County Clare is two landscapes in one: the vertical drama of the Cliffs of Moher, where the Atlantic crashes against 200-metre walls of shale and sandstone, and the horizontal strangeness of the Burren, a limestone plateau that looks like the surface of the moon and flowers like a garden in spring.

The Burren is one of the most unusual landscapes in Europe — 250 square kilometres of bare limestone pavement, cracked and fissured, where Alpine, Arctic and Mediterranean plants grow side by side in the sheltered grikes. In May, the gentians are extraordinary. In any season, the light on the stone is unlike anything else in Ireland.

The villages of Doolin and Lisdoonvarna are the heartland of traditional Irish music — Doolin in particular has a reputation that draws musicians from across the country, and the sessions in its three pubs are among the most authentic you will find anywhere.

Ennis, the county town, is a handsome medieval market town with a strong food scene and a music tradition of its own. The Burren Perfumery, the Aillwee Cave and the Poulnabrone dolmen — a 5,000-year-old portal tomb — are all within easy reach.

County Clare rewards those who look beyond the obvious. The Cliffs are magnificent, but the Burren is the real discovery.