Éibhir Mulqueenis impressed during a visit to the €31.4m visitor centre, one year after it opened
THE NEW €31.4m visitor centre at the Cliffs of Moher has revolutionised going to Ireland's top tourist attraction.
The visitor experience - which celebrated its first birthday last month - offers a state of the art interpretive centre as well as new walks and raised areas with sweeping views of the cliffs and the Atlantic.
Entering the visitor centre is like stepping inside a cavernous dome that looks like it has been carved out of the hillside.
This flagship installation is aimed at entertaining and educating all ages and producing a wow factor for even the best-travelled, most jaded tourist.
The interior is cave-like, providing a warm, safe and, on a winter's day, relatively tranquil refuge. Low lighting and the dark Liscannor flagstone underfoot contribute to this feeling, reminiscent of the nearby Aillwee Cave and the more recently opened Pol an Ionáin (Doolin Cave).
Visitors can marvel at the architectural wonder of this concrete structure before browsing through the souvenir shops, restaurant and coffee dock, and going on to enjoy the award-winning Atlantic Edge Exhibition.
This provides an impressive natural and cultural history of the cliffs and surrounding region, divided by the themes of ocean, rock, nature and man and featuring such topical issues as climate change.
It uses touch-screen technology, tastefully mounted photographs, display boards and gadgets for younger minds. But with thousands of visitors passing through the place, the hands-on attractions tend to get worn very quickly.
My four-year-old was disappointed with the submarine console whose switches for evoking light and sound effects were, for his second trip, again out of action.
Meanwhile, a display board, the Mermaid zone, with jigsaw pieces, was equally showing signs of wear and tear. Pieces failed to stick on the board or were missing.
The electronic displays for the most part have held up better, the highlight being "the Ledge", a virtual cliff face tour seen through the eyes of a gannet which is housed in its own audio-visual theatre.
But cutting edge as it is with its use of CGI (Common Gateway Interface) technology, it has been affected by glitches, partly due to the power surges the centre gets at different times. A looped video, the Clare Journey, provides a helicopter tour of the county, with the lakes and woods of east Clare providing a contrast to the rugged, unforgiving cliffs in the west.
Culturally, there is recognition of the debt owed to traditional musicians in the area, such as Micho Russell of Doolin and Dinny McMahon, one of the original buskers at the cliffs and an informal guide in a more innocent era, is also commemorated.
The building has one of the largest geo-thermal plants in the country and, being built into the hillside, enjoys a high degree of thermal mass. There are solar panels and an on-site wastewater treatment system.
Outside, the architects have achieved their aim of subsuming the building into the hillside. Grass covers much of the structure and only the entrance and some glass panels betray its existence.
The overall effect is completed by the stonework and stone walls. If you can stomach the €8 parking fee as a motorist, the rest is worthwhile.
There is no doubt though that the cliffs themselves and the views they command are still the "experience".
The gnarled 200-metre-high shale and sandstone rock extends along that section of Clare coastline for eight kilometres, offerings views of the Atlantic and, depending on the weather, the Aran Islands and Connemara.
They are by no means the most spectacular cliffs in Ireland. The Slieve League cliffs in Donegal are, at 600 metres, the highest sea cliffs in Europe but the AA a few years ago described the 165-mile coastal drive from the Cliffs of Moher to Westport has as one of the 10 great world drives.
That takes in the Burren, the Twelve Bens and Croagh Patrick and centres like Galway and Clifden. The proximity of such attractions has helped the cliffs become one of a series of must-see stop off points for tourists in the region.
What gives it a special allure is its vintage. The cliffs were a tourist attraction when the word was unheard of. In the early 19th century the then landowner, Cornelius O'Brien, built a tower as a viewing platform at the cliffs' edge which paved the way for today's centre to be the top visitor attraction in the country.
Now the old, crumbling paths have been re-seeded and new paths have been created and surfaced with flagstones and made accessible to wheelchairs.
Last year, 940,455 visited the cliffs. Manager Katherine Webster says the cliffs are now an attraction for day-trippers no matter what the conditions.
"It is much less weather dependent," she says. "And the increase in people with disabilities and elderly people has been considerable."
Numbers peak in August, when more than 7,000 visitors and dozens of coaches a day arrive.
Rangers are at hand to advise visitors on the dangers of getting too close to the cliff edge.
"A lot of people, even locals, do not realise the level of extreme conditions here," says Webster of the exposed spot.
What it costs
Car parking costing €8 gives visitors access to the centre's reception area and toilets. Entry to the exhibition is €4 for adults, €2.50 children.
Where to eat
The Long Dock at the Cliffs restaurant, which has spectacular views over the cliffs, is operated by a Clare-based restaurant group, which also has premises in Carrigaholt and Ennis.
Monk's and the Whitethorn Restaurant in Ballyvaughan. Pub grub is available in O'Connor's and most other pubs in Doolin and Vaughan's Anchor Inn in Liscannor is also a favourite stop.
In Lahinch, a good vegetarian outlet is the Holywell La Taverna Italian restaurant. It has a sister, Bridgestone-recommended branch in Fanore, the Holywell Trattoria, offering meat dishes.
Getting there
Driving the cliffs are about one hour, 30 minutes from Galway, a pleasurable stretch of coastal driving that takes in Kinvara and Ballyvaughan. From Limerick, the trip takes about the same length of time, via Ennis, Ennistymon and Lahinch. Otherwise you can travel north along the coast from the Victorian resort town of Kilkee.
Where to stay
Lahinch, Lisdoonvarna and Doolin are 15 minutes away. Lahinch has become something of a surf capital in recent years. Lisdoonvarna, meanwhile, has a variety of two and three-star hotels and guesthouses. Most visitors opt to stay in Doolin, just a few miles north of the Cliffs and one of the gateways to the Aran Islands.