Pre-Christian sites in Ireland

Just about everywhere! Newgrange NW of Dublin, various places west of Kinsale have beehive houses and stone circles, tombs in the Burren were places we visited. I believe there are over 2000 stone age sites in Ireland. Most guide books will give you a starting point.

Lots around the Cashel area in Co. Tipperary, too.

Start with a map that marks ancient sites... The Irish Ordnance Survey makes very useful maps. I don't remember exactly which ones show the ancient sites (maybe the Discovery or Holiday series), but they do a pretty good job. Research the ones you really want to see and get specific directions from a website or from locals while you are there because unless they are really popular like Newgrange or the Poulnabrone Dolmen, they can be "elusive." We found that signs do get you part of the way there, but sometimes the rest is guesswork and patience.

Also, the Dingle peninsula has Beehive Huts, and Innishmore (the biggest of the Aran Islands) has a ring-fort.

I found these 4 websites very helpful when I planned our trip; they cover High Crosses, Portal Tombs, stone huts and forts, stone circles, passage and wedge tombs, castles, churches and more.

Knowth
(http://www.knowth.com/) Lots of info about the sites in the Boyne Valley (Meath) area (Newgrange, Loughcrew, Hill of Tara, Fourknocks, etc)

The Sacred Island (http://www.carrowkeel.com/index.html) Best info about the sites around the Sligo area (Carrowmore, Carrowkeel, Queen Maeve's Cairn, Croagh Patrick, etc)

Megalithomania
(http://www.megalithomania.com/) Pictures, map coordinates and descriptions of over 2000 sites; search by County or monument type

Megalithic Ireland (http://www.megalithicireland.com/index.html) Excellent pictures, historical info and directions to sites

Enjoy your journey!

I second Chris's suggestion - do the Rick Steves Dingle tour/drive to see the beehive huts and then take a trip out to Inishmore to see Dun Aengus fort - AMAZING!

I loved Newgrange. The only other pre-Christian sites I saw a lot of (but I wasn't specifically looking) were Dolmans that seemed to be everywhere.

I do not believe the bee hive huts are pre-christian.

They aren't pre-Christian, they were the homes of monks.

I think the huts were built late bronze age (ended 500 bc ?). They obviously had an ad history to them as well.

I thought Newgrange was the highlight of my Ireland trip.

Beehive houses were built as far back as 2000BC in Scotland and Ireland, and continued to be built till a few hundred years ago. How old the ones we saw is open to question.