There has been a lot of talk this summer about what it costs to holiday at home; €2,000 per week seems to be the going rate for a house near a beach in Kerry, if you can get one at all. Hotels are scarce and dear, and a fair few seaside ones have closed altogether.
The argument doing the rounds is that Ireland is missing an entire tier of accommodation - hostels, and properly serviced sites for campervans and tents - scattered around the country the way they are across much of the mainland.
I have a vested interest in that argument. I have been touring Ireland in a micro-camper for the past few summers - a converted seven-seater Nissan Serena with a fold-flat bed, a narrow kitchen unit, an electric shower in the boot, and a drive-away awning. There’s nowhere better than Ireland on a sunny day and when you combine that with a good campsite, it’s the best holiday you could have. Although, when the weather is bad and the campsite is worse, you can find yourself sitting bored in a damp car park re-installing the Ryanair app.
I am not a tent person. My tent-camping career peaked at Witnness music festival (yes, I am that old) and now extends only as far as a glamping yurt at All Together Now. So my camping experience is exclusively campervan-based. That said, the experience itself is widespread. I have toured France and Spain in my micro-camper, along with a fair amount of Ireland, so my baseline for comparing campsites is quite high.
RM Block
They know how to do it on the continent, and while we could do with more, we have some fantastic campsites right here. Here are three sites that earned that title. They are not ranked, they are just the ones I keep going back to.
Mannix Point, Cahersiveen, Co Kerry
Mannix Point sits right on the water’s edge just outside Cahersiveen, nestled prettily in grassy banks against a hilly backdrop. The pitches terrace down towards the sea, with Valentia Island in front of you and a harbour behind, and the whole thing is arranged so that almost everybody gets a view rather than just the people who arrived first.
The basics are all there and all well minded - hot showers, a communal kitchen, laundry, and a location you can walk into town from for dinner. The staff are warm and helpful. But that is not what earned it its place on my list.
What puts it on my list is the living room. There is a fire lit on wet evenings, games to play, and instruments left out for anyone to pick up. Guitars, a bodhrán, and a piano. Nobody organises anything, it’s just all there for you to entertain yourself as you dry off by the fire. I don’t know if anyone remembers the storms of July 2025, but I was so grateful to escape the thundering in the campervan. I passed a very happy evening singing songs and playing piano and listening to a fabulous guitarist sing better songs, and we all had a roaring evening while the rain poured.
Book early - it is small, it is popular, and word has got out. campinginkerry.com
Clifden Eco Camping, Co Galway
Connemara does not need any help from me selling itself. Acton’s Eco Camping is tucked into the dunes outside Clifden, and rather than the usual open field with numbered sites, you find yourself pitching among hilly dunes and tall marram grass. The effect is that the campsite can be full to capacity and you can still feel like you have the place to yourself. The grass does the work of a windbreak too, which in that part of the country is not a small thing.
The beach is a hop, skip, and a jump away. So are the walks, the swims, a barrel sauna, and some of the best coastal scenery in the country.
I’m a Galway native by birth and by university, and there are a million things I love about the county, not least of which is the seafood. A local fisherman rowed up onto the campsite beach one evening and sold us fresh fish straight off the boat, which we cooked over the charcoal an hour or so later. It was divine - nearly as good as the excellent fare you can get in Oifig an Fish a few miles down the road.
It books up fast, and it helps if the owners like you, so be sound. clifdenecocamping.ie
Keel Camping, Achill Island, Co Mayo
This one is different, because I’ve been going to Keel long before I ever had a van (or a driver’s licence).
Keel Camping sits right on the beach in the middle of the village, which is about as central as most Irish campsites get. My aunts and uncles have descended on Achill every summer since long before my cousins and I were born, and one aunt kept a caravan there back in the nineties when we were little. Two of them have since bought homes on the island, so we are all still regulars, only now we are bringing the next generation with us.
The routine hasn’t changed much. Paddling with the littles in Keel Lough. Swimming and surfing at Keel, Keem and Dugort. A walk around the Deserted Village on the slopes of Slievemore. The aquarium for a wet afternoon, which never fails to delight the children. Coffee in the Beehive. And a pint in Lynott’s with my cousins, which remains one of my favourite activities of all time.
Last summer we camped there with my cousin and his wife, their baby, and our three dogs between us. We swam, dozed in the dunes in the afternoons, and watched my cousin surf while we ate 99s, which feels like a fair division of labour. It is busier than it was thirty years ago, of course it is. But the magic of the place has not been diluted one bit. keelcamping.ie
Learned along the way
The weather is the whole game. Not the rain itself - you get wet, you dry off - but whether there is anywhere warm and dry to retreat to afterwards. A campsite with a communal room and a fire is worth twice one without, especially if your camper is lacking in living space, and this is exactly the sort of thing that a national investment in serviced sites would fix.
Sand gets absolutely everywhere and there is nothing you can do about it, so stop fighting it. Hose everyone off at the back door when you get home.
Barbecue smoke is my personal underrated misery of Irish camping. It sticks in the hair and the clothes, and stings the eyes no matter where you sit. That said, I’d never pass a night without a barbecue or a campfire. Just check which way the wind is going before finding your perch for the evening.
And bring the dog. Mine has been to all three of these sites and many more besides. I recommend a frisbee to wear them out on the beaches.
Prices vary by season and I’d recommend phoning first, though all three sites have good websites. Wherever you end up going, check the dog policies, barbecue requirements, and opening dates before you travel. Remember to be sound and have fun.
