Burren Walks and the Cliffs of Moher Coastal Path
The best Burren walks, from the Doolin to Cliffs of Moher coastal path to Black Head and Mullaghmore, and where to base yourself in Clare.
Burren walks are unlike walks anywhere else in Ireland, crossing a bare grey limestone landscape between Ballyvaughan, Doolin and Corofin where the flowers grow out of the cracks in the rock rather than the fields. Add the Cliffs of Moher coastal path along its Atlantic edge and north Clare packs more variety into a weekend of walking than most counties manage in a week.
What makes Burren walks unlike anywhere else in Ireland
Burren walks cross karst limestone pavement, great cracked slabs of grey rock laid out like flagstones, which holds warmth and drains instantly, creating conditions found almost nowhere else in Europe. The result is botanical chaos of the best kind, because arctic-alpine plants like mountain avens grow beside Mediterranean orchids in the same crack of the same rock, something that should not happen and in the Burren simply does. Late April through June is the season, with May the peak, when spring gentians turn patches of the pavement electric blue. Underfoot the walking is dry and grippy in a way Irish hills rarely are, though the grikes, the deep fissures between the slabs, will swallow a careless ankle. Watch your feet, then stop often to look, because the whole landscape reads like a ruin of something older, scattered with actual ruins, ring forts, tombs and famine walls climbing hills nobody has farmed in generations.
The farming here is as unusual as the flora, because Burren cattle graze the uplands through the winter rather than the summer, an ancient practice called winterage that the limestone's stored warmth makes possible. That grazing is precisely why the flowers thrive, since the cattle clear the rough growth over winter and leave the pavement open for the spring bloom, meaning the landscape you walk through is a worked one, not a wilderness. Give the rock respect in rain, when wet limestone turns glassy underfoot, and wear boots with grip rather than runners even on the gentlest routes. Distances deceive in the Burren too, because a kilometre of pavement with grikes to cross takes far longer than a kilometre of track, so plan short and let the landscape slow you down.
The Doolin to Cliffs of Moher coastal path
The Doolin to Cliffs of Moher coastal path is the smart way to see Ireland's most visited natural attraction without the worst of its crowds. The path runs roughly 8km one way from Doolin village along the cliff edge to the visitor centre, climbing gradually until the full 200-metre face of the cliffs opens up ahead of you, with O'Brien's Tower on the high point and the Aran Islands out to sea. Walking in this way means you meet the cliffs gradually and mostly alone, then arrive at the busy centre section last rather than starting in it. In season a shuttle bus links the visitor centre back to Doolin, so you can walk one way and ride home, or keep walking south past Hag's Head to Liscannor if your legs want the full stretch. Stay on the path and keep back from the unfenced edge in wind, the drop is as serious as any in Ireland. If big sea cliffs get under your skin, the Slieve League cliffs in Donegal rise nearly three times higher and make a fine excuse for a second trip.
Stay on the path and keep back from the unfenced edge in wind, the drop is as serious as any in Ireland.
Timing shapes the whole experience at the cliffs. The middle of the day belongs to the coaches, while before ten in the morning and after five in the evening the cliff top empties out and the light improves in both directions. Walkers arriving on foot from Doolin skip the car park question entirely, which is its own quiet victory in July, and an evening return along the path with the sun dropping into the Atlantic is the best hour the route offers. Puffins nest on Goat Island below the cliffs in early summer, so bring binoculars between April and July if seabirds interest you at all.
Doolin, Ballyvaughan and Lisdoonvarna all have owners expecting walkers
Plan the days
Burren walking essentials at a glance
The short list worth checking before you book, whichever village you base yourself in.
- May and June for the famous Burren flowers
- Doolin to the cliffs is roughly 8km one way, shuttle back in season
- Black Head loop for the wildest full-day walking
- Burren National Park trails at Mullaghmore, near Corofin
- A car opens up the inland Burren, the coast works without one
The Black Head loop and Burren National Park at Mullaghmore
The Black Head loop near Ballyvaughan is the wildest of the marked Burren walks, following the old green road around the great bare headland at the north-west corner of the Burren with Galway Bay spread out below. Allow the best part of a day for the full circuit and carry everything you need, because once you leave Fanore or Ballyvaughan there is nothing up there but rock, feral goats and the odd ring fort. At the other end of the Burren, the national park at Mullaghmore near Corofin protects the landscape at its strangest, where the limestone folds into swirled terraced hills above turloughs, the disappearing lakes that fill and empty with the water table. Waymarked trails run from a half-hour stroll to a solid half-day loop over Mullaghmore itself, and the information point in Corofin will set you right on conditions. In flower season this is the best square mile of botany in Ireland.
Poulnabrone dolmen and the Caherconnell area
Poulnabrone dolmen stands in the middle of the high Burren between Ballyvaughan and Corofin, a portal tomb raised more than five thousand years ago, which makes it older than the pyramids and one of the oldest monuments in the country. It sits right beside the road with its own car park, so it works as a stop between walks rather than a walk in itself, and early morning or evening light suits it far better than the midday coach-tour window. The Caherconnell area around it holds one of the best preserved stone ring forts in Ireland, farmed and fought over for a thousand years, and the surrounding hills are laced with green roads and townland paths that see a fraction of the coast's footfall. This high central plateau is where the Burren feels emptiest, and a slow afternoon here balances a busy cliff morning perfectly. Carron, the small village on the plateau nearby, overlooks one of the largest turloughs in the country and makes a good lunch stop between the monuments and the road back to the coast.
Walk all day, session all evening, breakfast cooked by the owner
Browse Clare B&BsWhere to stay for Burren walks, Doolin, Ballyvaughan or Lisdoonvarna
Doolin is the base most walkers pick, at the seaward end of the coastal path with traditional music in its pubs every night of the summer and ferries to the Aran Islands from its pier. Ballyvaughan puts you inside the Burren itself, handiest for Black Head, the green roads and the north coast, with Galway city under an hour away. Lisdoonvarna sits between the two, a spa town with plenty of beds that fills to the rafters every September for its matchmaking festival, so book well ahead that month. The B&Bs in Clare across all three villages are well used to walkers, and booking direct with the owner means you can ask about drying rooms, packed lunches and which trail suits the day's weather before you ever arrive. If it is your first Irish B&B, it is worth knowing what to expect from an Irish B&B, not least the size of the breakfast you will be walking off.
Two quieter alternatives round out the options. Ennistymon, an old market town on the cascades of the Cullenagh river, sits ten minutes inland from Lahinch and keeps its pubs and shopfronts largely for locals, which suits anyone who finds Doolin too busy in August. Corofin, at the southern gate of the Burren, is the natural base for anyone whose trip is built around the national park and the lakes and turloughs of the park's fringe, and it holds its own strong music tradition without a coach in sight. Either town puts the whole of the Burren within a half-hour drive.
The Burren Way, the long-distance option
The Burren Way strings the whole landscape together into one waymarked route of roughly 115 kilometres, running from Lahinch up the coast through Doolin and Fanore, over the high Burren past Ballyvaughan and Carron, and down to Corofin over about five days. Each leg lands in a village with beds and food, which makes it a natural B&B-to-B&B walk, and owners along the route are used to moving bags ahead for walkers who ask. You do not need to commit to the whole thing, because any single leg works as a day walk, and the Doolin to Ballyvaughan stage over the shoulder of Slieve Elva is a strong contender for the best inland day in Clare. However you slice them, Burren walks reward slow travel, a good base and a proper breakfast, and booking your bed direct with a Clare owner sorts all three at once.
Frequently asked
Burren walks, common questions
When is the best time to see the Burren flowers?
Late April through June, with May the peak. That is when the spring gentians, mountain avens and early orchids are all out together in the cracks of the limestone. The flora is still worth seeing into July, but May and June are the months botanists cross the country for.
Is the coastal path safe with kids?
Parts of it. The stretch beside the visitor centre is surfaced and set behind slabs, and it suits families well. The longer path towards Doolin and Hag's Head runs close to unfenced cliff edge in places, so it is better for older children who reliably stay on the path, and everyone should keep well back from the edge in wind.
How do you avoid the crowds at the Cliffs of Moher?
Walk in along the coastal path from Doolin or from the Hag's Head side instead of arriving at the visitor centre, and go early or late. Before ten in the morning and after five in the evening the cliff top is a different place, even in July. Midweek beats the weekend in every month.
Do you need a car for the Burren?
A car makes everything easier. Doolin, Lisdoonvarna and the coast are reachable by bus in season, but the inland Burren, meaning Mullaghmore, Poulnabrone and Carron, has next to no public transport. If you are carless, base yourself in Doolin and build your days around the coastal path and local buses.
What is the best single day walk?
Doolin to the Cliffs of Moher along the coastal path, roughly 8km one way, with a bus or seasonal shuttle back. It packs the full cliff experience, the crowd-free approach and a Doolin music session at the end into one day. In flower season, the Mullaghmore loop in Burren National Park runs it close.
Where are the music sessions?
Doolin is the famous one, with sessions in its pubs year-round and nightly in summer. Lisdoonvarna, Ennistymon and Kilfenora all have strong traditions too, and Kilfenora has been synonymous with céilí music for over a century. Ask your B&B owner which pub has the best session that night, they always know.
Clare, no fees
Find your Clare B&B, book direct
Owner-run beds in Doolin, Ballyvaughan, Lisdoonvarna and across north Clare, with breakfast worth walking for and no platform fee in sight.