The demise of published guidebooks has been much-predicted, and as the logistics of updating them was impossible during the pandemic, it seemed to be the final nail. But with the easing of Covid-19 restrictions, the guidebook industry has made a surprising resurgence, with the past year seeing many new printed all-Ireland guides as the urge to roam remains undiminished.
Two trustworthy brands, Rough Guide to Ireland (€21.25) and Lonely Planet Ireland (€21.25), boast a long pedigree stretching back decades and are exhaustively informative. The Rough Guide is packed with advice on the best-value places to stay, themed itineraries involving food, travelling the coast, or hints for those in search of everything from antiquities to the best nightclubs. Tips are supplied on culture and etiquette along with the highlights of each region, and 25 carefully curated things not to miss. The guide advocates sampling traditional dishes such as boxty, carrageen, champ, crubeen, drisheen, fadge and soda bread.
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Author recommendations flag up favourite places, whether an independent-run cafe, an atmospheric restaurant or enigmatic ruins, and include topographical minutiae. On the Aran Islands, visitors are encouraged to look for the mirage of Hy Brasil where it is said to appear in the western sea as a mountain island and was once shown on Atlantic sea charts. All Rough Guides’ flights are carbon offset and the company donates money to a variety of environmental charities.
Lonely Planet will tell you the best place to slurp oysters, where to find the top ice-cream parlour, or where to clap along to fiddle-playing in a congenial pub. Top experiences are outlined along with urban adventures and island escapes. New additions consider sea-inspired food tours in Kerry and screen tourism with the opening of the Game of Thrones Studio tour near Banbridge.
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Outdoor activities embrace walking, cycling and waymarked trails with a warning about swarms of summer midges in the boggy parts of Donegal, Connemara and Kerry, while the guidebook states that you may also come across secret stills of poitín in these areas. Lonely Planet champions “Don’t Miss” sites such as Tintern Abbey, on the Hook peninsula of Co Wexford, the English Market in Cork, Kells Bay House and Garden, the Great Western Greenway and Errigal mountain in north Donegal.
Across the Atlantic, most US travellers stayed at home for two years. But now one of the longest-established names in American guidebooks, Fodor’s Essential Ireland (£17.99), which traces its origins to 1936 and is aimed at the well-heeled, has emerged from a break with its motto intact: “Not all those who travel are lost”. Fodor’s combines a mix of dining, drinking and shopping information alongside history lessons, cultural mores and natural wonders.
Its strengths include built heritage attractions, with six pages on the Rock of Cashel, a comprehensive look at stately houses such as Castletown and Russborough, and ancient abbeys and cathedrals, country house escapes and historic hideaways. A quirky side to Fodor’s is the fact that in each accommodation entry the writer provides balance by listing two pros and two cons of staying there, while three dishes are chosen for which each restaurant is particularly known.
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An American arch-rival guide, Frommer’s Ireland (€25), has also updated its information. Created originally in 1957 to help US servicemen fulfil their dreams of travel in Europe, the flavour of the content differs from Fodor’s but it too provides insightful direction on visitor attractions and authentic lodgings. It is savvy about saving money, with tips for everyone from backpackers looking for street-food snacks to luxury travellers searching for temples of gastronomy. Open a page at random and you will discover the top facilities for family breaks and the best farmers’ markets, and why the swaying Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge on the north Antrim coast is not for those afraid of heights, stating: “Don’t even think about it, and seriously, what are you even doing here?”
These vade mecums are practical manuals, carefully curated by professional writers, and in a superfast world are an aesthetic printed pleasure
For those wishing to study the natural world in more authoritative detail, the handsomely produced Ireland: Crossbill Guides (£25.58) covers landscape as well as flora and fauna, and suggests 23 hiking and driving routes. The guide’s ethos is to increase public involvement with nature conservation. It goes beyond simple descriptions of wildlife, explaining why and how habitats evolve, identifying plants and marine life, covering geological history and considering how people shaped the landscape. Visual highlights include dolphins, puffins and little egrets.
Tips are supplied on observation as well as responsible and sustainable tourism in times of climate change and accelerating biodiversity loss. A descriptive and practical section spotlights 13 text boxes which consider, among other subjects, rock types, seaweeds, caves, neolithic tombs, bird migration and the pride of the Burren: the spring gentian, in what it calls Ireland’s most unique area.
The Handy Wee Guide to Derry by Garbhán Downey (Colmcille Press, £7), a just-published pocket-book ideal for visitors, includes sections on the old and new city, tours and walks, music, festivals, culture and sport. Research for the book shows accommodation in Derry in the summer of 2023 is 40 per cent cheaper than staying in Belfast and 60 per cent less than Dublin prices.
These vade mecums are practical manuals, carefully curated by professional writers, and in a superfast world are an aesthetic printed pleasure saving you from squinting to read text on a screen. On a staycation they will inspire you to look closer at the treasures on your doorstep.
