Wild Atlantic Way | PH Dream Drives

Done the NC500? Ireland's 1,550-mile coastal route is a lesser-known heaven

By Sam Sheehan / Sunday, 20 September 2026 / Loading comments

The Wild Atlantic Way is a 1,550-mile ribbon of tarmac that, despite being far less well known, could give Scotland’s North Coast 500 a run for its money. The Emerald Isle’s westerly route joins up a series of winding roads from the dramatic tip of Malin Head in County Donegal to the leafy landscape of Kinsale in County Cork. With several towns and even full-sized cities like Galway, Limerick and Cork to visit on the way, it offers something for the rural and urban explorers alike. Oh, and you won’t be surprised to hear that the pubs on the route are truly exceptional, as I shall explain.

So long is the route - it’s three times the NC500 and even 500 miles longer than the coastal route that runs from the northern to southern tips of the state of California - that there’s no shame in cutting it in half and doing the other side on a separate trip. Indeed, lots of Brits who arrive via the ferry from Holyhead do just that, beelining straight from Dublin Port on the east coast to Galway on the west via the M6 motorway. That’s how we started our trip, albeit with a mandatory stop on the way. But before we get to that, the car…

I could have taken my Clio 182, which, some might recall, was my steed of choice for my NC500 trip back in 2021. But my new-to-me second car, a 986 Porsche Boxster S, is actually far better suited to the Wild Atlantic Highway than a firmly-sprung French hot hatch. It’s not much less practical if there are just two passengers with generous front and rear boot space. Moreover, the car had only just returned after a suspension linkages and bushes refresh at Porsche specialist La Rose, eliminating the squeaks and rattles it had developed once I’d started putting miles on it. With a fresh set of Michelin Pilot Sport 5s and a thick coat of polish, the car really felt far younger than its 25 years. And to be honest, the same could be said for our road trip companions in their 23-year-old NB MX-5, which, in typical Japanese car fashion hadn’t been driven for weeks and started the day of departure on the button.

Right, back to the route. So traffic-free was our two-hour drive from Dublin to Galway that we had surplus time to exit the motorway halfway and stop at the famous Sean’s Bar. Located bang in the middle of Ireland in the town of Athlone, Sean’s Bar is the oldest active pub in the land, with its origins tracing all the way back to 900 AD, or the time of High King of Ireland Flann Sinna. It’s a characterful wood-lined setting full of historic artifacts with a low ceiling and no shortage of beer taps. Crucially for our drive, among them was a supply of Guinness’s very delicious 0.0% (on tap, not out of a can!). A glass of this will give you enough time to soak in the pub’s history, but if you want more, there’s Athlone Castle to explore just across the road beside the River Shannon.

When you do eventually arrive on the west coast, Galway City feels small compared to Dublin - but it certainly doesn’t lack colour, character or energy. With pubs and restaurants featuring live Irish music seven days a week, a market and plenty more history to explore, this proved to be a spot that could easily entertain for several days. But while our plan only allowed for one night of exploration, we managed to catch a fantastic live rendition of Galway Girl to confirm the specialness of the place. Even though we’d skipped the northern half of the Wild Atlantic Way, it was clear we’d arrived in Ireland, proper.

With morning coffees drunk (the coffee standard in Ireland is consistently brilliant), fuel topped up and clouds making way for blue skies, we set off first thing to head south into County Clare for our first stint of coastal road. County Clare has everything from medieval fortresses to ancient volcanic landscapes to explore, and it’s the latter that grabbed our attention during planning, and only partly because it features some great initial stretches of tarmac.

Poulnabrone Dolmen is a Neolithic tomb from 3,800 BC located just off the twisting, undulating and sometimes narrow R480, which provided a first chance for the Boxster to really stretch its legs. Laid over a limestone landscape that was formed under an ancient ocean millions of years ago, it’s a rollercoaster of a route not dissimilar to an NC500 B road. You might be inclined to press on along it, but stopping to see the Neolithic construction is well worth it, as it’s a small site, but one that really makes you appreciate the passing of time. The tomb is 1,000 years older than Egypt’s pyramids.

Back in the car with the roof now firmly down under blue skies, our route back to the coast took us through the small but picturesque village of Doolin, and via several spots with names like “Spanish Point”. Some of these relate to when ships of the Spanish Armada, which had been chased away from England after defeat by the Royal Navy in 1588, sank off shore on the Irish west coast in bad weather. While others earned their name due to ongoing trade with Spain in later years.

The R478 road that took us to our next stop, the Cliffs of Moher, did prove to be a little congested with camper vans and coaches at points. But the cliffs are among the most dramatic views along the southern half of the Irish west coast, so they’re well worth a visit. They’re a stunning way to see the full force of the Atlantic Ocean as it meets the Emerald Isle head on, carving out the caves and curves into rock that reaches 700 feet above sea level.

You can, if you have the time, hug the coastline the whole way down from there, but you’d be forgiven for following our slight shortcut on the N67 to Killimer, along the southernmost part of Country Clare. It allowed us to skip across the estuary that borders County Kerry, using the very charming (but €25 per car!) Shannon Ferry to sail directly to the tiny Tarbert Port in 20 mins. It cuts out a 1.5 hour drive that takes you back eastwards, along the coast, and via Limerick, which for us was a shame as the city looks like a great place to visit.

But it bought us time to drive up the spectacular Conor Pass, which at 1,500-feet it’s one of Ireland’s highest driving peaks, and is not only worth the drive for the echo of exhaust note off the rockfaces that flank the road, but also the stunning views that let you look over the landscape and back out to sea. The drive back down wasn’t exactly bad either, with the light fading as the 986’s 3.2-litre flat-six inhaled denser and denser air. It felt fab as the route took us to Dingle, our stayover for the night.

Dingle is another characterful Irish town with great food and fantastic pubs. A personal favourite was Dick Mack’s, which like many traditional Irish pubs, features a bar on one side and a shop on the other. But this is no Tesco Express, it’s a traditional boot-making shop, complete with shelves of vintage tools. Irish pubs, even if you don’t drink alcohol (or if you stick to the 0.0% options), are wonderful places, and there’s always some highly talented individual playing a guitar and singing well-known Irish tunes, or even - as we found later in the trip - someone playing an actual harp to historic songs.

On the next morning, as we worked our way further southwards from Dingle, we passed through Killarney National Park and via Ladies’ View - so called because Queen Vic visited the spot once and declared it as such. Sure, some of the following roads are painfully slow as they’re single tracks, often blocked by horse-drawn carriages carrying almost exclusively American tourists, but on the other side is arguably the best stretch of tarmac on the southern-half of the Highway for a sports car. It’s called the Ring of Kerry.

Well-sighted with terrific mountainous views, flowing corners and enough width for you to enjoy it at pace without fear of treading over the white lines, it was an absolute joy to drive in the Boxster S. It is bumpy, much like a B road, and there are some unsighted dips that did see this 74,000-mile-old Porsche scuffing its nose now and then. But that was probably as much to do with tired front shocks (next on the list of jobs) as it was the undulations. The Ring of Kerry is a proper driver’s road, and you could easily do laps of it all day and not get bored - not least because the traffic volume is so low!

Killarney provided our next layover, and what a vibrant little town it is. Those aware of my surname’s Kerry and Cork connections might not be surprised to hear that the town is full of shops and pubs with ‘Sheehan’ and ‘Sheahan’ on the signage, one of which provides fantastic entertainment with more live music and excellent Guinness. Heck, there’s even a bar with a nightclub in the back there, meaning those inclined to get moving after a few pints of the good stuff are well catered to.

It’s worth making sure your eyes are fresh for the morning, though, as the next leg of driving is the greenest of the lot, with dense forest and thick mosses covering the rocky landscape. It was great to discover long stretches of road with much smoother tarmac than the Ring of Kerry, allowing the Boxster to flow between corners with no clenching of the arse cheeks over bumps. Again, this is a route you might want to press on along, but it’s worth letting both car and driver cool off beside the 20-metre high Torc Waterfall in Killarney National Park, as it’s a real natural beauty. Go early in the morning and you might even beat all the tourists.

Powering up Kilkasen and soaking in the views of the lakes and estuaries around us, the natural world around you is almost as intoxicating as the open stretches of road, which by now has so little traffic on it that any passing vehicle comes as a surprise. The surface on the N71 here is smooth and fresh, with recently-painted road markings confirming its newness - so while the route is not as thrilling as the Ring of Kerry, it might be better suited to cars inclined to bottom out now and then.

If you like fish and chips, by the way, you must stop at The Chunky Chip in Clonakilty, because it’s delicious. It certainly provided us with the fuel for the final push on our journey to Kinsale, which is a sleepier coastal town, but one that still manages to have a plentiful supply of excellent pubs and restaurants. I must admit, I expected Irish food to be great at points, but right up until the last stop, it really proved exceptional.

Combine this with the fact that Ireland has the greatest pubs on the planet - containing some of the friendliest locals you’ll ever find - and it really does make for a heartwarming road trip. Sure, the weather is inevitably going to be mixed, finding high octane fuel did prove trickier than in the UK (it’s mostly RON95 along the way) and the roads can’t quite offer the thrill factor of the NC500’s fastest stretches. But in a Porsche drop-top being driven at six or seven tenths, the half of the Wild Atlantic Highway that we explored felt like a match made in heaven.

Safe to say I’m planning to fill in the gaps from this trip on future voyages, with our schedule preventing us from experiencing not only the Wild Atlantic Highway’s northern half, but also the city of Cork. Maybe I’ll venture back as soon as next year, especially now I know the Boxster can do it reliably - and squeak free.