Camper trips in Ireland

Ireland has no general right to wild camp and no national law governing sleeping in a parked motorhome. What counts is who owns the ground and which local bye-laws apply. On public roads and municipal car parks a parked motorhome is simply a vehicle; away from the tourist hotspots a single night is tolerated as long as nothing goes outside and you are gone in the morning. County councils such as Kerry, Clare, Galway and Donegal have posted overnight bans for motorhomes at the busiest spots along the Wild Atlantic Way — Cliffs of Moher, Dingle, Keem Bay, Slieve League, the beach car parks of Kerry and Clare — and enforce them in July and August. At beach car parks and attractions, height barriers of roughly 2.1 to 2.5 metres often keep a motorhome out even by day; plan visits to Doolin, Dingle and Killarney from a campsite or an edge-of-town car park.

National parks are managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service; overnighting in the car parks of Killarney, Connemara, Glenveagh, Wicklow and the Burren is not permitted. Coillte forests only have designated camping spots. Private land is fine with the owner's permission, and that is where the Irish answer to the motorhome stop lies: Safe Nights Ireland (annual membership around 15 euro) lists over 350 farms, pubs and golf clubs across Ireland and Northern Ireland where you can stay for a small fee or a purchase, and more and more councils are opening their own aires with electricity and disposal, including in Kerry, Cork, Wexford and Mayo. Campsites are scarcer than on the continent and often closed outside May to September; in the Kerry and Connemara peak you need to book.

Also: drive on the left, narrow roads with passing places and plenty of farm traffic; the Conor Pass near Dingle is closed to vehicles over 2 tonnes, the Gap of Dunloe is effectively closed to motor traffic, and the Healy Pass and Sky Road are narrow but manageable. The M50 around Dublin is barrier-free and must be paid online via eFlow by 8 pm the following day; the other ten toll roads have plazas taking card or cash. Speed limits for vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes: 120 on motorways, 100 on national roads, 80 on regional roads, 50 in built-up areas. Gas: Ireland mostly uses ACME connectors and LPG is available at a limited number of stations; bring a full bottle from home.