400 Best Sights in Ireland

One of the most inspiring sights to the writers and artists of the Romantic generation, the 400-foot Powerscourt Waterfall is the highest in Ireland or Britain.

Many of the people who left Ireland on immigrant ships for the New World departed from Cobh, which was formerly known as Queenstown. The exhibit, in the old Cobh train station, re-creates the experience of the 2½ million emigrants who left from here between 1848 and 1960. It also tells the stories of great transatlantic liners, including the ill-fated Titanic, whose last port of call was Cobh, and the Lusitania.

Cong's 15 minutes of fame came in 1952, when John Ford's The Quiet Man, one of his most popular films, was released to a global audience. John Wayne plays a prizefighter who goes home to Ireland and courts the fiery Maureen O'Hara. The Quiet Man Museum, in the village center, is an exact replica of the cottage used in the film, with reproductions of the furniture and costumes, a few original artifacts, and pictures of actors Barry Fitzgerald and Maureen O'Hara on location. Margaret and Gerry Collins host Quiet Man walking tours, leaving the cottage at 11 am daily and exploring such Cong village sites as the river fight scene, the "hats in the air" scene, and Pat Cohan's Bar. There is also a chauffeur-driven tour option.

Coined the “Camelot on the Shannon” by romantic souls, Rindoon was built in 1227 and the population at its height was 1,000 people---a significant town in its day. By the late 13th and early 14th centuries the town was destroyed---and forgotten as the centuries passed.  Today, its town wall, castle, bee bole, medieval hospital, windmill, gatehouse, church, and mill are quite remarkably preserved.

If you happen to be in Banagher in summer, consider taking a cruise along the Shannon aboard The River Queen, an enclosed launch run by Silver Line Cruisers Ltd. that seats 50 passengers and has a full bar on board. It also runs cruises on certain days to Shannonbridge and Clonmacnoise

Call to book in advance; seats aren't guaranteed to those who turn up and a minimum number of 25 people is required per trip.

A dramatic 150-foot-high limestone outcrop, the famous Rock of Dunamase dominates the landscape east of Portlaoise. For this reason, it was used as a military stronghold. As far back as AD 140, its occupants kept watch against marauders, and it was fought over in turn by the Vikings, Normans, Irish, and English. Today it's crowned by the ruins of a 12th-century castle, once home to Diarmuid MacMurrough, king of Leinster, who precipitated the Norman invasion when he invited the famed and feared Norman leader Strongbow to Ireland to marry his daughter. Some of the castle's thick walls still stand after it was largely destroyed during the Cromwellian invasion in 1650.

Take the short walk to its summit to enjoy the view of the Slieve Bloom Mountains to the north and the Wicklow Mountains to the south.

In the very center of town is Roscrea Castle, a Norman fortress dating from 1314, given by King Richard II to the Duke of Ormonde. Inside are vaulted rooms graced with tapestries and 16th-century furniture. A ticket to the castle gains entry to the adjacent Damer House, a superb example of an early-18th-century town house on the grand scale. The house has a plain, symmetrical facade and a magnificent carved-pine staircase inside; on display are exhibits about local history. The Damer Art Gallery is on the second floor, while on the third the Kelly Exhibition showcases furniture and farm implements donated from a local farmhouse. Guided 45-minute tours are held in spring and summer. Your ticket also includes entry to the restored Black Mills in Church Street, a small museum with local artifacts, of which the star attraction is St. Cronan's High Cross.

For a real taste of some honest-to-goodness Tipperary home baking, try to catch the Roscrea Country Market, held every Friday 10–1 at the Abbey Hall, for whole-grain scones and breads, apple and rhubarb tarts, fruit and sponge cakes, and homemade jams. Potatoes, vegetables, eggs from free-range chickens, and flowers are also on offer. The market has been running since 1962.

A fully restored 15th-century stronghold of the O'Donoghue Ross clan, sited on the lower lake 2 km (1 mile) south of town, this castle was the last place in the province of Munster to fall to Oliver Cromwell's forces in 1652. You can see its curtain walls, towers, and display of 16th- and 17th-century furniture on a 40-minute guided tour.

On the coast, Rossbeigh consists of a tombolo (sand spit) of about 3 km (2 miles) backed by high dunes. It faces Inch Strand, a similar formation across the water on the Dingle Peninsula. Popular with families for its safe swimming, it also attracts walkers. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards; parking (no fee). Best for: swimming; walking.

There's a feeling of time travel as you step off the busy main street and into one of Ireland's finest examples of a Tudor-era merchant's house. Built by John Rothe between 1594 and 1610, this medieval complex with stone-wall courtyards (one of which houses a medieval well) is owned by the Kilkenny Archaeological Society and houses a collection of Bronze Age artifacts, ogham stones (carved with an early Celtic alphabet), and period costumes. The Burgage Garden re-creates, down to the plant types themselves, a typical 17th-century Irish merchant's garden. There's also a genealogical research facility to help you trace your ancestry.

Founded in 1745 as the first maternity hospital in Ireland and Britain, the Rotunda was designed on a grand scale by architect Richard Castle (1690–1751), with a three-story tower and a copper cupola. It's now mostly worth a visit for its chapel, which has elaborate plasterwork and, appropriately, honors motherhood; it was built by Bartholomew Cramillion between 1757 and 1758. The Gate Theatre, in a lavish Georgian assembly room, is on the O'Connell Street side of this large complex.

The nearly 100-foot-high Round Tower, adjacent to St. Colmcille's House, dates back to 1076 and is in almost perfect condition. The tower was likely used as a defensive hideout by local monks during an invasion; they would climb up the rope ladder with their valuables and pull it up after them. Its top story has five windows, not the usual four, each facing an ancient entrance into the medieval town. You can't go inside, but just standing beside it gives a real sense of the inventiveness and desperation of the Viking-fearing monks.

The 108-foot-high Round Tower, dating from the 12th century, is the second-highest in Ireland (the highest is in Kilmacduagh in County Galway). Extraordinary views across much of the Midlands await if you're energetic enough to climb to the top.

The Royal Hibernian Academy, an old Dublin institution, is housed in a well-lighted building, one of the largest exhibition spaces in the city. The gallery holds adventurous exhibitions of the best in contemporary art, both from Ireland and abroad.

This replica of Les Invalides in Paris is regarded as the most important 17th-century building in Ireland. Commissioned as a hospice for disabled and veteran soldiers by James Butler—the Duke of Ormonde and viceroy to King Charles II—it was completed in 1684, making it the first building erected in Dublin's golden age. It survived into the 1920s as a hospital, but after the founding of the Irish Free State in 1922, the building fell into disrepair. The entire edifice has since been restored. The architectural highlight is the hospital's Baroque chapel, distinguished by its extraordinary plasterwork ceiling and fine wood carvings. The hospital also houses the Irish Museum of Modern Art.

The country's leading learned society houses important documents in its 18th-century library, including a large collection of ancient Irish manuscripts, such as the 11th- to 12th-century Book of the Dun Cow, and the library of the 18th-century poet Thomas Moore.

The bridge itself is nothing special, but in season—from mid-April to early July—shoals of salmon are visible from its deck as they lie in the clear river water before making their way upstream to the spawning grounds of Lough Corrib.

Ireland's largest bird sanctuary, the Saltee Islands make a fine day trip from Kilmore Quay. You can see kittiwakes, puffins, guillemots, cormorants, gulls, and petrels, especially in late spring and early summer when several million seabirds nest among the dunes and rocky scarp on the southernmost of the two islands. From mid-May to mid-September, look for boats at the village waterfront or on the marina to take you to the islands, weather permitting.

A lively, hugely popular seaside resort, Salthill is beloved for its old-fashioned seaside promenade—the traditional place "to sit and watch the moon rise over Claddagh, and see the sun go down on Galway Bay," as Bing Crosby used to croon in the most famous song about the city. Today locals use it for a routine run from the city center or weekend leap into the ocean from its diving boards. The main attraction of the village, set 3 km (2 miles) west of Galway, is the long sandy beach along the edge of Galway Bay and the promenade above it. New hotels, trendy restaurants, and craft beer pubs along the seafront have nevertheless left plenty of room for the traditional amusement arcades (full of slot machines), seasonal cafés, and a fairground.

South of the docklands, a few blocks west of the Sydney Parade DART station, Sandymount Strand stretches for 5 km (3 miles) from Ringsend to Booterstown. It was cherished by James Joyce and his beloved Nora Barnacle from Galway, and it figures as one of the settings in Ulysses; it's also a popular spot with strolling Dubliners today. (The beach is "at the lacefringe of the tide," as Joyce put it). When the tide recedes, the beach extends for 1½ km (1 mile) from the foreshore, but the tide sweeps in again very quickly. A sliver of a park lies between Strand Road and the beach, the water of which is not suitable for swimming. At the end of the strand there's a wonderful walk out along the south harbor wall to the Poolbeg Lighthouse, which has eye-popping views of Dublin Bay.

Once a community, this remote island where the mouth of the Shannon River touches the Wild Atlantic Way is a time capsule of days gone by. St. Senan set up a monastery here in the 6th century believing that the remoteness of the island brought him closer to God. The six churches on the island today date from the 14th century, and its Round Tower at 120 feet is one of the tallest in Ireland. Drop by Kilrush Marina for a frequent ferry service to the island.

From Easter to September, this foodie's Sunday market showcases superb products from local bakers, fish smokers, cheese makers, and Gubbeen smoked pork products, all sold by their makers.

Shanagarry's most famous Quaker native son was none other than William Penn (1644–1718), the founder of the Pennsylvania colony, who grew up in Shanagarry House, still a private residence in the center of the village. The house's most famous tenant since William Penn was Marlon Brando, who stayed here in the summer of 1995 while filming Divine Rapture in nearby Ballycotton.

Developed by Waterways Ireland, the Shannon Blueway—the first recreational trails of its kind in Ireland—runs along the Lough Allen Canal and follows the river from Drumshanbo to Leitrim village and on to Carrick-on-Shannon. Cycle along the 16½ km (10 miles) of leafy trails, kayak on the lake, or walk along the newly opened boardwalk, known locally as the "snake in the lake" for the way it twists along the lakeside for 525 feet. Maps and details of the trails are available at the Sliabh an Iarainn visitor center in Drumshanbo (open seasonally, contact for opening hours). Electric bikes are available from Electric Bike Trails in Leitrim village ( www.electricbiketrails.com).

The Sheep and Wool Centre, in the center of Leenane, focuses on the traditional industry of North Connemara and West Mayo. Several breeds of sheep graze around the house, and there are demonstrations of carding, spinning, weaving, and the dyeing of wool with natural plant dyes.

The iconic, redbrick, white-wood-trim Shelbourne hotel commands "the best address in Dublin" from the north side of St. Stephen's Green, where it has stood since 1865. You don't have to stay to take advantage of the gorgeous location; stop in for afternoon tea in the very opulent Lord Mayor's Lounge, a true Dublin treat, and bask in the history, grandeur, and other tasty dining options available at Dublin's most iconic hotel. In 1921 the Irish Free State's constitution was drafted here, in a first-floor suite. Elizabeth Bowen wrote her novel The Hotel about this very place.

An Trá Bhán lives up to its name: it's a beautifully enclosed small silvery-white sandy beach, quiet and hidden from view and visitor traffic. Peaceful solitude is the name of the game here, but if your hair is standing on end it's because you're being watched; there are a few peeping sheep on the surrounding hillsides. Amenities: parking (no fee). Best for: swimming; walking.

When you've had your fill of sand and serenity, explore the ruined promontory fort, Dun Allt, directly above the beach. It was built around 300 BC, and archaeologists believe it was used as a defensive fortification when the community was in danger of attack.

A thoughtful renovation of a stone gasworks building has created an attractive, architecturally appropriate home for the Skibbereen Heritage Centre. An elaborate audiovisual exhibit on the Great Famine presents dramatized firsthand accounts of what it was like to live in this community when it was hit hard by hunger. Other attractions include displays on area marine life, walking tours, access to local census information, and a varying schedule of special programs.