Travel in county Donegal

Up a steep and grassy windblown hill, in the top row of what’s known as the new graveyard, the playwright Brian Friel lies buried under a dark, glossy slab etched with an image of a St. Brigid’s cross, a traditional Irish symbol woven from rushes.

Traveling by train is one of Ireland’s great if under-appreciated pleasures.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the world’s longest-defined coastal touring route. The Wild Atlantic Way is an internationally acclaimed waymarked road trip stretching 2,500 kilometres along the contours of Ireland’s great western seaboard, from County Cork in the south to County Donegal in the north. With 188 Discovery Points along the way, the route has guided the intrepid traveller for the past decade to previously off-grid west of Ireland locations, bringing with it nearly two million extra visitors every year, helping to shape a thriving tourism industry which supports 121,000 jobs and delivers €3 billion to the economy per year.

Independent visitors to Ireland have historically counted on renting a car to get around the country.

Voices outside the van woke me in the night. I lay still, my mind racing. There had been no one around when I parked at the end of a single track next to a wild beach. Campervanning alone as a woman was going to bring challenges, I knew, and sleeping in remote spots was high on the list of them.

We were staying on the Cowal peninsula in October and took a scenic drive down to Portavadie, where there is a heated outdoor infinity pool, sauna, steam room and treatments. We had a lovely time not only because of the water but the wonderful views out across Loch Fyne. Prices start at £8 for a public swim, which includes indoor pool/whirlpool bath for 90 minutes. This was a fabulous find well worth the trip. We will return and stay to enjoy the spa, accommodation, restaurant, scenery and walks.Karen Prosser

Spanning 2,500 kilometres of green, luscious coastline from Donegal to West Cork, the Wild Atlantic Way is one of the world’s most legendary road trips. It’s also the best way to discover Ireland away from the crowds in Dublin.

‘Go to the Aran Islands. Live there as if you were one of the people themselves; express a life that has never found expression,” was, according to the poet WB Yeats, how he persuaded the playwright John Millington Synge to discover his muse – the desolate beauty of the Aran archipelago. Whatever was the true genesis for Synge’s Atlantic coast hiatus, his times on Inishmaan culminated in the critically acclaimed Playboy of the Western World (1907).

Nestled in the north-west corner of Ireland, the city of Derry-Londonderry (Northern Ireland) and the county of Donegal (Republic of Ireland) sit snugly side by side. Taken together, this pair have every ingredient you could want from a short break: a dollop of history, a splash of culture and immeasurable quantities of nature and adventure. Better yet, it’s a combination that few have yet to put together.

Northern Ireland's second city and Ireland's northern-most county sit rather snug together in the corner of the island of Ireland. But many are yet to discover the two make a fantastic combination for a twin break. Blending thought-provoking history, striking landmarks and an incredible natural world, Derry~Londonderry and County Donegal's Inishowen Peninsula offer everything you could wish for in a short, action-packed getaway.

Strapped to a dramatic stretches of coastline, Northern Ireland’s Causeway Coastal Route is a wind-battered swirl of churning seas, shattered cliffs, expansive grasslands and long-abandoned castles. Follow it in any direction, and you’ll soon come to appreciate how this landscape became so closely associated with tales of warriors and giants. Home to many of the country’s most iconic and spectacular sites, including the jagged outcrop of basalt known as the Giant’s Causeway, this endlessly surprising route offers drivers more majesty per mile than almost anywhere else in Europe.