The best hiking routes in County Clare

County Clare presents two starkly different walking environments. In the north, Burren National Park is defined by vast sheets of grey limestone pavement, where walkers step directly onto bare rock split by deep crevices. This is not a landscape of high peaks or deep valleys, but rather a low, terraced plateau where specialized alpine and Mediterranean plants grow side by side in the rocky shelter. Underfoot, the terrain is firm but uneven, requiring constant attention to where you place your boots on the stone.

Further south and west, the limestone gives way to dark sandstone and shale. Here, the walking shifts to coastal clifftops and rolling, grassy hillsides. The paths are often clay or gravel, tracing the edge of the Atlantic where the rock layers are visible in the cliff faces as horizontal bands. This transition from the pale, porous stone of the north to the dark, impervious soils of the west dictates what you see underfoot, moving from dry rock to damp grass and peat.

In May, the Burren National Park is particularly distinctive as wildflowers bloom in the limestone grikes, drawing more visitors to the marked trail loops. The coastal paths to the west remain popular for their sheer drop-offs into the sea, while the inland farming valleys offer quieter, paved boreens for those seeking flatter ground. Choosing where to walk in Clare is a matter of deciding between the stark, rocky labyrinth of the limestone country and the grassy, cliff-edged margins of the shale territory.