Seafood · The week
Seven nights, driven around the shellfish
Howth to Kinsale to Dingle to the oyster coast, in season, with the drives, the counters and the rooms.
Drive it between September and April if the native oysters matter to you, and between May and September if the boats and the weather do. The route never doubles back, and two of the best meals on it are cooked by you in a rented kitchen.
Day by day
Day 1 · County Dublin
Howth, before the city
Thirty minutes from the airport, and no city traffic.
- A pier counter at Howth for crab claws and a glass of white.
- Dinner above the harbour, with the boats still working below.
Starting at the harbour rather than in town sets the week up honestly. The fish in Dublin restaurants comes through here anyway.
Reserve this day
Room
Deer Park Hotel Howth
Above the harbour that lands the fish, and thirty minutes from the airport.
Guided day
Howth coastal seafood and craft beer trail
Eating along a working pier. Book the early slot and keep the evening free.
Day 2 · Kinsale, County Cork
South to Kinsale
Three hours on the M8, then twenty minutes west of Cork.
- Lunch at the English Market fish stalls on the way through Cork.
- Dinner on a Kinsale side street: hake, brill, whatever came in.
Two nights here rather than one. The town rewards a slow second morning more than any other stop on the route.
Reserve this day
Room
Perryville House
Two nights, not one. Kinsale rewards the slow second morning.
Table
Fishy Fishy
Hake, brill, whatever came in. Lunch outside beats dinner inside.
Day 3 · Kinsale
West Cork counters
An hour each way along the coast.
- A smokehouse visit, and a kilo of mussels bought for the evening.
- Cook them yourself in cider and cream if the room has a kitchen.
The cheapest and best meal of the week costs about the price of two coffees. Buy the shellfish the afternoon you cook it.
Reserve this day
Counter or market
Ummera Smokehouse
Timoleague, an hour west. Call ahead: it is a small operation, not a visitor centre.
Counter or market
Kilmore Quay Seafood
Buy the mussels the afternoon you cook them, never the day before.
Day 4 · Dingle, County Kerry
Dingle, and the boats
Three hours north west. Slea Head in the late afternoon.
- Fish and chips on the harbour wall, which is not a compromise here.
- Dinner in one of two small rooms that cook only what landed.
Dingle is the one town where the pub, the pier and the kitchen are the same short walk. Book the dinner, walk to everything else.
Reserve this day
Room
Dingle Skellig Hotel
On the water at the edge of town, and walkable to the pier rooms.
Table
Out of the Blue
No fish landed, no opening. Reserve, then call the morning of to confirm.
Day 5 · Clarenbridge or Galway
North to the oyster coast
Three and a half hours through Limerick and Gort.
- Native oysters and brown bread at a thatched cottage on the bay.
- A late supper in Galway, lighter than it sounds after the afternoon.
September to April is the native oyster window. Outside it you are eating the farmed rock oyster, which is good, not the same.
Reserve this day
Table
Moran's Oyster Cottage
Seven generations on Galway Bay. Natives September to April, oysters first, claws second.
Room
Glenlo Abbey Hotel
Twenty minutes from the oyster coast and the right side of Galway for the morning drive.
Day 6 · Connemara
Connemara
An hour west of Galway on slow roads. Leave the map alone.
- An oyster farm visit at low tide, waders provided.
- Dinner in a country house dining room, langoustines first.
The single best day on the week, and the one people cut when they overload the front end. Protect it.
Reserve this day
Room
Ballynahinch Castle
The best day on this week starts and ends here. Protect the two nights.
Guided day
Private oyster tour and tasting by the Flaggy Shore
Out to the beds at low tide with the people who grow them. Tide dependent, so book early in the week.
Day 7 · Galway or Shannon
The market, then the flight
Ninety minutes to Shannon.
- Galway market for the last plate, and vacuum-packed smoked salmon for the case.
- Coffee at the airport, and nothing else. You have eaten enough.
Smoked salmon, commercially sealed and labelled, travels home legally. Shellfish does not. Eat it here.
Reserve this day
Counter or market
Galway Market
The last plate, and the vacuum-packed salmon for the case.
Counter or market
Gannet Fishmongers
The counter west of Ireland chefs name. Smoked and sealed travels home, fresh shellfish does not.
Build the trip around it
Where we would stay for a seafood trip
Deer Park Hotel Howth
County Dublin
Above the harbour that lands the fish. Walk to the pier counters before breakfast.
Ballynahinch Castle
Connemara
Oysters, langoustines and the Connemara coast within an hour of the front door.
Perryville House
Kinsale, County Cork
The best-eating small town in Ireland, and the boats are visible from the room.
The weeks this fits inside
7 Days Walking the West of Ireland
Seven days, three bases, no walking day shorter than two hours or longer than five. The Atlantic the way it was meant to be met.
7 Quiet Days in the West
Two houses, no rush, seven days. The West held at the pace it actually keeps.
7 Days in Greater Dublin: The Definitive Itinerary
Four nights in Dublin, three in Wicklow. The base change at Day 5 is the trick most itineraries miss.
Book the week
What to reserve, and in what order
The Connemara room first, because there are few of them and they fill a season ahead. Then the two Dingle dinners. The oyster farm walk runs on the tide, so pick the day once the rooms are held, and leave the counters and the smokehouses entirely to chance.
Where to buy it: the fishmongers. What to cook in the rental: the four recipes. Why we order this way: the essay. Back to the seafood hub.