Things to do in Co. Kilkenny
11 places
1.Kilkenny Castle
a Norman castle lived in for over 800 years
Founded soon after the Norman conquest and occupied for more than 800 years, Kilkenny Castle is now a Victorian-remodelled country house at the centre of 21 hectares of public parkland.
- Highlights
- Over 800 years of continuous occupation
- Victorian-remodelled period rooms
- Ormonde Picture Collection and Picture Gallery
- Facilities
- Wheelchair access
2.Woodstock Gardens & Arboretum
Restored Victorian gardens above the Nore Valley
The restored Victorian gardens and arboretum above the Nore Valley, once counted among the great gardens of Ireland, now free to wander beside the picturesque village of Inistioge.
- Highlights
- Walled garden with fruit trees and a herbaceous border
- Monkey Puzzle and Noble Fir avenues
- Champion trees in the arboretum
- Facilities
- Good for kids · Dog-friendly · Wheelchair access
3.Castlecomer Discovery Park
a 300m zipline over lakes and 80 acres of woods
A not-for-profit adventure park on the old Wandesforde Estate, where 80 acres of woodland and two lakes hold a 300m over-water zipline, high-ropes courses, boats and a coal-mining museum.
- Highlights
- Ireland's longest zipline — 300m, 35m high, over two lakes
- Skywalk Challenge: 40 obstacles on three levels up to 9m
- Four waymarked walking loops, including the 5km Ardra Castle Loop
- Facilities
- Wheelchair access
4.Dunmore Cave
A show cave called one of Ireland's darkest places
Dunmore Cave is a series of limestone chambers beneath County Kilkenny, holding some of the finest calcite formations in any Irish cave — and a Viking-age story that has haunted it for a thousand years.
- Facilities
- Wheelchair access
5.Jerpoint Abbey
a 12th-century abbey carved with knights and beasts
One of Ireland's best-preserved Cistercian abbeys, Jerpoint is a roofless medieval ruin near Thomastown whose cloister arcade is crowded with extraordinary 13th–16th century stone carvings.
- Highlights
- 15th-century cloister arcade with dozens of sculpted figures
- Two O'Tunney mensa tombs with European saints and Apostles
- Late 12th-century church showing Romanesque-to-Gothic transition
- Facilities
- Good for kids · Restrooms · Wheelchair access
6.Smithwick's Experience
300 years of brewing in a medieval abbey
Three centuries of Smithwick's ale are told inside the old St Francis Abbey Brewery, on Kilkenny's Medieval Mile. Hands-on brewing exhibits, interactive storytelling and a complimentary pint make this a history tour as much as a beer one.
- Highlights
- Guided tours through 300 years of Smithwick's history
- Hands-on brewing: mill malt, stir mash, smell hops
- Complimentary pint or soft drink with every tour
- Facilities
- Wheelchair access
7.St. Mary’s Medieval Mile Museum
Skeletons, tombs and a 13th-century church
Housed in a sensitively restored 13th-century church on St Mary's Lane, the Medieval Mile Museum tells 800 years of Kilkenny's story through tombs, civic records and the people who lived and died here.
- Highlights
- Guided tours daily at 10am and 2pm
- Ireland's finest medieval sculpture and largest Renaissance tomb collection
- The '3 Lives, 3 Deaths' exhibition of excavated skeletons
- Facilities
- Wheelchair access
8.Sullivan's Taproom
Home of a world champion red ale since 1702
A working craft brewery taproom in the middle of Kilkenny city, where 300-plus years of family brewing history is poured alongside stone-baked pizza and live music. Revived in 2016 from a recipe book going back to 1702, it is also home to the Maltings Irish Red Ale, once named Best Draught Ale in the World.
- Highlights
- Signature Brewery Experience: 30 minutes, €16.50
- Maltings Irish Red Ale, Best Draught Ale in the World 2017/18
- Beer garden with heated pods and 12 screens
- Facilities
- Good for kids · Dog-friendly · Restrooms · Wheelchair access
9.The National Reptile Zoo
Hands-on keeper encounters every hour
A compact, hands-on zoo in Kilkenny where keepers bring out snakes, lizards, tortoises and crocodilians for encounters you can touch.
- Highlights
- Hourly keeper-led animal encounters, 11am–5pm
- Touch snakes, lizards, tortoises and more
- Snakes, crocodilians, axolotls, dart frogs and spiders
- Facilities
- Good for kids · Wheelchair access
10.Jurassic Newpark
17 roaring life-size dinosaurs, go-karts and a train
A family adventure park behind the Newpark Hotel where you walk among 17 life-size, roaring animatronic dinosaurs, then hit a bouncing castle, petting farm, go-karts and fairy trail.
- Highlights
- 17 life-size moving animatronic dinosaurs
- Ireland's largest outdoor/covered inflatable bounce park
- Mini-wildlife farm with llamas, alpacas and emus
- Facilities
- Good for kids · Restrooms · Wheelchair access
11.Nicholas Mosse Pottery
Handmade spongeware in a restored flour mill
A working pottery and shop in a restored stone flour mill on the River Nore, where every piece of spongeware is still made by hand beside the café that overlooks the water.
- Highlights
- Free entry, no booking needed for the shop and café
- Viewing windows into the working pottery
- Shop spread over three floors of the old mill
- Facilities
- Wheelchair access