Cliffs of Moher & Bunratty Castle Day Tour

After ten years of researching our family's ancestry in Ireland we connected with Best of Ireland Tours. Niall Cleary met us at the airport and watched over our needs for the week of June 10-16, He took us all over Counties Claire, Cork, Tipperary, and Limerick. He found every location we were seeking to see. Very highly recommend Niall and his company. They will make your dream trip come true. He knows every town and a million stories of ireland that will make your trip complete. Thanks Niall.

Niall with Best of Ireland Tours was the private driver/guide for our group of 5 while in Galway. He is very friendly and knowledgeable. His love of his country and knowledge of regional facts and local lord is evident in every piece of information he shares. Contact Best of Ireland tours for a customizable, safe and informative tour. He will make suggestions of sites to visit and happily accommodate your interests, even a stop at a local supermarket🙂.

Niall Cleary took us around for 7 days visiting Dublin, Galway, Cork, Waterford, Dunmore East and Tramore. Each trip was filled with incredible knowledge about the local history and unique sites to see that made the trip one of a kind. Such highlight included Sheepdog herding in Connemara , the Ballymaloe Cookery School and Gardens, the Galway Foodie Tour (see separate review) in addition to the standards. My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed our Ireland experience and would not hesitate to engage Niall again on future visits to Ireland. Niall is knowledgeable and funny. We had as much fun traveling from site to site as we did visiting all of the attractions.

Just returned from a fabulous 8 hour tour with Niall Cleary of Clare County! He picked us up from our hotel and brought us to the amazing sights of the county. We enjoyed the beautiful sights along the coastline, from the Cliffs of Moher to the Burren and many stops in between. Niall was informative about the area and history of Ireland. Looking forward to another tour with Niall in the future where he can help us explore the many other beautiful counties.

Niall Cleary took me and my family (mom, mother-in-law, and husband) on such a fabulous private, custom tour! We had a tight timeline but wanted to see all that we could in Clare County! Our tour was 5 hours; he picked us up from Ennis, drove us to the Cliffs of Moher and we spent an hour taking pictures, then we had lunch in Doolin Village, then we traveled to see the Burren, and finally he dropped of us back in Ennis! There was plenty of room for the group of us and our luggage in the 8-person van. Would not change a thing about the tour. Learned so much from him and his un-ending local knowledge. Would go back to Ireland and go on another tour with him in another city! Recommend to all!

I read these forums for months prior to our November 2022 trip to Ireland and gleaned much from forum posts. I wanted to add my bit here and give a recommendation for Best of Ireland tours which is run by a fellow called Niall Cleary He is based in Ennis, but will go pretty much anywhere in Ireland to drive/guide you for several hours or several days. We just took a private tour with him out of Galway for the day, from about 9:00 AM to about 6:00 PM. I had been in touch with Niall for months prior to our day together and even had a couple of phone calls, both an introductory one back in August and then another one in November to firm up our plans. We also communicated via email frequently leading up to our day tour together, and as always, Niall was kind and affable as well as timely in his communications. I had pieced together a driving tour based on a few sources and personal preferences and drawn it out using Google Maps. I sent him this map and proposed route for his feedback, and he was happy to oblige with my requested route. We talked about practicalities ahead of time and he made some recommendations based on his experience driving and touring this region. He pulled up to our B&B in Galway right on time. His chariot is a white, late model VW van with comfortable seating for a group of 4-7 I would say--we were four, my wife and me and our two children (9&11). Niall knows how to make everyone feel comfortable and strikes a wonderful balance between humor and history. He is a guide who doesn't talk too much, nor too little. He just gets how to be a pleasant and informative tour guide who makes you feel more and more like family as the hours go by with him. By the end of the day we felt like we had a true Irish friend. And he remained flexible all day long. We ended up skipping one stop we had planned to make because we had decided it was going to be too similar to some of the countryside we had already seen, and we had an opportunity to clamber around some castle ruins instead, so he happily switched gears (or "called an audible" as we Americans say) and we are so glad we did, as our unplanned stop ended up being a highlight of the day! He was willing to take comfort breaks whenever we needed them to get food or use the restroom, which was very nice. It truly felt like a dear friend was taking us around western Ireland for the day, that is how personable and comfortable the whole day felt. It was our favorite day of our entire trip. And it didn't hurt that we had absolutely spectacular weather for mid November! So here is our itinerary for the day: - 09:00-Departed Galway -Cong (Cong Abbey, Quite Man statue) -Maam (restroom stop at Keane's Pub where the kind owner let us use the facilities) -Lough Nafooey valley and the Nafooey Waterfall (a place Niall had not been before but happily adventured with us to find) -Killary Harbour at Killary Fjord -Lunch at Kylemore Abbey (we thought we might tour the abbey, too, but ended up just making it a lunch and shopping stop which was fine for our crew. We were able to get a great photo of us with the abbey in the background across the lake from the parking lot at the shop and cafe). -Instead of going into Connemara National Park next for a look 'round and a short hike as we had planned, we decided to skip it and push on to Clifden to hike out to the Clifden Castle ruins. Niall stayed with the car, but as a family we trudged down the dirt road and to the ruins which are in an absolutely spectacular setting. We met a man at the ruins who owns adjacent property just to make sure all was well as we explored the ruins. They tolerate visitors there but are leery because of the liability of climbing around the ruins. It is worth a try to get there though. -Drove the Sky Road in Clifden and stopped at the lookout And that was it! It was a wonderful day that did not drag or seem overlong at all, it was just a great day and our family built a beautiful memory along with our new friend, Niall Cleary! Get in touch with him if you want to make a new friend and have a wonderful tour in this lovely country. At the time our our tour in November of 2022, our day with Niall cost about $500--so well worth it! And as a P.S., Niall has started a gift company where we ordered two terrific Irish knitwear pieces as Christmas presents this year--they were gorgeous and affordable, especially with the special one-time discount Niall gives to all of his tour customers.

Niall Cleary is your guide! He is fabulous. My adult (30yr) son and I flew into Dublin from Boston staying Merrion Hotel (fabulous)for a few days then driver took us down to county Clare’s Dromoland castle(wonderful place to stay) in in Shannon. Concierge suggested Niall with “Best of Ireland Tours” for a day excursion. This made our vacation! Niall was with us 7 hours and took us everywhere and anywhere we wanted to go. We stopped to eat at a fabulous pub, saw scenery and history that was wonderful. We went to cliffs of mohr and up to Galway. Next trip we will ask Niall to take us all around Cork and the south attractions. Niall was also a comfortable driver. Not one second did you hold your breath… excellent responsible driver. You can trust Niall to make your vacation in Ireland memorable…