Glengarriff

You anchor off here in one of Ireland's most dramatic settings — mountains tumbling straight down to a sheltered sea inlet, with the charming village of Glengarriff a short row ashore. From the village you can hop a ferry out to Garinish Island, a subtropical garden that really shouldn't exist this far north, or head into the Glengarriff Nature Reserve for ancient oak woodland. It's a small place, around 200 people, but it punches well above its weight for somewhere to spend a day exploring.