The 165-mile coastal route from the Cliffs of Moher to Westport has been described by the Automobile Association's magazine as one of the 10 great world drives.
The spring-summer edition of the AA Magazine, distributed to eight million members in Britain, describes the drive, which takes in views of the Burren, the Twelve Bens and Croagh Patrick, as "spine-tingling".
The route is in the same company as Highway 50 across Nevada in the US, the Great Alpine Road from Evian to Nice in France and the 45-mile route across the northern Pennines.
The article by Phil Llewellin says the beginning of the Co Clare route, at the 600ft Cliffs of Moher, gives "a powerful sense of having reached the edge of the old world".
The route takes in Galway, whose Oyster Festival in September is described as one of the world's great parties, and Clifden, famous for being the arrival point of the first non-stop transatlantic flight, in 1919.
Mr Conor Faughnan, of AA Ireland, said the inclusion of the Clare-to-Mayo drive was a tremendous shot in the arm for west of Ireland tourism.
"It will be a message to the UK population in their millions," he said.
The Ten Great Drives listed are: England: Penrith to Corbridge, 45 miles;
Wales: Presteigne to Aberystwyth, 55 miles;
Scotland: Fort William to Tongue, 320 miles;
Ireland: Cliffs of Moher to Westport, 165 miles;
France: Evian to Nice, 460 miles;
France: Caen to Sainte MereEglise, 85 miles;
France: Marienheim to Thann, 140 miles;
Germany: Ingolstadt to Passau, 120 miles;
Spain: Marbella to Ronda and back, 140 miles;
The US; Reno to Wendover, 440 miles.