Water organises this list. The Grand Canal and the River Barrow run through the south and west of the county, and three of the eight towns sit on them: Athy, where the two meet beneath White’s Castle at a crossing in use since 1417; Monasterevin, whose canal bridges earned it the ‘Venice of Ireland’ nickname; and Naas, where the Grand Canal’s own branch ends at a restored harbour. Athy is the one with most to fill a day, between the redeveloped Shackleton Museum on Emily Square and the kayaks launching from the jetty beside it.
The north-east corner is a separate outing. Leixlip and Celbridge sit close together on the Liffey, and both trade on Arthur Guinness: he brewed his first ales at Leixlip in 1756, three years before St James’s Gate, and he was born in Celbridge, where Castletown House and its parklands are open all year. Leixlip adds a Norman castle older than Dublin Castle and a flat stretch of the Royal Canal Greenway, better in dry weather but walkable most of the year.
The rest are worth a short detour rather than a day. Ballitore is Ireland’s only planned Quaker village, still on the grid laid out in the early 1700s, with a free museum in Mary Leadbeater’s old house. Prosperous was built as a cotton town in 1780 and lost its mill within a decade. Newbridge’s draw is the silverware visitor centre on the Liffey.
Stands where the River Barrow meets the Grand Canal, with the Shackleton Museum on Emily Square and kayaks launching from the jetty beside it.
The only planned, permanent Quaker settlement in Ireland, still on its early 1700s grid, with a free museum in diarist Mary Leadbeater's house.
Holds Castletown House, Ireland's first and largest Palladian mansion, with parklands open all year and riverside walking along the Grand Canal Greenway.
Where Arthur Guinness brewed his first ales in 1756, alongside a Norman castle older than Dublin Castle and a flat Royal Canal Greenway stretch.
Canal bridges over the Barrow and the Grand Canal gave it the 'Venice of Ireland' name; now a quiet stop on the towpaths.
8 of 8 shown — tap a pin for the place.
Athy, kildare
Athy stands where the River Barrow meets the Grand Canal, a bridge has crossed the river here since 1417, and White's Castle still guards the old ford. The redeveloped Shackleton Museum on Emily Square holds an original expedition sledge and a scale model of the Endurance, and kayaks launch from the jetty beside it onto a calm, beginner-friendly stretch of the Barrow.
Ballitore, kildare
Ballitore is the only planned, permanent Quaker settlement in Ireland, laid out on a grid by Yorkshire Quakers in the early 1700s. Its boarding school taught Edmund Burke, and its diarist, Mary Leadbeater, left one of the fullest records of Irish village life through the 1798 Rebellion. The free museum in her old house is the reason to stop.
Celbridge, kildare
A Kildare town on the Liffey where Arthur Guinness was born and where Castletown House, Ireland's first and largest Palladian mansion, sits in parklands open all year. Add the medieval ruin of Donaghcumper Church, a Swift and Vanessa literary connection, and riverside walks along the Grand Canal Greenway.
Leixlip, kildare
Arthur Guinness brewed his first ales at Leixlip in 1756, three years before he moved to Dublin's St James's Gate. The town also has a Norman castle older than Dublin Castle, a flat stretch of the Royal Canal Greenway for walking and cycling, and the only pair of working railway stations in any town in the Republic.
Monasterevin, kildare
Canal bridges over the Barrow and the Grand Canal earned Monasterevin its 'Venice of Ireland' nickname. The town distilled Cassidy's whiskey until 1934, watched the 1903 Gordon Bennett motor race roar through, and gave the tenor John McCormack a home at Moore Abbey. Today it's a quiet stop on the canal towpaths and the Barrow Way.
Naas, kildare
Naas was a place of assembly for the kings of Leinster long before the Normans walled it, and it is now the largest town in County Kildare. The Friday country market runs inside the Moat Theatre, the Naas branch of the Grand Canal ends at a restored harbour, and Naas Racecourse — a hundred years old in 2024 — sits a short walk from Main Street.
Newbridge, kildare
Newbridge is a working Kildare market town on the Liffey, grown from an early river crossing and a 19th-century cavalry barracks. Its main draw is the Newbridge Silverware visitor centre, home to the free Museum of Style Icons and a hand-finishing factory you can tour.
Prosperous, kildare
In 1780 Sir Robert Brooke laid out Prosperous as a planned cotton town modelled on Manchester, promising each tenant a cow and a potato garden. The mill closed within a decade, and in 1798 rebels stormed the barracks and killed its commander in the rebellion's first victory; two monuments in the squares now mark that summer. Christy Moore is said to have recorded the 1972 album Prosperous in a cellar in the town.
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