Private Tours of Ireland

A fabulous day at Rathcroghan and in Kildare! Our driver Roger was wonderful and was very accommodating to let us fit in the things we were hoping to see. We'll gladly book again should we get to return to Ireland.

Amazing trip with Henry! He was just what we prayed for - we wanted a guide who was knowledgeable and friendly and would take us to “off the beaten path “ places! I highly recommend this company and Henry as guide . Martina was amazing as she coached us through process before coming and helped us setup trip! In my opinion, if you want to see Ireland the best way .. it’s a personal driver ! Especially for Americans as we drive on opposite side of road . We could enjoy the trip with so much peace having Henry !

Emerald Irish Tours created an incredible memory for our family. Owner Martina was very helpful in developing an itinerary, and communicated extremely well. Kevin our guide was knowledgeable, fun, and gave great suggestions. We would absolutely use Emerald Irish Tours for our next trip to Ireland. We were a small group of 3 (parents and adult daughter) so hiring a tour company was a little extravagant but it made the trip so enjoyable. I’m afraid of the arguments we would have had if we tried to navigate the roads and country by ourselves! Ireland is amazing and we can’t wait to go back.

I am so glad that I found Emerald Irish Tours to help with my trip to the west coast of Ireland! It was a short trip with three of us travelling together, and we enjoyed every minute of it. Martina helped to plan an itinerary with great recommendations for sightseeing. David was our driver for three days, and it was delightful to travel with him. David shared history, arranged restaurant reservations, made great suggestions for alternate stops, and even sang a little. This was my third trip to Ireland, and by far, was the easiest and best way to travel around. I highly recommend Emerald Irish Tours.

Emerald Irish Tours was a fantastic help planning our Ireland itinerary. Martina took the time through numerous email exchanges and phone calls to learn what places were on our must see, would like to see, and if there is time lists. In addition Martina suggested several other stops for us to consider, including a sheep dog demonstration @glenshanecountryfarm in Derry, the Beltany Stone Circle, and the Ardara distillery @sliabhliagdistillery in Donegal. Martina also helped us to book a driver for our travels over 6 days from Dublin to Belfast to Derry to Donegal to Dublin. While having a driver is a luxury, it took all the stress out of someone having to drive, to navigate or getting us lost. Our driver Trevor was very personable often relating historical facts or just stories about Ireland while we were traveling. He always got us to our destinations in time and was very flexible with the schedule. Our stops included the Titanic Museum and the Black Taxi tour in Belfast, the Giants Causeway, the Glenshane Farm sheepdog demonstration, the Gleann Doherty Derry Walking tour, Beltany Stone Circle, a St. Patrick's Day parade, the Donegal Castle, and the Ardara distillery in Donegal, the Caves of Maghera, Sliabh Liag on the west coast, and the Guiness Storehouse in Dublin. Many thanks Martina!

Just finished a fabulous 6 day tour of Belfast, Derry, and Donegal planned by Martina from Emerald Irish tours. We are a family of 7. Martina created an itinerary that fit our interests and made the best use of our time. Martina's local knowledge was invaluable for restaurant reservations, hotels, local attractions and drive times. Martina also arranged for our driver Trevor who made our journey fun and interesting. Trevor took very excellent care of us and remained flexible when we needed to start a little later than originally planned or when we wanted to add stops. Martina and Trevor made our Ireland family vacation one of the best. I highly recommend Emerald Irish tours.

You MUST use Emerald Irish Tours when traveling to Ireland! It took all the stress out of driving for us. Our driver Roger was an absolute GEM! He was courteous, kind, knowledgeable and a VERY safe driver. We plan on returning to Ireland and will definitely use Emerald Irish Tours and definitely will request Roger ❤️

I highly recommend Roger from Emerald Irish Tours! He was the perfect tour guide—punctual, professional, and incredibly knowledgeable. Our entire group truly loved our time with him. Roger was also a safe and reliable driver, which gave us complete peace of mind throughout the trip. We will absolutely be requesting him again for future visits to Ireland!

We are so happy with our experience with Carmel and Emerald Irish Tours. We decided to hire a driver so we could get around more easily to towns without rail service. I received a response from Carmel quickly and we set a call to plan. We had an outline of things we wanted to see and had already booked our hotels, so that made it easy. She gave fantastic suggestions. Communication was efficient and top notch. Our driver, Larry was flexible and we met up early a few times since we had stunning weather. He was a wealth of knowledge and threw n unexpected trip to Killarney since our day was so beautiful. We were able to walk around the gorgeous national park and had a great time. Every suggestion from Carmel and Larry was perfect and we felt very well taken care of every day. Having someone with great knowledge of the roads, traffic patterns and scenery made the trip stress free! Looking forward to a future visit! Highly recommend!

Working with Carmel of Emerald Irish Tours was a great experience! They assisted us with planning and transportation that made our life long dream of a trip to Ireland the best! Carmel was easy to work with and made suggestions and information that helped make our trip great! She communicated effectively with us for several months while we planned our trip. Our arrangement for transportation for our family group of 14 people was outstanding, including the knowledgable, friendly driver!

Highly recommend Emerald Irish Tours! From originally planning Martina, to our final days with Tour driver Henry, our trip was relaxing and informative. They did it ALL!

As a solo traveler, I’ve learned that my experience is what I make it. But before I can do that, I need to find great companies that will make that experience exceptional. Emerald Irish tours for that first me in Ireland. Martina was very responsive and very flexible with my tour package. Cherry on top is I had THE BEST DRIVER and Guide in David! I cannot say enough great things about David ensuring that I experienced Ireland to the fullest. David was considerate, caring, and tolerated my antics. This man is a gem! I know you have other drivers EIT, but I will always be partial to David!

Perfect custom tour created by Emerald Irish tours! David our driver was what made it so good! He catered to our every whim and even sang to us!! Only in Ireland does your driver sing! He recommend the best fish and chips I’ve ever had in my life.We were practically in tears when we departed and I definitely didn’t want to go home!

We had a wonderful tour of Northern Ireland and the Irish Atlantic coast with Emerald Irish Tours! We knew we wanted to make the most of our time and hiring our driver, Henry, via Emerald Irish Tours was perfect for our family of 5. No worries about left-hand driving, parking, or getting to our destinations safely and on-time. Special thanks to company owner, Martina, who helped us plan our itinerary to include the things we wanted and some local gems we didn't know about. Thank you to the entire team for a fantastic adventure!

Emerald Irish Tours is the way to go if you want a personalized and stressfree vacation around Ireland. Either create your own itinerary and simply have them provide you with a skilled and personalized driver (such as Tony) or ask Carmel and Martina to suggest a route and accommodation choices. A clean and comfy Mercedes van easily accommodated the four adults and lots of packages and luggage! LOTS!! Although we supplied our own itinerary and simply hired the private driver and van, I will say that Carmel had many excellent suggestions of things in the areas we might like to add on or shows in the evening that we would enjoy! All her suggestions were hits. Our driver Tony also knew all the nooks and crannies of Ireland. The best view spots, boat trips, oldest Pubs, nicest castles to visit etc. He managed the narrow roads with ease. We were a private group of four not wanting the 7am wakeup typical bus tour- load and unload vacation. Having a private driver enabled us to have a more personalized and flexible schedule. Plus- we got to see many off the beaten path sites that we would never have read about. So many scammy companies on the internet try to book you and then down grade your accommodations etc… booking our own hotels and hiring Emerald Irish Tours for the driving and extras made this our best trip ever!!!☘️

David Donnelly was our driver and guide! He was incredible, he got to know us quickly; and immediately started adding and suggesting places for us to stop and visit, outside of our regular scheduled itinerary. He was a wealth of knowledge all along our route. Most of this knowledge was verified by other guides we had at our different locations. He shared a part of his life with us throughout our entire time together making the trip calm, eventful, and 100% enjoyable. We highly recommend David if you are interested in a guided tour of Southern Ireland 🇮🇪! Thank you David!!

Carmel did an amazing job creating the perfect itinerary. She made planning our trip a breeze with many great sightseeing stops. She set up tours, bike rentals, a show, boat rides and gave us great restaurants recommendations. And we can't say enough good things about our driver Henry. We absolutely LOVED Henry! He was prompt, professional and fun. When the weather changed one day, he made sure he had other great stops for us. He took us to the most amazing places and even surprised us with fun stops (like feeding sheep and baby lambs)! We got to see and experience Ireland in a way we could never have dreamed of. I HIGHLY recommend Emerald Irish Tours and Henry as your driver!

Martina and Carmel put together a very last minute trip itinerary for us! I contacted them 2 weeks prior to our departure! And they put together a perfect agenda for our time here in Ireland! They engaged, Henry, our amazing driver who made sure we were well looked after for 9 perfect days! He implemented their itinerary to perfection and made modifications when necessary! Traveling with a driver who knows the history, loves his country, and especially keeps you safe on the many backroads is a recipe for for a relaxed and delightful vacation! From Kilkenny Castle to Waterford where we searched for my husband’s ancestors to Killarney to beautiful Dingle and the coast there and then across the ferry to County Claire and Doonbeg we experienced the beauty and culture of Ireland! So much to see and experience as we traveled on to the Cliffs of Mohre, sheep herding exhibition (and the best scones!) to a chocolate factory and the castle Dunguire and on to Galway and then west Ireland which has so much to see!! If you are planning or even considering a trip to this beautiful Emerald Island, you definitely should contact these lovely sisters who will put together the perfect trip curtailed to meet your needs! And make sure to request Henry as your driver! Thank you again for a lovely and most memorable trip Emerald Irish Tours!

Excellent, Personalized Tour of Ireland My wife and I recently completed an enjoyable and educational 8-day private tour of Ireland with Emerald Irish Tours. This was an excellent way to see the country! Seamless Planning and Organization From the start, the process was seamless. We discussed our interests with Carmel, one of the owners, who developed an excellent overall itinerary that included interesting stops, attractions, and suggested hotels in Kilkenny, Killarney, and Galway. She also selected our driver and provided the comfortable Mercedes minivan we used for the trip. We booked the hotels directly from her suggested list, which worked out very well—The Ross Hotel in Killarney was our personal favorite! The Key: Our Guide, Henry Hegarty While the planning was important, the execution was critical, and our guide and driver, Henry Hegarty, was the key to a completely enjoyable trip. Henry is an expert on all things Irish and an excellent, safe driver. He is also incredibly knowledgeable about the country. I was so glad Henry handled all the details of getting from point A to point B. It freed me up to simply enjoy Ireland, without worrying about narrow roads, parking, or directions. He was also very skillful in helping us decide the best stops to see, and, importantly, the ones we should skip, as there are far too many sights to cover in just eight days. This was an excellent trip and an excellent way to see Ireland. We highly recommend Emerald Irish Tours and Henry Hegarty!

Martina was an outstanding resource for our group of 3. She helped us plan a wonderful 11 day itinerary with a fantastic driver guide (David). Martina provided great insights and service. I highly recommend this company to anyone looking to make the most of their Ireland trip!

Carmel did a fantastic job with her recommendations and really tried to get everything on my bucket list into our itinerary. David our driver was such a huge help getting all of us to relax and enjoy the trip. He was so knowledgeable. We learned so much about Ireland’s rich history from David. He was a pleasure. After 5 days, David felt like a family member. I would highly recommend Emerald Irish Tours to anyone looking for a well done itinerary, safe and enjoyable experience!

We had an outstanding experience with Emerald Irish Tours! Carmel was personable and ensured that every aspect of our trip was thoughtfully planned, making both transportation and our time in Ireland as enjoyable and seamless as possible. We had a somewhat unusual itinerary, with pickup in Dublin and transport to Clonegal to stay at Huntington Castle. The next day, we needed pickup at Huntington for our full-day visit to Kilkenny and then a return to Huntington for the night—followed by a final pickup the next morning and drop-off back in Dublin. Every detail was handled flawlessly and was stress-free for our family of 6. Our driver, Roger, was exceptional. He was punctual, communicative, and extremely friendly. He truly went above and beyond for our family, tailoring the day trip to our interests, ensuring our comfort throughout, and patiently answering all of our questions. I would highly recommend Emerald Irish Tours to anyone looking for a personalized driver and tour guide while visiting Ireland.

We had a fantastic early Christmas trip to Dingle, Cork and Cobh, and Dublin with stops at Muckross House, Avoca, and Glendalough among others. Our guide, Roger O'Connor was most accommodating for our group of six people of varied ages and interests. I'd use Emerald Irish Tours again in a heartbeat!

Emerald Irish Tours were exceptional! Carmel was very flexible in the planning stages and had wonderful suggestions. Our driver, Rebecca, was always on time picking us up and very generous with her time. Happily recommended!

Roger is a delightful person and wonderful driver! He knows everything about the landscape and found several breathtaking photo opportunities for our group. He is kind, good-humored, patient with passengers who maybe did too much shopping, and a true asset to Emerald Irish Tours.

At the end of June into the beginning of July, we took an 8-day bespoke tour booked through Emerald Irish Tours. Eamonn was our driver, and it was easily the best family vacation we’ve ever had! My husband and I were there with our three boys (ages 10, 7, 5). When I first reached out to Emerald Irish Tours, Carmel connected with me and we set up a phone call to discuss everything. I told her of the few things that we really wanted to see, but also requested that our driver take us to some places that are off the beaten path, away from tourists. She was wonderful with helping to book hotel rooms with family suites in desirable areas. She also highly recommended Meadow View Farmhouse (an AirBnb) in County Tipperary for three nights of our stay. It was incredible. Easily our favorite place we stayed all week! Eamonn was FANTASTIC. He was so wonderful with the kids, and truly every day of this trip was incredible. Not only did he take us to the big things we wanted to see (like the Rock of Cashel, Killarney Nat’l Park, Cliffs of Moher), but there were so many smaller random things that were thrown in that made the whole trip so special. We pulled over once to watch an elementary hurling game so we could learn about that sport. Later in the week, we pulled over and watched a high school Irish football game. At one point, we were driving through a town and saw a thatched roof worker. We got out and Eamonn struck up a conversation with the roofer. It’s a dying trade, and it was so fascinating learning about how it’s all done. Towards the end of the trip, he pulled over to walk us into a peat bog and teach us all about it! Eamonn introduced us to a local horticulturalist who showed our kids his farm and we learned about beekeeping. He set up a private tour on a farm that had fairy trees, and we learned so much about Irish folklore. I learned all about the Ring of Kerry and the Dingle Peninsula from my travel research, but Eamonn recommended a different area that locals love and tourists don’t really know about. In the interest of keeping a local secret, I won’t put the name of it here, but it was an absolute highlight of our trip. Having a driver relieved so much stress for us as parents, which relieved the stress on the kids (and all parents know that vacations are so much better when the kids aren’t losing their minds). It was so nice not having to plan our days or figure out parking or directions or learn about comfortably driving on the other side of the road on the other side of the car (we are from the US). For meals and tours, he was able to just drop us off and he would figure out parking while we went on our way. There are so many additional things that Eamonn did that made this trip so incredible, and I can’t say enough good things about it. At the end of the trip when we had to say goodbye, many of us were teary-eyed. We know we have a good friend in Ireland now! If you are looking for a bespoke Irish tour, I highly recommend Emerald Irish Tours and Eamonn!

Carmel helped us plan the perfect two-week itinerary for our trip to Ireland. David, as our driver and tour guide was helpful, friendly and knowledgeable of Irish history and culture. He got to know our likes and interests and modified the plan to match. Can’t say enough good things about Emerald Irish Tours, Carmel and David.

Excellent experience! Our Driver Larry was GREAT. We could see the country as we travelled. I felt completely confident with Larry behind the wheel on the narrow roads in Ireland. He was informative and interesting. I would recommend Emerald Irish Tours and Larry!