Head straight to the 5th floor of this award-winning museum inside a replica 16th-century tower house for a view from the top. Then work your way down through the excellent Armada Shipwreck exhibition, and the Story of Derry, where well-thought-out exhibits and audiovisuals lead you through the city's history, from the founding of the monastery of St Colmcille (Columba) in the 6th century to the Battle of the Bogside in the late 1960s. Allow at least two hours.
Tower Museum
Top choice in Derry (Londonderry)
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
23.39 MILES
In the 18th and 19th centuries more than two million Ulster people left their homes to forge a new life across the Atlantic. Their story is told here at…
26.75 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…
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0.17 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…
18.62 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…
21.61 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…
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0.04 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…
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23.2 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…
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0.05 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…
Nearby Derry (Londonderry) attractions
0.04 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…
0.05 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…
0.17 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…
0.18 MILES
In a building adjoining the Apprentice Boys Memorial Hall, this museum celebrates the role of the 13 apprentice boys who in December 1688 locked the city…
0.19 MILES
Sinuous and elegant, this 2011-completed, S-shaped pedestrian and cyclist bridge spans the River Foyle, linking the walled city on the west bank to…
0.19 MILES
A simple granite obelisk that commemorates the 14 civilians who were shot dead by the British Army on Bloody Sunday, 30 January 1972.
0.19 MILES
Just off Rossville St, this excellent museum chronicles the history of the Bogside, the Civil Rights Movement and the events of Bloody Sunday through…
0.22 MILES
The H-shaped Hunger Strikers' Memorial is near the Free Derry Corner.