4 Best Sights in County Clare, Galway, and the Aran Islands, Ireland

Set in a meadow by a crystal clear river in the heart of the village and beside the ruin of St. Mary’s Church, Quin Abbey is one of Ireland’s finest ancient monasteries. Legend has it that a McNamara chieftain built the abbey in 1402 in gratitude to God for saving his son, who had survived a tumble into the icy river at the site of construction. The choice of location was most likely due to the sturdy retaining walls and turrets of an old Norman castle that had remained intact, forming a practical foundation for the abbey. The bumpy terrain in the surrounding fields gives an insight to the old castle’s scale. Despite Quin Abbey’s desecration and damage during the turbulent 17th century, its bell tower, cloisters, and lady’s chapel are well maintained. Take time to inspect the south-facing wall of the church: the shape of a crucifix will appear, etched onto the charred masonry after a Cromwellian visit. The founder of the monastery is interred here, while his descendant, "Fireball" McNamara, is buried around the corner in the lady’s chapel. Other notable eternal guests of the abbey include the Dunboyne family from nearby Knappogue Castle, and the Blood Family, relatives of the great crown jewel thief, Thomas Blood.

Wander off the beaten path to discover the inauguration site of Ireland’s greatest king, Brian Boru. Weaving through narrow country lanes, Magh Adhair appears to the left in the shape of a large grass-coated mound of earth, just past a small stone bridge that crosses Hell River. The mound is in fact a natural amphitheater where a lone voice could cut through large crowds during important regional ceremonies. It’s one of the most sacred druid sites in Munster and believed to be the final resting place of Adhar, whose brother, Aengus, built Dun Aengus—a giant hill fort overlooking the ocean in the Aran Islands. Watch out for the bullaun (basin) stone altar, which looks like a giant’s molar with a smooth, bowl-shape top. The druids believed that this altar captured hallowed water that protected their chieftains during and after life.

Park the car before reaching the site as the road is very narrow.

This prehistoric hill fort, once populated with the most powerful chieftains in the region, is the largest of its kind in Ireland. It commands a sweeping view of the Shannon, Ireland’s longest river, which made it a strategic outlook for enemies navigating the main transport artery into the region. Today, a series of sturdy concentric walls set into a deep hilly thicket that hugs the northern territory of Dromoland Estate are what remain of this former dynasty's stronghold, constructed around 1000 BC. Information markers guide visitors past significant landmarks over the 27 acres, and a stone tower at the summit of the hill offers a rewarding view over the countryside. While much of the experience here is in your imagination (as in, imagining what would have once taken place on this very ground), the site makes for a truly beautiful and serene woodland walk, and it is particularly attractive in early autumn when the oak, horse chestnut, and beech trees turn every shade of crimson and amber.

Turn to the left on leaving Mooghaun, and heading toward Quin, cast an eye over a humped-back bridge. It was the site of Europe’s greatest gold find, many pieces of which are on display in Dublin and at the British Museum in London. The hoard belonged to the residents of Mooghaun.

It's a strange experience to walk across the little wooden bridge above reeds rippling in the lake into Ireland's Celtic past as an aircraft passes overhead on its way into Shannon Airport—1,500 years of history compressed into an instant. But if you love all things Celtic, you'll have to visit the Craggaunowen Project. The romantic centerpiece is Craggaunowen Castle, a 16th-century tower house restored with furnishings from the period. It was a retreat for "Honest" Tom Steele, a local squire who famously canvassed Pope Pius VII to change his religion before he had a change of heart and became a key figure in Catholic emancipation. Look for Steele’s initials carved into a stone quoin outside the castle. Huddling beneath its battlements are two replicas of early Celtic-style dwellings. On an island in the lake, reached by a narrow footbridge, is a clay-and-wattle crannóg, a fortified lake dwelling; it resembles what might have been built in the 6th or 7th century, when Celtic influence still predominated in Ireland. The reconstruction of a small ring fort shows how an ordinary soldier would have lived in the 5th or 6th century, at the time Christianity was being established here. Characters from the past explain their Iron Age (500 BC–AD 450) lifestyle, show you around their small holding stocked with animals, and demonstrate crafts skills from bygone ages. Be sure to check out the Brendan boat, a hide vessel used by explorer Tim Severn to test, and prove, the legend that Irish St. Brendan discovered America in a curragh boat almost a millennium before Christopher Columbus.

The park is hilly in parts, particularly near the wild boar compound. Bring comfortable walking shoes.