The Burren
Limestone Karst Region Of North Clare With Poulnabrone Portal Tomb And Burren National Park; Part Of The Burren And Cliffs Of Moher UNESCO Global Geopark · Ballyvaughan, Clare
The Burren is a region of bare grey limestone in north County Clare, roughly 250-360 square km of terraced hills, cracked pavement and green valleys running down to Galway Bay. From a distance it looks like a moonscape; up close the cracks are full of flowers, and it is famous among botanists because Arctic-alpine and Mediterranean plants grow side by side here, often at sea level. It is also one of the densest ancient landscapes in Ireland: the Poulnabrone portal tomb, some 5,800 years old, hundreds of stone forts and wedge tombs, medieval abbeys and tower houses. People come to walk the pavement and the old Green Road, see the spring flowers, drive the coast road past Black Head, go underground at Aillwee Cave and end the day with music in Doolin or Ballyvaughan. The honest caveat: there is no single gate, ticket or visitor centre - it is mostly private farmland crossed by narrow roads, the national park has no facilities inside it, and a visitor who only stops at Poulnabrone for ten minutes sees a car park and a roped-off tomb and misses the place.
North County Clare between Ballyvaughan, Lisdoonvarna and Kilfenora; Poulnabrone dolmen on the R480, Ballyvaughan, Clare, Ireland
Open landscape, reachable at any hour and in any month; Poulnabrone and the Burren National Park are free and have no opening times. The paid sights run their own hours: Aillwee Cave and the Birds of Prey Centre open daily for most of the year with shorter winter hours, and the Burren Centre in Kilfenora, the Perfumery and Caherconnell fort keep roughly March-October seasons (confirm each). By car it is about 1 hour from Galway to Ballyvaughan and 45 minutes from Shannon Airport to Kilfenora; Bus Eireann's Galway-Ballyvaughan-Doolin-Cliffs of Moher route runs a few times a day (confirm times). Book guided walks and May accommodation ahead.