County Antrim
The coast does the work here: basalt columns at the Giant's Causeway, ruined castles on the cliffs and the Antrim Coast road tying them together. Belfast anchors the south.
Where to go in Ireland
Thirty-two counties, four provinces, one island.
County Armagh
Ireland's ecclesiastical capital keeps two cathedrals for Saint Patrick and orchards around Loughgall that fill with blossom in spring. Drumlin country rolls away in every direction.
County Carlow
A quiet county along the River Barrow, with dolmens in the fields, good gardens and the Blackstairs Mountains for walking. Market towns keep the pace slow.
Where does your Irish name come from?
795 Irish surnames mapped from the 1890 registers: their Irish forms, what they mean, and the counties each was rooted in. Open the surnames map
County Cavan
Lakes at every turn of the road: a drumlin county of small hills, islands and water, with Lough Oughter and its island castle at the centre.
County Clare
Traditional music runs the evenings from Ennis to Doolin, and the days belong to the coast: the Cliffs of Moher and the limestone Burren behind them.
County Cork
Eat first, then drive: a food city on the Lee, harbour towns along the coast and three peninsulas, Beara, Sheep's Head and Mizen, reaching into the Atlantic. Cork is Ireland's largest county, and it takes time.
County Derry
The walled city on the Foyle is the headline, with the Sperrins behind it and a fine coast at Castlerock and Portstewart. Heaney's home ground around Bellaghy draws its own pilgrims.
County Donegal
Ireland's north-west runs on long roads and Atlantic weather: sea cliffs at Slieve League, Gaeltacht villages in the west and Malin Head at the top. Give it days, not hours.
County Down
The Mournes sweep down to the sea at Newcastle, as the song says, and the coast curves away past Strangford Lough to the Ards Peninsula. Saint Patrick's country anchors the middle of it.
County Dublin
Georgian squares and literary pubs in the centre, and the bay an easy ride away: Howth, Malahide and Dalkey along the coast. The capital repays two or three days at least.
County Fermanagh
Water is the county: Upper and Lower Lough Erne, more than a hundred islands and an island county town at Enniskillen. Hire a boat and the place makes sense.
County Galway
The city runs on festivals and music, and west of it Connemara opens out: bog, mountain and lough under the Twelve Bens. The Aran Islands sit offshore, on their own older rhythm.
County Kerry
The classic road-trip county: the Ring of Kerry, the Dingle Peninsula and Killarney's lakes under the Reeks. Start early and the big drives are yours for a while.
County Kildare
Horses shape everything here: the National Stud, the Curragh plain and paddocks in every direction. Canals and St Brigid's town give it a quieter second half, an easy escape from Dublin.
County Kilkenny
A medieval city with its castle, cathedral and lanes intact, and hurling in its blood. Beyond it the Nore and Barrow valleys settle into villages and abbey ruins.
County Laois
The Slieve Bloom Mountains are among Ireland's quietest walking hills, and the county below them keeps a slow midlands pace: Dunamase's rock, Emo Court and heritage towns.
County Leitrim
Ireland's least populous county keeps things small and slow: lakes, the Shannon at Carrick and a coastline of just a few kilometres near Tullaghan. Come for the quiet.
County Limerick
The Shannon shapes the city and the county: King John's Castle on King's Island, the Golden Vale inland and the Ballyhouras for walking and biking in the south.
County Longford
A low-key midlands county of bogs, lakes and the Royal Canal, with an Iron Age bog road at Corlea as its remarkable sight. Goldsmith and Edgeworth give it literary roots.
County Louth
Ireland's smallest county holds an outsized share of the story: high crosses at Monasterboice, the Boyne Valley at its south and the Cooley Peninsula for mountains and the lough. Dublin and Belfast are both an easy drive.
County Mayo
Clew Bay's islands sit under Croagh Patrick, Westport anchors the corner, and the north coast empties out towards Achill and Erris. Mayo is big, and the distance is part of it.
County Meath
The Boyne Valley holds the deep past: Newgrange and Tara within a short drive of each other, and Trim's great Norman castle. Give the valley a full day.
County Monaghan
Patrick Kavanagh's drumlin country: small hills, lakes and market towns, with Carrickmacross lace and Lough Muckno's shore for slow days.
County Offaly
Clonmacnoise on the Shannon and Birr's telescope are the two great stops, with bog, canal and the Slieve Bloom foothills between them. A heritage county that rewards a planned day.
County Roscommon
A quiet county between the Shannon and the west: Lough Key's forest park, Rathcroghan's royal landscape and castles without the crowds. The charm is the lack of hurry.
County Sligo
Yeats Country under Benbulben's flat top, with surf at Strandhill and Enniscrone and music in the south. The poetry and the coast take equal billing.
County Tipperary
The Rock of Cashel stands over the Golden Vale, and the Suir runs through castle towns below it. Ireland's largest inland county also reaches Lough Derg in the north.
County Tyrone
The Sperrins give the walking and the dark skies; the story is emigration, told at the Ulster American Folk Park near Omagh. A county of market towns, linen history and people who left.
County Waterford
Ireland's oldest city holds the Viking Triangle, and the county opens out behind it: the Copper Coast, the Comeraghs and the Greenway to Dungarvan.
County Westmeath
Lakes fill the middle of the county: Ennell, Owel and Derravaragh, with the Shannon and Athlone on the western edge. Belvedere's house and gardens are the set piece.
County Wexford
The south-east claims the sunniest weather and the longest sandy beaches: Hook Head's lighthouse, Curracloe's strand and an opera town on the Slaney.
County Wicklow
Dublin's garden and escape route: Glendalough's monastic valley, the Sally Gap and Wicklow Gap drives and great houses along the foothills. Go early on fine weekends.
The great regions
Wild Atlantic Way
Nine counties of Atlantic coast in one route, from Malin Head to Kinsale: cliffs, islands, surf beaches and harbour towns, taken slowly.
Ireland's Ancient East
Five thousand years of history in the east and midlands: passage tombs, medieval cities, castles and river valleys, packed close enough to tour without rushing.
Dublin
The capital earns its own trip: history, literature and music in a compact centre, and the bay at the end of the road.
Northern Ireland
Six counties in a compact area: the Causeway Coast, Belfast, Derry's walls, the Mournes and the Fermanagh lakelands.