The Burren

The Burren

The Burren is a plain of limestone, about 15,000 hectares of it, in north County Clare. It is a karst landscape — a place where the rain has dissolved the rock over millions of years, leaving a surface of cracks, hollows and dry stone walls, and a soil that is thin and poor and full of plants. It is a UNESCO Global Geopark, and it is one of the great walking places in the country.

The name is a worn-down form of an older Irish word, and the place has been farmed for a very long time. The dry stone walls are the mark of that farming, and the Burren is a place where the human and the natural are so closely joined that it is hard to tell one from the other.

The plants

The Burren is a botanist's place. The thin, poor soil and the limestone have produced a flora that is dense and varied, and the number of plant species in a small area is one of the highest in the country. The orchids, the gentians and the saxifrages are the best-known, and the Burren is a good place for a walk in late spring, when the flowers are out.

The walks

The Burren Way is a long-distance walk, a multi-day route that follows the length of the Burren and the coast below the Cliffs of Moher. It is a good walk for a longer trip, and the shorter walks in the Burren are a good half day. The ground is rough, and the weather is quick, and the Burren is a place for people who are used to the west coast.

The Poulnabrone dolmen, a passage tomb of about five thousand years, is one of the best-known monuments in the Burren, and a good place to start.

When to go

The light is best in late spring and early summer, when the flowers are out and the days are long. The Burren is at its most dramatic in a winter gale, and the view from the top of the Burren, on a clear day, is a long one.

Practical

Free to walk. There are a number of waymarked walks of varying length and difficulty; check the current status of any path before you set out. The village of Doolin is the base for most walkers.