County Donegal

RS is well known for only including certain places in his guidebooks. He almost completely ignores northern Spain, for example. Donegal is beautiful, less touristed than other areas, and well worth visiting. Just get another guidebook.

I agree with what Nancy said. Buy the Lonely Planet and Rough Guides for Ireland. Both thoroughly cover County Donegal.......We stayed 5 nights in County Donegal, April, 2012 at Rossmore Manor. The B and B was lovely, friendly, had great views, and easy access to Donegal town which has several good restaurants and pubs.........County Donegal surprised us. We had the impression it would be very remote; while some areas were, most of it was well settled, although not crowded. Plenty of tourists visit, mostly from northern Ireland or Europe.....The best scenery was the area west of Donegal Town, out past Killybegs. We enjoyed the Slieve League Cliffs and there are good tweed shops in Ardara. The far northwest peninsulas are pretty but littered with little white holiday cottages......Just south of Raphoe is Beltany stone circle which is stunning. Also in that area is Grinnan Alliach, a large stone hill fort. Derry is just across the border and worth a half day visit. You can also easily visit the neolithic sites around Sligo town while staying in Donegal.....While we enjoyed Donegal, the scenery was not as spectacular as Connemara or the peninsulas in County Kerry and County Cork; however, the people were the friendliest we met in Ireland.

I heartily agree with Cynthia. There are also miles and miles of deserted beaches, magnificent scenery and no elbow to elbow American's like in the south and west of Ireland. In four trips to Donegal totaling about six weeks I have only met two other Americans, most of the tourists I met are from Northern Ireland, Scotland, Germany and France. Derry and Belfast are certainly worth a couple of days, especially if you have any interest in the new Titanic Museum in Belfast. What I have done a couple of times is fly into Dublin then take the train to Sligo and a taxi to the Sligo airport to pick up a rental car and then be off. There is a lot less traffic in Donegal than in the more touristy areas farther south.

Agree it's lovely.

Donegal is somewhere we wished we would have had time for, (and almost got talked into side-tripping there by a charming Irish boy) but it's on the list for "next time". :)

The village of Glencolumbkille in the far southwestern corner of Co. Donegal is well worth a visit. It's a peaceful place to sequester yourself for a day or two, and the scenery is outstanding. A hike to the top of the cliffs is invigorating, and you'll be rewarded with grad views of the Atlantic and the valley itself. Biddy's Pub offers trad most every summer evening, and there are several good B&Bs from which to choose. Last time I was there (2007), the village had just one restaurant, a reasonably priced place near the Folk Village. Just north of Glencolumbkille is Glengesh Pass, a steep, three- or four-mile long sinewy road that snakes its way through a valley bounded by even steeper hills that seem to jump right out of the road.

The Glengesh Pass is a "must see" if you are anywhere in the area, Ardara over to Kilcar. If you have any family member who knits there is great Donegal wool available in this area. Kilcar especially.