image courtesy of Fáilte Ireland

Walking in Ireland

Ireland’s beautiful scenery offers something for every kind of walker, with mountains (often rising directly from sea level), rugged ridges, spectacular coastline, river and canal towpaths and quiet country roads. The highest peak in Ireland, at 3414ft (1039m) is Carrauntouhill, part of MacGillycuddy’s Reeks in Kerry. There are 31 National Waymarked Ways throughout Ireland, offering walkers approx. 3,000 km of marked walking routes. In addition to the fantastic walking, there are numerous opportunities to sample Ireland’s famous hospitality.
Below are links to useful sources of information – all relevant to walking, but many are also helpful for planning any trip to Ireland.

Walking books

A wide range of books, covering both long distance routes and regional walks is available from our shop.

Walking books - Ireland general
Walking books - Northern Ireland
Walking books - east of Ireland
Walking books - south of Ireland
Walking books - west of Ireland
Walking books - long distance routes in Ireland

Maps

The Ordnance Survey of Ireland and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland produce three scales of leisure mapping:
1:50,000 scale Discovery (Eire) and Discoverer (Northern Ireland) maps cover the whole country.
1:250000 (1cm : 2.5km) scale Holiday Maps. The four maps in this series North, South, East and West contain detailed road information and tourist features, such as caravan parks, picnic areas and information offices.
1:25,000 scale maps of MacGillycuddy's Reeks, Killarney National Park, the Aran Islands, The Mournes, and Lough Erne

Harvey maps, at a scale of 1:30,000 are available for The Wicklow Mountains and Connemara

Accommodation

self-catering cottages
Independent holiday hostels
Find-Rooms.com search for hotel rooms

Tourist Information

Northern Ireland Tourist Board
The Irish Tourist Board
niceOne.com - Ireland's internet directory
The National Trust in Northern Ireland
The National Trust for Ireland

Long Distance Routes

coming soon - pages for the following long distance routes
Wicklow Way
Kerry Way
Dingle Way
Ulster Way
Western Way

Transport

Cheap4ferries.com compares prices from all operators
Irish Ferries
Ryanair budget airline
Europcar car hire
National Express coach operator

car rental
Irish Buses
Irish Rail

Irish Walking and Outdoor sites

Mountaineering Council of Ireland
Simon Stewart's Hill-Walking in Ireland
Mountain Views - hillwalking community site

Irish Walking Holidays

Dirtyboots Treks walking tours all over Ireland
Irish Ways independent, guided and bespoke tours
Footfalls walking holidays and mountain skills courses

Walking Clubs and Groups

Wee Binnian Walkers - based in Newry
Ulster Federation of Walking Clubs

If you would like a reciprocal link with Guidepost, or to report a broken link, please e-mail us.