Discover Doolin

The home of Irish traditional music

Doolin sits where the Burren meets the Atlantic, on the north Clare coast a few miles up from the Cliffs of Moher. It is not really one village but a string of linked sections: Fisher Street near the harbour, Roadford a little inland, the pier at Doolin Harbour, and Fitz's Cross where the road branches for Lisdoonvarna. There is no defined centre, which is part of the character, and most of what a visitor comes for is within a short walk or drive of the rest.

The reason Doolin is on the map is the music. County Clare is the trad-music heartland of Ireland, and Doolin is widely called its home, with sessions played in the pubs every night of the year. The three Russell brothers, Micho, Packie and Gussie, born up the hill at Doonagore, carried the local style to a worldwide audience in the second half of the twentieth century, and the village still keeps their memory with the Russell festival each February. Around the music sits the rest: a working pier with ferries to the Aran Islands and cliff cruises along the Cliffs of Moher, the Great Stalactite at Doolin Cave, the limestone walking country of the Burren, and a food and craft scene that punches well above the size of the place.