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Signposted from the N4 at Castlebaldwin, this restaurant and country house has beautiful views of Lough Arrow mountains. Eating here is a gourmet experience with simple dishes expertly prepared.

Donegal is most famous for its tweed production (see Tweed) with Magee’s the biggest manufacturer based here. The Diamond, a triangular central market, is at the heart of the town and an obelisk in the centre commemorates four Franciscans who wrote Annals of the Four Masters in the 1630s. This extraordinary opus follows the history of the Gaelic people from the Great Flood up to the 17th century.

Sophisticated and understated bar-restaurant beside the river. The excellent cooking is modern Irish.

The extraordinary quartzite cone of Mount Errigal dominates the Derryveagh mountain range in this wild part of Donegal. It overlooks the Glenveagh National Park, which incorporates the beautiful Lough Veagh Valley, and Poisoned Glen. One theory behind the name is that British soldiers were fed Irish spurge, a poisonous plant indigenous to the area, to murder them.

The position of this clubhouse is worth a visit just for the view, but the food is excellent too. Fill up on delicious fresh seafood, then walk it off along the sandy beach.

An institution in Sligo, this is a real old-fashioned, dark-beamed pub. There’s a warren of rooms with benched snugs giving privacy and atmosphere. Good, hearty pub food.

This dramatic 180-m (600-ft) rockface is home to hundreds of seabirds, including guillemots, gulls and puffins, which swoop in and out of the crevices hewn into the rock. The headland is covered in purple heather and the views over the Atlantic are stupendous.

Undiscovered by so many, this glorious corner in the far northwest has possibly the finest scenery in Ireland, with the spectacular Slieve Snaght Mountain in the centre, Foyle and Swilly lakes to east and west, and the dune-fringed beaches facing the Atlantic. The peninsula also has its share of dramatic headlands and boasts Ireland’s most north-westerly point at Malin Head.

Beside the pier, this atmospheric restaurant-bar serves first-class seafood and a range of meat and vegetarian dishes. Traditional music most Sundays.

An exciting place to be when the boats come in, Killybegs is one of the busiest fishing ports in the country. As the trawlers unload their catches gulls squawk over the water in an attempt to claim a discarded morsel.