400 Best Sights in Ireland

Irishman Brian Boru, who led his soldiers to victory against the Vikings in the Battle of Clontarf in 1014, was said to have pitched camp before the confrontation on the site of Mountjoy Square. Playwright Sean O'Casey lived here, at No. 35, and used the square as a setting for The Shadow of a Gunman. Built over the course of the two decades leading up to 1818, this Northside square was once surrounded by elegant terraced houses. Today only the northern side remains intact. The houses on the once derelict southern side have been converted into apartments.

The monks were driven out of this 15th-century Franciscan friary by Oliver Cromwell's army in 1652, but it's amazingly complete (rare among Irish ruins), although roofless. An ancient yew tree rises above the cloisters and breaks out over the abbey walls. Three flights of stone steps allow access to the upper floors and living quarters, where you can visit the cloisters and what was once the dormitory, kitchen, and refectory.

At this highly acclaimed museum, the only branch of the National Museum of Ireland outside Dublin, you're invited to revisit rural life in Ireland between 1860 and 1960---before electrification and in-house running water. Among the displayed items are authentic furniture and utensils; hunting, fishing, and agricultural implements; clothing; and objects relating to games, pastimes, religion, and education.

The museum experience starts in Turlough Park House, built in the High Victorian Gothic style in 1865 and set in pretty lakeside gardens. Just three rooms have been restored to illustrate the way the landowners lived. A sensational modern four-story, curved building houses the main exhibit. Cleverly placed windows afford panoramic views of the surrounding park and the distant Round Tower, allowing you to reflect on the reality beyond the museum's walls. The shop sells museum-branded and handcrafted gift items and a café with indoor and outdoor tables is located in the stable yard, and you can take scenic lakeside walks in the park.

Nano Nagle (1718--84) founded the Presentation order of nuns, and was a pioneer in the education of the poor. The convent that was her Cork headquarters has been transformed into a delightful heritage center and provides a welcome oasis of calm in the city center. Visit her tomb, with its water fountain, graveyard, and garden before discovering the ornate Victorian Gothic Revival chapel ("The Goldie Chapel"), a popular new venue for readings and other events. The oldest buildings on-site, dating from the early 18th century, including Miss Nagle's parlor, can be visited only on guided tours, which depart daily at 11 am and 3 pm.

This small museum tells the tale of the United Irishmen and the ill-fated 1798 rebellion.

These extensive archives include census records and, like the National Library, they provide free genealogy consultations on weekdays from 10 am to 1:30 pm. A lot of the archives are now online.

The National Botanic Gardens, on the northeastern flank of Glasnevin Cemetery and the south bank of the Tolka River, date from 1795 and have more than 20,000 varieties of plants, a rose garden, and a vegetable garden. The main attraction is the beautifully restored Curvilinear Range—400-foot-long greenhouses designed and built by a Dublin ironmaster, Richard Turner, between 1843 and 1869. The Great Palm House, with its striking double dome, was built in 1884 and houses orchids, palms, and tropical ferns. Inspiring free guided tours are offered Sunday at noon and 2:30.

The delicate welding of glass and iron onto the redbrick Victorian facade of this onetime factory makes this school worth a visit. A walk around the cobblestone central courtyard often gives the added bonus of viewing students working away in glass, clay, metal, and stone. The glass-fronted gallery combines work by local, national, and international avant-garde artists.

Ancestor hunters have long traveled throughout Ireland to comb parish church records, but most of these records are now available on microfilm in Dublin at the National Library of Ireland and increasingly through its online service. The library is a great place to begin your hunting; you can consult a research adviser there free of charge.

Along with works by W. B. Yeats (1923), George Bernard Shaw (1925), Samuel Beckett (1969), and Seamus Heaney (1995), the National Library contains first editions of every major Irish writer, including books by Jonathan Swift, Oliver Goldsmith, and James Joyce (who used the library as the scene of the great literary debate in Ulysses). In addition, almost every book ever published in Ireland is kept here, along with an unequaled selection of old maps and an extensive collection of Irish newspapers and magazines—more than 5 million items in all.

The library is housed in a rather stiff Neoclassical building with colonnaded porticoes and an excess of ornamentation—it's not one of Dublin's architectural showpieces. But inside, the main Reading Room, opened in 1890 to house the collections of the Royal Dublin Society, has a dramatic dome ceiling, beneath which countless authors have researched and written. The personal papers of greats such as W. B. Yeats are also on display. The library also has a free genealogical consultancy service that can advise you on how to trace your Irish ancestors.

This important photographic resource holds regular exhibitions in its stylish modern building in Temple Bar. The collection comprises approximately 600,000 photographs, most of which are Irish, making up a priceless visual history of the nation. Although most of the photographs are historical, dating as far back as the mid-19th century, there are also a large number of contemporary pictures. Subject matter ranges from topographical views to studio portraits, from political events to early tourist photographs. You can also buy a print of your favorite photo.

One of four branches of the National Museum of Ireland, this museum is little changed from Victorian times and remains a fascinating repository of mounted mammals, birds, and other flora and fauna. Locals still affectionately refer to the place as the "Dead Zoo." The Irish Room houses the most famous exhibits: skeletons of the extinct, prehistoric, giant Irish elk. The International Animals Collection includes a 65-foot whale skeleton suspended from the roof. Another highlight is the very beautiful Blaschka Collection, finely detailed glass models of marine creatures, the zoological accuracy of which has never been achieved again in glass. Exhibitions include Mating Game and Taxonomy Trail. Built in 1856 to hold the Royal Dublin Society's rapidly expanding collection, it was designed by Frederick Clarendon to sit in harmony with the National Gallery on the other side of Leinster Lawn. When it was completed, it formed an annex to Leinster House and was connected to it by a curved, closed Corinthian colonnade. In 1909 a new entrance was constructed at the east end of the building on Merrion Street.

Dedicated to the creatures of the sea, National SEA LIFE emphasizes those that occupy the waters around Ireland. Besides massive tanks that contain all manner of swimming things, there are major conservation projects focusing on breeding seahorses and stingrays. The Tropical Shark Lagoon is always a thrill for kids. Touch-screen computers and video games give the place a high-tech feel. There are also regular feeding demonstrations during the day. In winter, call ahead to confirm opening times.

Until 1959, a tram service ran from the railway station in Howth, over Howth Summit, and back down to the station. One of the open-top Hill of Howth trams that plied this route is now the star at the National Transport Museum, a short, 800-yard walk from Howth's DART station. Volunteers spent several years restoring the tram, which stands alongside other unusual vehicles, including horse-drawn bakery vans.

The exotic, Victorian-style interiors here were once haunted by Dublin's literary set, most notably the master bar raconteur Brendan Behan.

A two-hour tour of farmer Willie Redhouse's fully functioning farm includes feeding the ducks, bottle-feeding the lambs, a visit to aviaries stocked with exotic birds, and a straw maze and go-karts for the kids. A blacksmith gives demonstrations of his ancient art, and there's a nice tractor ride around the farm. Every Sunday at 3 pm the Sheep Derby takes place, with teddy bears tied astride the animals in the place of jockeys.

East of Trim on the banks of the River Boyne, Newtown contains the ruins of what was once the largest cathedral in Ireland, built beginning in 1210 by Simon de Rochfort, the first Anglo-Norman bishop of Meath.

More than 24 species of whale and dolphin have been spotted off the coast of West Cork. Trips to see at least some of them last three to four hours, with commentary on other local bird and wildlife, and leave from the harbor at Baltimore, about 13 km (8 miles) southwest of Skibbereen. Reservations are recommended in peak season.

Thanks in part to its central location, NUI Galway has become an inextricable part of Galway life since its construction in 1845, as only a handful of other universities, such as Oxford, have done. In fact its Tudor Gothic–style quadrangle was modeled on Christ Church in Oxford. It houses Galway's "hidden museum," the James Mitchell Geology Museum, which has a collection of 15,000 rocks, gemstones, and fossils.

This ruined 15th-century tower house (also referred to as An Tur Faire or "the tower ruin") dominates the island from the top of a steep rocky hill; a martello tower keeps it company.

Dublin's most famous thoroughfare, which is 150 feet wide, was once known as Sackville Street, but its name was changed in 1924, two years after the founding of the Irish Free State. After the devastation of the 1916 Easter Rising, the Northside street had to be almost entirely reconstructed, a task that took until the end of the 1920s. At one time, the main attraction of the street was Nelson's Pillar, a Doric column towering over the city center and a marvelous vantage point, but it was blown up in 1966, on the Rising's 50th anniversary. A major cleanup and repaving returned the street to a little of its old glory. The large monument at the south end of the street is dedicated to Daniel O'Connell (1775–1847), "The Liberator," and was erected in 1854 as a tribute to the orator's achievement in securing Catholic Emancipation in 1829. Look closely, and you'll notice that O'Connell is wearing a glove on one hand, as he did for much of his adult life, a self-imposed penance for shooting a man in a duel. But even the great man himself is dwarfed by the 395-foot-high Spire, built in Nelson's Pillar's place in 2003.

Westport's streets radiate from its central Octagon, where an old-fashioned farmers' market is held on Thursday morning; look for work clothes, harnesses, tools, and children's toys for sale. Presiding over the square at the top of the tall fluted column is a statue of St Patrick, which replaced an earlier statute of a faceless banker (his face was removed by pellets during Civil War target practice). Traditional shops—ironmongers, drapers, and the like—line the streets.

If you fancy expanding your mind and horizons, both from a sporting and cultural point of view, then Oideas Gael has an excellent selection of courses—both weekend and weeklong—for the culturally curious holidaymaker. Since it was formed in 1984, Oideas Gael has run acclaimed Irish-language classes, as well as programs on hill walking, archaeology, landscape, and the environment. Other activities include painting, traditional music, playing the harp---and even tapestry hand weaving—one of Donegal's renowned crafts. The courses, which attract thousands of participants from all over the world, run from March to October. Accommodations are based in self-catering hostels or with local families. For a rundown on the schedule and prices, check the website.

Set on the banks of the River Lee with a redbrick chimney that towers over the network of handsome sandstone Victorian buildings that house 100-year-old engine rooms, boilers, and steam centers, this fascinating experience takes you behind the mechanics that generated three centuries of local hydraulic innovation. With interactive exhibitions and informative tours, visitors explore Cork's industrial heritage, and get some insight into the science behind water supply and the challenges facing the environment today. Tours are held every 30 minutes.

Founded in 1791, this distillery produced one of Ireland's most famous whiskeys for nearly 200 years, until 1966, when local distilleries merged to form Irish Distillers and moved to a purpose-built, ultramodern distillery in Middleton, County Cork. A major recent renovation has turned this original distillery into a state-of-the-art museum and whiskey experience to rival Guinness's storehouse. In fact, Jameson claims to be the most visited distillery in the world. Tours focus on either exploring the history of the old place, blending your own whiskey, or honing your whiskey-cocktail-making skills. Tours include a complimentary tasting; four attendees are invited to taste different brands of Irish whiskey and compare them against bourbon and Scotch. If you have a large group and everyone wants to do this, phone in advance to arrange it. You can even bottle your own whiskey, with a personalized label.

One of the most atmospheric places in Europe to see musical acts, the Olympia is Dublin's second-oldest theater, and one of its busiest. This classic Victorian music hall, built in 1879, has a gorgeous red wrought-iron facade. The Olympia has brought numerous musical performers to Dublin, and the theater has also seen many notable actors strut across its stage, including Alec Guinness, Peggy Ashcroft, Noël Coward, and even the old-time Hollywood team of Laurel and Hardy. Big-name performers like Van Morrison often choose the intimacy of the Olympia over larger venues. It's really a hot place to see some fine performances, so if you have a chance, by all means, go. Conveniently, there are two pubs here—through doors directly off the back of the theater's orchestra section. Their Christmas Pantomime is a Dublin tradition and great for younger kids.

This fortified house was built on the eastern shore of Lough Gill in the 17th century by an English Planter (a Protestant colonist settling on Irish lands confiscated from Catholic owners) who needed the strong fortifications to defend himself against a hostile populace. His relations with the people were made worse by the fact that he obtained his building materials mainly by dismantling a historic fortress on the site that had belonged to the clan leaders, the O'Rourkes of Breifne (once the name of the district). Don't miss the blacksmith's forge, which has been rebuilt, and the nearby tiny circular sweathouse (an early traditional sauna). New steel battlements have replaced wooden ones along the walkways of the Bawn area of the castle, improving visitor access. The entrance fee includes a short video on the castle and local history; guided tours are available on the hour and last 45 minutes. In summer, boat tours of the lough leave from here.

For a breathtaking view of the nearby Lough Colgagh, drive west from Parke's Castle keeping the lake on your left. You will find a small car park from where you can drink in the spectacular views.

Known locally as the Blessington Lakes, Poulaphouca (pronounced "pool-a-fook-a") is a large, meandering reservoir that provides Dublin's water supply. You can drive around the entire perimeter of the artificial lake on minor roads; on its southern end lies Hollywood Glen, a particularly beautiful natural spot. The whole area is great for a walk or a picnic.

One of the finest 18th-century mansions in Dublin, the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre has magnificent architecture, quality shopping, and an Irish dancing museum and show. Designed by Robert Mack in 1771, it's a massive edifice that towers over the little street it sits on (note the top story, framed by large volutes, which was intended as an observatory). Inside, there are rococo salons designed by James McCullagh, splendid examples of plasterwork in the Adamesque style, and a shopping atrium filled with high-quality Irish crafts shops, installed in and around the covered courtyard. The mall exit leads to St. Teresa's Carmelite Church and Johnson's Court. Beside the church, a pedestrian lane leads onto Grafton Street.