A flat, waymarked lakeshore loop through 250-year-old woodland on Lough Gill, just 5km from Sligo town and a favourite walk of W.B. Yeats.
The main trail is a 3.2km flat loop (about 1 hour, green waymarking) that starts and ends at the car park, following the Lough Gill shoreline out and returning through the forest. It is buggy- and wheelchair-friendly, and a longer 4.2km lakeside extension is available.
The trail opens onto panoramic views across Lough Gill to Church, Goat, Cottage, Wolf and Bernard's Islands, plus Dooney Rock. Half Moon Bay is the classic photo spot.
A picnic area with benches and seats sits right on the bay, where ducks and swans often come to greet walkers. A Yeats Trail seating point overlooks the lake here too.
Information panels explain the many tree species, some planted over 250 years ago, on this EU LIFE biodiversity site. Look out for red squirrels, ducks, geese and swans.
Hazelwood inspired Yeats's poem 'The Song of Wandering Aengus'. The estate's Palladian Hazelwood House (1724, by Richard Cassels) stands in the demesne but is not open to the public.
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