Things To Do in County Wicklow and County Carlow

The lush, colorful extravagance of Altamont is the result of decades of nurturing. A shadowy avenue of beech trees leads to bright lawns and flowers beneath ancient yew trees. Gravel walks weave around a lake, constructed as a famine-relief project. It's arguably at its best in late…

In a fertile valley between Glendalough and the Vale of Avoca, this is the former home of Charles Stewart Parnell (1846-91), one of Ireland's great political leaders. Built in 1779, the house is now a museum dedicated to his memory. The parkland around the house is beautiful, with…

Resembling an elephant about to topple slowly to one side, this megalithic stone table has crouched in this green field for millennia. No one knows its purpose, though archaeologists suspect the dolmen was built to mark the burial place of a long-dead king. The gigantic stack of…

Looking not unlike an elephant about to topple slowly to one side, this megalithic stone table has crouched in this green field for millennia. No one knows its purpose, though archaeologists suspect the dolmen was built to mark the burial place of a long-dead king. The gigantic stack…

Tucked away amid deep forests and surrounded by rolling hills, this evocative, misty glen is a truly magical place. First established by a monk known as St. Kevin in the 6th century, Glendalough was originally devoted to Christian worship and scholarly learning. Sacked first by the…

A wide strip of silver running down a rugged hill, the Glenmacnass Waterfall is more pretty than spectacular. It doesn’t plummet so much as slip through the rugged countryside and down the side of Mt. Mullagheleevaun. Follow signs to the waterfall—there’s a parking lot near the top…

This place has all the makings of a spectacular haunting. It’s built on the site of a 14th-century abbey, which was itself built on top of a Druid temple (a modern shrine to the Egyptian Goddess Isis lies in the basement). And it certainly looks the part—the rambling, 17th-century…

This grand estate has been the seat of the Earl of Meath since 1618. The noble mansion dates from 1820, and features a later (more frilly) glass Victorian conservatory modeled on the ill-fated Crystal Palace that stood in London at that time. The gardens are a highlight, with a lime…

Spreading out on 8 hectares (20 acres) at the edge of the River Vartry, this peaceful and romantic site was once an ancient lake. Since 1868 it’s been a riverside garden, designed in a distinctively informal style, with fiery rhododendrons, fragrant eucalyptus trees, giant Tibetan…

This cleverly designed aquarium at the water's edge in coastal Bray provides a kid-centric introduction to sea life. A labyrinthine path through the aquarium begins with a rock tunnel carved by a freshwater stream; from there, you follow the water's course toward the open sea, from…

The 20th century was not kind to this magnificent estate, which was neglected for decades and then gutted by fire. It's taken 30 years to restore the Palladian house to even a glimmer of its former glory. Only a few rooms are now open to the public, and there's an exhibition that…

Sprawling low across the green landscape, this somber greystone villa was built between 1741 and 1751. The designer was Richard Cassels, the same man who designed the much more fanciful Powerscourt House (see p. ###). Today, however, Russborough is known not for its architecture but…

This monastery’s idyllic setting—in a sleepy hamlet beside the River Barrow, surrounded by low hills—is reason enough for a visit. These are the ruins of a monastery founded by St. Moling (Mullin) in roughly a.d. 614. Plundered again and again by the Vikings in the 9th and 10th…

The 20th century was not kind to this magnificent estate. It took more than 30 years to restore the Palladian house to its former glory after being abandoned and then gutted by fire. The gardens, however, remained gorgeous, with classical statuary, a shady grotto made of petrified…

Basically a peaceful, green river valley, the Vale of Avoca is the “Meeting of the Waters” where the Avonmore and Avonbeg rivers join to form the Avoca River. Pleasant as it is, we’d probably never have heard of it were it not for the 19th-century poet Thomas Moore who wrote, “There…

Sprawling around Glendalough, this hilly national park is popular with hikers walking the Wicklow Way, a trail that cuts across the park. In the high season, you’ll find an information station at the Upper Lake at Glendalough where you can get maps and route guides. Behind the center…

Given the archaic look of the place, it's impossible to believe that this old jail operated until 1924, the end of a terrifying career that spanned 2 centuries. A visit here is creative and interactive -- after passing under the hanging beam, visitors are lined up against the wall of…