Experience the best of Shannon

Shannon was laid out in the 1960s as a new town for the workers of the nearby airport, which began life as a stopover for transatlantic flights. The town itself is modern and low-rise, with parks and housing estates, but it stands on the northern bank of the wide Shannon Estuary, in a landscape of fields, wetlands and old tower houses.

Bunratty Castle, a fifteenth-century tower house with a folk park of rebuilt cottages and farmsteads, stands a short drive to the east. Limerick, with King John's Castle beside the river, is about twenty-five kilometres away, and Ennis has narrow streets and traditional music sessions. Further on, the limestone pavements of the Burren, the sea cliffs at Moher and the fishing village of Doolin line the Atlantic coast, and across the estuary the museum at Foynes tells of the flying-boat era, when Irish coffee was first made.

Seafood chowder, brown bread, smoked salmon and farmhouse cheeses from Clare and Limerick are the staples, and a pint of stout or a hot Irish coffee finishes the day in a pub. County Clare is known across Ireland for its traditional music. The west is mild and wet, and the long evenings of June and July are the brightest.