Laois and Offaly Travel Video Guide

Laois and Offaly Travel Itinerary

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If you've come to Ireland for the scenery, the wild remote places, or the romance of the far west, then the central counties of Laois and Offaly probably don't hold a great deal to entice you. But this quiet and unremarkable part of the country between Dublin and the Shannon is an excellent place to get to know another Ireland, one not yet much hyped by the tourist authorities. Its gentle, verdant farming land bears the marks of a complex pattern of settlement: the Celtic Church, Viking invaders, the arrival of the Anglo-Normans and, very strongly in these twin counties, the planted settlements with which the British sought to keep their base in the Pale secure. It's a subtle, detailed, rural landscape which, as a result of the Act of Union in 1801 and the subsequent destruction of Ireland's foreign trade, remained untouched by the Industrial Revolution and thus virtually unchanged over the past two hundred years.

Getting around Laios and Offaly is

straightforward - the main N7 trunk road and the main railway line to Limerick slice straight through Laois, while the industrial centre of Tullamore makes an obvious transport centre, by both road and rail, for Offaly. There's an increasing number of accommodation possibilities - some comfortable, mid-price hotels and even the odd hostel - but, with the exception of the Celtic monastery at Clonmacnois, the area remains lightly touristed, and it's wise to plan overnight stops in advance.

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