Top 3 Ireland Guidebooks

Don't travel to Ireland without a few good guidebooks. Leave the stacks of free brochures and pamphlets you acquired ahead of time at home.

I have over seventy books about Ireland and about twenty of those are specifically guidebooks - or guides for the traveler offering information on sites, attractions, accommodations, dining and shopping. Some have maps. Most have photos, but all guidebooks tend to become out of date as prices change and businesses come and go.

Travel guru, Rick Steves makes a good point when he says people are often reluctant to pay the typical cost for a guidebook ($20) when they can get brochures and visitor guides for free. A good guidebook pays for itself over and over by saving the traveler time and money through offering advice and tips on good deals, the best bargains and choices according to budget. (Steves' is one of - if not - THE world's top guidebook writer.)

All good guidebooks will have information about culture, language, transportation, accommodations, shopping, dining, a glossary, maps, directions, and historical facts - with price suggestions based on the traveler's budget. I read extensively in advance when planning my trips, and I include guidebooks in my research. But I take three guidebooks with me on my trips to Ireland. These three have all the qualities mentioned above for good guidebooks, but each of these has something unique that no other guidebook has.

My top three picks for Ireland guidebooks are:


Ireland (Country Guide)
by Lonely Planet

I've been a Lonely Planet guidebook fan for years. My primary reason for choosing this as my top pick in COMPREHENSIVENESS. The sites I hit in Ireland aren't always the most popular or famous, so I want a guidebook that will have more of the out-of-the-way sites included. Lonely Planet seldom fails me. This guidebook follows all 32 Counties (includes Northern Ireland), so it completely covers the Island. Additionally, nothing compares to the liberal, easy-going, entertaining style of the Lonely Planet writers. One of my favorite features of this book are the unique sidebars with interesting facts, trivia or food for thought - like "Top Five Ways to Ruin Your Day at Dusk" or "Did St. Brendan really discover America" and "Shameless Sheilas or Symbolic Shamanesses?". This guidebook is comprehensive, informative and entertaining. When I want to look something up, this is the first guidebook I reach for.


Rick Steves' Ireland 2012
Steves is the only guidebook writer that updates his books every year, so the prices and information are the most accurate that can be found. I carry this book along with me in Ireland since the history of the sites I visit is important to me, and Rick Steves (who holds a degree in European History) is a master at briefly framing a site with a historical perspective. Rick writes his guidebooks himself, rather than have a team of writers compile information, and he spent many years as a travel guide. His guidebooks give you the sense that he's is right there with you, leading the way. He'll often direct the reader step-by-step - "turn your back on St. Patrick's Cross, and walk about 100 feet slightly uphill along the gravel path beside the cathedral... you will find yourself at the entrance of ..."

By Cary Meehan
Sacred Ireland focuses on the hidden sites frequently missed in Ireland that are also the sites that give Ireland its mystical charism, which is the very charm that attracts the traveler. Stone circles, passage tombs, ancient carved stones, dolmens, holy wells, enchanted lakes, ancient ring forts and archaeological ruins are what this book features. Another benefit is the 18 page inclusion about the origins of the sacred landscape of Ireland. This chapter puts history and myth in perspective, and helps the traveler understand the Irish historical timeline. The author is a bit of a mystic herself, and her insights and interpretations make this guidebook a great read for anyone interested in the sacred sites or ancient history of Ireland. This book is a MUST for all those interested in Thin Places.


Bord Failte Ireland Guide, 4th Edition
Put out by the Irish Tourist Board, this guide is written from the Irish perspective, welcoming the visitor to Ireland. Rather than giving specifics on prices and listings, this is an in-depth view of the sites and attractions that are constant in Ireland, complimented with endless color photographs. There's background information on Irish music, ancient Ireland, horse racing, the Irish language, Irish flora and fauna, and Irish sports. All 32 counties are included. The book is divided regionally with color coded tabs making it easy to use as a reference. It also details some of the lesser traveled areas such as Laois, Westmeath, Cavan and Moneghan. It is chocked full of photos and insider information for understanding the sites and attractions in Ireland as well as the Irish culture, lifestyle, environment, economy and heritage.

The Rock of Cashel - the thinnest place in Ireland



Cashel is a thin place.




The thinness is palpable. Your spirit is awake at Cashel.
What a pity.


Walking in Thin Places

What is a thin place? To discern the difference between an ordinary place and a thin place, one must use a spiritual perspective. In simple terms a ‘thin place’ is a place where the veil between this world and the Other world is thin, the Other world is more near.




Truth abides in thin places; naked, raw, hard to face truth. Yet the comfort, safety and strength to face that truth also abides there. Thin places captivate our imagination, yet diminish our existence. We become very small, yet we gain connection and become part of something larger than we can perceive.

The human spirit is awakened and will grow if the body and mind allow it. Simply put, a thin place is a place where one feels that indefinable mysterious power Ghandi refers to. Ghandi believed (and stated later in the same speech), that the mysterious power was God.

Thin places should not be confused with thin moments, those being times when that mysterious power is felt during a particular experience or synchronistic course of events such as the birth of a child, the return of a loved one, reconciliation with an enemy or spiritual awakening. A thin place is simply that – a PLACE where the veil is thin. The place itself calls you, draws you into itself, transports you into the presence of the world beyond this world. The thinness of place moves you into the presence of the mysterious power. There, all things you perceive through your senses are charged, electrified, illuminated with the presence of that power.

Describing the meaning of thin place is like describing love, fear, the feeling of holding your newborn child, the existence of God. All attempts are feeble and all talk is cheap. Understanding marries experience and full understanding is almost never achieved.

In truth, however, once you’ve been in a thin place and allowed your spirit to absorb that which transcends the senses, all need for definition ceases. Our spirits learn differently than our minds. All through our lives we walk through these places. Some people notice the thinness. Some do not. Yet the idea of "thin places" is not new. Memorials - made by humans - have been marking thin places for thousands of years. Ancient people, especially in Ireland and Britain were forever marking spaces as sacred and worth remembering, as if to say, "something special happened here."

You can look for thin places, but frequently they will find you. Most of the sites on this web site, though they are only a handful of the thin places I have visited and photographed, were recommended to me by others in casual conversation or a short note in a letter. Once you set your spirit on finding them - they will actually find you. There is an intrinsic, mystical spirit woven into the fabric of nature, landscape and sky that calls out to every human heart - if only the heart is willing to listen.


May your spirit soar as you begin your journey into Thin Places.

St. Davids - a Thin Place in Wales












St. Declan's Ardmore - Ireland's First Christian Community






Ardmore is a thin place.

Adare - Ancient City in Limerick






Thin Place?

The Friary is is thin place.