The Burren (Boireann , or "rocky land") is a huge plateau of limestone and shale that covers over a hundred square miles of northwest Clare, a highland shaped by a series of cliffs, terraces and expanses of limestone pavement, with little to punctuate the view. Bleak and grey, the northern reaches of the Burren can come as a shock to anyone associating Ireland with all things lush and verdant. It's an extraordinary landscape of stark rock, fading lower green fields, and above all the sky and the ocean. Its cliffs and terraces lurch towards the sea like huge steps of wind-pocked pumice. Bone white in sunshine, in the rain the rock becomes darkened and metallic, the cliffs and canyons blurred by mists. A harsh place, barely capable of sustaining human habitation, it was aptly summed up in the words of Cromwell's surveyor Ludlow: "savage land, yielding neither water enough to drown a man, nor a tree to hang him, nor soil enough to bury". There are no sweet rolling fields here, but stick with it and its fascination emerges - cruel and barren as it is, there's a raw beauty about the place with its exceptional combination of light, rock and water.

In recent centuries, the Burren has supported a sparse population, living, like most of the west of Ireland, in harsh poverty. It was to this land, west of the Shannon, that Cromwell drove the dispossessed Irish Catholics after his campaign of terror. Few could survive for long in such country. The area's lack of appeal to centuries of speculators and colonizers greedy to cream the fat off Ireland's lusher pastures has meant that evidence of many of the Burren's earlier inhabitants has remained. The place has over sixty Stone Age (3000-2000 BC) burial monuments, the most common types being wedge-shaped tombs, cairns and dolmens; over four hundred Iron Age ring forts (500 BC-500 AD), which were defensive dwellings; and numerous Christian churches, monasteries , round towers and high crosses. Amongst the most evocative of the Christian ruins is orcanroe Abbey, just outside Bell Harbor, and there are fine high crosses at Kilfenora.

You can get to the area by taking a Bus Éireann connection from stations at Galway, Limerick or Ennis. There's a direct bus service from Limerick and Galway to Doolin and in summer at least one bus a day from Limerick passes through Ennistymon and Lisdoonvarna, and at least one a day connects Galway with Lisdoonvarna. To see the Burren's archeological and ecclesiastical sites, it's best to go by car or bike (bike rental is available in the main centers of Doolin and Ballyvaughan); to get to know its landscape and flowers, go on foot. For either of these, the excellent Tim Robinson map , The Burren (available in tourist offices, good bookshops or directly from him at Roundstone, County Galway) is usefully detailed and will make finding sites easy, though it does not show contours. For walking, the Ordnance Survey map number 51 (1:50,000) is ideal - and also covers the Aran Islands. There are two north-south routes across the Burren that are of particular archeological interest ; these run from Bell Harbor to Killinaboy and from Ballyvaughan to Leamaneh Castle. If you're doing a lot of walking, a compass is a good idea as there's a shortage of easy landmarks. You're allowed to walk more or less where you want, though do be aware that there are a large number of bulls in the fields. A good start might be to follow the Burren Way.

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