“Craic & Ceilis”  tour details and booking.

Theme:

This tour is much more than just an introduction to “traditional” Irish music, song, dance, drama and storytelling. We visit sites, places and people that gave birth to the traditional Irish craic.

You can join us for all or part of a tour,
quotes provided for either,
and we also have all year round self-drive alternatives to our guided tours.

Along the way we aim to include pub music sessions, cottage ceilis, craic with a storyteller, a bard harper performance, folk drama theatre, and at least one show with a dance revue. We combine all of this with spectacular Ireland scenery, and opportunities to join in traditions.

This is a fun, travel and activity packed tour staying at 8 different hotels over 8 days.
If you prefer a slower paced tour with less travel and fewer hotels please consider our
Around Bhride’s Garden tour or Veil Between Two Worlds retreat.    

Commencing this tour:

We currently start and finish at Dublin.

We can arrive to greet you at Dublin Airport if you arrive on the first day of the tour or collect you from your Dublin hotel, if you arrive a day or two before the tour (highly recommended to relieve from jet lag). We can arrange your earlier arrival accommodation too. 

Places we visit and enjoy through the week:

• Celtic Ways Theatre, with Ceili Cottage and Labyrinth Garden,
• Carrowkeel 5500 year old ancient passage cairns, Co. Sligo
• Michael Coleman Traditional Music Centre, Gurteen, Co. Sligo
• Killoran Ceili Show, Tobercurry, Co. Sligo
• Hennigan’s Heritage Centre, Co. Mayo
• Westport shopping and Chieftain Matt Molloy’s traditional music pub
• Sligo beaches and Sligo craic
• Slieve League cliffs, Co. Donegal
• Glencolumcille Turas and Biddy’s traditional music bar, Co. Donegal
• Leo’s Tavern, Gweedore, home of Clannad & Enya, Co. Donegal
• Augha Killy Maude, folk drama, dance & ceili, Co. Fermanagh
• Tara Hill tour, focused on the ancient harp traditions, Co. Meath

Hotels of the week, subject to availability:

• We recommend one or two nights for resting in Dublin before touring
• Cromleach Lodge, Co. Sligo, 4 star (1 night)
• Murphy’s Hotel, Tobercurry, Co. Sligo 3 star (1 night)
• Clew Bay Hotel, Westport 3 star (1 night)
• Southern Hotel, Sligo 3 star (1 night)
• Glencolumcille Hotel, Co. Donegal 4 star (1 night)
• An Chuirt, Gweedore, Co.Donegal 4 star (1 night)
• Cabra Castle, Co. Cavan 4 star (1 night)
• Deerpark Hotel, Howth Castle, near Dublin 3 star (1 night)
• We recommend extending by one or two nights after the tour so you can visit Dublin sites, enjoy theatre shows, and take additional day tours to Newgrange and Glendalough. 

Tour dates still available during 2008 :

• April 7^th (Mon) until April 14^th (Mon)  special Harps Around Ireland tour
• June 5^th (Thu) until June 12^th (Thu)  special Bards Around Ireland tour
• July 17^th (Thu) until July 24^th (Thu)
• August 18^th (Mon) until August 25^th (Mon)
• September 7^th (Mon) until September 14^th (Mon)
• October 9^th (Thu) until October 16^th (Thu)

Experiences past travellers have shared with us:

• This tour is fun
• Everywhere was so welcoming and friendly
• Its great to see beautiful uncrowded scenery, especially the beaches
• I love the donkeys
• This tour is so different and original
• Ireland has breathtaking landscapes where you do not expect them
• Its so wonderful to be outdoors here, the weather’s actually ok.
• There’s much more to Ireland
  than I thought
• Celtic Ways shows a surprising delightful hidden side of Ireland
• I’m coming back again with some friends and family

Fuller Itinerary: (each tour has some variations, special requests are welcome)

Scroll down for pricing and booking ….

Day 1: Journey to Co. Sligo & Celtic Ways Cottage

We collect you from Dublin, either the airport or your hotel if you arrived a day or two early. Then we travel to Celtic Ways Theatre, Ceili Cottage and Labyrinth Garden in Co. Sligo.

If you can, I recommend arriving in Dublin a day or two before our retreat. Not only is this a good idea for restoring after jet lag and losing a night’s sleep, if you travel from North America, but it is good to have some time to use atms to get some euros, shop and buy any pharmacy and personal needs, and become familiar with Irish communication networks. We can book a hotel for your earlier arrival.  

Our drive to Co. Sligo takes about two hours from Dublin so we take a break for a bathroom stop after about an hour’s travel.

When we arrive at the Celtic Ways Cairn View cottage (opening in May) lunch will be ready and waiting for you. This will be served around our hearth or outside on our patio. It depends on how the weather is on arrival.

After lunch you can try out our Labyrinth Garden (opening in May). If she is not on tour, Claire Roche will also serve you a few songs and tunes with her harp from our little Celtic Ways Theatre (also opening in May).

During late afternoon we move on from Celtic Ways cottage to your accommodation at Cromleach Lodge, about 15 to 20 minutes away where you will check in and take a couple of hours to settle in.

Dinner is from 7:00 pm, but if you find you need to take a nap and oversleep, do not worry, as dinner is served until 9:00pm. This is not a meal where we expect everyone to gather in unison. Go your own pace and if you join us, enjoy a full meal, part meal, or just a starter snack.

Day 2: Carrowkeel Cairns & Coleman’s Traditional Music

Our morning starts with some time exploring and restoring ourselves amongst and within the Carrowkeel Passage Cairns on Bricklieve Mountains. Surprisingly, its quite easy to reach these. Because they are easy to approach they are popular with visitors, but most people arrive in the afternoons. We do find that when we visit in the mornings we usually have the cairns to ourselves.

From these cairns over a third of Ireland can be seen, from coast to coast, on a clear day so the scenery is spectacular.  As you can imagine mythology is rich here and we will share tales of how these cairns link to some ancient traditions that are alive today. This is truly fascinating and inspiring to many.

Most of our travellers tell us that a visit to Carrowkeel is the most moving of their entire tour, so we like to introduce you to this place as a perfect start for our tour.

From Carrowkeel Cairns we head back to Celtic Ways cottage for lunch and, more songs, stories and harp by Claire Roche, and other guests. If the weather is spectacular, this performance will be outdoors on our labyrinth view patio.

After lunch we visit the Coleman Traditional Irish Music Centre. This is a celebration of Irish Music in a little known Southern Sligo village, a very Irish village untouched by tourism imagery. Coleman’s centre celebrates the music style played by fiddler Michael Coleman and other musicians of his time. This is music that eventually influenced more modern bluegrass music in the USA. The Gurteen community created this centre to ensure that this tradition of their Irish music remains a living one to be enjoyed by all ages and nationalities.

After our Gurteen visit we drive on a few miles to the quaint small town of Tobercurry at the foot of Sligo’s Ox Mountains. Here we check into Murphy’s Hotel, freshen up, be ready to enjoy dinner and ceili at Kiloran’s Restaurant, Bar and Ballroom. Kiloran’s serve a superb showcase of local music, song and dance traditions. I prefer this warm country town show to the bling “made for tourists” events that are currently presented around. Our travellers love this experience!  

Day 3: Hennigan’s Heritage & Westport

We do not need to leave until 10:00 am today

Our destination today is Westport in Co. Mayo, but before getting there we cannot resist a visit to Tom Hennigan’s Cottage and heritage centre. Tom is one of the best story tellers of Ireland I know. A visit to his family home cottage and small farm now converted into a theatre and museum of his stories will take you through a journey of the entire history of Ireland.

From Tom you’ll here the truth about the famine, land reforms and the reasons your ancestors left Ireland for other lands. This will be probably be very different to stories you have heard elsewhere. His stories share the discomforts but also reveals the joys of the past that would be so valuable to re-enact today. This is always a top highlight of all of our tours.

After a visit to Tom’s, its off to Westport, one of the most beautiful towns in Ireland. After checking into the Clew Bay hotel you’ll be free to wander the town to browse, shop, have coffee in one of the quaint coffee and tea rooms and return to the hotel in your own time.

For the evening we highly recommend some time at Molloy’s Pub, one of the best traditional music session venues in Ireland, owned by Matt Molloy famous as a member of The Bothy Band and The Chieftains, and often serving behind the bar when not touring.

Day 4: Sligo Beach and Town

By this time, our travellers are ready to enjoy some “time out” away from group touring and activities. Most of our travellers do not live by the sea so you could have some time by the coast on one of our nearby quiet beaches. Beside a couple of our beaches are pro class golf courses. Some of you may be eager to look around Sligo town and browse its small town shops, art galleries, Yeats centre and museum.

First, we have to travel from Westport to Sligo, about 2 hours travel with an optional stop on the way.

After lunch, we check into the Southern Hotel, our accommodation for this night, and you can choose from a choice of activities such as going to the beach, exploring the town, booking a horse ride, touring the Carrowmore’s ancient stone circles, climbing Knocknarea to Maeve’s cairn, taking a seaweed bath, taking a Yeats tour to Drumcliffe and around Lough Gill. Later we meet again for our evening meal before going to one or two of Sligo’s music sessions.

Day 5: Glencolumcille & Biddy’s Bar

This is a beautiful journey day as we travel around Ben Bulben toward Donegal town and then along the beautiful southern coastline of Donegal. This becomes very spectacular after Killybegs.

We will visit the cliffs of Slieve League that I feel are much more dramatic, more daring, more exhilarating and more colourful than Cliffs Of Moher. The views here can also be more stunning.

After arriving and checking in at our shoreline hotel outside of Glencolumcille village you have various choices for the rest of the afternoon such as visiting the preserved fishing village, the Gaelic books, gifts and music store, enjoying the beautiful beach, walking the fascinating “Turas” of cairns, beautifully carved crosses, alters, a beautiful hidden ancient hillside well, and a Bealtaine meeting stone. You could also play a round of golf by the hotel.

After dinner, I highly recommend attending a session at Biddy’s Bar, where the world famous Donegal fiddle style originated from.

Day 6: Gweedore & Leo’s Tavern

Today, we take another beautiful tour through Co. Donegal landscapes through Ardara and The Rosses to our luxury hotel of the night, An Chuirt of Gweedore

After a freshen up, maybe use the hotel spa, we will visit Leo’s Tavern, one of Donegal’s most famous pubs. Leo himself is an extremely popular musician, father of the highly renowned Clannad, and of course the success story of Enya. Clannad began their career on this very stage, and Altan originated from here too. 

At Leo’s Tavern, the walls display gold, silver and platinum discs of this amazingly talented family. Because of their career they attract many of their musical friends who perform or just enjoy the night’s entertainment. So we’ll spend an evening here for the entertainment.  You never know who we might meet.

Dinner will be here at Leo’s as they do have an appetizing menu.

Day 7: Augha Killy Maude folk drama & craic

Another touring day today, out of Co. Donegal through some of the very scenic Glenveagh National Park, and into Co. Fermanagh beside the beautiful Lough Erne, one of the largest lakes in Ireland. This lake is filled with islands abundant in ancient legends.

Today is a day when I share a passion of mine with our travellers. We follow the shores of Lough Erne until we reach below one of the seven fairy mountains of Ireland, Knockninny. It is here we visit the theatre and workshop of the Augha Killy Maude Men Of Straw,

Augha Killy Maude Men Of Straw are a folk drama troupe who explore mainly Mummer’s Plays and fertility plays from around Celtic lands and from around the world. These plays have ascended from the ceremonies of ancient sacred sites. We can share a lot of fun through this day. This can include learning and performing our own folk drama ceremonies, ancient and traditional circle dances, and even learn the skills of weaving straw into love knots, folk drama costumes and prayer alters. On a warm sunny day some of this can be shared outdoors, and, sometimes, even upon Knockninny mountain.

Our visit here usually ends with a lively ceili

Day 8: Tara Hill, Howth & Dublin

During the morning it is time to leave our Co. Sligo retreat and head back to Dublin. On the way, we will detour so that you can visit Tara Hill. Tara was not only the court of Ireland’s High Kings for over 2000 years, but its where the creativity of the nation was delivered and shared at every fire festival, especially at Samhain, the first few days of November.

Our journey at Tara starts at the Banqueting Hall where the bards and harpers of the nation collected to share their works, once it was accepted as being worthy by the clan leaders.

Next we visit Rath Of Grainne and share its connection to the retreat we have just come from. This is a lovely place on Tara Hill that is largely ignored by the mass of visitors on the hill. Here you can re-enact your right to express your creativity. More will be revealed when we visit here.

From Rath of Grainne we visit the Wishing, or Fairy, Tree and then what I feel is the most regal approach to the ancient Royal Court. We depart from the Royal Court along the route of mass of tourists who come here, visiting the Mound of Hostages cairn on the way, and honoring Tara’s Sheela na Gig.

Then is time for well earned and highly anticipated free time to browse the village crafts, books and coffee shops.

When we gather back together we close our retreat at the White Cow Sacred Well beside Tara Hill before travelling into Dublin.

From Tara we take you to the beautiful Howth peninsula, outside of Dublin, where we will share the last evening of this tour together at the Deep Park Hotel on the grounds of Howth Castle. H.G. Wells once described this place as the “best view east of Easter Island”.

At Deer Park we will share our closing evening meal, ceili and truly our parting glass for now.

Day 9: Home or continue on your own

If you are flying out of Ireland the following morning the airport is only 20 minutes away. If you need transport to the airport, we will arrange it.

We do recommend you consider staying an additional day or two to enjoy sights of Dublin such as the hop-on-hop-off bus which passes most of the popular sites. Also check out the theatre and concert hall shows. The National Museum is worth a visit as you will see collections from places we visit and it makes them seem so real and personal. Trinity College is wonderful to visit as it is the home for the O’Brien Boru’s Harp and Books of Kells and Durrow.

What is included in the cost of this tour:

• 8 nights accommodation with breakfast
• 8 evening meals
• 8 days guide, driver and transport
• lunch and harper performance at Celtic Ways
• admission to Coleman Music Centre
• show at Kiloran’s, Tobercurry
• admission to Hennigan’s Heritage, Co. Mayo
• admission and show at Augha Killy Maude, Co. Fermanagh
• porterage for up to 2 cases/bags per person
• gratuities for hotel and restaurant staff

What is NOT Included:

• airfare
• travel insurance
• 7 of the lunches
• beverages with meals and extra beverages
• personal items
• broadband internet and phone costs
• driver and guide gratuities

Pricing:

• current package prices are between €1400 to €1800 per person
• single supplement between €160 and €320 
• prices vary with each package tour
• you will be provided with a quote when you inquire below
• questions and suggestions before booking are very welcome
• when you book we have several easy payment options

A note on our pricing:

Our tours are not the lowest cost tours of Ireland but I feel we provide the best value. 

Our tours are more comprehensive than other tours. Accommodation is selected for comfort and, where possible, we avoid booking the mass tour bus hotels. Hotels we select often charge a bit more than the tour bus hotels but the extra comfort and fine dining is well worth it.

Reminder of dates still with availability :

• April 7^th (Mon) until April 14^th (Mon)  special Harps Around Ireland tour
• June 5^th (Thu) until June 12^th (Thu)  special Bards Around Ireland tour
• July 17^th (Thu) until July 24^th (Thu)
• August 18^th (Mon) until August 25^th (Mon)
• September 7^th (Mon) until September 14^th (Mon)
• October 9^th (Thu) until October 16^th (Thu)

To Inquire and Book:

Please use our inquiry email utility below.
We will respond quickly with answers, suggestions and current pricing
along with payment terms and booking link when you are satisfied.

You can book all or part of a tour, quotes provided for either,
and we also have all year round self-drive alternatives to our guided tours.

We look forward to you possibly joining us.