ tents, live cooking demos and a working farmyard. A brilliant first stop for anyone landing into Dublin and hungry for the real thing.

A farmhouse yoghurt meets Irish black butter

Two Northern artisans — Clandeboye Estate Yoghurt in Bangor and Portrush’s Irish Black Butter — have joined forces on a Madagascan-vanilla yoghurt swirled with a Bramley-apple and treacle sauce. It’s exactly the kind of small-batch invention driving Ireland’s food revival.

18 days out that celebrate Irish food, from butter-making to a Dingle taste trail

A round-up of hands-on food experiences across the island — churn your own butter, tour a smokehouse, or wander a coastal taste trail. The perfect itinerary inspiration for a food-led trip.

Why Irish farmers buried their butter in bogs for thousands of years

Long before refrigeration, Irish families stashed precious butter deep in the peat — and lumps of it, still soft, are dug up to this day. A strange, brilliant glimpse into how seriously Ireland has always taken its dairy.

🔒 Wild, Blue and Irish

A 5-Day Itinerary of Beaches, cliffs and coastal drama along Ireland’s Atlantic edge

From Love Ireland

Sligo’s Quiet Rise As A Farm-To-Table Food Town

While Cork and Dingle get the headlines, Sligo has become one of the most exciting places to eat on the Wild Atlantic Way — kitchens built around local growers, fishermen and farmhouse producers. Our guide rounds up the restaurants worth planning a detour for.

In Case You Missed It

The Only Bread in Ireland Protected by European Law — and You’ve Never Heard of It

There is one Irish bread so cherished it's protected by European law, like champagne or Parmesan — and most people outside its home town have never tasted it:

The Remote Irish Fjord Where You Can Eat the Finest Mussels of Your Life

There's a remote fjord on Ireland's west coast where the mussels are pulled straight from the water beneath your table — and they may be the finest you'll ever eat:

From YouTube

For More From Social Media:

Love Ireland Channel

Irish Food You Will Love

The Overnight Trick Behind Ireland’s Fluffiest Scones

No farmhouse spread is complete without a warm scone and a thick smear of Kerry butter — and the secret to a properly light one is letting the dough rest overnight. This is the method Irish bakers swear by, blueberries optional but recommended.

Join Love Ireland Cooking Channel

The Craic

You Know You’re in Ireland When...

...the barman asks “What are you having?” and it is not a question. It is a welcome.

...every set of directions includes the phrase “You can’t miss it” — and you absolutely will miss it.

...someone says “Just up the road” and it turns out to be eleven kilometres through a bog.

...the forecast says “sunny spells” and you need sunglasses, an umbrella, and a woolly hat all before lunch.

...a stranger at a bus stop tells you their entire life story, and you tell them yours, and when the bus comes you are both slightly disappointed.

...you ask what time the shop closes and the answer is “Ah, it depends.”

...the word “grand” is used fourteen times in a single conversation and means something slightly different each time.

...you realise that the forty-five-minute detour your host sent you on was, in fact, the scenic route — and they were right. It was worth every extra mile.

Which Irish Castle Is Yours? Find Out In 30 Seconds

After a day on the food trail, here’s a bit of fun: our “Find Your Irish Castle” tool matches you to the fortress that suits your soul — windswept Atlantic ruin or grand banqueting hall. It takes about thirty seconds and it’s quietly addictive.

Your Irish Castle

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One More Thing Before You Go

Did you know?

Kerrygold — churned from the milk of grass-fed Irish cows — is the second best-selling butter brand in the entire United States, behind only Land O’Lakes. A small island’s farmhouse dairy tradition now sits in millions of American fridges, which is perhaps the truest measure of Ireland’s food revival.

Love Scotland Too?

If Ireland’s sunny southeast has you dreaming of more Celtic coastline, let us introduce a kindred spirit. Join 43,000 readers who wake up to Scotland every morning — castles, Highlands, whisky trails, and stories from the heart of the country, delivered just like this one.

Also From Our Family

And for a taste of somewhere different, Love France shares Paris secrets, provincial charm, and the stories behind French culture:

Essentials you need to pack for your Ireland Trip

UK Ireland Scotland Power Adapter Plug, TESSAN Type G Travel Adaptor with 2 USB Charger Ports 2 American Outlets, US to London England British Hong Kong Irish Kenya Dubai Qatar Wall Adapter.

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The Beara Peninsula stretches between County Cork and County Kerry in Ireland’s far south-west, a long finger of mountainous land pointing into the Atlantic. It shares the same coastline as its famous neighbours — the Ring of Kerry to the north and the Sheep’s Head to the south — but receives a fraction of the visitors. That is precisely its appeal.

Where the Ring of Kerry draws tour buses by the dozen each summer, Beara remains largely the preserve of hill walkers, artists, and those who have found their way there by word of mouth. The roads are narrow. The villages are small. The landscape shifts between bog, mountain pass, and coastline in quick succession, with views that stop you mid-sentence. It is one of the few corners of Ireland’s western seaboard where you can still drive for twenty minutes without meeting another car.

For travellers who prefer depth over distance — who would rather spend an afternoon in a single copper mine museum than tick off five counties in a day — Beara delivers something increasingly rare along the Wild Atlantic Way: genuine quiet. The peninsula suits couples, solo travellers, and anyone who wants to experience Ireland at its most unmanicured. It is not polished. It is not trying to impress. It simply is.

In This Email:

• Exploring the Beara Peninsula, Ireland’s Best-Kept Secret - This week, we are taking you on a full circuit of the Beara Peninsula, stopping at five places that capture what makes this stretch of coast so distinctive — from island gardens and ancient woodlands to Ireland’s only cable car and a Buddhist retreat perched on Atlantic cliffs.

  • Garinish Island (Ilnacullin Gardens)

  • Allihies Copper Mine Museum

  • Dzogchen Beara Meditation Centre

  • Derreen Gardens

  • Dursey Island and Cable Car

  • Suggested 5-Day Itinerary - The Ring of Beara: A Slow Circuit

  • When to Visit the Beara Peninsula

  • How to Get There and How Long to Spend

Exploring the Beara Peninsula, Ireland’s Best-Kept Secret:-

Read more

Drive forty minutes south of Dublin’s quays and the city simply falls away — the road climbs into bog and heather, and suddenly you’re in a national park most Dubliners have never set foot in. This is Wicklow, the Garden of Ireland: monastic ruins beside two dark lakes at Glendalough, gardens that rank among the finest on earth, and mountain roads that go quiet enough to hear your own thoughts. The strangest thing? It’s been here all along, waiting just over the hill.

Today’s Newsletter Presented By

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In today’s email:

• Where to Stay: Best Hotels Near Glendalough

• Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

• From Our Love Ireland Community - 1 Million Irish Hearts

• The Dublin Mountain Gentlemen Who Claimed To Dine With The Devil

• At The Bar: - Why The Irish Turned Banter Into An Art Form

• Around The Web: A weekend in the Garden of Ireland, Why Ireland Once Had Hundreds of Illegal Drinking Houses Nobody Reported,

  🔒 The Beachcomber's Guide to Ireland and more

• From Love Ireland -The Lakeside Wicklow Escape Built For Doing Nothing

• Irish Food You Will Love - The No-Fuss Bake To Pack For A Glendalough Picnic

• The Craic -“The Press” and Other Furniture That Confuses Outsiders

Where to Stay: Best Hotels Near Glendalough

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Most people rush Glendalough on a day tour from Dublin — in by noon, gone by four, never seeing the valley empty out at dusk when the round tower glows and the lakes go still. The secret is to stay the night, and this guide walks you through the best places to do exactly that, from cosy mountain inns to lakeside retreats minutes from the monastic city. Wake up inside the Garden of Ireland instead of just passing through it.

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If this stirred a memory of a valley you once stood in, forward it to the person you’d most want beside you there.

Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

Top Experiences In Ireland Likely To Sell Out

2026 is going to be a busy year - Here is a list of the top experiences that will most likely sell out and you should book in advance. Don’t delay!

“...so you can focus on making memories, not managing schedules.”

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The Dublin Mountain Gentlemen Who Claimed To Dine With The Devil

High on Montpelier Hill, where the Dublin Mountains roll down into Wicklow, sits a ruined stone lodge with a reputation no other building in Ireland can match. In the 1700s it was the meeting place of a notorious club whose members were rumoured to drink, gamble and conjure the devil himself — and to this day nobody can fully explain what really happened up there, or why the ruin still unsettles everyone who climbs to it.

At The Bar

Why The Irish Turned Banter Into An Art Form

After a day on the Wicklow Way, the reward is the same as it has been for centuries: a fire, a pint, and the craic. But “the craic” is far more than a night out — it’s a whole social language of wit, slagging and warmth that Ireland does better than anywhere on earth, and once you understand it, you’ll never hear an Irish pub the same way again.

Around The Web

A weekend in the Garden of Ireland

National Geographic maps the perfect two days in County Wicklow — gardens, monastic ruins and mountain passes, all within an easy reach of Dublin.

A castle garden’s big summer

Hillsborough Castle and Gardens opens its 100 acres for a family adventure from 27 June, alongside a new display marking 250 years of American history.

The Ancient Fire Festival Still Burning In Ireland

Long before the tour buses, Ireland marked the turning of the year with Bealtaine fires on the hilltops — and the tradition has never fully died out.

Rick Steves drives south of Dublin

The travel writer makes the case for Wicklow’s gardens, monastic ruins and the Military Road — proof that the best of Ireland’s east is barely an hour from the capital.

Why Ireland Once Had Hundreds of Illegal Drinking Houses Nobody Reported

A story from the Love Ireland archive for anyone planning an Irish escape.

🔒 The Beachcomber’s Guide to Ireland

Where to walk, swim, and find peace beside the sea

From Love Ireland

The Lakeside Wicklow Escape Built For Doing Nothing

If hiking the Wicklow Way sounds like hard work, here’s the gentler version of the Garden of Ireland: a cluster of spa hotels tucked into the county’s wooded valleys, where the agenda is a hot tub, a view of the hills, and absolutely nothing else. It’s the kind of slow Wicklow weekend that resets you completely.

In Case You Missed It

Why Ancient Ireland Produced More Gold Jewellery Than Any Other Place on Earth

Bronze Age Ireland produced more gold ornaments than almost anywhere else in prehistoric Europe — and the question of where all that gold actually came from still puzzles archaeologists:

The Ancient Irish Laws That Gave Women Rights Europe Wouldn’t See for Centuries

Centuries before much of Europe, Ireland's Brehon laws granted women rights to property, divorce and standing that would take the rest of the continent a thousand years to catch up to:

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Irish Food You Will Love

The No-Fuss Bake To Pack For A Glendalough Picnic

Every good day in the Wicklow Mountains deserves something sweet at the summit, and these no-knead chocolate ring doughnuts are made for exactly that — no fancy equipment, no proving drama, just a soft, glossy treat you can bake the night before and pull out beside a lake. Pack a flask, find a flat rock, and you’ve got the perfect Garden of Ireland lunch.

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The Craic

“The Press” and Other Furniture That Confuses Outsiders

“Put it in the press for me.” If you’re not Irish, you assume someone’s lying down horizontally and there’s a device involved. There isn’t. The press is a cupboard. Upper cabinet. What the rest of the world calls a cupboard, Ireland calls “the press,” and this causes genuine confusion when Americans visit.

“It’s in the press.” — The sugar is in the cupboard above the counter, standing next to the plates. Straightforward. Not straightforward.

“Close the press.” — This is loud. It’s a command. The cupboard door is open and banging slightly. Someone will eventually close it with enough force that people look up. It could also mean: someone forgot to latch it properly.

“The presses are bare.” — There is no food. This is uttered with the gravity of a Dickens novel. Not “we’re out of biscuits.” The entire concept of cupboards is empty. Dramatic.

“Give it a lash.” — Not a whip. Not anything violent. “Try it.” “Have a go.” Someone’s offering you something — a biscuit, a song, a chance to operate heavy machinery — and they want you to attempt it without overthinking. “Ah, just give it a lash.”

“You’re some lad.” — You’ve done something impressive. Absurd, but impressive. Could be negative, could be genuinely pleased. Depends on tone. A man who’s driven through a flooded road would be “some lad.” A child who’s eaten a full fry-up would be “some lad.”

“Fair play to you.” — This is approval. You’ve done something decent or foolish and they respect the commitment either way.

“In fairness...” — This begins a contradiction. Someone’s about to disagree with you gently, like placing a knife in your ribs and assuring you it doesn’t hurt.

“The messages.” — This means groceries. Not a text. Not a note. Potatoes, milk, bread. “I’m going for the messages.” Off to the supermarket. This makes no sense. Everyone agrees it makes no sense. Nobody stops saying it.

What Would Wicklow Have Called You?

Before you head for the hills, here’s a 30-second bit of fun: discover what your name would be in Irish. It’s a lovely little doorway into the language you’ll see on every Wicklow signpost — and you might just find a name that feels more like home than your own.

Your Irish Name

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One More Thing Before You Go

Did you know?

The spectacular Military Road that runs straight through the heart of the Wicklow Mountains was built by the British army between 1800 and 1809 to hunt down rebels who had hidden in the glens after the 1798 rising. Two centuries on, that counter-insurgency project survives as one of Ireland's most breathtaking mountain drives — a road built for war that accidentally became a route people now travel for joy.

Love Scotland Too?

If Ireland’s sunny southeast has you dreaming of more Celtic coastline, let us introduce a kindred spirit. Join 43,000 readers who wake up to Scotland every morning — castles, Highlands, whisky trails, and stories from the heart of the country, delivered just like this one.

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And if your heart wanders further south, Love Italy brings you hidden villages, family recipes, and the Italy that guidebooks miss — read by 29,000 fellow travellers.

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Everyone races west for the cliffs and the crowds — and drives straight past Ireland’s warmest, driest corner. Down in the sunny southeast, Wexford waits with long golden strands, an 800-year-old lighthouse still throwing its beam over Hook Head, and medieval Norman streets that have never seen a tour-bus queue. This week, we go where the sun actually shines.

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In today’s email:

• County Wexford — The Complete Guide to Ireland’s Model County

• Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

• From Our Love Ireland Community - 1 Million Irish Hearts

• The Wexford Farmhouse That Put A Kennedy In The White House

• At The Bar: - The Two Doors In Every Old Wexford Pub — And Why You Picked One

• Around The Web: What's new (and what's cool) in Ireland's County Wexford, 11 Best Things to Do in Wexford Town in 2026,

  🔒 Is Moving to Ireland Right for You? and more

• From Love Ireland -The Wexford Surnames That Sailed To America — And Never Faded

• Irish Food You Will Love - How to Make a Light, Moist Vanilla Sponge Cake Every Single Time

• The Craic -The Stephen’s Day Swim: Willing Exposure to Madness

County Wexford — The Complete Guide to Ireland’s Model County

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If you’ve “done” Ireland’s west and want somewhere calmer, brighter and almost entirely your own, point the car southeast. Wexford is officially the country’s sunniest, driest county — a land of empty beaches at Curracloe and Rosslare, the ancient working lighthouse at Hook Head, the Dunbrody Famine Ship at New Ross, and the seabird-loud Saltee Islands offshore. Our complete guide walks you through the famous spots and the hidden ones, from Tintern Abbey to Johnstown Castle.

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Reply and tell us: is the southeast on your map, or have you only ever gone west? We read every reply.

Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

Top Experiences In Ireland Likely To Sell Out

2026 is going to be a busy year - Here is a list of the top experiences that will most likely sell out and you should book in advance. Don’t delay!

“...so you can focus on making memories, not managing schedules.”

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From Our Love Ireland Community

The Love Ireland Facebook Group is a community of 1.3 Million happy people!

For years, this community has shared memories, travel dreams, family stories and a love for Ireland that stretches far beyond its shores.

We’re setting ourselves a challenge.

Can we reach 1 MILLION Irish Hearts before St. Patrick’s Day 2027?

I Love Ireland

The Wexford Farmhouse That Put A Kennedy In The White House

In a quiet field at Dunganstown, just outside New Ross, stands the modest farmhouse a young Patrick Kennedy walked away from in 1848, sailing for Boston during the Famine. Five generations later his great-grandson came home as President of the United States — and the homestead is still there, still farmed by the family, and open to anyone who wants to stand where it all began. It’s one of the most moving stops in the sunny southeast, and a short hop from the JFK Arboretum at Dunganstown.

Reply and tell us — does your own family line trace back to a small Irish farm like this one?

At The Bar

The Two Doors In Every Old Wexford Pub — And Why You Picked One

Step into one of the old harbour pubs around Wexford town’s Bull Ring and you’ll often find two ways in — and which door you chose once said everything about who you were and what you were after. It’s a vanishing bit of pub architecture you’ll still spot across the southeast, and the story behind it is pure Ireland: discreet, sociable and quietly full of rules nobody ever wrote down.

Around The Web

What’s new (and what’s cool) in Ireland’s County Wexford

From a new water-sports base at Curracloe to fresh experiences on the Hook Peninsula, the sunny southeast is quietly having a moment. A handy round-up of what’s changed for 2026.

Let’s visit Hook Head Lighthouse

One of the oldest working lighthouses on Earth has been guiding ships round the Wexford coast for over 800 years. A lovely guide to climbing its black-and-white tower and the thousand shipwrecks it has watched over.

11 Best Things to Do in Wexford Town in 2026

Norman lanes, the Bull Ring, quayside seafood and an opera house that punches far above its weight — a practical hit-list for Ireland’s underrated medieval port.

County Wexford: the movie star of Ireland’s Ancient East

The opening of “Saving Private Ryan” was filmed on the dunes at Curracloe, standing in for Normandy. A look at why filmmakers — and so few tourists — keep finding the southeast.

Wexford Festival Opera unveils its 75th-anniversary programme

The little harbour town throws one of Europe’s most beloved opera festivals, and this autumn (15–31 October) marks 75 years of rare operas, recitals and free pop-up performances.

🔒 Is Moving to Ireland Right for You?

A practical guide to visas, housing, healthcare, work, and everyday life

From Love Ireland

The Wexford Surnames That Sailed To America — And Never Faded

If your people came from the southeast, the names tell the tale: the Doyles, Kavanaghs, Murphys, Redmonds and Furlongs of Wexford carry Norse, Norman and Gaelic roots all tangled together — exactly as the county’s history left them. It’s a beautiful starting point for anyone tracing a line back to Ireland’s sunny corner.

In Case You Missed It

The Last Men Who Kept Ireland’s Lights On — and the Night They Walked Away

Long before automation, lighthouses like Hook Head were home to keepers who lived for weeks at a time at the edge of the Atlantic — here’s the story of the final night the lights went dark for them.

Who Lives in Huntington Castle?

Tucked just over the Wexford border at Clonegal, this 17th-century castle is still a family home — complete with yew walks, a basement temple and four centuries of stories.

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How to Make a Light, Moist Vanilla Sponge Cake Every Single Time

There is a sponge cake recipe that every home baker quietly searches for — one that rises beautifully every single time, stays moist for days, and has a crumb so tender it practically melts

Join Love Ireland Cooking Channel

The Craic

The Stephen’s Day Swim: Willing Exposure to Madness

On the morning of December 26th, as reasonable people are digesting leftovers and accepting that the excess of Christmas is over, groups of absolutely unhinged individuals voluntarily enter cold Atlantic water. This is the Stephen’s Day swim, and it is peak Irish decision-making.

It starts with organisation. Someone in the village decides this year there will definitely be a proper swim with sponsorship and everything. Notices go up. “Stephen’s Day Swim — 10am — Bring your charity spirit.” What they mean: bring your complete disconnection from your nervous system.

By 9:45am, people in swimming gear stand on a beach, shivering. The water temperature is approximately “ice that happens to be liquid.” There’s usually a small crowd of hecklers — people in coats, drinking coffee, absolutely baffled by the choice their friends are making.

A person with a clipboard counts. “Fourteen of you. Grand.” Fourteen mad people. Fourteen intact decision-making capabilities that have somehow failed.

The swim itself lasts approximately four minutes. Nobody’s actually swimming. Everyone’s wading in with a series of cries that progress from “This is brilliant” to “Jesus Mary and Joseph.” By chest depth, the screaming reaches a peak. By neck depth, people have transcended screaming and entered a spiritual realm where only animal sounds matter.

Then it’s over. Everyone rushes out. Towels are wrapped around dripping, purple humans. Someone’s made tea. Someone’s donated to whatever charity this was ostensibly for.

Within an hour, the swimmers are in the pub. They’re buying rounds. They’re telling the story with the embellishment that only cold-water-induced delirium provides. “The water was fierce. Absolutely fierce.”

They’ll do it again next year. It’s voluntary madness. It’s tradition.

Non-Irish people find it baffling. “Why would you do this?” “Because it’s Stephen’s Day.” “But why the ocean?” “Because it’s a day.” “For charity?” “That too.” No Irish person can explain it rationally, because the logic isn’t rational. It’s cultural. It’s proof you’re still alive after Christmas dinner. It’s mad. It’s perfect.

Can You Talk Like A Wexford Local? Find Out In 30 Seconds

Wander into a quayside chipper in Wexford town and you’ll hear turns of phrase no guidebook ever taught you. Our Irish Slang Translator is a bit of fun — type in a word, see what it really means, and arrive sounding a little less like a blow-in.

Irish Slang Translator

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One More Thing Before You Go

Did you know?

County Wexford was the first place in Ireland the Normans came ashore, landing at Bannow Bay in 1169 in an invasion that reshaped the entire island. The town’s very name isn’t Irish at all but Norse — Viking settlers called it Veisafjǫrðr, “the harbour of the mud flats,” centuries before the Normans ever arrived.

Love Scotland Too?

If Ireland’s sunny southeast has you dreaming of more Celtic coastline, let us introduce a kindred spirit. Join 43,000 readers who wake up to Scotland every morning — castles, Highlands, whisky trails, and stories from the heart of the country, delivered just like this one.

Also From Our Family

From the other side of the Atlantic: our friends at Love New York share neighbourhood secrets, hidden gems and the NYC that never sleeps — a quiet whisper of a recommendation if that city’s on your list too.

Essentials you need to pack for your Ireland Trip

UK Ireland Scotland Power Adapter Plug, TESSAN Type G Travel Adaptor with 2 USB Charger Ports 2 American Outlets, US to London England British Hong Kong Irish Kenya Dubai Qatar Wall Adapter.

There are Irish foods the world knows — Guinness, soda bread, a steaming bowl of stew. And then there are the three nobody puts on a menu: colcannon with its lake of butter, boxty fried golden on the griddle, and a Dublin coddle left to simmer while the man of the house slipped out to the pub. These are not restaurant food. They are grandmother food, home food — the dishes Irish emigrants name softly, as if saying them aloud might bring back the smell of the kitchen they left behind.

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In today’s email:

• Dublin Coddle — The Pot That Simmered All Saturday Night

• Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

• From Our Love Ireland Community - A Traditional Irish Cottage

• Ireland’s Best Cooking Classes

• At The Bar - The Pub That Gave Coddle Its Rhythm — And This Year’s Best In Ireland

• Around The Web: The new Dublin restaurants opening across the city in 2026, Why Irish butter tastes like nothing else on earth,

  🔒 The 4-Day Causeway Coast Journey and more

• From Love Ireland -The Potato Bread That Judged A Woman’s Cooking

• Irish Food You Will Love - Gur cake

• The Craic -Actually, It Doesn’t Rain All the Time in Ireland

Dublin Coddle — The Pot That Simmered All Saturday Night

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Coddle is the most Dublin of all Irish dishes — sausages, streaky rashers, potatoes and onions, layered in a pot and left to cook low and slow in the liquid from the meat. It belongs to the city and nowhere else: Jonathan Swift ate it in the 1700s, Brendan Behan supposedly tucked into a bowl the night he finished *The Hostage*, and Maeve Binchy called it “the smell of a Dublin childhood.” The genuine version asks for the best Irish pork sausages, King Edward or Rooster potatoes, two big onions, a handful of pearl barley and three unhurried hours — then white soda bread to mop the bowl. Here’s how to make it properly:

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Have you made coddle the way your family makes it? Hit reply and tell us — do you add barley, and does the pub-on-Saturday tradition still hold in your house?

“Want deep dives into Ireland every Sunday? Our premium readers already have their next edition waiting.”

Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

Top Experiences In Ireland Likely To Sell Out

2026 is going to be a busy year - Here is a list of the top experiences that will most likely sell out and you should book in advance. Don’t delay!

“...so you can focus on making memories, not managing schedules.”

Book Here

From Our Love Ireland Community

The Love Ireland Facebook Group is a community of 1.3 Million happy people!

A Traditional Irish Cottage

Is this the perfect Irish Retirement House?

Ireland’s Best Cooking Classes

From hands-on baking to Irish coffee and whiskey cocktail masterclasses, these cooking classes offer a genuine way to taste Ireland beyond the pub. This guide rounds up the top-rated options across the country, with clear prices and formats, so you can choose what fits your trip best. It’s about learning, sharing, and coming home with more than photos.

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At The Bar

The Pub That Gave Coddle Its Rhythm — And This Year’s Best In Ireland

Coddle and the Irish pub are tied together by an old Saturday-night ritual: the pot went on the stove as the husband headed out for his pints, and the slow simmer kept his supper warm until he wandered home. So it feels only right to raise a glass to the pubs Ireland loves best — readers have crowned this year’s winners county by county, from snug city bars to fire-warmed country locals where the talk runs as slow and rich as a good coddle. See who took the honours:

Around The Web

Taste of Dublin crowns its 2026 culinary champions

Merrion Square’s gourmet garden party named the standout restaurants, chefs and producers shaping Ireland’s food scene — a long way from coddle and boxty, but built on the same love of good Irish ingredients.

A proper Dublin coddle, decoded for the home cook

A clear, faithful walk-through of the dish — caramelised onions, sausage, rashers and potatoes in a seasoned broth — with notes on why it became poor people’s food that turned into cultural identity food.

The new Dublin restaurants opening across the city in 2026

From pan-Asian newcomers near Trinity to hyper-local Irish kitchens, a roundup of where Dublin is eating this year — handy if you’re planning a trip and want to book ahead.

National Heritage Week 2026 reveals its theme: ‘Heritage at Risk’

This August (15–23), communities across Ireland will spotlight endangered places and practices — exactly the kind of living tradition that food like colcannon and coddle quietly carries on.

Why Irish butter tastes like nothing else on earth

That lake of butter melting into a bowl of colcannon isn't an accident — Ireland's grass-fed dairy tradition gives its butter a colour and richness that bakers and cooks chase the world over.

🔒 The 4-Day Causeway Coast Journey

An unforgettable journey from monastic islands to hexagonal rocks

From Love Ireland

The Potato Bread That Judged A Woman’s Cooking

In old Ireland, the way you turned out a round of potato bread could quietly make or break your reputation — a good fadge on the griddle said more than any words. It’s still one of the most comforting things you can put in a hot pan, exactly the kind of honest griddle baking Darina Allen has spent decades championing.

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Irish Food You Will Love

Gur cake

Slabs of spiced fruit and leftover pastry sold cheap to Dublin schoolchildren for generations — is the sweet cousin of coddle, thrift turned into something beloved:

Interested in more Irish Recipes?

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The Craic

Actually, It Doesn’t Rain All the Time in Ireland

Let us address the elephant in the room — or rather, the cloud above it. The world seems convinced that Ireland exists in a state of permanent downpour. The truth? Dublin gets less annual rainfall than Sydney, New York, or Dallas. The south-east coast (Wexford, Waterford) enjoys some of the driest, sunniest weather in the British Isles.

What Ireland *does* have is weather that changes its mind. You can leave the house in sunshine, get rained on at the shop, and dry off in the car park — all within fifteen minutes. This is why every Irish person owns a jacket “just in case” and why the phrase “it’ll clear up” is an act of national faith.

The rain is real. The myth that it never stops? That is the bit that is all wet.

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What Does Your County Put On The Plate?

Coddle belongs to Dublin, boxty to the northwest — but every county in Ireland has a dish it calls its own. Our “Your County’s Signature Food” tool tells you yours in about thirty seconds, and it’s a lovely way to find out what your ancestors would have eaten on a Saturday night.

Your County Food

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One More Thing Before You Go

Did you know?

Colcannon takes its name from the Irish “cál ceannann” meaning “white-headed cabbage,” and was traditionally eaten at Halloween with a coin or ring hidden inside — whoever found it in their helping was promised luck or marriage in the year to come. It’s why Irish-American families who have never set foot in Ireland still make a pot of it every 31st of October: the recipe crossed the Atlantic in their great-great-grandmothers’ memories and never left.

Love Scotland Too?

If you love starting your morning with Ireland, you might enjoy waking up to Scotland. Join 43,000 readers who get daily stories of castles, Highlands, whisky trails and the heart of Scottish culture — written with the same warmth you’ll find here. We think of them as family.

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And if your heart wanders south now and then, Love Italy (29,000 readers) shares hidden villages, family recipes and the Italy the guidebooks miss — a quiet whisper of a recommendation:

Essentials you need to pack for your Ireland Trip

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The Ireland that stays with you isn’t the one on the postcard rack. It’s the thatched lane in Adare at dusk, the smell of salt and frying garlic on a Kinsale quay, the moment in Carlingford when the Norman tower catches the last of the light. Today we’re handing you the map the guidebooks leave out — the small towns most visitors drive straight past, and shouldn’t.

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In today’s email:

• The Enchanting Irish Towns and Villages That Capture Your Heart at First Glance

• Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

• From Our Love Ireland Community - 1 Million Irish Hearts

• The Midlands County Even The Irish Forget To Visit

• At The Bar: - The Westmeath Pubs Where The Locals Actually Drink

• Around The Web: 10 Hidden Gem Towns in Ireland Locals Want to Keep Quiet, 21 Best Small Towns in Ireland That Visitors Adore,

  🔒 An Itinerary for Ireland's Best Heritage Towns and more

• From Love Ireland -The Orchard County That Hides In Plain Sight

• Irish Food You Will Love - The Creamy Potato Dish Every Small-Town Kitchen Still Makes

• The Craic -The Quiet Economy of the Mass Card

The Enchanting Irish Towns and Villages That Capture Your Heart at First Glance

👉 Read the full story

Everyone arrives in Ireland with Dublin, Galway and Killarney circled on the map — and then spends the rest of their lives talking about the little town they stumbled into by accident. This is a love letter to those places: Kenmare cradled by three rivers and the Kerry mountains; Georgian Westport looking out over Clew Bay beneath holy Croagh Patrick; colourful, food-mad Kinsale; Gaelic-speaking Dingle on the edge of Europe; waterfall-laced Ennistymon in wild West Clare; medieval Carlingford under Slieve Foy; and Cobh, the bright harbour town that was the Titanic’s last port of call. Each one rewards the traveller willing to take the smaller road.

👉 Read the full story

Hit reply and tell us: which of these towns would you point your car towards first?

Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

Top Experiences In Ireland Likely To Sell Out

2026 is going to be a busy year - Here is a list of the top experiences that will most likely sell out and you should book in advance. Don’t delay!

“...so you can focus on making memories, not managing schedules.”

Book Here

From Our Love Ireland Community

The Love Ireland Facebook Group is a community of 1.3 Million happy people!

For years, this community has shared memories, travel dreams, family stories and a love for Ireland that stretches far beyond its shores.

We’re setting ourselves a challenge.

Can we reach 1 MILLION Irish Hearts before St. Patrick’s Day 2027?

I Love Ireland

The Midlands County Even The Irish Forget To Visit

If hidden towns are your thing, point yourself inland to County Laois — a green, castle-dotted pocket of the midlands that most visitors blow straight through on the motorway without ever knowing what they missed. From the Rock of Dunamase rising over the plain to the slopes of the Slieve Bloom Mountains and storybook estate villages, it’s the kind of place where you’ll have the view, the walk and the welcome almost entirely to yourself.

At The Bar

The Westmeath Pubs Where The Locals Actually Drink

Half the magic of a small Irish town is the pub on its corner — and the lakeland county of Westmeath, all too often skipped between Dublin and the west, quietly hides some of the warmest. Readers voted on their favourites, from snug town bars in Mullingar and Athlone to country pubs where a fire and a session are still the whole evening’s entertainment.

Around The Web

8 Hidden Towns and Villages of Ireland

A roundup of the lesser-known gems — from West Cork hideaways to northwest coastal villages — that reward the traveller who leaves the main road.

10 Hidden Gem Towns in Ireland Locals Want to Keep Quiet

The little towns the Irish themselves would rather you didn’t crowd — shared here anyway, with love.

21 Best Small Towns in Ireland That Visitors Adore

A detailed county-by-county guide to the most charming small towns, with a handy map to find every one.

Where to Find Ireland’s Top Coastal Villages

From candy-coloured Roundstone to surf-and-seaweed Strandhill, a guide to the seaside villages worth the detour.

A Complete Guide to the 8 Most Beautiful Villages in Ireland

Practical, picture-led inspiration for the prettiest small places on the island — and how to reach them.

🔒 An Itinerary for Ireland’s Best Heritage Towns

Step into the heart of Ireland through its crafts, music, food and traditions

From Love Ireland

The Orchard County That Hides In Plain Sight

Tucked into the border country, County Armagh is one of Ireland’s most overlooked corners — an “orchard county” of apple blossom, ancient hillforts and small ecclesiastical towns where Saint Patrick himself left his mark. It’s the kind of place that proves you don’t need the famous names on the map to find the soul of Ireland.

In Case You Missed It

A landscape that looks utterly lifeless from the car window — until you crouch down and find Arctic and Mediterranean wildflowers growing side by side in the cracks of the limestone: that's the Burren in County Clare, gateway town Ballyvaughan and all.

Five experiences that turn a good Irish trip into the one you never stop talking about — the kind you'll only find once you slow down and wander.

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Irish Food You Will Love

The Creamy Potato Dish Every Small-Town Kitchen Still Makes

You’ll find it on the menu of half the small-town restaurants on today’s list, and in every farmhouse kitchen in between: colcannon, the silky mash of buttery potato folded through kale or cabbage and spring onion. It’s pure comfort, dead simple to make, and tastes exactly like an evening in a quiet Irish village.

Join Love Ireland Cooking Channel

The Craic

The Quiet Economy of the Mass Card

The Mass card is Ireland’s most sophisticated currency. It moves silently through the ecosystem of death, christenings, and serious illness, carrying with it the weight of obligation, love, and the careful calibration of “how much do I actually know this person?”

A Mass card is not simply a greeting. It is a promise. The sender is saying: “A priest will pray about this specifically. For you.” It is action disguised as sentiment. This is very Irish.

There exists an unspoken tariff. Death requires a card and usually a tenner. A tenner is standard. Fifteen if you’re close. A fiver if you met them once at a wedding. Twenty if you’re running a business and need goodwill. The money doesn’t go to the priest — it goes in a collection box, and the priest prays. The mechanics are beautifully vague.

For christenings, a fiver suffices, sometimes with a small gift. Everyone gives the same gift. The child ends up with seven identical savings bonds and absolute bewilderment about why.

For serious illness, the card says: “Get well soon, and Jesus is on your side now.” It’s remarkably honest.

The ritual of buying a Mass card is oddly sacred. You must go to the church or the holy shop (every village has one, usually run by a woman named Maureen or Breda). You do not order online. You stand at a small spinning rack of cards featuring watercolours of extremely peaceful fields. You pick one. You pay. The transaction is silent but weighted.

The card then travels to the recipient, who understands immediately what has occurred. Someone has literally assigned prayers to their situation. It’s formal, it’s compassionate, and it costs about a tenner.

Mass cards are proof that Ireland has never stopped being medieval, and everyone’s perfectly happy about this.

Which Irish Castle Is Waiting For You?

Every one of these small towns has a castle or a ruin within easy reach — so here’s a fun 30-second detour before you go. Our “Find Your Irish Castle” tool matches you to the fortress that fits your story, from clifftop keeps to romantic Norman towers. Give it a try and tell us where it sends you.

Your Irish Castle

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One More Thing Before You Go

Did you know?

The village of Adare in County Limerick — widely called Ireland's prettiest — takes its name from the Irish “Áth Dara”, meaning "the ford of the oak tree." Its famous row of thatched cottages isn't medieval at all: they were built in the 1820s by the Earl of Dunraven for estate workers, which is why this "ancient" village looks so impossibly storybook-neat.

Love Scotland Too?

If Connemara has you dreaming of wild Atlantic coastlines, you might find yourself just as drawn to the Highlands. Love Scotland reaches 43,000 readers every morning with stories of castles, whisky trails, and the kind of landscapes that stay with you long after you leave.

Also From Our Family

From the other side of the Atlantic: our friends at Love New York share neighbourhood secrets, hidden gems and the NYC that never sleeps — a quiet whisper of a recommendation if that city’s on your list too.

Essentials you need to pack for your Ireland Trip

UK Ireland Scotland Power Adapter Plug, TESSAN Type G Travel Adaptor with 2 USB Charger Ports 2 American Outlets, US to London England British Hong Kong Irish Kenya Dubai Qatar Wall Adapter.

Nearly everyone who loves you has said it at least once, half-joking, looking out a car window or up from a photograph: “I could just live here.” Today we take that sentence seriously — the towns, the real numbers, the visa, the weather nobody warns you about — because for more of our readers than you’d think, it stopped being a joke a long time ago.

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In today’s email:

• Best Irish Towns for American Retirees — A 2026 Insider Guide

• Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

• From Our Love Ireland Community - 1 Million Irish Hearts

• What $3,000 A Month Actually Buys You In Rural Ireland

• At The Bar: - The Pubs Of Mayo — Where Westport Winds Down At Night

• Around The Web: American retirees in Ireland: 5 counties that actually welcome you, Ireland's seven wonders to visit in 2026, as named by the experts,

  🔒 The Dublin Coastline Escape and more

• From Love Ireland -The One Form That Stands Between You And An Irish Address

• Irish Food You Will Love - Chocolate Éclairs — A Taste Of Home, Wherever Home Is

• The Craic -Quick Quiz: How Irish Are Your Instincts?

Best Irish Towns for American Retirees — A 2026 Insider Guide

👉 Read the full story

Everybody pictures Dublin, then sees the price and quietly closes the laptop. But the Ireland most people actually retire to is smaller, slower and a fraction of the cost — Westport with its walkable streets and arts scene, gourmet Kinsale a short hop from the airport, dramatic Carrick-on-Shannon on the Shannon, Dingle’s Gaelic hush, and underrated Georgian Birr. This guide lays out who each town actually suits, warts and all.

👉 Read the full story

Reply and tell us: if you had to pick one Irish town to wake up in every morning for the rest of your life — which one, and why?

Don’t Let Your Ireland Trip End In Tears

Top Experiences In Ireland Likely To Sell Out

2026 is going to be a busy year - Here is a list of the top experiences that will most likely sell out and you should book in advance. Don’t delay!

“...so you can focus on making memories, not managing schedules.”

Book Here

From Our Love Ireland Community

The Love Ireland Facebook Group is a community of 1.3 Million happy people!

For years, this community has shared memories, travel dreams, family stories and a love for Ireland that stretches far beyond its shores.

We’re setting ourselves a challenge.

Can we reach 1 MILLION Irish Hearts before St. Patrick’s Day 2027?

I Love Ireland

What $3,000 A Month Actually Buys You In Rural Ireland

Before you fall for the towns, you’ll want the arithmetic. This is the honest ledger — groceries, the run to the GP, heating a stone cottage through a wet January, the cost of keeping a car on rural petrol — set against what a real monthly budget covers once you’re outside the big-city bubble. It’s the difference between a daydream and a plan.

At The Bar

The Pubs Of Mayo — Where Westport Winds Down At Night

If Westport’s at the top of your retirement shortlist, here’s the part of the brochure they never photograph: the snug, the slow pint, the trad session that starts when someone finally lifts a fiddle. Readers voted on the best pubs across County Mayo, and the results read like a map of where you’d actually spend your Friday evenings.

Around The Web

Ireland just landed on the shortlist of countries Americans most want to move to in 2026

A new ranking puts Ireland near the very top of where Americans are looking to relocate — English-speaking, EU-connected, and pulling harder on the heartstrings than almost anywhere else.

Why more retirees are moving abroad — and where they’re settling

The numbers behind the trend: hundreds of thousands of Americans now drawing their retirement overseas, with healthcare savings and a slower pace topping the list of reasons.

American retirees in Ireland: 5 counties that actually welcome you

Some corners of Ireland have quietly built thriving returnee and expat communities — here are the five where you won’t be the only new face at the table. Source: Love Ireland

Irish healthcare for retired expats: GP, HSE, private — what you actually need

The part everyone worries about, explained plainly: how the public system works, what private cover really costs a couple, and what to sort before you fly.

Ireland’s seven wonders to visit in 2026, as named by the experts

From wild Atlantic islands to landscapes that look invented, the travel experts have picked the seven Irish places worth crossing an ocean for.

🔒 The Dublin Coastline Escape

Hidden beaches, ancient towers, and day trips beyond the city

From Love Ireland

The One Form That Stands Between You And An Irish Address

So you’ve picked the town and done the sums — now for the paperwork. For Americans without an Irish grandparent to claim citizenship through, the road runs through the Stamp 0 long-stay visa, with its passive-income test and its quirks. This is the plain-English walk-through of how the system actually works.

From YouTube

For More From Social Media:

Love Ireland Channel

Irish Food You Will Love

Chocolate Éclairs — A Taste Of Home, Wherever Home Is

Chris, the Irish baker behind The Irish Baker Abroad, knows the particular ache of making the comforts of one country in the kitchen of another — and his éclairs are pure consolation: crisp choux, silky vanilla cream, a glossy dark-chocolate top. Whether you're retiring to a Kerry cottage or just dreaming over a cup of tea in Boston, this is a Sunday-afternoon bake worth the effort.

Join Love Ireland Cooking Channel

The Craic

Quick Quiz: How Irish Are Your Instincts?

Answer honestly:

1. Someone offers you tea. You are not thirsty. Do you: (a) decline politely, or (b) say “Ah go on then” because refusing tea in Ireland is a form of social violence?

2. You bump into someone on the street. Who apologises? (a) The person who bumped you, or (b) both of you, simultaneously, at least three times each?

3. Someone asks how you are. Do you reply with: (a) an honest assessment of your emotional state, or (b) “Not too bad” — which covers everything from mild contentment to barely suppressed crisis?

4. A friend says they will arrive “in a minute.” Do you expect them: (a) within sixty seconds, or (b) sometime in the next hour, possibly two?

5. You are leaving someone’s house. How long does the goodbye last? (a) Under a minute, or (b) forty-five minutes, conducted across three rooms and the front garden?

If you answered (b) to all five, you are Irish in spirit. Welcome home.

Which Irish County Is Actually Yours?

Before you pick the town, find out which county already feels like home. Our Find Your Irish County quiz takes about thirty seconds and matches you to the corner of Ireland that fits your temperament — it’s the most fun you’ll have planning a life you might never lead (or just might).

Your Irish County

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One More Thing Before You Go

Did you know?

Ireland is the only country in Europe whose population is still smaller today than it was nearly two centuries ago — the island held around 8.2 million people in 1841, and after famine and generations of emigration it has never fully recovered that number. That single statistic is the whole story of the Irish diaspora in one line: every American who dreams of retiring “home” is, in a quiet way, part of a return the island has been waiting on for 180 years.

Love Scotland Too?

If Connemara has you dreaming of wild Atlantic coastlines, you might find yourself just as drawn to the Highlands. Love Scotland reaches 43,000 readers every morning with stories of castles, whisky trails, and the kind of landscapes that stay with you long after you leave.

Also From Our Family

If you love a city with secrets, Love London serves up hidden history, local haunts and the London that locals actually love. A whisper, not a shout —

Essentials you need to pack for your Ireland Trip

UK Ireland Scotland Power Adapter Plug, TESSAN Type G Travel Adaptor with 2 USB Charger Ports 2 American Outlets, US to London England British Hong Kong Irish Kenya Dubai Qatar Wall Adapter.

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County Wicklow sits just south of Dublin, close enough for a day trip but big enough to hold you for a week. People call it “The Garden of Ireland,” and the name fits. You get high open mountains, deep wooded valleys, formal gardens, a long stretch of coast, and one of the oldest working mills in the country. None of it is far apart. You can stand in a glacial valley in the morning and walk a sea cliff path in the afternoon.

This guide is built for slow travel. If you have Irish roots, or you simply want time to look rather than rush, Wicklow gives you room to breathe. The places here are not crowded the way the big west-coast sites can be. You can sit by a lake, read a headstone, watch wool being woven, and let the day go at its own pace.

Everything below is open and running. We have kept the list short on purpose — five places, not fifty. Each one is real, each one is worth a proper visit, and each one carries its official website so you can check opening times and plan around your own dates. We have also added a four-day plan, advice on when to come, and simple notes on how to get there.

In This Email:

• Two Hours From Dublin, a Slower Ireland - Wicklow rewards patience, but it does not ask much of you. The roads are short, the walks are gentle unless you want them harder, and the towns are friendly. Here is what to see and how to fit it together.

  • Glendalough — the monastic city in the glacial valley

  • Wicklow Mountains National Park — the high bog, the mountain drives, and Lough Tay

  • Powerscourt Estate — the great house, the gardens, and Ireland’s highest waterfall

  • The Greystones-to-Bray Cliff Walk — a coastal path with a train back

  • Avoca — the village in the valley and Ireland’s oldest working mill

  • A suggested four-day itinerary

  • When to visit County Wicklow, how to get there and how long to spend

Two Hours From Dublin, a Slower Ireland:-

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There’s a moment on the Ring of Kerry when the road bends and the lakes of Killarney open up below you — silver water, wooded islands, mountains the colour of a bruise after rain. Most people photograph it and drive on. The ones who stay — who wander Muckross by morning and find a Victorian pub by evening — are the ones who never quite leave.

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