Hotels near The Burren

The Burren is a karst landscape in north County Clare where bare grey limestone pavement, split into blocks and fissures known as clints and grikes, covers roughly 250 square kilometres. The rock formed as a tropical seabed about 350 million years ago and was scoured clean by glaciers. Arctic, Mediterranean and alpine plants grow side by side in the grikes, which is why botanists rate the Burren among the strangest habitats in Europe. Peak flowering falls in May and June.

Poulnabrone dolmen, a portal tomb raised around 3800 BC, is the most photographed single site and sits right off the R480 with a small car park. Corcomroe Abbey, the Aillwee Cave system and the Burren Perfumery near Carron all justify a detour. Public transport reaches Ballyvaughan and Kilfenora but not the interior roads, so of everything on this list the Burren is the entry that most rewards a car or a guided tour.

Pro Tip: Skip the midday Poulnabrone stop that every coach makes and drive the Corkscrew Hill road out of Ballyvaughan instead. The pull-in near the top gives you the whole pavement sweeping down towards Galway Bay.