What should a first-time traveler see in Ireland beyond the obvious highlights?

Two properties is a short list for a country with this much visible past, and the pairing is instructive. Brú na Bóinne is an inland river-bend landscape in County Meath that Ireland's own World Heritage programme describes as the richest archaeological landscape in the country. Sceilg Mhichíl is a rock in the Atlantic off Kerry with an early monastic settlement on it. One is reached on a bus from Dublin; the other is reached by boat, and only when the sea allows.

The Brú na Bóinne complex is also three monuments rather than one, and this is where first-time plans usually go wrong. The Office of Public Works schedules Knowth tours only between 1 March and 1 November, limits them to one tour per day, and states plainly that there is no access to the chambers at Knowth. The main option in season is the Brú na Bóinne tour with the Newgrange chamber; from 2 November to 28 February only the Newgrange tour with the exhibition runs.

For a trip that wants somewhere to be rather than somewhere to photograph, Ireland's protected food names point at specific coasts and uplands. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine lists ten registered products — six PGI and four PDO — and among them are Connemara Hill Lamb, a PGI from the Galway uplands, and two sea-salt designations at opposite ends of the island: Achill Island Sea Salt, a PDO from off the Mayo coast, and Oriel Sea Salt, a PDO from the east. Routing a drive between those is a better itinerary skeleton than a list of castles.

Newgrange reads as a single large grassed mound standing clear of the farmland around it, with the Boyne below — and because the tour is a walk in the open, the weather and the clock are the two things that shape the visit rather than a building's interior.

Ireland's World Heritage listing page also carries links to Giant's Causeway and the Moravian Church Settlements, which are not properties of the Republic — a reminder that "Ireland" on a heritage list can mean the island, not the state. If you are counting the Republic's inscribed properties, the number is two: Brú na Bóinne and Sceilg Mhichíl.

• Boyne Valley — Pre-book, and go between 1 March and 1 November if you want Knowth as well as Newgrange.
• Connemara and Mayo — Upland lamb and island sea salt, both carrying EU protected designations.
• The east coast — Oriel Sea Salt holds a PDO, so the designation is not a west-coast monopoly.

Brú na Bóinne tickets are very limited and pre-booking is essential; the OPW states that access is not guaranteed without them. Knowth is unavailable for four months of the year, and its chambers are closed in all seasons. Sceilg Mhichíl is an Atlantic island landing, so the sea decides. And the US Department of State's Ireland page confirms that while no visa is needed for stays of 90 days or less, Ireland is not in the Schengen Area — so days spent here do not draw down a Schengen allowance, and vice versa, which matters if you are routing on to the continent.

The Ireland food-and-drink answer in this group runs through all ten protected names and where each one is actually made.