Things to Do in County Cavan

More about County Cavan

Where to base yourself

Cavan is long and narrow, and the two ends of it feel like different counties, so pick your base by which half you came for. Cavan town is the practical choice: hotels, a decent spread of pubs and restaurants, and roughly half an hour to Lough Oughter, forty minutes to Ballyjamesduff, an hour to the western uplands. Belturbet suits anyone here for the water — it sits on the Erne with a marina and hire-boat base, and it is a short run to the northern lakes. For the geopark end of the county you want Blacklion on the Fermanagh border, which is small but puts the Burren park, the Shannon Pot and the Cuilcagh boardwalk all within twenty minutes; it is also where people come for the restaurant-with-rooms, which books out months ahead at weekends.

In the south and east, Kingscourt has Cabra Castle, a Gothic pile turned hotel that fills with weddings from May onwards, and Bailieborough and the shore of Lough Ramor at Virginia are quiet lakeside alternatives an hour from Dublin. Self-catering is the other honest answer here: lake cottages like those at Castlehamilton Estate and the chalet-and-caravan side of Killykeen Forest Park are what most families end up in, and they book solid for July, August and the mayfly weeks in late May.

On and around the lakes

The lakes are the point of Cavan, and the best of them are not roadside scenery — you have to get onto the water. Lough Oughter is less a lake than a flooded maze of drumlins, all channels and wooded islands, and the only way to reach Clough Oughter Castle is to paddle. If you do not have your own boat, Cavan Adventure Centre runs kayaks and canoes from the Killykeen side; allow a couple of hours and check the wind, because the open stretches get choppy fast.

Anglers have it easiest. Annagh Lake at Butlersbridge is one of the reliable coarse fisheries, with stands and parking close to the water, and Lough Sheelin on the Meath border is the serious one — wild brown trout, boat hire from the shore, and a fortnight of mayhem when the mayfly comes up. Season dates vary by water, so confirm before you travel rather than assuming. For walking rather than fishing, the trails at Killykeen loop through conifer and along the shore on mostly flat ground, which makes them the safe bet with small children or in bad weather.

The western uplands

West of Ballyconnell the drumlins give out and the country turns to bog, limestone and open hill. The Cavan Way runs the width of it between Blacklion and Dowra, about 26km, and passes the Shannon Pot — a dark, unremarkable-looking pool that is the traditional source of the Shannon. You can drive to within a short walk of the Pot if you do not want the whole route; the lanes are narrow and the turning space at the end is limited, so a big car is a liability.

Glangevlin sits in the valley below, and the road from there up towards the Cuilcagh ridge is one of the better drives in the county. If you are heading for the boardwalk on Cuilcagh itself, note that the ascent is on the Fermanagh side and the car park is ticketed and capacity-limited — book it before you set out on a summer weekend, or you will be turned away. Cavan Burren Park nearby is the gentler alternative: waymarked trails over a limestone plateau with dolmens, wedge tombs and glacial erratics, and rarely more than a handful of other cars.

Older ground

Cavan’s deep history is thinly signposted and better for it. Magh Slécht, the plain around Templeport, was a pre-Christian ritual landscape, and the decorated stone at Killycluggin is associated with the idol Crom Cruach that Patrick is said to have thrown down. Neither is a visitor attraction in any packaged sense — expect a field, a gate and a stone. Drumlane Abbey, with its round tower stump beside the water near Milltown, is the most atmospheric of the church sites and takes ten minutes off the Belturbet road.

Wet days and town days

For rain, Cavan County Museum in Ballyjamesduff is the one indoor attraction worth planning around — a reconstructed WWI trench system outdoors alongside the collections inside — but it closes on some days out of season, so check before driving over. Erica’s Fairy Forest at Cootehill is a short, charity-run woodland walk built for young children and reliably a hit with them. And if you are staying in town, the climb up Tullymongan Hill takes fifteen minutes and gives you the drumlins laid out — the clearest explanation of the county’s shape you will get without a map.