Ireland’s Unique, Off-Beat, & Often-Missed Sites
The nearby dolmen holds our attention, as does the local music session.
We can’t resist haunted pubs, beloved movie locations, and shops run by colorful locals.
We’re the contributors of IrelandTravelKit.com, and we’re happy to share our favorite bits of Ireland with you.
The Hiring Fair Statue: Letterkenny, Co Donegal
As the west of Ireland was beginning to recover from the Great Hunger, younger members of families in Donegal, often children as young as eight or nine, went off to work in the more prosperous farms...
Sean McGuire Music Without Borders Mural: Belfast, Co Antrim
Just a few steps off the Falls Road, there’s a mural that takes a bit of a different angle than the political and topical murals that fill the neighborhood. You’ll see the image of a man playing a...
Blackwater Village Grotto: Co. Wexford
Blackwater Village in Co. Wexford is just a wide spot in the road that has been awarded a Tidy Town award several times. Opposite a unique thatched “shell cottage” is a stone bridge, river and...
Birds, Crosses, Scenery, and a Reigning King: Tory Island, Co Donegal
Tory Island, off the north coast of County Donegal, is unique in many ways: it is the only Irish island which still has a King; it is the only inhabited Irish island to have been designated a...
Forest Walk with Irish Famine History: Bonny Glen Woods, Co Donegal
Bonny Glen Wood is a place of peace and beauty, hidden away along an old road in west Donegal, not far from the town of Ardara. The wood has two laid out walks (one of about a mile, the second about...
Devotional Delight at St. Brigid’s Holy Well: Co Kildare
St. Brigid is one of the three patron saints of Ireland, and has dozens of holy wells dedicated to her throughout the island. Echoes of the Goddess Brigid are heard in the Saint's stories, and some...
Waiting on Shore Monument: Rosses Point, Co. Sligo
A poignant memorial to seafarers and their loved ones who waited for their safe return, the Waiting on Shore monument at Rosses Point, Co. Sligo is a large bronze statue by Niall Bruton....
The World’s Oldest Operating Lighthouse: Hook Head, Co. Wexford
The lighthouse at Hook Head sits at the tip of a long low-lying peninsula guarding the entrance to Waterford Harbor. Across the water is Crook Castle, which some say coined the term "By Hook or by...
Castle Ward, Classical Gothic Fantasy: Strangford, Co. Down
Castle Ward is an eccentric, historic 18th Century mansion overlooking Strangford Lough. Built by Bernard Ward 1st Viscount Bangor and his wife Anne, the battling spouses each wanted a different...
Saint Patrick Atop Ireland’s Highest Motte: Granard, Co Longford
Known as Patrick's Motte or the Granard Motte, this man-made hill was built in 1199 and overlooks the modern town. It is surrounded by a horseshoe-shaped earthen wall called a bailey (that's where...
