About Hidden Ireland Tours
Hidden Ireland Tours is a small, specialist travel company operating a range of professional services in Ireland ranging from the specialist day-trips that were our origins, to multi-day personalised vacations and private group events, various location services for the corporate and incentive world as well as supporting specialist film and photographic shoots.
Common to all areas of operation is a team dedicated to the highest professional standards with a rich understanding of Ireland and a wish to deliver unforgettable experiences.
Our Origins
Three decades ago when the earliest hidden Ireland experiences began to emerge, the land of Ireland itself informed a young Con Moriarty as he shared experiences that seemed to nourish body and soul of his fellow travellers. It was an intimate sharing of a world rarely seen or felt where friends connected to the land and its people, the natural, cultural and spiritual history in a manner that resonated deeply with all involved.
Con Moriarty was born and raised in a wild valley called the Gap of Dunloe located in the rugged mountains of the southwestern County Kerry. A mountaineer and lover of wild places this youngster was imprinted with a deep connection to place and the rich culture of his native land. In these parts, Moriarty (or Ó Muircheartaigh in it’s Gaelic-form) has been a family name from earliest medieval times and since the late 18th century, many of his direct ancestors developed a reputation as notable guides.
American Binky Oswalt first met Con in 1986 while walking the hills and great headlands of the Atlantic seaboard of Ireland. It was a walk and meeting that would open into a deep friendship and the deepening of a connection to Ireland for Binky. Inspired by the experience, soon afterwards Binky realised that her vocation was to provide a connection between the hidden Ireland and the limited number of others from her side of the great ocean who might experience what she knew to be unique.
Today
Since then, Hidden Ireland Tours has developed organically and today operates an expanded range of services in keeping with simple core values, guided by a reverence for the secret spaces we are blessed to share. Con continues to guide some, joined today by other friends and neighbours and family that now includes his son Naoise, continuing to bring his imagination to bear on the creation of some of our personalized trips and events while Binky remains the first port of call for many from North America exploring a customized experiences.
In Ireland, a team of dedicated professionals is now led by Irish women Kay Woods and Ann Curran who engage their creative skills and insights as planners and guides on projects ranging from the core personalized vacations to the delivery of memorable days for private parties and wedding guests, to working on conference and incentive programmes directly with corporations or their agents, operating a number special trips and events on behalf of select partners – or providing film and photographic production services and more.