County Clare and the Burren - Ireland 2014 - page 401

open-air folk museums to the jet-lagged, big-bus American tour groups (it's located just a
potty stop from the Shannon Airport, past Limerick on the road to Ennis).
Bus Tours of the Burren
From Galway: The Burren Wild Tour departs fromGalway andcombines aninteractive
walking tour of the Burren with a visit to the Cliffs of Moher. Their motto, “Don't be
nuts, get off the bus,” distinguishes their active hiking focus from other, more sedate tour
outfits (€22, buy ticket from TI, departs Galway private coach station across from TI at
10:00, returns by 17:30, mobile [phone], www.burrenwalks.com ). They also offer
“gentle” one-hour nature walks from the Connolly family farm near the village of Ought-
mama, roughly halfway between Ballyvaughan and Kinvarra, inland from Bellharbour
(€10, daily at 10:30, call ahead for directions, same contact info as above).
Three other Galway-based companies— Lally Tours, O'Neachtain Tours, and Gal-
way Tour Company —run standard all-day tours of nearby regions (€20-25, up to 25 per-
cent discount if you book online). Their tours of the Burren do a loop south of Galway,
covering Kinvarra, Aillwee Cave, Poulnabrone Dolmen, and the Cliffs of Moher (on
a 2-hour lunch stop). Tours go most days from about 9:45 to 17:30 (departing from
Galway private coach station across from TI; call to confirm exact itinerary: Lally tel.
091/562-905, www.lallytours.com ; O'Neachtain tel. [phone], mobile [phone],
www.ontours.biz ; Galway Tour Company tel. [phone],
www.galwaytourcompany.com ). All three companies also offer day tours of Connemara,
with discounts if you book two separate day tours. Drivers take cash only; to pay with a
credit card, book at Galway's TI.
From Ennis: Barratt Tours runs tours of the Burren and Cliffs of Moher (see here ) .
County Clare
Ennis
This bustling market town (pop. 24,000), the main town of County Clare, provides those
relying on public transit with a handy transportation hub (good rail connections to Limer-
ick, Dublin, and Galway). Ennis is less than 15 miles from Shannon Airport and makes a
good first- or last-night base in Ireland for travelers not locked into Dublin flights. It also
offers a chance to wander around an Irish town that is not reliant upon the tourist dollar
(though not shunning it either). Muhammad Ali visited the town in 2008 after discovering