Things to do in Co. Sligo
11 places
1.Benbulben Forest Walk
An easy 5.5km loop beneath a flat-topped peak
An easy 5.5 km looped forest trail at the foot of Benbulben, the flat-topped table mountain that dominates Sligo's coast, mixing quiet woodland, a ruined ring fort and wide views over Donegal Bay.
- Highlights
- 5.5 km red-arrow waymarked loop
- Easy grade, only 20 m of ascent
- About 1.5 hours to walk
- Facilities
- Good for kids · Dog-friendly · Wheelchair access
2.Gleniff Horseshoe
a 10km single-lane loop beneath sheer cliffs
A 10km single-lane road loops a glacial valley beneath the Dartry Mountains, with vertical limestone cliffs, a ruined barytes mill and the legendary cave of Diarmuid and Gráinne.
- Highlights
- 10km single-lane loop through a glacial valley
- Sheer limestone cliffs of Annacoona
- Ruined 19th-century barytes mill and woodland trail
- Facilities
- Good for kids · Dog-friendly
3.Hazelwood Forest
A 3.2km flat lakeside loop with island views
A flat, easy lakeside forest loop on the shore of Lough Gill, just minutes from Sligo town, with island views, 250-year-old trees and a Yeats Trail art seat facing the water.
- Highlights
- Flat, easy loop on the Lough Gill shoreline
- Views of Church, Goat, Cottage, Wolf and Bernard's Islands
- Quiet picnic area at Half Moon Bay
- Facilities
- Good for kids · Dog-friendly · Wheelchair access
4.Knocknarea Cairn
the largest unexcavated cairn in the country
A 327m limestone mountain crowned by a huge stone cairn said to be the burial place of the warrior Queen Maeve. The waymarked Queen Maeve Trail climbs forest, timber steps and a raised boardwalk to 360-degree views of Sligo Bay, Benbulben and the Atlantic.
- Highlights
- Summit cairn about 55m wide and 10m high, never excavated
- Built around 3400 BC, older than the Queen Maeve legend
- Marked 6–8km loop gaining 327m from the car parks
5.Tobernalt Holy Well
A 5th-century spring with a Mass rock and rag tree
A natural spring issuing from beneath a wooded cliff near Lough Gill, Tobernalt has drawn pilgrims since early Christian times and is still a working place of prayer — free, and open day and night.
- Highlights
- Natural spring beneath a cliff face
- Rag tree hung with clooties and rosary beads
- Penal-era stone Mass altar
- Facilities
- Wheelchair access
6.Keshcorran Caves
17 caves where a high king was raised by wolves
A line of caverns cut across the west face of Keshcorran Mountain, high above the Sligo plain and woven through some of Ireland's oldest legends. A short, steep climb from Keash village reaches them.
- Highlights
- 17 limestone caves in a west-facing cliff
- Unopened Neolithic cairn on the summit
- Big views to Croagh Patrick and Knocknarea
7.Roslee Castle
a roofless ruin you can climb for Atlantic views
A roofless medieval tower beside Easkey pier on Sligo's north coast, climbed by a hidden spiral stair to the "Sailor's Bed" and wide Atlantic views. The walls around it still bristle with gun-loops.
- Highlights
- Photo: tower above Easkey pier
- Hidden spiral stair to the Sailor's Bed
- 16th–17th-century bawn walls with gun-loops
- Facilities
- Good for kids · Wheelchair access
8.Rosses Point Beach
Three beaches, a Blue Flag and a tidal pool
A Blue Flag strand on Sligo Bay where three beaches curve below Benbulben and the Dartry Mountains, with a much-loved tidal-pool swim spot in the village.
- Highlights
- Blue Flag and Green Coast Award beach
- Three distinct beaches — first, second and third
- Dead Man's Pier tidal pool
- Facilities
- Wheelchair access
9.Sligo Abbey
A 13th-century friary with a Dracula legend
A Dominican friary founded in the mid-13th century, Sligo Abbey is the town's only surviving medieval structure — a walled ruin of church, cloister and graveyard sitting quietly in the middle of Sligo.
- Highlights
- Sligo town's only surviving medieval building
- Well-preserved 15th-century cloister arcade
- O'Crean tomb of 1506 with nine carved figures
10.The Model. Home of The Niland Collection.
Art centre with five Jack B. Yeats masterpieces
A free contemporary art centre in a converted 1863 model school on Sligo's Mall, and the home of the Niland Collection and its core of Jack B. Yeats paintings.
- Highlights
- The Niland Collection, built from five Jack B. Yeats paintings bought for the 1960 Yeats Summer School
- Free admission to all galleries
- Changing exhibitions of contemporary art and new commissions
- Facilities
- Good for kids · Restrooms · Wheelchair access
11.Lisadell House and Gardens
Yeats's mansion, closed until May 2027
A grey limestone Georgian mansion on Drumcliff Bay, built for the Gore-Booths in the 1830s, where W.B. Yeats found his "two girls in silk kimonos" and Countess Markievicz grew up. Restored Victorian and alpine gardens, coastal woodland and five exhibition galleries sit in its 416-acre estate under Ben Bulben.
- Highlights
- Neo-classical Greek Revival house of 1830-35, last of its style built in Ireland
- Childhood home of Countess Markievicz and Eva Gore-Booth
- Immortalised in Yeats's poem with its "great windows open to the south"
- Facilities
- Good for kids · Wheelchair access