Lakes, Rivers & Waterfalls in County Donegal

Water in Donegal takes three fairly distinct forms, and this list covers all of them. Assaranca Waterfall, on the coast road west of Ardara, is the one you can watch without leaving the car; it runs hard after rain and thins to very little in a dry week, so check the forecast before you make the detour. Glenevin Waterfall near Clonmany, at the far northern end of the county in Inishowen, asks a bit more: an easy 1 km path up a sheltered glen, rebuilt by local volunteers after a flood took it out, with free entry and parking at the bottom.

The loughs sit inland and mostly need a drive. Lough Eske spreads across 900 acres in a bowl of the Bluestacks a short run from Donegal Town, with a five-star hotel on the restored castle site and salmon and sea trout from March to September. Dunlewey lies under Errigal in the north-west, with the weaver’s cottage and boat trips on the shore and the Errigal trailhead in the village. Gartan, on Lough Gartan, holds Colmcille’s birthplace inside an older hill fort.

The rivers are largely for anglers. The Finn, the Clady at Gweedore and the Leannan all run salmon, though much of the Finn is private estate water; the Twin Towns Heritage Trail and the Ramelton quays give walkers a way in.