11 Day Culinary Ireland (Northern Regions)
Day 1 - DEPART USA: Meet at the international airport three hours before departure. Dinner and breakfast served during flight.
Day 2 - WELCOME TO IRELAND:
Arrive at Dublin Airport and be met by your guide.
Board your modern motor-coach and travel to central Dublin.
Upon arrival, enjoy a panoramic tour of Dublin
Here you will discover the north and south sides of the River Liffey. The north side offers great striking monuments such as the GPO (General Post Office) on the city main thoroughfare, O'Connell Street, or the Custom House along the quays, as well as the Phoenix Park, the largest public park in Europe. The south side appears more sophisticated with its vast Georgian squares, such as Merrion Square, where Oscar Wilde’s House can still be found (today owned by an American College), its colourful doors, along with Grafton Street and its quality shops. Not so far from St. Stephen’s Green, in Kildare St., you will see the house of Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula. This part of the city is also dominated by the students of Trinity College, where the famous book of Kells is permanently exhibited in its library. The university is facing the medieval district where Dublin Castle and the two Anglican Cathedrals can be found.
Visit the Teeling Whiskey Distilery
Guests are guided through the full production process of whiskey making, from mashing, to fermentation onto the distillation and then maturation. During this guided tour, visitors will learn how this flavoursome craft whiskey gets its unique smooth taste before culminating in the Tasting Bar where volunteers will be chosen for a comparison tasting test, while all others enjoy a glass of Teeling Small Batch neat, on the rocks or as an 'Old Fashioned Cocktail’.
Check in to your hotel
In the evening enjoy welcome dinner at a local pub/restaurant
Overnight, bed and breakfast at your hotel in Dublin or area
DAY 03 - DUBLIN:
This morning visit Butlers Chocolate Factory
Like millions all over the world, have you ever wondered about what really goes on behind the doors of a real working chocolate factory? Close your eyes for a moment and imagine if you will the unmistakable aroma of chocolate assailing your senses and the cornucopia of chocolate in all forms that surrounds you. You can now make this dream a reality by visiting Butlers Chocolates Factory in north Dublin and taking the Butlers Chocolate Experience Tour.
Drive to harbour of Howth and spend free time for lunch.
Return back to Dublin for a free time at your leisure
Overnight, bed and breakfast at your hotel in Dublin or area
DAY 04 - DUBLIN TO BELFAST:
This morning journey to Belfast
En-route visit the Armagh Cider Farm
Experience the whole process of cider making - ‘from blossom to bottle’. A tour of our cidery will give you an insight into thier orchards as well as an opportunity to see first-hand where the cider and apple juices are made.
You will have the opportunity to taste and compare all their products.
Continue with a general panoramic tour of Belfast
A guided city tour is an excellent way to discover Belfast City. The tour will take in the leaning Albert Memorial Clock tower (Irelands answer to the Tower of Pisa) and the Opera House, which is one of Belfast’s great landmarks. Your tour will pass by the City Hall, the Opera house, The Crown Bar (dates from 1885), Queens University and the Botanic Gardens. Some tours will take in a visit to the Harland and Wolfe Shipyard, where the Titanic was built and launched in 1912.
Check in to your hotel
Overnight, dinner, bed and breakfast at your hotel in Belfast or area.
DAY 05 - BELFAST:
This morning enjoy Traditional Bread making session
Based in Comber, County Down on the shores of Strangford Lough, Tracey Jeffrey has a beautiful traditional cottage where she provides a traditional Irish bread making experience. The session starts with a traditional Irish Fruit Soda Cake, a sweet treat and delicious with lots of homemade Irish butter. While the Fruit Soda Cake is baking in the stove oven, guests will make some potato bread (or fudge as it is known locally). Fillings of scallions or cheese can be added to the potato mix. Soda bread will also be made, with various alternative ingredients, including treacle, currants, sultanas or cinnamon. Tray-bakes are a typical sweet treat from Northern Ireland, and are delicious served with tea or coffee. Guests will take home a bag filled with their handmade products and all of the recipes. Tracey also offers various day trips in Northern Ireland and she has an in-depth knowledge of where to find great local producers, where guests will hear their story and taste their produce. Guests will sample foods as varied as single estate whiskey to artisan dulse wheaten bread.
Return back to Belfast and visit St. George’s Market or spend the balance of the day at your leisure
St George's Market is the last surviving Victorian covered market in Belfast. There has been a Friday market on site since 1604. The present award-winning St George's Market, built between 1890 and 1896, is one of Belfast's oldest attractions. As well as being home to some of the finest fresh produce, with customers travelling near and far to sample the delights of Friday, Saturday and Sunday markets, it has become one of the city's most popular places to visit.
*available on Fridays, Saturday and Sundays only
Return back to hotel
Overnight, bed and breakfast at your hotel in Belfast or area
DAY 06 - BELFAST TO DONEGAL:
This morning journey to Donegal
En-route visit Giant’s Causeway
Encounter Northern Ireland’s favourite giant Finn McCool at the new Giants Causeway Visitor centre on the North Antrim coast which opened in the summer of 2012. According to legend Finn McCool created the Giants Causeway by building stepping stones to Scotland to challenge the Scottish giant Benandonner! The new Visitor centre explores the major themes of mythology, geology, landscape, ecology, culture and social history based on the UNESCO World Heritage site that consists of 40,000 basalt polygonal columns formed 60 million years ago after a volcanic eruption. There are various interactive exhibits and short video presentations within five designated interpretive exhibition areas and the self guided visit will culminate with a spectacular two minutes audio-visual projection of a volcanic eruption flowing over the walls and onto the floor. Other services and facilities include a large craft and souvenir shop, Tourist Information and restaurant. To enhance the wider visitor experience around the site, a hand held audio guide is available in a range of languages which will bring the wider World Heritage Site to life and inform visitors of unique features to look out for across this amazing landscape. Guided tours of the site are also available. The walks and trails around the World Heritage Site have been upgraded, with the addition of a new accessible cliff top walk for families and people with disabilities. In 2015, Conde Nast Traveler magazine included hopping the stones of the Giant's Causeway as one of the '50 things to do in Europe before you die'.
Enjoy lunch at Broughgammon Farm
The Cole family set up Broughgammon Farm in 2011, when they saw that a majority of male kid goats born to the dairy industry were being put down at birth. They set out to take those males and rear them for delicious and healthy cabrito kid goat meat. Since then they have branched out into rearing free-range rose veal and also seasonal wild game also. They now have an artisan on-site butchery, run seasonal cookery, butchery and wild game classes and have a farm shop selling the best of Northern Irish and Irish produce. The farm is situated three miles from the rugged North Antrim coastline, nestled between the towns of Ballycastle and Bushmills. The farm is roughly a third arable, a third improved grazing and a third rough hill ground. With a stream running through it, a small pond, odd clusters of mature trees and well maintained hedgerows, it is an environmental paradise. In 2006 they built a state of the art farmhouse incorporating solar thermal heating, an air-source heat pump, an MVHR (Mechanical-Ventilation with Heat Recovery) system, wind energy (windmills), heavy use of insulation, a wood pellet boiler and a wood stove. They believe in sustainable food sourcing, be it the reduction in the culling of males produced in the dairy industry as a 'by-product’, and instead utilizing them as the superb resource they are, or the way in which we fail to use our beautiful game resource, favouring farmed game instead, and also the concept of food miles. Their belief in a sustainable food chain has seen them promote local diversification in farmsteads encouraging other farmers with by-products to think differently. The butchery facility was incorporated into traditional stone-built barns aiming to be vernacular with the surrounding area. They were active members in the Countryside Management Scheme (CMS) between 2006 and 2015. Under the scheme, they have actively restored the majority of the farm’s field boundaries with double fencing, re-established dry-stone walls, sheughs and ditches. They have also aimed to plant approximately 10% of the farm with woodland or shelter belts. The hedgerow restoration has been designed in such a manner as to encourage Wildlife Corridors between tree plantings, allowing for abundant and plentiful habitat. They have also made a personal proposal to plant areas of wildflower and bird cover mixes to encourage wildlife.
Check-in to your hotel
Overnight, bed and breakfast at your hotel in Donegal or area
DAY 07 - DONEGAL TO GALWAY:
This morning journey to Galway
En-route enjoy seafood foraging in County Sligo with a seafood lunch
Seaweed is being touted as the new superfood – now learn to harvest your own! All age groups will enjoy this culinary adventure to Coney Island starting and finishing at Trá Bán Restaurant in Strandhill. First Dr. Prannie Rhatigan leads a walk and talk along the seashore introducing the fascinating world of edible seaweed and how to identify and harvest them. With appetites well whetted, join Anthony Gray of award winning Trá Bán Restaurant for a delicious lunch of local Lissadell mussels cooked on an open fire.=
Continue to Galway and check in to your hotel
Overnight, bed and breakfast at your hotel in Galway or area
DAY 08 - GALWAY:
This morning enjoy Lough Corrib cruise with Irish coffee
The Corrib Princess sails from Woodquay in the heart of Galway city, along the famous Steamers Line, which is the lakes traditional trade route. The journey takes passengers along the majestic River Corrib and onto the lake providing visitors with a guided commentary in a number of languages on the historic monuments and natural amenities on this waterway that leads to the largest lake in the Republic of Ireland. There is an abundance of wild life and the Corrib has a peace and tranquillity all of its own. The normal sightseeing tour is 90 minutes in duration with indoor seating for guests and tea/coffee plus traditional scones are included during the cruise. Irish coffee demonstrations can be organised during the cruise. Evening dinner and entertainment cruise options are also available.
In the afternoon enjoy whiskey tour of Galway
Galway is a city steeped in romance and history. Explore the atmosphere of its streets, restaurants, cafes and casual ambiance of some of Galway’s hidden gems on this tour. Your tour will be guided by a friendly local guide, who knows Galway like the back of their hand and will no doubt let you in on some of the hidden secrets of the city along with recommendations off the beaten track. You will get to taste a real flavour of Ireland. Taste handpicked uniquely Irish whiskeys in the company of our local experts only get the best tasting experience.
Overnight, bed and breakfast at your hotel in Galway or area
DAY 09 - GALWAY TO LIMERICK:
This morning journey to Limerick
En-route enjoy a tour and tasting at the Burren Smokehouse
At Burren Smokehouse visitor centre you can get a tasting of Burren smoked salmon. You can discover mosaics inside and outside the shop, and look at the first kiln used when the Burren Smokehouse was first set up. You can also watch a DVD presentation about the smoking process.
Visit St. Tola’s Goat Farm
St Tolas is goat farm of 65 acres located in North County Clare near the Burren and 30 minutes from the famous Cliffs of Moher. Siobhan Ni Ghairbhith took over the farm in 1999 and 2 years later, St.Tola became a registered organic cheese producer. Siobhan has developed the business from a local industry to an internationally recognised and award winning brand but the cheese is still hand made in small batches as the artisanal quality of their cheese is paramount. Guided tours of the farm are offered where the group is taken into the sheds where the goats live for the winter months (and also in the summer if the weather is not good). If the weather is good and the animals are outside, guests will be taken to the fields. The tour is then a talk on sustainable farming, feeding, breeding and milking and the benefits of goat milk products. They give a history of Cheesemaking in Ireland and then the visitors get to see the milking parlour. Next a cheese making demonstration is given to the group and everyone will get to taste the full range of cheeses.
*Opens Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays only
ALTERNATIVE VISIT: Visit AiIlwee Caves for cheese tasting
Although one of the oldest in Ireland, Aillwee Cave is still a fairly recent discovery. Located near Ballyvaughan, the Aillwee Cave is easily accessible for visitors and features great caverns, stalactites and subterranean rivers. The Aillwee Cave is basically a single tunnel burrowing a kilometre into the Aillwee Hill. The original show cave consists of three chambers, Bear Haven, Mud Hall and the Cascade Chamber. Beyond the tunnel in to the new cave the passages become much larger. The show-cave ends where the floor falls steeply at the beginning of the Highway, a straight passage 90m long and 20m high - one of the largest caverns in the Burren. This passage leads to the river cavern, which although buried deep in the Ailwee Mountain, its sound can be heard from considerable distances.
Continue to Limerick and check in to your hotel
In the evening enjoy a dinner at a local pub/restaurant
OPTIONAL: enjoy Medieval banquet at Bunratty Castle or similar
Bunratty Castle, was built in the 15th century by the Earl of Thomond and stands on the banks of the Rathy River. For over 40 years the ladies of the Castle, aided and abetted by the Earl's Butler, have welcomed guests from all over the world to join them at The Earl's Banquet. The evening begins with a mead reception in the Great Hall of the castle, then downstairs to enjoy a four course meal with red & white wine. This is followed by entertainment by the world renowned Bunratty Castle Entertainers accompanied by harp and violin. The banquet is held twice nightly during the high season.
*A supplement in lieu of dinner at a local restaurant will apply for this option.
Overnight, bed and breakfast at your hotel in Limerick or area
DAY 10 - LIMERICK TO COUNTY KILDARE:
This morning journey to County Kildare
En-route visit Kilkenny Castle
One of the most instantly recognised buildings in Ireland, Kilkenny Castle has been an important site since it was built by the Anglo-Normans in the 12th century. The castle has been remodelled in Victorian times and set in extensive parklands which was the principal seat of the Butler family, Marquesses and Dukes of Ormonde. Due to major restoration works, the central block now includes a library, drawing room, and bedrooms decorated in 1830's splendour, as well as the beautiful Long Gallery. A suite of former servant's rooms is now the Butler Art Gallery, which mounts frequently changing exhibitions of contemporary art. The Parade Tower is the Castle's conference venue.
Enjoy the Smithwick’s Experience
Home to Ireland’s most popular ale, the Smithwick’s Experience Kilkenny opened its doors in July 2014. Housed in a restored Victorian brewing building the multi-sensory experience takes visitors on a journey through the medieval origins of brewing on the site, to the arrival of John Smithwick’s in the 1700’s up to the present day. During the tour, the Smithwick’s brewing process will be brought to life with visitors having the opportunity to experience the smells, tastes and textures of the raw materials involved in creating the perfect pint of ale.
Check in to your hotel
In the evening enjoy a farewell dinner at your hotel
Overnight, dinner, bed and breakfast at your hotel in County Kildare or area
DAY 11 - RETURN TO USA: After a hearty Irish breakfast, it is sadly time to bid farewell as you drive to the airport for your transatlantic flight home – the end of a most enjoyable journey.