Ireland is a beauty. There is no doubt as to why it’s called the Emerald Isle. The rolling green hills literally go on for days and are more gorgeous around every bend. However, when those rolling green hills are never ending when you are hiking the Cliffs of Moher and your whole body hurts and you just want it to be over — it’s a different story.
Visiting the Cliffs of Moher was a must when I took a trip to Ireland for work, and brought my mom along for the adventure. We had a jam packed schedule but I was determined to fit it in between attractions I was scheduled to visit on both coasts of Ireland.
After a day in Dublin, we were headed to Galway so why not make a detour to the Cliffs of Moher. It’s on the way, there’s only 90 minutes between Cliffs of Moher and Galway, no biggie.
Cliffs of Moher in Ireland; Courtesy of Susan Elko
Driving in Ireland
Before the 90 minute drive from Cliffs of Moher to Galway, I had to drive us three and half hours from Dublin to the Cliffs. Thankfully, I quickly discovered that driving on a highway in Ireland and out of the city limits of Dublin was less anxiety-ridden as my first day’s adventures driving on the left side of the road.
Plopping in the right-sided driver’s seat in the airport rental car parking lot, I looked at the rental car employee like, you’re coming with us, right? You are clearly not going to let this naive American driver pull out of this parking lot with zero instruction on how to drive on the left side of the road. I pleaded with my eyes for him to magically inform me on how to do this and not kill us. But instead, he handed me the keys and said, “it’s not that hard,” in a delightful Irish brogue.
I immediately panicked upon first left turn and screamed and yelled inside the car that I was NOT going to be doing this for a week. There was no way I was going to be able to drive. We needed to come up with another solution. I was not going to do this!
There was no other solution.
I was going to be driving on the left side of the road in Ireland for a week.
I watched some YouTube videos prior to departing for Ireland and the most luck o’ the Irish advice I learned was the mantra “sharp left, wide right.” It’s the opposite of how we make turns in the U.S. and it feels like you’re about to head into oncoming traffic as you make a turn. So I literally said yelled obnoxiously loud at every turn I made, SHARP LEFT or WIDE RIGHT on repeat until I completed the turn. I needed my steering hands to catch up with my brain and make the odd Ireland turn correctly, and the yelling helped make that happen.
Highways were easy to master. Once you were on the highway, it was no different than the U.S. I just kept my eyes on my side of the highway. Extremely tiny country roads, however, were a little different. My mother would tell you, they were a lot different.
We had a small “European-type” rental car. But when we got on the incredibly narrow country roads that often had a stone wall on one side and oncoming vehicles on the other (that is, when the road was wide enough to fit two cars), it felt like I was driving a school bus. The country roads were so narrow that I had to hug one side or the other in order to avoid the cars coming at me, and I usual chose the passenger side. We were constantly hitting bushes, and vines and branches that grew up the side of the stone walls and my mom would flinch and gasp, and theoretically dodge things coming at her every time we ventured down a backroad. I would then yell at her for flinching and gasping because it would make me over compensate on my side of the road, and I figured hitting a million bushes was better than hitting one car.
But after three and a half glorious highway hours of left side of the road driving, we finally arrived at the majestic Cliffs of Moher, ready to explore this popular Ireland tourist destination.
Related: 3 Ways to Spend One Day in Dublin
The Cliffs of Moher in Ireland; Courtesy of Courtney Elko
Hiking the Cliffs of Moher
We checked out the viewpoints at the Visitor’s Center with all the other tourists, wandered around taking photos, and had a bite to eat. The Cliffs were magnificent but I had done research about hiking the cliffs and knew if we walked from the southern end toward the north the views would be even more amazing.
The Cliffs of Moher officially run 8 miles from Hags Head in the south to Doolin in the north and the Visitor’s Center is located in the center. I had read that you could take a shuttle bus to either end of the Cliffs of Moher and then take the shuttle bus back or hike back to the center where the Visitor’s Center (and our car) was located. If the entire length of the Cliffs trail is 8 miles, I figured doing half wouldn’t be that bad. The southern route from Hags Head toward the Visitor’s Center was about 3.7 miles long on a well-marked, easy, dirt trail. I had confidence that me and my mom could complete this hike in an hour or two with no issue.
Our first clue that maybe this wasn’t a good idea, was when we missed the shuttle bus and had to hire a taxi to take us to the southern end of the Cliffs at Hags Head. We asked several Visitor Center employees how to go about doing this and when I explained that we wanted to take a taxi there, and then hike back, every single person would tilt there head in bewilderment and respond, “you want to hike back?”
I in turn was confused by their confusion. I was under the impression that people did this all the time and it was the best way to see the cliffs, avoid the crowds and the hike was on a trail that wasn’t strenuous. I wondered if they were looking at our bodies and thinking, no way you Americans are going to be able to physically do that? Or was this just not done?
Nevertheless, we hired a taxi driver who drove us to the southern end of the cliffs at Hags Head, and of course had to take a tiny, narrow, dirt road to get there and I was very thankful to not be the one in the driver’s seat.
We arrived at Hags Head, passed some horses as we began our journey on the coastal dirt trail, and rounded a bend to see the Cliffs of Moher open up and welcome us with greens and blues as far as the eye could see. It was truly incredible. The view was like nothing I had ever seen before. People were strolling the trail, having picnics in the greenest of grass, someone was playing the violin, which set the Irish mood even more — it was everything Ireland and the Cliffs of Moher was supposed to be. It was the absolute, Instagram-worthy photo that I had been waiting for, and we should have enjoyed that scene and photo and walked back to Hags Head to catch the shuttle bus back to the Visitor’s Center. That first 30 minutes of Moher bliss was all we needed. But no, instead, we continued to walk on and soon the Instagram-worthy photos faded and reality set in.
Cliffs of Moher trail in Ireland; Courtesy of Courtney Elko
Instagram vs. Reality
I swear the Cliffs got more green and the sky more blue around every bend and we stopped to take numerous photos. I tried to instruct my mom on how to best take my Instagram-worthy photo over and over again and finally accepted one of her attempts so we could move on down the coastal trail.
After stopping repeatedly for photos and getting that Instagram-worthy shot, reality was beginning to set in and it was not as pretty.
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We visited Ireland in June and were expecting typical Irish, dreary and cool weather. But instead we experienced zero rain, bright blue skies and warm temperatures the entire week we were there. We had packed for cool temps so while the warm temps were welcomed and allowed for excellent touring, driving and hiking conditions, our wardrobe choices, weren’t the best. Sweat quickly began dripping as we embarked on our 3.7 mile trek. Some of us (ughm my mom) hadn’t made the best of shoe choices. I wore sneakers. I’ll fully admit they weren’t the best sneakers and I’ve never worn them again after this trip. Hiking boots definitely would have been a better choice. But my mother wore these clunky clog type shoes (I called them Frankenstein shoes to be honest) that sounded like they weighed a million pounds every time she took a step.
My mom and I at the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland; Courtesy of Courtney Elko
I think back to this part of the journey all the time and try to see what was so bad about it. Because there wasn’t any dramatic event that changed things. (However, my mom does dramatically refer to this day, as the day I tried to kill her on the Cliffs of Moher.) No one fell, the trail was indeed easy. There were definitely some narrow parts and some rocky areas, but overall the hike was on the easy side.
It just seemed to go on forever, and we slowly lost all energy and will to continue. Those rolling cliffs that went on as far as the eye could see, soon became literally never ending. We would round a bend and think surely after this bend in the trail, we would see the Visitor’s Center in the horizon. But no, instead we would round the bend to see more beautifully green Cliffs of Moher. But by now the photo was becoming ugly.
We didn’t have any snacks, and had little water, which was a HUGE mistake. Remember the warm temps and dripping sweat. Looking back, if we had taken snack breaks and had plenty of water, things probably would have been different. Our basic needs were not being met, and are feet were increasing in pain with every step (or should I say clog drag in my mom’s case) as we continued around these never ending bends in the trail.
We began to pass less and less people on the trail as we continued the journey north toward the Visitor’s Center. But when we would pass other hikers who were walking from where we were headed, we would ask in desperation how much further to the Visitor’s Center, and we would get more of a sound or a grunt rather than words. “Ugh yeah it’s far, you got a ways,” was always the response.
Soon my mom and I turned on each other. She wanted to keep taking breaks and I wanted to push on so we could be done with this everlasting hike. Her feet began to drag and my patience flew off the side of the cliffs.
Thinking of it now, I know 3.7 miles is not that far at all! I’ve walked and hiked 3 miles numerous times but for some reason this hike in no way felt like 3.7 miles. I have had to google the actual distance several times because we are both in disbelief that it wasn’t actually further than that. I think the continuously winding cliffs and infinity-feeling horizon gave us the perception that we walked for 10 miles at the least. We HAD to have walked 10 miles! It felt like we walked 10 miles or more.
An easy hike that was supposed to take about 90 minutes to two hours turned into a three, plus hour trek. We arrived back at the Visitor’s Center just as it was closing so we weren’t able to use the bathrooms or buy any food or water. So that was a great treat at the end of a long journey. We miserably withered our way to the car and sat there in a daze. We changed shoes, found some snacks in the car and just sat.
But of course, the luxury of sitting in one place for a minute couldn’t last too long. Because I now had to pop myself back into the right-sided driver’s seat and begin that 90 minute drive to our next destination in Galway. Why not make a detour to the Cliffs of Moher, she said, there’s only 90 minutes between Cliffs of Moher and Galway, no biggie, she said.
This was definitely our longest day in Ireland. We drove for three and half hours, hiked for three and half hours and then drove again for an hour and a half. The pot of gold at the end of the long Irish day, however, was checking into a lovely seaside hotel in Galway.
Don’t get me wrong at all, I in no way regret cramming the Cliffs of Moher into our Ireland visit. It is absolutely one of the most beautiful places in Ireland. I would do it again. And I would even hike the Cliffs again! It’s the best way to see the Irish magic, while avoiding the tourists. However, I would know next time to bring plenty of water, wear better shoes and turn around after the Instagram moment.
Disclaimer: Please check to see that any of the above recommendations are currently open and welcoming visitors despite the pandemic, before planning a visit.
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