Cork to Donegal up the Atlantic edge — peninsulas, islands, and the parts of the Wild Atlantic Way that the coach tours cannot physically reach.
Cork and Kinsale
The English Market in Cork, then south to Kinsale for the harbour and the Old Head. An easy start.
Beara Peninsula
The one the buses skip because the road is too narrow. Healy Pass, the cable car to Dursey Island, Allihies copper mines.
Kenmare and Killarney
Over the Caha pass into Kerry. Killarney National Park on foot or by bike — Muckross, Torc, the Gap of Dunloe.
Dingle
Slea Head drive round the peninsula, beehive huts and the Blasket view. Dingle town for music that is not staged for anyone.
The Blaskets
Ferry to Great Blasket if the sea allows. The last islanders left in 1953 and three of them wrote books that are still in print.
North to Clare
The Shannon ferry from Tarbert to Killimer saves two hours and is more fun than the bridge. Loop Head at the far end for cliffs with nobody on them.
The Burren
Limestone pavement to the horizon, Poulnabrone dolmen, and the Cliffs of Moher early or late — at midday it is a car park with a view.
Aran Islands
Ferry from Doolin to Inis Oírr or Inis Mór. Dún Aonghasa sits on a cliff edge with no railing, which tells you something about how it was meant to be used.
Connemara
Bog, quartzite mountains and the Twelve Bens. Kylemore is the photograph; the Inagh valley is the drive.
Achill Island
Over the bridge to the highest sea cliffs in Ireland and the deserted village on Slievemore — nearly a hundred stone houses left after the Famine.
Sligo and Donegal
Benbulben, Yeats' grave at Drumcliffe, then north into Donegal where the accents change and the road empties.
Slieve League
Sea cliffs almost three times the height of Moher, reached by a single-track road and a walk. The last day and the best one.
Good to know
A car is close to essential; buses reach the towns and none of the peninsulas. Roads are narrow, hedged and slower than any satnav believes — plan about 60 km/h on the coast. Ferries to the islands are weather-dependent and cancel without much notice, so keep a spare day. Rain is not a season here; it is a possibility every day, and the west gets roughly twice as much of it as Dublin.
Shorter or longer?
Continue round the top to the Causeway Coast and Belfast — a different jurisdiction, currency and four or five days.
Six days, half the driving, and time to stop moving. The route above is generous with distance.