Do you have family roots here on the island of Ireland? Have you always wanted to embrace the Irish side of your heritage? Then why not visit Ireland and walk the path of your ancestors? Almost five million people live in Ireland but 70 million call it home. Our small nation has one of the world’s largest diasporas, and we love welcoming people back to the Emerald Isle.
Our carefully crafted small-group tours of Ireland can help you on your journey! We get off the beaten path to see the authentic, unfiltered Ireland. Browse our itineraries to see if we visit the parts of the country where your ancestors once lived. Or, for a truly immersive, personal experience, we can create a tailor-made tour of Ireland that includes all the places and activities you want to see and do.
If you’re ready to discover your Irish roots but aren’t sure where or how to start planning such a trip, please just get in touch with our team. We’re here to help however we can.
Ireland’s History of Emigration
Since the beginning of time, Irish men and women have been adventuring and settling in foreign lands. We have made roots the world over, but we have never forgotten where we came from…. The beautiful Emerald Isle!
The Great Famine of 1845 to 1852 caused the peak of Irish emigration. In a 10-year period around that time, it’s estimated that nearly two million Irish people — that’s around a quarter of the population — emigrated to the United States. In Mayo alone, the population dropped from 388,887 to 274,830 between 1841 and 1851. And between the years of 1851 and 1861, an estimated 81% of all emigrants to the US between 1851 and 1860 were Irish! That’s around 990,000. If you extend the timescale out to 1820, it’s estimated that more than six million Irish people have made the move across the Atlantic to the US.
It’s no surprise, then, that today, one-sixth of US citizens — a staggering 43 million people — identify as having an Irish national background.
Looking for some ideas and inspiration ahead of your trip? We think you’ll appreciate our blog How Should I Spend a Week in Ireland for the First Time? It’s filled with some of our favorite things to see and do!
Follow in Your Ancestors’ Footsteps with Our Ireland Tours
Do you have Irish blood? Have you ever dreamed of taking a trip to the land of green fields, leprechauns, Celtic fairies and folklore, St Patrick, Guinness, and the Blarney Stone? Whether you descend from a long line of O’Briens from County Clare or Murphys from County Kerry, you should put a trip to your ancestral motherland at the top of your bucket list.
With our small-group tours of Ireland and tailor-made tours of Ireland, you can finally connect with your family heritage in the place where it all began. Overland Ireland’s guides absolutely love taking visitors on tours around Ireland to find the birthplace of their great-great-grandparents. They delight in telling you some of the history of your ancestor’s homeland.
If you have done your research beforehand, we may even be able to point out the family home on your trip! You wouldn’t be the first person on one of our Ireland tours to have this happen and definitely won’t be the last.
Are you only just starting out on researching your family tree? There are some great resources out there to help you build up a clearer picture of your Irish relations, including:
- The National Archives: The official repository for Ireland’s state records.
- RootsIreland: An extensive and easily searchable database of Catholic Church records.
- Irish Genealogical Research Society: Widely recognized as the world’s largest and most important private collection of Irish genealogical records.
If you are in Dublin before your tour of Ireland starts, you can visit the National Archives and look through the records yourself. The address is 8 Bishop St, Dublin, Ireland.
And find out some of the other reasons why Ireland is a unique travel destination for even more trip-planning inspiration!
Our Tailor-Made Tours of Ireland are Ideal for Finding Your Irish Roots
When you know more about your Irish descendants, it’s time to start planning your trip to and around the Emerald Isle. At Overland, we’re proud to have created a wide range of small-group tours of Ireland that visit many of the lesser-known parts of our incredible country. If you find the perfect itinerary that passes through the town, village, or city where your ancestors came from, it’s the perfect way to connect with them while enjoying so much more about Ireland. And with our Ireland private guided tours, we can even run these excursions solely for your group.
But our tailor-made tours of Ireland offer a unique opportunity to shape a trip that is truly bespoke and exclusive. The combination of your interests and preferences with our local insights and expertise is a recipe for the trip of a lifetime. With our custom Irish tours, everything is on your terms. You can visit the places you want to, and spend as much time in them as you need. When it comes to following in the footsteps of Irish ancestors, especially those from places off the beaten path, our tailor-made solutions tick every box.
We would love to help you have the kind of Irish experience you’ve always dreamed of. Our team is here to help however we can, so please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions you may have.
