Kerry
in Ireland

This is probably the most famous of Dingle’s many pubs, but for good reason. It’s been in the MacDonnell family since 1899 and even has a Walk of Fame outside charting the big names who’ve stopped by for a pint – from Dolly Parton to Tom Cruise. In recent years, the family has added a brewhouse and taproom in the yard with food trucks and live gigs. But the original pub is still the best bit.

It’s not unusual to see a fiddle player and an uilleann piper playing tunes in front of shelves chaotically stocked with boxes of nails and sets of allen keys at this hardware shop that moonlights as a pub. Tools hang from the ceiling and the wooden counter is worn from seven decades of leaning elbows. Get here early on the weekend as it fills up quickly.

In a town of colourful shopfronts, this pub at the top of Main Street manages to stand out with its Willy Wonka-purple paint job. Inside, there’s a golden-ticket glow from the candles dotted around, and the cosy nooks and crannies make it feel like you’re sipping pints in a well-stocked timewarp home. Our favourite spot is by the range in the kitchen.

Set steps from the sea in postcard-worthy Brandon harbour, Murphy’s looks like it’s been magicked up to star in a Guinness ad. There’s an open fire and an old-school wooden interior and Pádraig Murphy, the fifth-generation owner, has put it on the map for its pub grub too: creamy chowder; crab sandwiches with traditional brown bread. If you’ve hiked Mount Brandon, this is the place to warm up over clove-and-lemon hot whiskeys.

Adrienne Heslin started her own brewery because visitors to her rural pub would ask about the local beers – and she had to tell them there were none. Her first batch, made using water from her well, was a red ale named after a beach down the road. Now visitors can not only taste the local tipples (ale, porter, IPA) but see how they’re made at this hard-working microbrewery – the first in Ireland founded by a woman.