What are the best places to cycle in Ireland?

Answer to the 2nd question....get the RS guide to Ireland and read it. Only you know what you'd like to see (Towns, villages, Castles, ruins, museums, pubs, etc). Decide and then plan your route(s).

Back roads are small. Sometimes tall hedges block car, truck and lorry drivers views. Sometimes well paved. Sometimes not.

Have you decided when you are going? Spring? Winter? Summer? Fall? Weather will be a factor. There's a great reason why the island is so green.

I loved the Gap of Dunloe but I saw it in early November when Kate's Cottage was closed. No crowds, 1 trap, maybe 7 cars, 3 walkers and 1 bicyclist. Pretty certain in Spring and Summer far more many people and vehicles. I walked up to the ruined house with the tree through the roof, then return to my rental car and drove over it.

Good Luck.

I have spent several months cycling in Ireland on various trips and riding just about everywhere is great. You could get inspiration from crazyguyonabike.com and cyclinguk, both of which have websites and forums dedicated to cycle touring. They have trips reports with useful links and hopefully one will tickle your fancy. I ran into the most cyclists on the west coast around Galway and Connemara but found great cycling throughout.
There are several variables which will affect your plans:
1. Where you fly into and how long you have. If stretched for time, trains in Ireland take bikes ( I think you need a ticket for the bike and I would confirm in advance ).
2. Take your own bike or rent ( cost of taking a bike on a plane can be over $100 so for short trips it may make sense to rent ).
3. Go on a tour ( in a group or self-directed ) or plan it yourself.
4. What do want to do when off the bike - castles, museums, pubs, etc.
5. Where do you plan to stay at night - camp, hostel, b&b, hotel.
I often find that the most interesting places are between the destinations that I picked out in advance so build plenty of time into your trip and enjoy.

Melissa,

I've biked all over Ireland and Northern Ireland nine times now in the past thirty years and quickly learned that the best scenery, rugged coastlines with great views, the most Irish culture (the Gaeltacht - Irish-speaking - regions and trad music in the pubs), an abundance of quiet back roads and the wettest weather (it's Ireland, after all!) are in the western counties. That would be: Clare, Galway (including the Aran Islands), Mayo, Sligo, Donegal, (Ireland's "Wild West" where few tourists and no trains venture), Kerry and Cork. The interior counties are the kind of flat, boring farmland you can find anywhere and not worth cycling unless you want to visit a specific historic site, etc., which you can do by train. Counties Antrim (Bushmills, the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge and the Giant's Causeway) and Londonderry in the North (for its history and the old walled city) also well worth a visit or more, as is Belfast.

A few other places high on the list include: Connemara (the prettiest part of the entire island) the Cliffs of Moher, the Ailwee Caves, Inishmor & Inisheer, Galway Town, Killarney National Park with Moll's Gap, Dingle Town, the Dingle Peninsula, the Ring of Kerry and more. A lot depends on your interests and time.

As for getting around and charting your own daily course, Michelin map #712 (1:400,000 scale) is quite detailed and made for cycle touring. You get the entire island at a glance. The network of secondary and smaller roads all over the Republic and the North is so extensive that it's hard to get lost. But I did just that once when I missed a small, handmade sign pointing the way I wanted to go! When I bumped up against the foot of a mountain at a dead end, I turned around and retreated.

Ditto Claudia's suggestion to read Rick's book. It's a great resource to begin with and you'll ll learn a lot.

When are you going? And how much time do you have?

If you'd like more details or have questions too extensive to cover here, just send me a PM.