The Printed Edit · N° 06
The full coastal road, at the right pace.
Deborah Nunez, Editor
The road keeps the sea on your left. This is the coastal route we send first-timers, with the bases that make the long drives worth it.
“Built from the drive we send first-timers every week.”
Travelers who want the coast, the road, and time to stop.
Donegal · Sligo · Connemara · Burren · Dingle · Mizen
The Wild Atlantic Way is two and a half thousand kilometres of waymarked coast, which means it is less a route than a decision about which third of it you are going to do properly.
This edition takes the northern half seriously, because that is the part most American itineraries skip and it is the part that still feels unvisited. Donegal, Sligo, Mayo, Connemara, Clare, Kerry, in that order, with the sea on your left the whole way.
It is also a driving book. The distances are real, the roads are narrower than the photographs suggest, and the difference between a good day and a bad one is usually forty minutes of planning the night before.
Deborah Nunez, Editor
As printed, p. 3
14 printed pages. Tap any page to read it full size.
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Volume I · Ten days, 1,500 miles of coast, six stops · 14 pages
I
p. 5Distances, road types, and the pace that makes the coast worth it.
Three hours of driving is a full day on this coast. Not because the miles are long, but because you will stop, and the stopping is the point.
North to south, always. The light is better and the road unwinds rather than tightens.
II
p. 6Slieve League, Malin Head, and the last quiet county.
Donegal is the reason to start north. Slieve League is three times the height of the Cliffs of Moher and holds a fraction of the people, and Inishowen is a full day of headlands with no coach traffic at all.
Two nights minimum. Three if the weather is behaving.
III
p. 7Surf, Yeats country, and the island at the end of the bridge.
This is the stretch most people drive through, which is exactly why it is worth stopping in. Strandhill for the sea, Yeats country for the reason so much Irish writing sounds the way it does, and Achill for the first ten minutes above Keem Bay.
IV
p. 8Two nights, and the only place on this coast we would give a third.
Connemara is where a coastal drive turns into a stay. The Sky Road, the bog roads, Inishbofin if the ferry runs, and a hotel that expects you to sit in it.
V
p. 9Limestone, the coast road, and the Cliffs at the right hour.
The Galway to Doolin coast road is the best two hours of driving in the country. The Burren rewards a grey afternoon and the Cliffs reward five thirty in the evening.
VI
p. 10Dingle, Beara, and where to stop before Mizen.
Slea Head is the finest short drive on the whole route. Beara is the better peninsula if the Ring is busy, and West Cork is the correct place to run out of road.
VII
p. 11Oysters, harbour towns, and the rooms worth a detour.
The Atlantic coast has quietly become the best place to eat in Ireland. Galway is the anchor, the oysters are seasonal and specific, and the good rooms in small towns book out weeks ahead.
The stays we would book ourselves for this edition, and the one line that explains why each is here.
The northern opening. Long evenings, proper fires.
The lakeside alternative, and the better dining room.
The centre of gravity of the whole route.
Book the dining room when you book the room.
The southern close, with a walk from the door.
Nobody drives the whole Wild Atlantic Way well in ten days. Drive two thirds of it slowly instead, start in Donegal, and stop before the road runs out.
The printed edition
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In short
TL;DR. The Wild Atlantic Way. The full coastal road, at the right pace. Travelers who want the coast, the road, and time to stop.
Where to stay
Where this leads
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