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At Glance Visitor Media, our Daily Adventure visitor guides help people discover places to see, things to do and experiences to enjoy while travelling around Ireland.
Our ongoing 2026 Daily Adventure Reader Survey gives us an opportunity to hear directly from those visitors. Between March and 30 July, 1,061 readers answered one particularly simple question:
What was the place or experience you loved MOST during your trip to Ireland — and why?
They were not asked for general feedback about Ireland, or to list everything they enjoyed. They were asked to think about their trip and choose what stood out most.
And what comes through is a really positive picture of the Ireland visitors experience — built around landscape, people, history, food, activity and those small moments that can turn a good holiday into a memorable one.
More than anything else, visitors talk about Ireland’s landscape.
Around 48% of the comments referenced scenery or the natural environment — coastlines, beaches, islands, mountains, lakes, gardens, countryside and, repeatedly, the views encountered along the way.
The language is often emotional. Visitors describe places as beautiful, stunning, spectacular and breathtaking. Frequently it is not simply a famous landmark they remember, but the experience of coming upon a view, walking a coastline or discovering somewhere unexpectedly peaceful.
One visitor described stopping the car when a dramatic fjord came into view and simply taking it all in:
“An unforgettable moment when time stood still.”
It is a useful reminder that scenery is not just something visitors look at. It becomes part of how they remember their trip.
The human side of Irish tourism comes through just as strongly.
More than one in four comments — around 28% — referred to people, staff, guides, friendliness, helpfulness, service or the welcome visitors received.
Sometimes it was excellent service in a hotel or restaurant. Sometimes it was a knowledgeable guide who brought a place to life. And sometimes it was something much smaller and completely unplanned.
One of the loveliest examples came from a first-time visitor from Germany who was travelling alone. While walking in Howth, she saw a group of Irish women swimming in the sea. She said hello.
They invited her to join them.
She later recalled swimming with the group “and a seal that popped up every now and then.”
It is a tiny moment in the context of an entire holiday. Yet when asked what she loved most about her trip to Ireland, that was the experience she chose.
There is something important in that.
Hospitality is not only delivered across a reception desk or restaurant table. A conversation, an invitation, a recommendation or somebody taking a little extra time can become part of a visitor’s story about Ireland.
Ireland’s heritage also shines through.
Around 25% of comments referred to history, heritage or culture — including castles, museums, historic sites, ruins, music, galleries and cultural experiences.
What visitors particularly value is when that history becomes understandable and engaging.
They mention guides who explain a place well, museums that bring stories to life and experiences that help them discover something they did not know before arriving.
One visitor described an island visit where the weather had turned wet and foggy. What made the day special was the guides, who shared the island’s history naturally and engagingly. The visitor came away talking not about the weather, but about the experience.
It is a good illustration of something the comments repeatedly show: how an experience is delivered can matter every bit as much as the attraction itself.
Almost one in five comments — around 19% — mentioned food or drink.
Restaurants, cafés, pubs, seafood, local produce, breakfasts, lunches and memorable meals all appear.
But food is rarely separate from everything around it.
It might be fresh fish during a coastal trip, a café discovered while exploring, a welcoming pub after a day’s activities or a particularly good meal in the place where someone was staying.
For visitors, accommodation, attractions, scenery, food and hospitality do not exist in separate tourism categories.
They combine to create the experience of a place.
Active experiences also feature strongly.
Walking, hiking, swimming, surfing, cycling, boating, golf and other activities appear throughout the comments.
Around 14% specifically referenced an active experience, and many more talked about simply exploring — taking a coastal drive, wandering through a town, visiting an island or discovering somewhere they had not planned to see.
Again, it is often the combination that makes an experience memorable: the walk and the view; the swim and the people met there; the attraction and the guide; the meal after the day’s activities.
Read through 1,061 comments and the most striking thing is that visitors do not necessarily choose the biggest, most expensive or best-known experience as the thing they loved most.
Sometimes they do.
But just as often they remember an unexpected discovery, a beautiful view, an enthusiastic guide, particularly friendly staff, a small attraction, a great meal or somebody who simply made them feel welcome.
Promote the whole experience of a place. The landscape may attract someone, but its history, food, activities, towns, villages and people give them more reasons to explore — and more memories to take home.
Help visitors discover beyond the obvious. Many of the comments describe places people had not previously known about. Good visitor information and recommendations can turn something that was not originally on an itinerary into a highlight of the trip.
Never underestimate the power of the small things.
A warm welcome. A useful recommendation. Staff who know their subject. Taking an extra minute with somebody. Good local food. Helping a visitor discover what else is nearby.
Marketing can put a business or destination on someone’s itinerary.
How the experience is delivered can put it among the things they remember most.
And that is exactly what these visitors were asked to tell us.
At Glance, we help visitors discover great experiences. What happens next is in the hands of the businesses and destinations they find — because it is the experience they deliver that earns the recommendation, the memory and the return visit.
The Daily Adventure Reader Survey 2026 is continuing, so the feedback will continue to grow. In the meantime, we have selected just 120 of the 1,061 comments received up to 30 July to give a flavour of what visitors themselves say made their Ireland trip special.
Theme percentages are based on broad analysis of the 1,061 open comments received. A single comment can contain more than one theme, so percentages are not intended to total 100%.
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