Two of these you can walk into. Donegal Castle stands over the River Eske in the middle of Donegal town, an O’Donnell keep with a Jacobean manor wing grafted on by Sir Basil Brooke and restored in the 1990s. Glenveagh Castle is the other, on the shore of Lough Veagh at the centre of 16,000 hectares of bog, oak wood and mountain, with walled Victorian gardens beside it and trails running into golden eagle country. The rest are ruins, and most are free.
The largest group sits along the north coast. Doe Castle, a four-storey MacSweeney tower house on a tidal spit in Sheephaven Bay, has grounds open dawn to dusk, though the keep is by appointment only; Creeslough, under the table-top of Muckish on the N56, is the natural base for it. Faugher House, roofless above the Middle Road near Portnablagh, is privately owned and seen from the roadside. Moross Castle sits on a tidal islet off the Fanad shore, reached by a 45-metre causeway that floods, so go at low tide.
Inishowen holds Carrickabraghy on its quartz outcrop at the tip of the Isle of Doagh, best at high tide when the sea spouts from the Hissing Rock, and the Red Earl’s 1305 sea-castle above Lough Foyle at Greencastle, free and open. Camlin, on the R230 near Ballyshannon, is a castellated gateway and a flag tower and little else. Distances here are long; pick a corner rather than the county.
Sits on Lough Veagh at the heart of 16,000 hectares of bog and mountain, pairing walled Victorian gardens with trails into golden eagle country.
A four-storey MacSweeney tower house ringed by Sheephaven Bay on three sides and a rock-cut moat on the fourth, with grounds free all year.
The O'Donnell keep over the River Eske, burned by Red Hugh, given a Jacobean wing by Basil Brooke and restored in the 1990s.
A village under Muckish on the N56 that makes the easiest base for Doe Castle, Ards Forest Park and the Sheephaven coast.
The built set-piece of Ireland's most northerly national park, with exotic gardens on the lake shore and red deer on the slopes above.
11 of 12 shown — tap a pin for the place.
donegal
Glenveagh Castle sits on the shore of Lough Veagh at the centre of 16,000 hectares of Donegal wilderness – oak wood, blanket bog and the Derryveagh Mountains. The castle and its walled Victorian gardens are the draw; beyond them, trails run into open mountain where golden eagles fly again.
Sheephaven Bay, donegal
Doe Castle is a four-storey MacSweeney tower house on a tidal spit in Sheephaven Bay, ringed by the sea on three sides and a rock-cut moat on the fourth. The grounds are free and open dawn to dusk; the keep is by appointment only, so most people come for the setting and the walk rather than the interior.
Donegal Town, donegal
Leaving for Spain after the Battle of Kinsale, Red Hugh O'Donnell is said to have set his own castle on fire so the English could never hold it. They took it anyway. Sir Basil Brooke became its lord and grafted a Jacobean manor wing onto the Gaelic keep, and after two centuries as a ruin it was restored in the 1990s. It stands over the River Eske in the middle of Donegal town.
Creeslough, donegal
Creeslough sits above Sheephaven Bay under the flat table-top of Muckish Mountain, on the N56 between Letterkenny and the north Donegal coast. The big draw is Doe Castle, a MacSweeney tower house from the 1420s with its grounds free and open all year. Ards Forest Park, waymarked loops and a well-rated glamping site round out an easy base on the Wild Atlantic Way.
Donegal Town, donegal
Where the River Eske meets Donegal Bay, this market town wears its Gaelic past plainly. The 15th-century O'Donnell castle is the one must-do, with the free Franciscan abbey ruins a short walk on, a Diamond full of trad pubs, and a waterbus running out onto the bay in summer.
Glenveagh National Park, donegal
Glenveagh Castle sits on the shore of Lough Veagh at the centre of Ireland's most northerly national park, over 15,000 hectares of mountain, lake and oak wood. The castle and its exotic gardens are the built set-piece; the park around them holds Ireland's largest red-deer herd and reintroduced golden eagles.
Greencastle, donegal
Greencastle Castle is a 1305 ruin above the mouth of Lough Foyle, raised by Richard de Burgh, the Red Earl of Ulster, to control the sea approach. A Napoleonic Martello tower, a maritime museum in the old coastguard station and a seasonal ferry to the Causeway Coast share the same small harbour.
R230 between Ballyshannon and Belleek, donegal
Isle of Doagh, donegal
Faugher, donegal
Milford, donegal
Greencastle, donegal
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