My husband and I will be visiting County Carlow and County Wicklow in late March 2017, specifically to see areas related to his family history. If you have recommendations for lodging in either county, we'd love to hear about it. If there are places in those counties or the surrounding area that you'd recommend visiting, we'd love to hear about those also. We'll be renting a car and have about five days to explore. Any suggestions on how to use that time are most welcome. Thanks for your help!
Posted by
Chicagoland
279 posts
In County Wicklow, definitely see Powerscourt Gardens and House. The house was badly damaged in a fire about 40-50 years ago and is now shops and a restaurant, but the gardens are really terrific. We stayed just down the road in Enniskerry, at Ferndale B&B, which is on the main road but has parking in back, behind a really nice back yard. It is also right across the street from a nice pub with good food for dinner. The B&B rooms are very comfortable, if a bit small, and breakfast was excellent. The hosts are very accommodating--they were having a family party the night we were there, but they let us check in early and took care of us even though we had just called asking for a room that morning.
About 30 minutes down the road is Glendalough Monastery which is high on many people's to-see lists. We drove there after Powerscourt only to find it super-packed (the parking lot was full and the road had cars parked for some distance around the entry), but it was the probably the last gorgeous weekend of the year (early October) so the crowds were understandable.
So we skipped it and just drove the Old Military Road, including the Sally Gap, which is a beautiful drive. We did have to deal with lots of bikes on the road as well, but it was still a great Saturday afternoon.
The next day, we drove to the Avoca store and restaurant in Bray, which was nice and I did pick up some great woolen items, but I was looking for their mill which is located a bit further down the road at Avoca village. That was much more what we were interested in, and the tour was really neat.
For County Carlow, check out this list of things to do there at TripAdvisor's website: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g186593-Activities-County_Carlow.html
Posted by
Colorado Springs
2980 posts
If you'll be driving, and are at all interested in off the beaten track day trips and excursions, I suggest picking up a copy of "Back Roads Ireland" by DK publishing. Lots of interesting things in there that don't make most of the guidebooks, including recommendations for small hotels and B&B's. It's the only publication we ever take with us aside from the RS guide - might be of interest to you too. Can find used copies on Amazon for just a few dollars.
Glendalough is certainly worth a visit. Plan to arrive before 9:30 AM (earlier the better). Until the visitor center opens and the tour buses start to roll in you'll have the place all to yourself. You can wander around the monastic settlement at leisure, and there are a number of easy to moderate forest hikes in the vicinity if you're interested.
We enjoyed the town of New Ross several years ago. The JFK ancestral homestead and gardens are just south of there, and a side trip out to the Hook peninsula and lighthouse makes for a pleasant excursion.
Might also want to search recent threads on the forum - there have been a few discussions in the past several months.
Posted by
Prague, Czech Republic
356 posts
Carlow is under explored, and it is a very lovely part of the country. The area around Borris is particularly lovely and the river walk along the River Barrow is fantastic. Park the car at Clashganny and walk down to Graigenamanagh following the river (the river forms the Carlow-Kilkenny border). The views from the Nine Stones over valley from the Blackstairs mountains is worth it too.
Check out Borris House , home of the McMurrough Kavanaghs - descendants of one Diarmuid McMurrogh, who famously invited the English to Ireland in 1167. A decision from which we have never looked back.
Posted by
OP
Seattle, WA, USA
40 posts
Thank you so much, everyone, for sharing your ideas. We really appreciate it!
Posted by
20 posts
I stayed at Hunter's Inn in Rathnew (co. Wicklow) in March 2015. Very old and historic inn with a lovely tea and a nice dinner available. Beautiful gardens that were nice even in March. With a car was an easy drive from Dublin. We drove down to Avoca and then up to through the Wicklow Mts. And Glendalough (as I recall). This was a nice five day trip.
Posted by
Sunnyside, New York, United States
439 posts
Hi,
My husband is from Borris, Carlow. It is a great little town, truly off the beaten path, one stop sign. If you do stop monday thru wed, there won't be much going on. Being so close to Kilkenny & Wexford the hurling team, Mt Leinster Rangers are very good.
People do kite jumping off of mt Leinster. Never had much interest in that but it is there.
The Barrow River walk is in danger of being closed, some people want to make changes to prevent flooding in Graignamanah (sp?). The site for this is http://savethebarrowline.com/
Many people are running airbnb in Borris, Borris House & The Step House are hosting a lot of weddings in the town. If you,do want to stay in the town & have any questions, pleas contact me by PM.
Lonely Planet's book, Ireland's Best Road Trips mentions Borris & the surrounding areas. The book is actually a great resource.
Mary
Lon