Special-Interest Vacations

There seems to be a limitless array of tours in Ireland, from Ghost Tours of Dublin, to trips to the Aran Islands from Galway, to horseback rides through the Burren. In each chapter, we've listed a few of our favorites for that region. Some of the best of the best are noted here.

The Dublin bus company, Dublin Bus (tel. 01/873-4222; www.dublinbus.ie), operates several tours of Dublin and the coast, all of which depart from the Dublin Bus office at 59 Upper O'Connell St., Dublin 1. You can buy your ticket from the bus driver or book in advance at the Dublin Bus office or at the Dublin Tourism ticket desk on Suffolk Street.

Gray Line (tel. 01/605-7705) offers a range of full-day and multiple-day excursions from Dublin, to Glendalough, Newgrange, and Powerscourt, around the Ring of Kerry, and down to Kilkenny. For day trips adult fares range from €20 to €30 ($26-$39).

The national bus company, Bus Éireann (tel. 091/562000; www.buseireann.ie) provides a good range of tours throughout Ireland. You can tour Dublin and around to Glendalough or Newgrange by bus, or travel by boat to Waterford, and it also offers good tours of Galway, taking in the Maam Cross, Recess, Roundstone, and Clifden. Day tours start at around €22 ($29).

There are also a number of smaller tour companies, often run by locals, that lead excellent tours to various regions. Some of those are listed here.

For touring the Wicklow Mountains and Glendalough, try Aran Tours (tel. 01/280-1899; www.wildcoachtours.com), which offers a tour it has dubbed the "Wild Wicklow Tour." Wild might be too strong a word, but it is certainly lively and enjoyable, and includes visits to Avoca and Sally Gap.

A slightly less wild tour, with a more historical, intellectual approach to Ireland is Mary Gibbons Tours (tel. 01/283-9973), which leads absorbing, in-depth tours of Dublin and Glendalough.

In Belfast, don't miss a chance to take one of the extraordinary Black Cab Tours (tel. 0800/052-3914; www.belfasttours.com), which take you through the areas where the Troubles had the most impact, and explain it all in compassionate, firsthand terms.