h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The whole place is an island, of course, the history of which is covered admirably in A707906. There are many and varied things to do, depending on where you are: museums and galleries hang out in the cities, together with most theatres. The countryside has peace and quiet, and some great natural and historical sites like the Burren.

There are also islands off the island. I haven't been to the Aran Islands, but someone should mention them. I hope (and expect) someone will come along who knows them.

Ireland's Eye, off the coast of Howth, Co. Dublin, is pleasant and especially good for nature-lovers. The flora includes sedums, native dandelions (smaller than the normal ones), ferns, largely bracken; and several really neat things I can't remember right now. The fauna is most notable for seabirds, but there are others. We saw flycatchers there. There are puffins, gannets, kittiwakes, shags and cormorants, and several kinds of seagull, including the Greater Black-Backed and the Herring. If you arrive while these are nesting (from about May to - when?) and choose to go up on the quartzite outcroppings where they nest, do be careful, as the gulls will sometimes fly at you to scare you off. There may also be a grey heron around, though Booterstown Marsh is really prime heron territory. Ireland's Eye also has an old monastic settlement, some of which may have been rebuilt by the Victorians. The monks kept rabbits for food, and they've been there almost continuously since then. Some people can spot the remnants of a round tower. The island is reached by a motorboat from the east pier of Howth Harbour, unless you have your own boat. The harbour isn't far from the train station. If you're going out for the nature, bring binoculars, a hand lens, an identification guide or two, and wear boots or wellies.

As a small aside, Howth itself was an island, tens of thousands of years ago. It became connected to the 'mainland' by a sandbar.