County Donegal, the northernmost part of the island (and west of Derry), is about as far-flung as Ireland gets. It’s not on the way to anywhere, and it wears its isolation well. With more native Irish speakers than in any other county, the old ways are better preserved here.
Donegal is connected to the Republic by a slim, five-mile-wide umbilical cord of land on its southern coast. A forgotten economic backwater (part of the Republic but riding piggyback on the North), it lacks blockbuster museums or sights. But it’s also Ireland’s second-biggest county, with a wide-open “big sky” interior and a shattered-glass, 200-mile, jagged coastline of islands and inlets. A visit here is about the journey, and adventurous drivers—a car is a must—will be rewarded with a time-capsule peek into old Irish ways and starkly beautiful scenery.
For drivers who want to explore the region fully, I’ve laid out a day-trip loop through the northernmost reaches of County Donegal (starting and ending in the Northern Ireland town of Derry, and best for people home-basing there). Drivers connecting the Republic (Galway or Westport) and Northern Ireland without time for a Donegal deep dive can easily hit several interesting sights en route, including a swing through a swath of County Donegal and the town of the same name (with a worthwhile reconstructed castle).
To drive in a single day between the Republic (Galway or Westport) and Northern Ireland (Derry or Portrush), get an early start so you have time to stop at your pick of several worthwhile sights lined up along the N-15 road between Sligo and Derry (listed under the “Between Westport and Derry” section). Donegal town makes a good lunch stop. From there, you can continue straight to the border and into Derry, or on to Portrush (both covered in later chapters).
If coming from Galway, consider breaking the drive into two days (sleeping in Westport) so you can follow my suggested route for touring the Connemara area first (see here).
To see more of Donegal, consider sleeping two nights in Derry, with one day spent crossing back into the Republic for a scenic driving loop through a remote part of this county (covered at the end of this chapter). For details on Derry, see the Derry chapter later in this book.
Each of these stops is either on N-15 (the route between Sligo and Derry) or within a few kilometers of it. I’ve listed these sights in the order you’d reach them if driving north from the Republic to Northern Ireland. (Heading north on N-15, navigation is easy as, after Sligo, Derry is signposted the whole way.) To see more of County Donegal, consider adding in a few sights from my “County Donegal Driving Tour” (see here).
For a classic medieval high cross, the nub of a round tower, and the grave of the poet W.B. Yeats, pull off N-15 just north of Sligo at Drumcliff (easy parking). Look for the brown signs for Yeats’ grave and the stout stone church spire peeking above the trees just off the road. Walking from the car park you’ll see, in this order, the following: church, grave, café/gift shop/WC, high cross, trail to the river, and round tower.
The stately little church has a delightful and stony interior (with an interesting video playing in the entryway). To the left of the church (as you face it, about 10 paces) is the simple grave of the beloved Irish poet, William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) and his wife, George. The tombstone reads: “Cast a cold eye on life, on death. Horsemen pass by.”
Benbulben, the mountain that inspired Yeats, looms behind the graveyard, looking like a sphinx.
Just past the café/gift shop, find the highest cross in the graveyard. This classic high cross—along with the stub of a round tower (with its defensive door high above ground level) across the busy highway—were part of a monastic settlement a thousand years ago. These symbols of medieval Ireland once dotted and spiked the countryside.
The cross (once colorfully painted) is carved with high reliefs designed to help teach the people Bible lessons. Find Adam and Eve, Cain clubbing Abel, and Christ in Majesty on one side and a camel (trying to get through the eye of a needle) on the other.
This is a historic spot, the site of a monastery founded in A.D. 574 by St. Columba. He and another saint had a quarrel over the rights to a book, which actually led to a battle here in which 3,000 people were killed. Columba was so distraught by the bloodshed that he eventually banished himself from Ireland and sailed to Iona (in Scotland), where he founded another monastery (famous as the original home of the magnificent Book of Kells).
Across from the high cross, a small path leads to a river path with dramatic views of Benbulben, ideal for getting into the spirit of Yeats for a moment (for more on Yeats, see here).
A few kilometers north of Drumcliff, leave N-15 at Cliffoney for a 10-kilometer (6-mile) loop side-trip around Mullaghmore Head. It was just off this scenic bluff that, on August 27, 1979, the IRA detonated a radio-controlled bomb on the vacation yacht of Lord Louis Mountbatten (79-year-old second cousin of Queen Elizabeth II), killing him and members of his family.
As you drive around this scenic loop, you’ll see a rugged coastline and desolate beaches with the lonely castle retreat of the royal Mountbatten family crowning the horizon. Drive past beech tree forests (from which Lord Mountbatten constructed his boat) and a rough little stone harbor (from where he and his family sailed that fateful day), and stop at the peninsula’s far end (just 12 miles south of the border of Northern Ireland). Check out the views across Donegal Bay to where the bomb went off, just a few hundred yards off the shore. Continue circling the bluff as the road brings you back to N-15.
If you’re interested in pottery, consider a slight detour, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) off N-15, over the Northern Ireland border to the cute town of Belleek. The Belleek Parian China factory welcomes visitors with a small gallery and museum, a 20-minute video, a cheery cafeteria, and 30-minute guided tours of its working factory. Crazed shoppers who forget to fill out a VAT refund form will find their finances looking Belleek.
Cost and Hours: Free, tours-£5; Mon-Fri 9:00-17:30, Sat from 10:00, Sun from 14:00; longer hours in July-Sept, shorter hours in Oct-Feb and possibly closed weekends; call to confirm tour schedule and reserve a spot (Sat tours June-Sept only, none on Sun), tel. 028/6865-9300, www.belleekpottery.ie, takethetour@belleek.ie.
The main town (Donegal) in the Republic of Ireland’s northernmost county (Donegal) has a striking, reconstructed castle. Donegal means “Fort of Foreigners”—a reminder that the Vikings invaded here in the 9th century. Detour 5 kilometers (3 miles) off N-15 for a quick visit.
The charming town’s main square (“The Diamond”) is lined by inviting shops and eateries. Try the comfy café above Magee’s tweed shop (Mon-Sat 10:00-18:00, Sun from 14:00). The monument in the center honors four friars who created a record of early Irish history. The small but historic Donegal Castle is half a block beyond that (look for the pointy church spire).
Donegal Castle: This was originally the fortified base of the mighty O’Donnell clan (originally built by Hugh O’Donnell in about 1500). Around 1600, the English defeated the O’Donnells and made the castle closer to what exists today. This castle offers a fine chance to see a reconstructed version of the fortified towers so common in Ireland. Your €5 entry includes an info sheet or a half-hour guided tour (at least hourly with demand, open daily 10:00-18:00, off-season 9:30-16:30).
Wandering through Donegal Castle, you’ll notice the original stone floor and 10-foot-thick walls on the ground floor, a spiral “trip staircase” winding clockwise to give the right-handed defender the advantage, the banqueting hall with its finely carved fireplace, and a top floor with historical exhibits under 40 tons of Irish oak beams—a 17th-century design with only wooden pegs holding it all together. The extension outside the tower dates from the English lord’s manor house (c. 1620).
Remember that most of these fortified towers are post-1601 and were built by the English landlords to assert their control over the Irish. Castles like this remind locals of the devastating Nine Years’ War (1594-1603), when the tribal royalty of Ireland fled the island and English rule was firmly and brutally established.
When you cross the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland you’ll notice lots of changes. If traveling north along N-15, you’ll cross the border in the town of Lifford (in the Republic) into the town of Strabane (in Northern Ireland). As you cross the River Foyle you enter the “United Kingdom of Great Britain and North Ireland” (as of now, you don’t need to show a passport, though Brexit could change that). Kilometers become miles, euros become British pounds (actually, Ulster pounds, which are the same as English pound sterling and legal tender in England), the farmland becomes richer and more productive, and Derry is now signposted as “Londonderry”—although, even today, many of the signs will have the “London” spray-painted out. On the south side of the river the sign reads: “Derry, 24 km.” On the other side of the bridge, suddenly it reads: “Londonderry, 14 miles.” As you drive deeper into Northern Ireland, you’ll see lots of Union Jack flags and even towns with their curbs painted red, white, and blue. For more on the differences you’ll encounter here, see the Northern Ireland chapter.
(See “County Donegal Loop Trip” map.)
Donegal is the most remote (and perhaps the most ruggedly beautiful) county in Ireland. This is the home turf of St. Colmcille (St. Columba in English; means “dove of the church” in Irish), who was born here in 521. In the hierarchy of revered Irish saints, he’s second only to St. Patrick. A proud Gaelic culture held out in Donegal to the bitter end, when the O’Donnells and the O’Dohertys, the two most famous local clans, were finally defeated by the English in the early 1600s. After their defeat, the region became known as Dun na nGall (“the fort of the foreigner”), which was eventually anglicized to Donegal.
As the English moved in, four Donegal-dwelling friars (certain that Gaelic ways would be lost forever) painstakingly wrote down Irish history from Noah’s Ark to their present. This labor of love became known as the Annals of the Four Masters, and without it, much of our knowledge of early Irish history and myth would have been lost. An obelisk stands in their honor in the main square of Donegal town.
The hardy people of County Donegal have come out on the short end of the modern technology stick. They were famous for their quality tweed weaving, a cottage industry that has gradually given way to modern industrial production in far-off cities. A small but energetic Irish fishing fleet still churns offshore—in the wake of larger EU factory ships scooping traditionally Irish waters (see sidebar on here).
But culturally, the county shines. The traditional Irish musicians of Donegal play a driving style of music with a distinctively fast and forceful rhythm. Meanwhile, Enya (local Gweedore gal made good) has crafted languid, ethereal tunes that glide from mood to mood. Capturing the feel of County Donegal on screen, The Secret of Roan Inish was filmed here. Today, emigration has taken its toll, and the region relies on a trickle of tourism spilling over from Northern Ireland.
Here’s my choice for a scenic mix of Donegal highlands and coastal views, organized as a self-guided daylong circuit for drivers based across the border in Derry. If you’re coming north from Galway or Westport, you could incorporate parts of this drive into your itinerary. Remember, Derry is part of the UK (pounds, miles); Donegal is the Republic (euros, kilometers).
Route Summary: The total drive is about 240 km (150 miles). Drive west out of Derry (direction: Letterkenny) on Buncrana Road, which becomes A-2 (and then N-13 across the border in the Republic). Follow the signs into Letterkenny, and take R-250 out the other (west) end of town. Veer right (north) onto R-251, and stay on it through Church Hill, all the way across the highlands, until you link up with N-56 approaching Bunbeg. After a couple of kilometers on N-56, take R-258 from Gweedore; it’s another six kilometers (four miles) into Bunbeg. Depart Bunbeg going north on R-257, around Bloody Foreland, and rejoin N-56 near Gortahork. Take N-56 through Dunfanaghy (possible additional Horn Head miniloop option here) and then south, back into Letterkenny. Retrace your route from Letterkenny via N-13 and A-2 back into Derry.
Driving Tips: An early start is essential, and an Ordnance Survey atlas is helpful. It’s cheapest to top off your gas tank in Letterkenny. Consider bringing along a picnic lunch to enjoy from a scenic roadside pullout along the Bloody Foreland R-257 road, or out on the Horn Head loop. Bring your camera and remember—not all who wander are lost.
The sights along this route are well-marked. Don’t underestimate the time it takes to get around here, as the narrow roads are full of curves and bumps. Dogs, bred to herd sheep, dart from side lanes to practice their bluffing techniques. If you average 65 kilometers per hour (about 40 mph) over the course of the day, you’ve got a very good suspension system. Folks wanting to linger at more than a couple of sights will need to slow down and consider an overnight stop in Dunfanaghy.
Self-Guided Drive• Leave Derry on A-2, which becomes N-13 near the town of Bridge End. You’ll see a sign for the Grianan Aileach Ring Fort posted on N-13, not far from the junction with R-239. Turn up the steep hill at the modern church with the round roof, and follow signs three kilometers (2 miles) to find...
This dramatic, ancient ring fort perches on an 800-foot hill just inside the Republic, a stone’s throw from Derry. It’s an Iron Age fortification, built about the time of Christ, and was once the royal stronghold of the O’Neill clan, which dominated Ulster for centuries. Its stout dry-stone walls (no mortar) are 12 feet thick and 18 feet high, creating an interior sanctuary 80 feet in diameter (entry is free and unattended).
Once inside, you can scramble up the stairs, which are built into the walls, to enjoy panoramic views in all directions. Murtagh O’Brien, King of Desmond (roughly, today’s Limerick, Clare, and Tipperary counties), destroyed the fort in 1101...the same power-play year in which he gave the Rock of Cashel to the Church. Legend says he had each of his soldiers carry away one stone, attempting to make it tougher for the O’Neill clan to find the raw materials to rebuild. What you see today is mostly a reconstruction from the 1870s.
Skip the nearby well-signposted Old Church Visitors Center beside the N-13 road. Accessed through a modern hotel, it contains a couple of earnest models, costume props, and an uninterested staff.
• Return to N-13 and head to and through Letterkenny, continuing out the other (west) end of town on R-250. Eight kilometers (5 miles) west of Letterkenny on this road, you’ll reach the...
Come here for a glimpse of long-gone rural industry (the oldest building in the compact complex is close to 400 years old).
Linen, which comes from flax, was king in this region. The 15-minute film does a nifty job of explaining the process, showing how the common flax plant ends up as cloth. Working in a mill sounds like a mellow job, but conditions were noisy, unhealthy, and exhausting. Veteran mill workers often braved respiratory disease, deafness, lost fingers, and extreme fire danger. For their trouble, they usually got to keep about 10 percent of what they milled.
The corn mill is still in working condition but requires a skilled miller to operate it. This mill ground oats—“corn” meant oats in Ireland. (What we call corn, they called maize.) The huge waterwheel, powered by the River Swilly, made five revolutions per minute and generated eight horsepower.
The entire operation could be handled by one miller, who knew every cog, lever, and flume in the joint. Call ahead to see when working mill demonstrations are scheduled; otherwise, tours last 45 minutes and are available on request.
Cost and Hours: Free, daily 10:00-18:00, closed mid-Sept-mid-May, last entry 45 minutes before closing, Churchill Road, Letterkenny, tel. 074/912-5115.
• Continue on R-250, staying right at Driminaught as the road becomes R-251. Watch for Glenveagh Castle and National Park signs, and park in the visitors center lot.
One of Ireland’s six national parks, Glenveagh’s jewel is pristine Lough Veagh (Loch Ghleann Bheatha in Irish). The lake is three miles long, occupying a U-shaped valley scoured out of the Derryveagh Mountains by powerful glaciers during the last Ice Age.
In the 1850s, this scenic area attracted the wealthy land speculator John George Adair, who bought the valley in 1857. Right away, Adair clashed with local tenants, whom he accused of stealing his sheep. After his managing agent was found murdered, he evicted all 244 of his bitter tenants to great controversy, and set about creating a hunting estate in grand Victorian style.
His pride and joy was his country mansion, Glenveagh Castle, finished in 1873 on the shore of Lough Veagh. After his death, his widow added to the castle and introduced rhododendrons and rare red deer to the estate. After her death, Harvard art professor Kingsley Porter bought the estate and promptly disappeared on the Donegal coast. (He’s thought to have drowned.) The last owner was Philadelphia millionaire Henry McIlhenny, who filled the mansion with fine art and furniture while perfecting the lush surrounding gardens. He donated the castle to the Irish nation in 1981.
Cost and Hours: Park entry-free, guided castle tour-€7, garden tour-€5 (advance reservation required), daily 9:00-18:00, Nov-Feb until 17:00, tel. 076/1002-537, www.glenveaghnationalpark.ie, glenveaghbookings@ahg.gov.ie. Without a car, you can reach Glenveagh Castle and National Park by bus tour from Derry (see here of the Derry chapter).
Visiting the Castle and National Park: The Glenveagh National Park Visitors Centre explains the region’s natural history. Hiking trails in the park are scenic and tempting, but beware of the tiny midges that seem to want to nest in your nostrils.
The castle is accessible by a 30-minute hike or a 10-minute shuttle-bus ride (€3 round-trip, 4/hour, depart from visitors center, last shuttle 1.25 hours before closing). You can also rent a bike in the parking lot (June-Aug) as a pleasant alternative. Take the 45-minute castle tour, letting your Jane Austen and Agatha Christie fantasies go wild. Antlers abound on walls, in chandeliers, and in paintings by Victorian hunting artists. A table crafted from rare bog oak (from ancient trees hundreds of years old, found buried in the muck) stands at attention in one room, while Venetian glass chandeliers illuminate a bathroom. A round pink bedroom at the top of a tower is decorated in Oriental style, with inlaid mother-of-pearl furnishings. The library, which displays paintings by George Russell, has the castle’s best lake views.
Afterward, stroll through the gardens and enjoy the lovely setting. A lakeside swimming pool had boilers underneath it to keep it heated. It’s no wonder that Greta Garbo was an occasional guest, coming to visit whenever she “vanted” to be alone.
• Leave the national park and follow R-251 west, watching for the Mount Errigal trailhead. It’s southeast of the mountain, and starts at the small parking lot beside R-251 on the mountain’s lower slope (easy to spot, with a low surrounding stone wall in the middle of open bog land).
The mountain (2,400 feet) dominates the horizon for miles around. Rising from the relatively flat interior bog land, it looks taller from a distance than it is. Beautifully cone-shaped (but not a volcano), it offers a hearty, nontechnical climb with panoramic views (four hours round-trip, covering five miles). Hikers should get a weather report before setting out (frequent mists squat on the summit). Ask the TI in Letterkenny or Donegal town for more detailed hiking directions.
• Continue on R-251 as it merges into N-56 headed west; at Gweedore, stay west on R-258. After 6 kilometers (4 miles), you’ll reach R-257, where you’ll turn right and pass through the hamlet of Bunbeg (Bun Beag).
The 8 kilometers (5 miles) of road heading north—as Bunbeg blends into Derrybeg (Dori Beaga) and a bit beyond—are some of the most densely populated sections of this loop tour. Modern holiday cottages pepper the landscape in what the Irish have come to call “Bungalow Bliss” (or “Bungalow Blight” to nature lovers). Next you’ll come to the...
Named for the shade of red that heather turns at sunset, this scenic headland is laced with rock walls and forgotten cottage ruins. Pull off at one of the lofty roadside viewpoints and savor a picnic lunch and rugged coastal views.
• Continue on R-257, meeting N-56 near Gortahork. Stay on N-56 to the Dunfanaghy Workhouse, about a kilometer south of Dunfanaghy town.
Opened in 1845, this structure was part of an extensive workhouse compound (separating families by gender and age)—a dreaded last resort for the utterly destitute of coastal Donegal. There were once many identical compounds built across Ireland (serious history buffs should seek out the most intact and evocative example in Portumna—see here). A rigid Victorian solution to the spiraling problem of Ireland’s rapidly multiplying poor, authorities at the time thought that poverty stemmed from laziness and should be punished. So, to motivate those lodging at the workhouse to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, conditions were made hard. But the system was unable to cope with the starving, homeless multitudes who were victims of the Famine.
The harsh workhouse experience is told through the true-life narrative of Wee Hannah Herrity, a wandering orphan and former resident of this workhouse. During the Famine, more than 4,000 young orphan workhouse girls from across Ireland were shipped to Australia as indentured servants in an attempt to offset the mostly male former convict population there. But Hannah’s fate was different. She survived the Famine by taking meager refuge here, dying at age 90 in 1926. With the audioguide, you’ll visit three upstairs rooms where stiff papier-mâché figures relate the powerful episodes in her life.
Cost and Hours: €4.50, includes audioguide; daily 9:30-17:30, Oct-April until 16:30, call to confirm winter hours; good bookstore, coffee shop, and helpful TI desk—pick up map for Horn Head loop here, tel. 074/913-6540, www.dunfanaghyworkhouse.ie.
• Now continue into the town of...
This planned town, founded by the English in the early 1600s for local markets and fairs, has a prim and proper appearance. In Dunfanaghy (dun-FAN-ah-hee), you can grab a pub lunch or some picnic fixings from the town market. Enjoy them from a scenic viewpoint on the nearby Horn Head loop drive (described later).
The modest town square, mostly a parking lot, marks the center of Dunfanaghy. Groceries are sold in the Centra Market (daily 7:30-21:00) on the main road opposite the town square.
Sleeping in Dunfanaghy: $$$ The Mill Restaurant and Accommodation is a diamond in the Donegal rough. Susan Alcorn nurtures seven wonderful rooms with classy decor, while her husband Derek is the chef in their fine restaurant downstairs (one mile out of town past the Dunfanaghy Workhouse on the right, parking, tel. 074/913-6985, www.themillrestaurant.com, info@themillrestaurant.com).
The biggest fishing port in Ireland is Killybegs, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) west of Donegal town. But today, fishing is a sadly withering lifestyle. When Ireland joined the EU in 1973, Irish farmers and infrastructure benefited most from generous subsidies that helped transform the country a generation later into the “Celtic Tiger.” But as the country reaped over €35 billion from the EU in its first 25 years of membership, the Irish fishing industry suffered. With the Mediterranean overfished, other EU nations set sail for rich Irish waters that were newly opened to them. Some estimate that 40 percent of the fish caught each year in Europe—valued at €175 billion—come from Irish territorial seas. Huge factory ships from Spain are far more efficient at hauling in a catch than the 1,500 remaining Irish boats (most of which are under 40 feet long). Irish fishermen lament that for every €1 accepted in EU subsidies, €5 have gone out in foreign nets. And the irony is that much of the fish sold in Irish grocery stores and restaurants is now imported from other EU nations...who caught the fish off the Irish coast.
$$$ Arnold’s Hotel is a comfortable, old-fashioned place that’s been in the Arnold family since 1922. In the center of town, it has 30 cozy rooms that are well-kept by a helpful staff (family rooms, parking, tel. 074/913-6208, www.arnoldshotel.com, enquiries@arnoldshotel.com).
$ The Whins B&B has five inviting rooms with tasteful furnishings, which range from exotic African accents to a sturdy four-poster bed (cash only, parking, 10-minute walk north of town, tel. 074/913-6481, mobile 087-707-3985, www.thewhins.com, barbara@thewhins.com, John & Barbara Scholz).
Eating in Dunfanaghy: Gourmet all the way, $$$$ The Mill Restaurant and Accommodation specializes in memorable lamb or lobster dinners. It’s worth booking days ahead (July-Aug Tue-Sun 19:00-21:00, closed Mon, Sept-June variable hours and closed days, tel. 074/913-6985, www.themillrestaurant.com). $ Muck & Muffin is a simple sandwich café, great for quick, cheap lunches. It’s above the pottery shop in the stone warehouse on the town square (daily 9:30-17:00, until 18:00 in summer, tel. 074/913-6780). $ The Great Wall is a hole-in-the-wall Chinese takeaway place (daily 16:30-23:00, tel. 074/910-0111, next door to Centra Market). A few doors down, $$ The Oyster Bar does pub grub and live music on Friday and Saturday nights. My vote for most atmospheric pub in town is Patsy Dan’s, with trad tunes Monday and Friday nights (18:00-21:00). Pub grub is served only in summer, when their pizza-porch out back becomes a local fair-weather favorite (daily 17:00-22:00, Main Street, tel. 074/910-0604).
• From Dunfanaghy, you can head back to Derry via Letterkenny. If you have time, consider a detour to Horn Head.
If you have extra time, take an hour to embark on a lost-world plateau drive. This heaving headland with few trees has memorable coastal views that have made it popular with hikers in recent years.
Consult your map and get off N-56, following the Horn Head signs all the way around the eastern lobe of the peninsula. There are fewer than eight kilometers (5 miles) of narrow, single-lane road out here, with very little traffic. But be alert and willing to pull over at wide spots to cooperate with other cars.
This stone-studded peninsula was once an island. Then, shortly after the last Ice Age ended, ocean currents deposited a sandy spit in the calm water behind the island. A hundred years ago, locals harvested its stabilizing dune grass, using it for roof thatching and sending it abroad to Flanders, where soldiers used it to create beds for horses during World War I. With the grass gone, the sandy spit was free to migrate again. It promptly silted up the harbor, created a true peninsula, and ruined Dunfanaghy as a port town.
A short spur road leads to the summit of the headland, where you can park your car and walk another 50 yards up to the abandoned WWII lookout shelter. The views from here are dramatic, looking west toward Tory Island and south to Mount Errigal. Some may choose to hike an additional 30 minutes across the heather, to the ruins of the distant signal tower (not a castle, but instead a lookout for a feared Napoleonic invasion), clearly visible near the cliffs. But from here, it’s still easy to bushwhack your way through (in sturdy footwear) to the rewarding cliff views at the base of the old signal tower. Navigate back to your car, using the lookout shelter on the summit as a landmark.