Castles & Classics - The luxury tour of Ireland

Galway, Killarney, Dingle

EI
43 reviews
Duration: 7 days
Group size: 1 - 16
Castles & Classics - The luxury tour of Ireland
Galway, Killarney, Dingle

43 reviews

Duration: 7 days
Group size: 1 - 16

About this trip

THE DELUXE SMALL-GROUP TOUR OF IRELAND 

You’ll never forget checking into a world famous Irish Castle hotel, a 12th century fortress, and enjoy sleeping in its luxurious bedrooms. 

This tour features all the fantastic activities and experiences Essential Ireland Tours are famous for, but the extra magic is the luxury accommodation and the small group size (8 - 16 tour guests only).

You’ll have the travel experience of a lifetime.

We leave nothing out and the attention to detail on this tour is exceptional.

Great memories, fun experiences, a luxury Castle stay in Ashford Castle, the most famous of all Irish Castles and one of the worlds finest hotels..

This is an epic VIP tour of Ireland.


note: This tour itinerary may occasionally need to operate in reverse direction or certain days may be swopped if logistically required. In this eventuality, the activities, sights or locations visited on the tour will not be affected. 

What’s included

  • Hotel
    5 Star Castles, hotels and luxury Guesthouses
  • All activities
    no hidden extras or "optional" activities
  • All breakfasts
    Hearty breakfasts each morning (including breakfast in the magical King George V dining room experience at Ashford Castle)
  • Prosecco toast
    A prosecco toast at an epic beauty spot on the Dingle peninsula
  • Guide tips.
    We pay our guides a decent salary, so tips are not required or expected, but you are welcome to contribute a wee tip if you feel so inclined.

What’s not included

  • Lunches and dinners
    You are free each evening to enjoy

Available Packages

Per person sharing double/twin bedroom
Deposit:€500
Available until 2 days before departure
€3,299
Deposit:€500
solo-traveller / single-supplement
Deposit:€500
Available until 2 days before departure

solo/single traveller with a big bedroom all to your self

€3,799
Deposit:€500


Itinerary

Day 1
Dublin to Ashford Castle

[9am] Depart central Dublin. Pick up in one central location City’s south-side (The Harding Hotel, just in front of Christchurch Cathedral). We’ll enjoy some fun and informative commentary on Dublin’s attractions to the beautiful Irish countryside.

[10.30] Stop outside Dublin for a welcome-coffee! You’ll have an itinerary Q&A session with Stephen McPhilemy, our Co-Founder and Chief Tour-Guide.
Then onward to the idyllic village of Cong, one of Ireland's most beautiful spots and scene of the Hollywood classic 'The Quiet Man'

Late Afternoon:  Enjoy free time  in charming Cong.. 

[3pm approx]  Checkin to Ashford Castle, the worlds most beautiful and luxurious Castle Hotel. The warm welcome from the staff is an experience in itself.

Explore the exquisite gardens, perhaps ride some of the Castle's horses through the woods, fish on Lough Corrib for salmon or pike or relax in the award-winning spa.

[6pm] Gather in the Prince of Wales Bar where everyone can enjoy each others company and have a good chat with other tour-guests

You're free for dinner in the George V dinging room (dinner jackets compulsory for Gentlemen), the Castle Dungeon ( no dress code) or the charming cottage restaurant...
Browse the dining options at this link, Stephen's tip: be sure to pre-book directly with the Castle

Your Organizer


EI
Essential Ireland Tours & Travel Ltd.
43 reviews
Famous for our small-group, VIP-style, Ireland Tours (8-16 guests) 🇮🇪 Created by award-winning Irish Tour-guide Steve McPhilemy (Rick Steves' right-hand man in Ireland for over 20 years) & Irish-American travel-enthusiast Patrick Wade to provide wonderful, fun & value-for-money Irish experiences for our friends, family and international guests.

Reviews

We rated this 4, but we’re being generous. Our tour guide, Chris, is a wonderful person with a kind disposition and hearty laugh. Generally, we think this is a good tour, but our particular week had a number of disruptions and disappointments. Our Guinness tour never happened, and we weren’t told why or in advance, so we could have gone on our own. We went to Ashford Castle when the town of Cong was essentially shut down for the season, so there wasn’t much to do. The biggest issue was we had to move hotels in Dingle due to a scheduling issue, which was a real hassle and killed half of our “free day”. It did not feel like a luxury tour. Ireland is wonderful and the itinerary hit a lot of key attractions. The Milltown House and the experiences there (falconry, Irish dancing) were great, but we only had 2 days there. Finally, the bus was not comfortable. There was only Chris to be driver and tour guide except one day when Stephen joined us. Having two people is referenced in other reviews, and would have been a lot better. Poor Chris had to spend so much time handling luggage, which ended up having to be stored in several rows of seats, which again detracted from the comfort of the ride. We could add several suggestions, and really appreciate the efforts and intentions of the tour team. We suspect this particular week was not up to their usual standards as the other reviews are all so positive.
By Reed S for Castles & Classics - The luxury tour of Ireland on Nov 01, 2024
BB
This is one of the best tours I’ve taken. Stephen is the magic that makes this such a memorable vacation. Loved the Ashford Castle, the Hilltown Hotel in Dingle, Stephen’s staff , and of course the falconry. You also get to meet Seamus. If you go on the Essential Ireland website, you can find out who Seamus is. Great trip Stephen - thank you.
By Bruce B for Castles & Classics - The luxury tour of Ireland on Oct 01, 2024
I enjoyed the tour and all the stops and hotels. The tour guide was informative. The only suggestion is if there were more time at the stops to enjoy the site, fir example the Cliff of Moyer.
By Karey B for Wild Atlantic Way 7 days (Killarney, Dingle & Galway) on Oct 01, 2024
Much enjoyed the tour, and the efforts of Essential Ireland to provide a great trip for my siblings and our spouses. Chris was a great guide, and we all enjoyed the tour. Essential Ireland takes great pride in providing a smaller group experience; we'd highly recommend.
By Tim N for Wild Atlantic Way 7 days (Killarney, Dingle & Galway) on Sep 24, 2024
CI
The original itinerary and tour director for our Wild Atlantic trip unfortunately were changed. It was re-routed in reverse order, which impacted some of the logistics. The sites we visited were generally as promoted but several changes were made which I found disappointing, the greatest of which was substituting Stephen McPhelmy with another guide. The first day when Stephen did accompany us was excellent. Very interesting stops, much enriched with his professional expertise and insights and background knowledge. We did appreciate the small group size and the selection of places we toured. Several activities we were treated to were off the beaten path and arranged through Essential Ireland’s personal connections. The tour of the Dingle glass cutting factory, the private Irish music performance and the hands-on falconry demonstration were particularly special.
By Cheryl I for Wild Atlantic Way 7 days (Killarney, Dingle & Galway) on Sep 21, 2024
Many thanks for travelling with us Cheryl, it was a pleasure to welcome you and travel with you, thank you for your kind words and positive feedback regarding the "off the beaten path" Irish experiences that we are famous for like the historical insights and personal anecdotes, the private Irish music and Irish dancing evening and things like our School of Falconry. There is always a possibility of one of our tours going in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction, as you mentioned every activity and site was still delivered, experienced and enjoyed, nothing was missed out on. We pride ourselves on that and also our 'never cancel a tour' guarantee. That being said I fully understand your point and I'm certain that in 2025 this tour '7 day Wild Atlantic Way' itinerary will always go in the clockwise direction (unless there is some unforeseen circumstance, like a major festival and we may have to go to Killarney first instead of Galway, this possibility is stated in our information, although we always do our utmost to avoid it in future and I'll endeavour to make guests aware of it much earlier in the unlikely event it needs to happen). In 2025 we hope to offer around 20 public tours for the season and I will maybe guide only a handful of them (God willing), its not possible for me to guide them all. I'll make sure this is clearer on our website. I'm a 48 year old Grandfather now and I've loved being on the road touring for 28 years but I will be slowing down a bit to spend time with my wee Grand-daughter, focus on my private tours and making our small-group, open-to-the-general-public-to-book 'Essential Ireland tours' even better. I've even officially retired from guiding tours for my good friend and mentor Rick Steves after 25 years, so I can free up some summer time in my calendar for important things like my wife, my children/grandchildren and my Irish wolfhounds :) My beloved brother Chris and all the other 'Essential Ireland' guides are all highly experienced tour-leaders and passionate Irish citizens and I'm 100% confident they'll guide our tours excellently if not available to guide that week. Best wishes to you and I really hope we will get to welcome you again in future. Is mise le meas ('from me to you with respect' in Irish Gaelic") Stephen McPhilemy
EI
Show More Reviews