List of tourist attractions in Ireland

The following list cites some of the most popular tourist attractions on the island of Ireland.

Multi-county destinations/routes

• The Wild Atlantic Way

Destinations by county

• Antrim
  • Antrim Coast and Glens
  • Ballycastle
  • Belfast, capital of Northern Ireland, second largest city on the island
    • City Hall
    • the murals in Falls Road, Sandy Row, Shankill Road and the world-renowned landmark building Titanic Belfast
  • Belfast-Derry scenic railway line
  • Carrickfergus Castle
  • Giant's Causeway, a geological phenomenon and a UNESCO World Heritage Site
  • Lough Neagh, the largest lake in the island of Ireland
  • Old Bushmills Distillery, the oldest Irish whiskey distillery in existence
  • Portrush seaside resort
  • Rathlin Island off the coast
  • Titanic Belfast visitor attraction
• Armagh
  • Armagh city, ecclesiastical capital of all Ireland
    • Navan Fort, ancient capital of Ulster
    • St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh, seat of the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh
    • St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh, seat of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh
• Carlow
  • Brownshill Dolmen
• Clare
  • Bunratty Castle
  • The Burren, a karst landscape
  • Cliffs of Moher
  • Kilkee, a popular seaside resort town
  • Lisdoonvarna, spa town and site of a matchmaking festival in late summer and autumn
  • Doolin Cave, The Great Stalactite ^[1]
• Cork
  • Beara Peninsula
  • Blarney with its nearby Castle, home of the Blarney Stone
  • Cork City, third largest city in all of Ireland and second city of the Republic of Ireland
    • Church of St Anne (Shandon)
    • English Market
    • St. Finbarre's Cathedral
    • University campus (University College Cork)
  • Béal na Bláth, where Michael Collins was shot dead
  • Kinsale
  • Mizen Head, southwesternmost point of Ireland
  • Youghal, a picturesque seaport town
• Donegal
  • Árainn Mhór (Arranmore), an island off the county's west coast
  • Bluestack Mountains
  • Buncrana
  • Bundoran
  • Derryveagh Mountains
  • Donegal Town, location of Donegal Castle
  • Fanad, a small peninsula on the county's north coast
  • Fintown railway station
  • Gap of Mamore, in north-west Inishowen
  • Glenveagh National Park, including Glenveagh Castle
  • Greencastle, picturesque small town in north Inishowen
  • Grianan of Aileach, historic monument in Inishowen
  • Killybegs, famous fishing port
  • Letterkenny, largest town in the county, location of St. Eunan's Cathedral
  • Lough Foyle
  • Lough Swilly
  • Malin Head, most northerly point on the mainland of Ireland
  • Mount Errigal
  • Ramelton
  • Raphoe, location of Raphoe Cathedral and the ruined Bishop's Palace
  • The Rosses, a district in West Donegal
  • Slieve League
  • Tory Island
• Down
  • Downpatrick, with the reputed gravesite of Saint Patrick in Down Cathedral
  • Downpatrick and County Down Railway
  • Irish linen - Thomas Ferguson & Co Ltd, the last remaining Irish linen damask factory
  • Mourne Mountains
• Dublin City, largest city on the island, capital and cultural and economic centre of the Republic of Ireland
  • Áras an Uachtaráin - residence of the President of Ireland, also within the Phoenix Park
  • Christ Church Cathedral, seat of Anglican Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin
  • Croke Park, one of Europe's largest stadiums, with the Museum of the Gaelic Athletic Association
  • Dublin Castle, former seat of British rule, now a major Irish government complex
  • Four Courts, seat of the Supreme Court of Ireland
  • Garden of Remembrance Parnell Sq., Dublin, Republican memorial
  • General Post Office building, headquarters of the 1916 Easter Rising rebels, on O'Connell Street, the main thoroughfare of Dublin's Northside
  • Georgian Dublin, view of eighteenth-century streetscape of Dublin (e.g. Fitzwilliam Square, Merrion Square)
  • Glasnevin Cemetery, burial location of Éamon de Valera, Michael Collins, Roger Casement, Seán T. O'Kelly:
    Daniel O'Connell, Charles Stewart Parnell, Timothy Healy
  • Government buildings on Merrion Street
  • Grand Canal and Royal Canal
  • Ha'penny Bridge, a famous Victorian walker bridge spanning across the Liffey
  • Irish National War Memorial Gardens, Islandbridge, Dublin, memorial to Irish war dead in First World War
  • Old Jameson Distillery
  • Kilmainham Gaol, a former prison where, among others, most of the rebels of 1916 were held and executed; now used as a museum
  • The Little Museum of Dublin, a museum of Dublin in the twentieth century, housed in a restored Georgian townhouse on St. Stephen's Green
  • Irish National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin (Northside)
  • National Gallery of Ireland, houses the Irish national collection of Irish and European art
  • National Library of Ireland, has a large quantity of Irish historical, literary and Irish-related material
  • National Museum of Ireland for Archaeology (in Kildare St) and Decorative Art and History (in the former Collins Barracks)
  • Phoenix Park, "largest inner city park in the world"; within the park are Ashtown Castle and Dublin Zoo
  • St. James's Gate Brewery
  • St Mary's Pro-Cathedral, seat of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin
  • St. Michan's Church
  • St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland's "national cathedral"
  • St Stephen's Green, a landscaped inner-city centre public park in Dublin
  • Smithfield, Dublin, a culturally re-developing, increasingly "fashionable" area
  • Temple Bar, a mainly cobblestonequarter, directly on the Southern banks of the Liffey, popular for its cultural and nightlife spots
  • Trinity College, Dublin (also called the University of Dublin), Ireland's oldest university, founded by Queen Elizabeth I and home of the Book of Kells and the Book of Durrow (the film Educating Rita was made on the campus)
  • Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown
    • James Joyce Tower and Museum at Sandycove
    • the panoramic southern Dublin Bay with the towns of Dalkey and Killiney
  • Fingal
    • Howth and Howth Head
    • Malahide, with the Norman Malahide Castle
• Fermanagh
  • Castle Coole
  • Enniskillen Castle
  • Enniskillen Cathedral
  • Devenish Island
  • Florence Court
  • Lough Erne
  • Marble Arch Caves
• Galway
  • Aran Islands, Irish Gaeltacht, islands in Galway Bay
  • Connemara, Irish Gaeltacht, a heathland area, with the Twelve Bens and the Maumturk Mountains
  • Galway City, a lively university city (seat of the NUI Galway)
  • Lough Corrib, the largest lake in the Republic of Ireland
  • Loughrea, spring lake with crannog settlements; cathedral with Ireland's greatest Celtic-revival artwork
• Kerry, scenic rural county in the south west
  • Dingle, main town of the idyllic Dingle Peninsula
  • Killarney, internationally renowned as the centre of tourism in the South West of Ireland^[2]
  • Killarney National Park with the Killarney Lakes, the Muckross House and Gardens, Ross Castle, the Torc Waterfall
  • Macgillycuddy's Reeks on the Iveragh Peninsula, Ireland's highest mountains
  • the Ring of Kerry, a panoramic ring road around the Iveragh Peninsula passing through, among others, the village of Cahersiveen, the birthplace of Daniel O'Connell
  • Skellig Islands with the monastic site on Skellig Michael, a UNESCO World Heritage site
  • Tralee, the county town and home of the Rose of Tralee festival
  • Valentia Island
• Kildare
  • Irish National Stud, National Horse stud with many famous horses, centre of Irish horse breeding
  • Kildare town with Kildare Cathedral on the site of an early Christian monastery founded by Saint Brigid
  • Maynooth, town on the Royal Canal, Catholic bishop seat, Maynooth Castle, Carton House, the campuses of St Patrick's College and of the NUI Maynooth
• Kilkenny
  • Dunmore Cave, a show cave with many calcite formations and archaeological finds
  • Jerpoint Abbey near Thomastown
  • Kells Priory at Kells
    • Kilkenny Castle, meeting place of the Confederate Ireland government in the 1640s
  • Kilkenny City, one of Ireland's most exemplary medieval cities
    • Rothe House
    • St Canice's Cathedral
    • St Mary's Cathedral
• Laois - "Queen's County"
  • Castle Durrow
  • Rock of Dunamase
  • Slieve Bloom mountains
• Limerick
  • Adare, "Ireland's most beautiful village" with Adare Manor, Desmond Castle, a Franciscan and a Trinitarian abbey
  • Castle Oliver
  • Knockpatrick Gardens^[3]
  • Limerick city, historic Irish city and home to the famous Munster rugby team and Thomond Park
    • Hunt Museum - museum housing over 2000 artifacts from Ireland and abroad
    • King John's Castle - 13th-century castle located on the medieval King's Island
    • St. Mary's Cathedral - 12th-century cathedral located on King's Island
  • Lough Gur - ancient mesolithic human settlement site
• Londonderry
  • Belfast-Derry scenic railway line
  • Coleraine
  • City of Derry, only city in Ireland with intact city walls (as they were never breached, the city is sometimes called, especially by Unionists, 'the Maiden City')
    • The Bogside with, among numerous others, the murals at the Free Derry Corner
  • Lough Foyle
• Louth
  • Carlingford, one of Ireland's best preserved and most interesting mediaeval towns, on the edge of Carlingford Lough
  • Drogheda, formerly Ireland's largest walled town (formed when two separate towns united in 1412); site of the magnificent Laurence's Gat, Millmount Museum in the castle taken by Cromwell in 1649
  • Mellifont, the first 'European-style' monastery in Ireland;founded in 1142 near Monasterboice in order to steal its glory
  • Monasterboice, early Christian settlement with Ireland's finest high crosses and a [round tower]
  • Rathiddy Standing Stone, in the great Irish epic, An Táin Bó Cuailgne, the dying hero Cú Chulainn tied himself to this stone so that he might die upright, facing his enemies
• Mayo
  • Achill Island
  • Ashford Castle, near Cong
  • Croagh Patrick, mountain place of pilgrimage - since pagan times to present-day Christian times, near Westport
  • Lough Mask
  • Museum of Country Life near Castlebar
• Meath, the Royal County
  • Battle of the Boyne visitor centre
  • Bective Abbey, a 12th-century Cistercian abbey
  • Brú na Bóinne, location of the above two and other monuments
  • Dowth, a Neolithic passage tomb, oldest principle tomb at Brú na Bóinne
  • Hill of Tara, seat of Ireland's ancient High Kings
  • Kells, after which the Book of Kells is named
  • Knowth, a monument similar to Newgrange that has only recently been opened for visitors
  • Loughcrew, 5,000-year-old burial grounds
  • Newgrange, a megalithic passage grave site older than the pyramids
  • Ráth Cairn, a small Gaeltacht area
  • Slane Castle, 18th-century castle
  • Tayto Park, theme park
  • Trim Castle, Ireland's largest castle
• Monaghan
  • Harvest Time Blues Festival
• Offaly - "King's County"
  • Birr Castle
  • Clonmacnoise, monastic site on the banks of the River Shannon
• Roscommon
  • Lough Key Lake and forest park
  • Strokestown Park & Famine Museum
• Sligo
  • Carrowkeel Megalithic Cemetery, passage tomb complex
  • Carrowmore, passage tomb site
  • Drumcliffe with the gravesite of William Butler Yeats, near the Ben Bulben mountain
  • Knocknarea, a hill featuring megalithic remains
  • Sligo town with Sligo Abbey
• Tipperary
  • Carrick-on-Suir, Ormond Castle, the only Tudor manor in Ireland
  • Glen of Aherlow
  • Lough Derg
  • Mitchelstown Cave, one of the largest caves in Ireland
  • Rock of Cashel, traditional seat of the Kings of Munster
• Tyrone
  • Ulster American Folk Park near Omagh
• Waterford
  • Ardmore, with the round tower of St Declan's Church
  • Waterford, Ireland's oldest city
    • Christ Church Cathedral, Waterford
    • Reginald's Tower
• Westmeath, centre of Ireland; attractive lakes
  • Athlone Castle, old castle in Athlone Town
  • Belvedere House and Gardens, historic gardens near Mullingar
  • Lough Owel and Lough Ennell, beautiful lakes
• Wexford
  • Enniscorthy with Enniscorthy Castle
  • Ferns Castle and Abbey
  • New Ross
  • Tintern Abbey
  • Wexford town with Selskar Abbey
• Wicklow, "the garden of Ireland"
  • Avoca
  • Bray, considered the southernmost suburb of Dublin
  • Enniskerry
  • Glendalough, 6th-century monastic site with Irish round tower
  • Greystones
  • Powerscourt Estate, extensive castle grounds and gardens; a popular tourist attraction; includes golf course, restaurant, andhotel
  • Russborough House, an exceptionally fine example of Irish Palladian architecture, designed by Richard Cassels, built between 1741 and 1755
  • Wicklow Mountains, an Irish national park; all of the above towns are in or near these mountains
  • Wicklow town with Wicklow Head, the easternmost point of the Republic of Ireland

See also

• Tourism in the Republic of Ireland
• List of Ireland-related topics
• Common Travel Area
• Gardens in the Republic of Ireland
• Parks in the Republic of Ireland

References

1. www.doolincave.ie
2. Killarney | Ireland tourist information re Killarney
3. Knockpatrick Gardens

External links

• Ireland travel and tourism at DMOZ
• Northern Ireland travel and tourism at DMOZ
• Official site of the Republic of Ireland Tourist Board
• Official site of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board
• Media related to Tourism in Ireland at Wikimedia Commons