Holiday Cottages In Ireland

The Republic of Ireland has around 1,000 self-catering cottages on selfcatering.co.uk, a small but characterful spread that reaches from the surf beaches of the Wild Atlantic Way to the green hills of Wicklow. It is a modest market rather than a vast one, with the heaviest concentration in the south and west, and around 420 take dogs.

Where to stay in Ireland

The Republic divides into four historic provinces, and the cottages are spread unevenly across them, with the south and west holding the most. The list below links each province and points to the counties most people have in mind when they picture a week there.

• Munster in the south-west has the largest share, taking in County Kerry, with the Ring of Kerry and Killarney, and County Cork, with its harbours and long coast
• Connaught on the western seaboard covers County Galway, the gateway to Connemara and the Aran Islands, and County Mayo, with its wild Atlantic headlands
• Ulster, the part of the historic province that lies inside the Republic, is built around County Donegal, a remote north-western county of mountains and beaches
• Leinster in the east holds County Dublin, with the capital and its bay, and County Wicklow, the Garden of Ireland just to the south

Most first-time visitors base themselves in the west or south-west for the coast and the scenery, while the east suits anyone flying into Dublin who wants the city and the Wicklow hills within easy reach.

The Irish landscape

Ireland is best known for its coast. The Wild Atlantic Way runs the entire western seaboard, a touring route that strings together the cliffs, peninsulas and surf beaches from Cork up to Donegal. In the south-west the Ring of Kerry loops the Iveragh Peninsula past lakes and mountains, with the neighbouring Dingle Peninsula every bit as striking. Further north, Connemara spreads across west Galway in a patchwork of bog, lake and bare quartzite hills, and the Cliffs of Moher rise from the Atlantic in County Clare. Inland the country softens into farmland, the lakes of the midlands and the gentle Wicklow Mountains behind Dublin.

Things to do in Ireland

There is a strong run of heritage to go with the scenery. Killarney National Park in Kerry pairs lakes and mountains with the old estate at Muckross, and the Rock of Cashel crowns its limestone outcrop in Tipperary. In Wicklow, the early monastic settlement at Glendalough sits in a wooded valley between two lakes. Galway makes a lively western base for trips out to Connemara and the Aran Islands, while Cork city has the English Market and Blarney Castle on its doorstep. Dublin offers Trinity College and the Book of Kells, Kilmainham Gaol and the Guinness Storehouse. Almost everywhere there are walking trails, links golf and boat trips along the coast.

When to visit Ireland

Summer, from June to August, brings the longest days and the warmest, busiest coast, and it is the best window for the western beaches and island ferries. Late spring and early autumn are quieter and often kinder on the wallet, with the landscape at its greenest in May and the hills turning in September and October. Winter is mild but wet and windy on the Atlantic side, better suited to a cosy inland cottage than a beach week. Whatever the month, rain is part of the deal, so pack for changeable weather wherever you stay.

Dog-friendly and hot-tub cottages in Ireland

Ireland suits a dog-friendly trip, with miles of open beach and hill walking, and around 420 of the cottages here welcome dogs. Around 70 properties come with a hot tub, a smaller pool given the size of the market. Numbers are best in the western and south-western counties, where most of the self-catering sits, so it is worth widening your search across a whole province if a particular spot is booked. Some beaches apply seasonal dog restrictions in high summer, so check locally before you travel.

Getting to Ireland

Most visitors fly in. Dublin is the main airport on the east coast, with Cork and Shannon serving the south and west and Ireland West at Knock covering the north-west. Car ferries cross from Britain and France to Dublin Port, Rosslare in County Wexford and Ringaskiddy near Cork. Once you arrive, a car is the practical way to reach the coast and the countryside, as rural public transport is thin. The motorway network radiates from Dublin, and the western touring routes are slower, scenic roads rather than fast ones.

Useful links

• Discover Ireland
• Failte Ireland
• Killarney National Park

Ireland, officially the Republic of Ireland, is an independent country occupying most of the island of Ireland in the north-west of Europe, with Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom, taking up the remaining north-eastern corner. The Republic faces the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and the Irish Sea to the east, across which lies Great Britain.

The land is famously green, the product of a mild, wet, oceanic climate. A broad central lowland of farmland, bog and lake is ringed by low mountain ranges near the coast, among them the sandstone peaks of the south-west, where Carrauntoohil in the Macgillycuddy's Reeks is the highest point in the country. The longest river, the Shannon, winds south through a chain of midland lakes before reaching the sea below Limerick. The western coast is deeply indented, a sequence of peninsulas, cliffs and islands battered by the open Atlantic, while the east is gentler and more sheltered.

The country is traditionally divided into four provinces, Munster, Connacht, Leinster and Ulster, though three of Ulster's nine counties lie within the Republic and the other six form Northern Ireland. Dublin, on the east coast, is the capital and by far the largest city, followed by Cork in the south, Limerick and Galway in the west and Waterford in the south-east. Much of the interior remains rural and lightly populated, and the population is concentrated on the eastern side around Dublin and along the southern coast.