VIDEO SOURCE: WILD ATLANTIC WAY/YOUTUBE

THE CLIFF COAST

Speaking about the Cliff Coast, Lonely Planet said, “The land is hard, the soul is not." It's here that Ice-Age landscapes meet west-coast warmth and unbroken views connect the mountains to the islands that dot the Atlantic.

Improbable landscapes like The Burren and the Cliffs of Moher hum with rare plants, puffin colonies and dolphins, while Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney described it as a place that can “catch the heart off guard and blow it open.” Enough said.