Uplands Top Rankins

The future’s so bright… WEDS16AUG23

iven that Vagabond Tours are all about finding the perfect little beauty spots around Ireland, we reckoned meeting Rob Rankin down at The Cove would be a suitably scenic interview setting.

The rolling waves, splashing against the monochrome rocks, the chiselled swimmers, the majestic Bray Head in the distance…

And that’s when the fog kicked in. Hard.

“Now, if we were in a Vagabond jeep, well, we’d just go drive closer to that perfect spot,” smiles Rob. “That’s the beauty of travelling in small, tight numbers – you can get pretty much anywhere in Ireland…”

Which may be why this local enterprise has so many awards on its mantlepiece, from making National Geographic’s Top 50 Tours Of A Lifetime back in 2013 to last month being voted no.12 worldwide in Travel & Leisure’s 2023 survey.

Of Vagabond’s 1,000 Tripadvisor reviews, 983 are 5-star. Just ahead of magic mushrooms.

Irish Tourism Award 2019

“We’ve clearly been very lucky to get such a great response to what we do,” says Rob, “but we also try very, very, very hard to be great at what we do. When myself and Amy started this adventure 21 years ago, it was something even our closest friends warned us was a crazy idea…

“Crazy ideas are nearly always the best ones though. And the most fun…”

Just how that crazy idea started during a trip to Africa over two decades ago, and the bumpy road that lay ahead, we decided to find out…

You can find out more about Vagabond tours here – and their sightseeing Driftwood Tours here – and get in touch directly on email here and on the phone here.