Book a ferry ticket to Ireland

Riding on the back of the roaring success of the ‘Celtic Tiger' economy, Dublin is undoubtedly the spiritual and cultural heart of the Emerald Isle.

Crowded around the banks of the murky River Liffey, the city, like the country, is bound in rich layers of history, back to the days when Celtic tribes wandered the peat bogs and its easy to see why tourists today head to Dublin in such large numbers. This vibrant, fun-loving city is full of atmospheric pubs where the craic is spun and the streets echo with the ghosts of artistic luminaries, such as James Joyce and W B Yeats.

Dublin boasts the youngest population in Europe (with 41% under 25 years and 69% under 45 years). Its leafy parks are full young professionals enjoying the summer, while during winter; they seek refuge in Dublin 's numerous bars. There is no denying Dublin , the title of ‘Capital of Euro-cool' and its citizens are intent on enjoying it while it lasts.

Sightseeing highlights include the early medieval Christchurch Cathedral ( Dublin 's oldest building), the cobbled streets of Temple Bar, Phoenix Park (Europe's largest urban park), the National Gallery of Ireland and the treasures of the National Museum of Ireland, containing Europe 's finest collection of prehistoric gold artefacts. A glut of buildings and museums

(Including Trinity College , Ireland 's oldest university and the Guinness Storehouse) convey a real sense of living history. Indeed, it is this living history, conveyed through the media of music and literature, which has brought Dublin such international acclaim. In the 20th century, a string of poets and writers immortalised the city, none more so than James Joyce whose seminal Ulysses (1922), which depicts one day in Dublin, is considered by many literary critics to be the greatest novel of that century.

Elsewhere, the cities of Cork , Galway and Limerick boast their own charms, out in the rolling countryside where you can unearth the idyllic Ireland of the movies.

Here, in the atmospheric old pubs, you can experience the legendary ‘craic' where music and song lead the course of an evening. Alternatively, ramble over the hills of Glenmalure or sail through the mist shrouded Pater-Noster Lakes , places that seem a million miles away from the tourist maelstrom of Dublin . It's the undoubted lure of the landscape, along with the easy pace and rhythms of life, which draw the majority of visitors to Ireland . Once there, few are disappointed: the green, rain-hazed vistas and wild, bluff coastlines, the inspired talent for conversation and the place of music and language at the heart of Irish culture all conspire to ensure that the reality lives up to expectations.

More surprising perhaps is just how much variety this very small land packs into its countryside. The limestone terraces of the stark, eerie Burren seem separated from the fertile farmlands of Tipperary by hundreds rather than tens of miles, and the harshly beautiful west coast, with its cliffs, coves and strands, looks as if it belongs in another country altogether from the rolling plains of the central cattle-rearing counties.