The Ireland of Star Wars

Killarney is the gateway to Kerry, the county many consider the scenic heart of Ireland. The lively and welcoming town lives in symbiosis with the surrounding Killarney National Park: three thousand hectares of oak woodland, bogland and lakes — Lough Leane, Muckross Lake and the Upper Lake — at the foot of the Macgillycuddy's Reeks, Ireland's highest mountain range, where Carrauntoohil rises to 1,038 metres. Ross Castle, a fifteenth-century fortress overlooking Lough Leane, can be reached on foot or by jaunting car through the park — those traditional horse-drawn carriages remain one of the region's most iconic symbols. Muckross Abbey and the gardens of Muckross House, an elegant Victorian villa, complete the area's historical heritage. Killarney is also the ideal starting point for the Ring of Kerry, the famous 179-kilometre road circuit around the Iveragh Peninsula, passing through fjords, Atlantic-facing villages and landscapes that change colour at every bend. The town itself offers excellent pubs, restaurants serving fine seafood and a lively evening scene, making it one of the most beloved destinations for international travellers in the south-west of the island.

Limerick is Ireland's third-largest city by population, set at the mouth of the Shannon estuary in the county of the same name. King John's Castle, a thirteenth-century Norman fortress standing on King's Island in the middle of the river, is the city's most powerful symbol and houses an interactive museum on medieval history. St. Mary's Cathedral, founded in 1168, is the oldest building still in use in the city. The Hunt Museum holds one of Ireland's most important private collections of art and antiquities, with works ranging from ancient Egypt to the European Renaissance. Limerick has reinvented itself: the city has undergone a significant urban regeneration along the Shannon banks and today boasts a dynamic cultural scene, art galleries, independent cafés and a good range of restaurants. It is the ideal starting point for excursions to Bunratty Castle, the Cliffs of Moher, the Burren and the picture-postcard Anglo-Norman village of Adare, just twenty minutes away by car.

Donegal Town is the main centre of the county of the same name in north-west Ireland, a compact town overlooking Donegal Bay where the River Eske flows into the Atlantic. Donegal Castle, built in the fifteenth century by the O'Donnell chieftains and extended in Jacobean style in the seventeenth century, dominates the main square — the Diamond — and is open to visitors as a museum. County Donegal is renowned for handwoven tweeds and wools, and the town-centre shops stock this quality craft production. Donegal Town is the starting point for exploring one of Ireland's wildest and most spectacular counties: the Slieve League cliffs, among the highest in Europe, the inland Glenveagh National Park and the Atlantic beaches of Bundoran and Rossnowlagh are all reachable within an hour. The Donegal coast is especially loved by surfers for its Atlantic swells.

Dublin spreads along the banks of the Liffey like a city that has learned to carry its history lightly: millennia of Celtic, Viking and British heritage coexist with a contemporary vitality few European capitals can match. The historic centre gathers around Temple Bar, the medieval quarter where cobbled lanes lead to brass-fitted pubs, independent art galleries and restaurants serving a reinvented Irish cuisine. Nearby, Trinity College houses the Book of Kells, the ninth-century illuminated manuscript considered among the masterpieces of European insular art, displayed in the magnificent Old Library. Just beyond, the Georgian quarters of Merrion Square and Fitzwilliam Square offer pastel facades and lacquered doors in red, green and yellow — a colour palette that has become a symbol of the city's architectural identity. Dublin Castle, founded by the Normans in the thirteenth century and rebuilt in the Georgian era, marks the historic and political heart of the capital; alongside stand Christ Church Cathedral and St. Patrick's Cathedral, both of medieval foundation. The Guinness Storehouse, housed in the former warehouse of the St. James's Gate brewery, is among the most visited attractions in Ireland: seven floors of history and craft, crowned by the Gravity Bar with its 360-degree panoramic view over the city. The Kilmainham neighbourhood preserves the most poignant memories of the Irish independence struggle: Kilmainham Gaol, a Victorian prison turned museum, held the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising, while the Royal Hospital is now home to the Irish Museum of Modern Art. North of the Liffey, the Smithfield markets, the Distillery Building and the colourful murals of the Liberties speak of a city in constant reinvention. Dublin is also the literary capital that gave the world Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde, James Joyce and Samuel Beckett: bronze portraits and Joycean walking trails — through the National Museum, the Martello Tower at Sandycove, and Bewley's on Grafton Street — offer a secular pilgrimage for literature lovers. The food scene has grown remarkably in recent years, from fish and chips at Howth harbour to Michelin-starred restaurants in the centre, taking in the fruit and cheese markets of Temple Bar along the way. The harbour at Dún Laoghaire, reachable in thirty minutes by DART, the castles of Malahide and Howth, and the bay views from Killiney Hill round out a fine set of half-day excursions. Dublin is noisy and reflective in equal measure: a city best explored on foot, pint in hand, with a pearl-grey sky for a backdrop.