East Ireland Attractions

St Kevin's sixth-century monastery in a glacial Wicklow valley — a round tower, roofless cathedral and two mountain lakes, 50km from Dublin. Go on a weekday to beat the coach tours.

Ireland's finest garden estate — 47 acres of formal terraces, a Japanese garden and the Great Sugarloaf as backdrop, 30 minutes from Dublin. Separate entry for the waterfall 6km away.

A 5,200-year-old passage tomb older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian Pyramids — aligned to illuminate the inner chamber at winter solstice sunrise.

Seven floors of Guinness history at the St James's Gate brewery, ending with a pint in the Gravity Bar with 360° views over Dublin.

The jail where the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were imprisoned and executed — the most visited OPW heritage site outside of Dublin Castle.

The 9th-century illuminated Gospel manuscript displayed in Trinity College's Long Room — a barrel-vaulted library of 200,000 ancient books.

The original Jameson distillery in the Smithfield district — a guided tour through 250 years of Irish whiskey history, ending with a tasting.

An interactive museum in the vaults of the Custom House Quarter telling the story of 10 million Irish emigrants across 20 themed galleries.

The seat of British rule in Ireland for 700 years — the State Apartments, medieval undercroft and chapel on the site of a Viking and Norman fortress.

Ireland's largest church — a 13th-century Gothic cathedral with Jonathan Swift buried inside the west door and his wit preserved in the epitaph he wrote himself. The medieval choir stalls are worth lingering over.

A rocky peninsula 15 km from Dublin — the cliff walk from Howth village to the East Pier takes 90 minutes with open sea on three sides. Stay for fish and seafood straight off the trawlers at the harbour.

Granite mountains, blanket bog and glacial valleys beginning 20 km from Dublin — the Wicklow Way long-distance walk passes through the heart of the park, and the Sally Gap road is one of Ireland's finest upland drives.

The ancient ceremonial and political seat of the High Kings of Ireland — a low hill above the Meath plain with earthworks spanning 5,000 years.

The largest Anglo-Norman castle in Ireland — Hugh de Lacy's 12th-century fortress on the River Boyne, used as a filming location for Braveheart.

The working home of Waterford Crystal — guided factory tours follow molten glass through blowing, cutting and engraving by master craftspeople in Waterford city centre.

A Norman lighthouse tower that has guided ships around the Hook Peninsula for over 800 years — entry is by guided tour through 115 steps to the lantern room at the top.

The historic core of Ireland's oldest city — three museums covering Viking, medieval and Georgian Waterford within a compact quarter centred on Reginald's Tower.

A full-scale replica of an 1840s famine emigrant ship moored on the New Ross quayside — the experience uses costumed actors to recreate the emigrant journey to America.

Europe's largest enclosed urban park — 1,750 acres of woodland, open grassland and a resident herd of 600 wild fallow deer, with the Irish President's residence, the US Ambassador's home and the Dublin Zoo all within the walls.

A medieval tower house on the north Dublin coast occupied by the Talbot family for nearly 800 years — guided tours through the original furniture and portrait collections, and 22 acres of walled gardens outside.

One of the great small museums in Europe — a mining millionaire's extraordinary collection of manuscripts, prints, scrolls and religious objects from Islamic, East Asian and European traditions, housed in Dublin Castle. Free entry.

A 5th-century monastic settlement in County Louth with two of the finest high crosses in Ireland — Muiredach's Cross is considered the greatest example of Celtic high cross carving, with 50 biblical scenes carved in full relief.

Ireland's state thoroughbred stud farm — stallions worth hundreds of millions of euros, a horse museum tracing Irish racing history, and one of Europe's finest Japanese gardens laid out between 1906 and 1910. An hour from Dublin, on the edge of the Curragh.

A 46 km traffic-free trail along a disused railway from Waterford city to Dungarvan — the longest off-road cycling route in Ireland. Nine viaducts, three tunnels (including one 400-metre tunnel requiring lights), and views of the Comeragh Mountains throughout.

A 35-acre outdoor museum of full-scale reconstructed settlements spanning 9,000 years of Irish history — Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, Celtic, Viking and Norman — in woodland beside the River Slaney at Ferrycarrig outside Wexford.

A state forest park in the Vale of Avoca containing the birthplace of Charles Stewart Parnell and a 1.5 km elevated treetop walk — 'Beyond the Trees' — that rises through the forest canopy to a viewing tower. One of the finest forest experiences in Leinster.

The first new whiskey distillery to open in Dublin in over 125 years (2015), in the historic Liberties — a working distillery whose guided tour ends in a tasting of its small-batch Irish whiskeys.

Ireland's largest and earliest Palladian house, built from 1722 for William "Speaker" Conolly — a Georgian masterpiece on the Liffey with state rooms, a famous print room, and free-to-roam parklands.

An interactive museum of Viking and medieval Dublin in the Victorian Synod Hall beside Christ Church Cathedral — reconstructed streets, a Viking longship and the city's archaeology, linked to the cathedral by a covered stone bridge.

Dublin's oldest cathedral, founded around 1030 by the Hiberno-Norse king Sitric — home to the largest medieval crypt in Ireland and the mummified "cat and rat" found in an organ pipe.

The 82,000-seat home of Gaelic games and the third-largest stadium in Europe — a GAA Museum and behind-the-scenes stadium tour, on a ground central to modern Irish history, including Bloody Sunday 1920.

Ireland's national cemetery — the resting place of Daniel O'Connell, Michael Collins, Éamon de Valera, Parnell and 1.5 million others, with a museum and guided tours that read the nation's history over the graves.

Ireland's only theme park and zoo (formerly Tayto Park) in County Meath — home to the Cú Chulainn Coaster, one of the largest wooden roller coasters in Europe, across a 55-acre site of rides and animals.