Wicklow and Glendalough

Twenty-five kilometers south of central Dublin via the N11 and R117, the first shoulders of the Wicklow Mountains rise quickly above 500 meters, carved by glacial valleys and living peat bogs. Powerscourt House—rebuilt after the 1974 fire—unfurls Italianate terraces toward the Sugarloaf (501 m) and its 121‑meter waterfall, the tallest in Ireland. Farther on, the Military Road (R115), cut in 1800 to police the uplands, crests Sally Gap at 503 m, skirts the tea‑colored waters of Lough Tay, then drops to Glendalough, Saint Kevin’s 6th‑century monastery framed by two corrie lakes.

Your day runs smoothly: hotel pick‑up, a Mercedes at your disposal, and a pace set together. Your dedicated driver handles access, weather shifts on the R115, and walking times while you sip coffee in Enniskerry, trace the parterres at Powerscourt, then follow Lough Tay with no parking stress. Lunch lands in Roundwood—Ireland’s highest village at 238 m—before Glendalough for the round tower, cathedral ruins, and the Lower‑to‑Upper Lake trail. Back to Dublin, with a private chauffeur, you return unruffled, even after a Laragh loop.