Cottages in Ireland

Table of Contents

• At a glance: What should you know about renting a cottage in Ireland?
• Cottages in Ireland: find your perfect retreat
• Exploring Ireland: our top recommendations
• Activities: What are the top things to do and see in Ireland?

• Traditional stone cottages: Most Irish cottages are converted farmhouses or coastal crofts with turf or wood-burning stoves, enclosed gardens and space for walking boots and wet coats.
• A county for every mood: The Wild Atlantic Way counties suit wild coastal walks, while Wicklow and Kilkenny offer gentler valleys, gardens and market towns.
• Guest favourites: Our highest-rated Irish cottages sit in County Cavan and Connemara, praised for quiet settings, warm hosts and generous log baskets.
• Food worth the drive: Galway Bay oysters, Dingle seafood and Wicklow market kitchens make farm-to-table eating a reason to travel between counties.
• Landmark days out: The Cliffs of Moher, the Ring of Kerry, the Burren and Newgrange are all within a comfortable drive of a rural base.

Irish cottages range from whitewashed coastal crofts on the Atlantic edge to slate-roofed farmhouses tucked into inland valleys, most sleeping between four and eight guests. Many are working farm conversions with thick stone walls, half-doors and open fires. If you would rather have a larger family base, browse our wide range of cottages for four plus guests, or trade stone for timber with a stay in one of the wooden cottages on the hills. Cottage kitchens are almost always self-catering, which suits long, unhurried breakfasts. Look out for these features when you compare properties:

• Wood-burning stoves or open turf fires with a stocked log basket
• Enclosed gardens and barbecue areas for long summer evenings
• Cottages with a hot tub for soaking after a coastal walk
• Dog-friendly cottages with boot rooms and outdoor taps
• Reliable Wi-Fi and a farmhouse table big enough for a whole family

Book early for July and August, when coastal cottages fill fastest across the west.

What are the best areas to stay in Ireland?

For a first cottage holiday, County Kerry balances dramatic coastline with easy access to shops, pubs and walking trails. The table below details regions for specific interests:

What do our guests say?

Irish cottages score consistently well with our guests, and the praise is remarkably consistent from county to county: quiet settings, generous hosts and homes that feel lived-in rather than staged. Ratings of 9.0+ are common across the west, with guests singling out warm welcomes, well-stocked kitchens and the simple pleasure of a fire already laid on arrival after a long drive.

Here are our top-rated cottages in Ireland from the past year:

1. Cottage for 5 people, with yard and terrace, with pets - 9.9+: Guests praise the peaceful County Cavan lakeland setting, the private garden and the easy welcome given to dogs.
2. Cottage for 6 people - 9.5+: A roomy base beside Connemara National Park in County Galway, valued for mountain views and walking straight from the door.
3. Cottage for 4 people - 9.2+: Reviewers highlight the village atmosphere of Roundstone in County Galway and the short stroll to harbour and beaches.

Ireland is a small Atlantic island of green farmland, limestone uplands and deeply indented coast, ringed by the Wild Atlantic Way and crossed by slow rivers and lakes.

🥗Where to eat in Ireland?

According to Google Maps data and reviews, Moran's Oyster Cottage is the best rated restaurant in Ireland. Below is a table showing the top 5 highly-rated restaurants hand-picked by our travel experts.

⭐Our guests' recommendation: Our guest traveller Emma recommends the The Winding Stair in Dublin, Ireland: a riverside Dublin dining room built around farmhouse cheeses, soda bread and small Irish producers, ideal before driving west.

1. Walk the Cliffs of Moher
2. Drive the Ring of Kerry
3. Wander the Burren
4. Explore Connemara
5. Step inside Newgrange
6. Roam Killarney National Park
7. Follow the northern headlands

1. Walk the Cliffs of Moher

   County Clare's great Atlantic wall runs for eight kilometres and rises to 214 metres at Knockardakin. The coastal path between Doolin and Hag's Head takes roughly three hours one way and rewards you with puffins on the ledges in early summer and the Aran Islands low on the horizon. Come at opening time or in the last hour of light to miss the coach traffic, then finish the evening with a traditional music session in one of Doolin's pubs, a short drive from most cottages in the area.

2. Drive the Ring of Kerry

   This 179-kilometre loop around the Iveragh Peninsula is Ireland's best-known scenic drive, and it is best taken over two unhurried days rather than one. Stop at Kells Bay, the Gap of Dunloe and the viewpoints above Ballinskelligs Bay, and detour to Valentia Island for its tetrapod trackway. Local advice is to travel anticlockwise, away from the tour coaches. The Skellig Islands appear offshore on clear afternoons, a reminder of how far west you have come.

3. Wander the Burren

   Inland from the Clare coast, the Burren is a pale limestone plateau cracked into grykes where gentians and orchids flower in May. Walk the green roads above Fanore, visit the Neolithic Poulnabrone dolmen, and look for the ring forts and holy wells that dot the pavement. It is a landscape that repays slow travel: bring a flask, follow a looped waymarked trail, and let the light change over the terraces before heading back to your cottage.

4. Explore Connemara

   West of Galway, Connemara is bog, lake and quartzite mountain, with the Twelve Bens rising behind Letterfrack. Climb Diamond Hill in Connemara National Park for a three-hour circuit with views to Inishbofin, then follow the Sky Road out of Clifden at dusk. Roundstone and Ballyconneely have some of Ireland's finest white-sand beaches. For a longer stay, browse the cottages in County Donegal further up the same Atlantic coast.

5. Step inside Newgrange

   In the Boyne Valley, Newgrange is a passage tomb built around 3200 BC, older than Stonehenge and the pyramids at Giza. Tours leave from the Brú na Bóinne visitor centre and include the chamber where, at the winter solstice, sunrise light travels the passage to the back wall. Combine it with the neighbouring mound at Knowth and the monastic ruins at Monasterboice for a full day in the Ancient East.

6. Roam Killarney National Park

   Ireland's oldest national park wraps 26,000 acres of oak woodland, lakes and mountain around Killarney town in County Kerry. Cycle the trail to Muckross House and its working farms, take a boat across Lough Leane, or walk the Old Kenmare Road through Torc's waterfalls. Red deer have grazed here continuously since the last ice age. Killarney's restaurants and pubs make it a natural half-day pairing with the Ring of Kerry.

7. Follow the northern headlands

   The far northwest is where Ireland feels emptiest: Slieve League's sea cliffs, the beaches of the Inishowen Peninsula and long single-track roads through blanket bog. Surfers head for Bundoran, walkers for Glenveagh National Park. If you want city time to bookend the drive, holiday lettings in Dublin put the Boyne Valley, the coast and the airport within easy reach at the start or end of a trip.