Places to Visit in Leinster

Leinster is one of Ireland's four traditional provinces, covering the east and south-east of the island and made up of 12 counties: Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow. The province is a historic, cultural and sporting unit rather than an administrative one, and it has no provincial government. Dublin, the national capital, dominates the region, and most visitors use it as a base for day trips.

The landscape ranges from the granite Wicklow Mountains and the monastic valley of Glendalough, south of Dublin, to the flat, fertile Boyne Valley north of the capital, where the Neolithic passage tombs of Brú na Bóinne, including Newgrange, form a UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed in 1993. Kilkenny, about 115 kilometres south-west of Dublin, keeps a Norman castle and a medieval street plan and is reachable by train from Dublin Heuston in roughly an hour and a half.

May to September gives the best weather for hill walking and coastal routes, and Wicklow trails can be muddy and misty at any time of year. Winter suits museum-led trips in Dublin, though daylight is short from November to January. Train and bus services radiate from Dublin, but Newgrange and much of the Wicklow Mountains are easier with a car or an organised tour.