Top choice in County Donegal
This country house is large, luxurious and refreshingly dressed with nonfrumpy furnishings. Sprawled over wooded gardens on the shores of Lough Swilly, the original house dates from the 1780s. The best of the 34 rooms have balconies or terraces. There’s a tennis court, two bars and a restaurant.
The glass-paned restaurant, the Cook & Gardener, uses organic produce from the property’s gardens, while the Tap Room serves pizzas (€15) and has six different Kinnegar beers on tap.
20.48 MILES
On the northernmost tip of Malin Head, called Banba's Crown, stands a cumbersome 1805 clifftop tower that was built by the British admiralty and later…
10.79 MILES
The 12 murals that decorate the gable ends of houses along Rossville St, near Free Derry Corner, are popularly referred to as the People's Gallery. They…
19.92 MILES
The towering headland of Horn Head has some of the Wild Atlantic Way's most spectacular scenery, with dramatic quartzite cliffs, topped with bog and…
8.02 MILES
Once named the second-most beautiful beach in the world by British newspaper the Observer, this tawny-coloured Blue Flag beach is a supremely fine place…
20.17 MILES
This Blue Flag beach is great for swimming and windsurfing. You can wander its gorgeous length and get lost in the grassy sand dunes, and there's a fun…
10.97 MILES
The best way to get a feel for Derry's layout and history is to walk the 1.5km circumference of the city's walls. Completed in 1619, Derry's city walls…
28.72 MILES
In 1774, the bishop of Derry (fourth earl of Bristol, Frederick Augustus Hervey), built a palatial home amid a 160-hectare demesne. The house burnt down…
10.96 MILES
Standing just outside the city walls, the neo-Gothic Guildhall was originally built in 1890, then rebuilt after a fire in 1908. Its fine stained-glass…
0.51 MILES
Dating from 1508 and facing the water, this ivy-cloaked priory was plundered in 1595 and then used as a barracks; in the early 17th century it was…
3.56 MILES
Walk 500m from O'Doherty's Keep (turn left and stick to the shoreline) to find squat Ned's Point Fort (1812), built by the British.
3.79 MILES
At the side of O'Doherty's Keep is the manor-like Buncrana Castle, built in 1718 by John Vaughan, who also constructed the bridge. Wolfe Tone was…
3.79 MILES
At the northern end of the seafront, the picture-perfect early-18th-century, six-arched Castle Bridge leads to these tower-house ruins originally built by…
3.85 MILES
This lovely forested park area by the River Carna is very picturesque, with a path leading along the riverbank and lovely views.
4.25 MILES
This remote and attractive beach is excellent for a walk and for views over Lough Swilly.
6.4 MILES
The roofless ruins of 17th-century Old Tullyaugnish Church are special because of the Romanesque carvings in the eastern wall, taken from a far older…
6.67 MILES
This amphitheatre-like stone fort encircles the top of Grianán Hill like a halo with eye-popping views of surrounding loughs. On clear days you can see as…