Ireland Road Trip: Top Photography Spots and Travel Tips

All photos and text by Joshua Miravalles

When do you guys usually plan your trips? We were already talking about our next adventure in 2024 while we were heading back from Canada in October 2023. And we had it pretty clear: 2024 would be the year of Ireland. The Emerald Isle.

Would you go for the pot of gold? ☘️

By February/March, I was diving deep into researching the island – its attractions, locations, important castles and abbeys... and of course, in this age of AI expansion, I even asked Copilot about the most interesting, beautiful, and picturesque towns in Ireland. The usual suspects came up: Giant's Causeway, Moher, Galway, Cork, Limerick, Dublin, of course... But the Emerald Isle has so (so!) much to see. We had to make some tough choices and sacrifices, such as:

• Northern Ireland
• Donegal
• Connemara
• Dingle Peninsula
• Ring of Kerry
• Wicklow

So, we decided to say, “Why don’t we just circle the whole island?” And that’s what we did. That said, here are some tips for visiting Ireland and leaving with a desire to see even more...

10 Tips for Circling Ireland in 9 Days

Stay away from the cities, you’ll get back to them.

We decided to skip the big cities. We bypassed Belfast, Galway, Limerick, and Cork. Instead, we focused on the more rural, deeper parts, despite wanting to circle the entire island. We did visit Donegal, Killarney, Kilkenny, Cobh, and, of course, Dublin.

The curch of the small town Cobh and the amazing houses make it a great place to visit. 

Avoid highways or main roads.

We’re going for an adventure. The roads in Ireland will surprise you. A country road, barely wide enough for a large camper, with a speed limit of 80km/h and one single lane for both directions. Yet, we set Google Maps to avoid highways. More detours, sure, but more adventure.

Control your travel time.

Any road trip will involve lots and lots of driving. If you want to maximize your visits and, like us, take lots of photos, you need to manage your travel times and transfers. We set a maximum of 3 hours of driving each day, allowing us to visit multiple spots in the morning, midday, and evening. We set each drive segment to be around 1–1.5 hours. For example:

• 8:00-9:00, after breakfast, visit the town or area where you slept, maybe even go for a short walk.
• 12:00-13:00, you reach your mid-trip destination, stop to visit a town, an abbey, or a local attraction.
• By 18:00, most shops are closing, so it’s good to arrive at your final destination around that time or by 19:00 at the latest.

Control your travel time (Part 2)

As I said before, some roads in Ireland will surprise you, and no, you won’t be driving at 80 or 100km/h like the locals in a van or big camper. So, the trips will always take a bit longer than planned. For ideas, visit www.theirishroadtrip.com.

 Muckross Abbey, Some experts believe the tree to be up to 400 years old.

Use apps like park4night, but also ask the locals.

Ireland is very friendly to camper life. You can park almost anywhere unless explicitly prohibited. For example, in Kilkenny, there is a car park in the town center, but an individual has set up a space for caravans within this car park, completely flat. For €10, which you drop in their mailbox along with your van's license plate number, you can stay for 24 hours in a parking lot with video surveillance, where no one will bother you. You can find out about such places by searching online or sharing a Guinness in a pub outside town, chatting with the bartender and asking for recommendations.

The people in Ireland are very friendly.

In almost every location we visited, we struck up a conversation with someone at some point. Everyone greeted us, smiled, moved aside on the road if we couldn’t pass, and waved from their vehicles. And yes, if you’re lucky, you’ll meet a local who knows the area well – ask them about other spots worth visiting.

The weather in Ireland.

The main reason we decided to travel in October was for the photographic charm of autumn and the cold. We avoided the summer heat and the high season crowds. The weather in Ireland is generally humid, rainy, and cool, but it can also be sunny, warm, or even frosty on a clear night. The best way to cope with the weather is by layering for cold and rain. For our hands, we had the chance to debut the stylish Djuke gloves from Vallerret – essential for a photo session where you stand still for a while. But if you don’t like the weather in Ireland, just wait five minutes – it will change. 

Watch the sunsets and nights.

In an environment where, in just 15 minutes, it has rained, the sun has come out, fog has rolled in, and the sky has cleared up again, sunsets can be spectacular. Maybe you planned a sunset with Ross Castle in the background, but no – you’ll do it on the road, stopping spontaneously at a rest area with Donegal Bay on the horizon, or with a tower/castle you hadn’t mapped out but discovered by chance. 

Also, in 2024 and the next year, we were at a prime time to see the Northern Lights. We were lucky to get an alert from NOAA for auroras on our second night. As we parked where we planned to stay, it was raining but the sky was visible. We saw and photographed the aurora, but it clouded over quickly. We had a pint, and 30 minutes later, the sky was clear, no clouds, with an explosion of colors worthy of northern skies that we never imagined finding on this trip.

Don’t be afraid and get lost.

It seems all roads in Ireland lead somewhere. Some will pass through private areas (you’ll see), but with permitted passage. Others will simply serve as shortcuts. But just keep going. As long as you do it respectfully and don’t block access to private land, any road can lead you to an unexpected and wonderful place.

The Dark Hedges are not one of those shortcuts, but an epic location to visit. 

Enjoy.

Above all, that’s it. Enjoy. Whether driving, enjoying the landscapes, Celtic abbeys and cemeteries, castles, or wandering through streets. Even having a pint of Guinness at the end of the day in a pub in the most remote village on the island.Enjoy and talk to the locals.

About the author

Joshua Miravalles is a social, lifestyle, travel and landscape photographer based in Bilbao, Basque Country. Joshua works specially with natural light, and loves to travel with a focus on winter destinations. Josh takes great pleasure in planning the journey and imagining the final picture which can been realised with projects such as “Etxebarri, along the time”, a small project about the changes of a town over the years. 

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