Six places make up this list, and they pull in two directions: into Limerick city, and west along the Shannon Estuary. The Custom House on Rutland Street, a Palladian building Davis Ducart put up between 1765 and 1769, has held the Hunt Museum since 1997, with roughly 2,500 objects covering 5,000 years, the medieval O’Dea Crozier among them. A short walk away at People’s Park, Limerick City Gallery of Art occupies the Carnegie Building of 1906 and shows 831 works of Irish art, Paul Henry and Jack B. Yeats through to John Shinnors. Entry is free, and both are easily done on foot in an afternoon.
The rest need a car. Foynes sits about forty minutes west of the city on the estuary road, and the Flying Boat Museum there occupies the original 1930s terminal where transatlantic seaplanes came down; the Boeing 314 replica is full size and you can walk through it. It shuts for the winter, so ring or check the site before setting out.
Adare Heritage Centre is on Main Street in the village, free to enter, and runs the shuttle tours out to Desmond Castle. Bruree, further south, keeps de Valera’s old schoolhouse as a small volunteer-run museum, open by appointment only.
The world's only dedicated flying boat museum, in the original 1930s Shannon terminal, with a walk-through Boeing 314 replica and the Irish coffee invented here in 1943.
Free entry to 831 works tracing Irish art from the 18th century onward, housed in the 1906 Carnegie Building beside People's Park in the city centre.
A free exhibition on Main Street with a model of the village in 1500, plus the shuttle tours out to 13th-century Desmond Castle.
The estuary village that was once one of Europe's biggest airports, where the flying-boat terminal restaurant produced Irish coffee in 1943.
De Valera's old schoolhouse, kept by volunteers with his personal items and village relics of early 20th-century life, open by appointment only.
6 of 6 shown — tap a pin for the place.
Foynes, limerick
Foynes is the only dedicated flying boat museum in the world, set in the original 1930s terminal on the Shannon where transatlantic seaplanes once landed. You can board a full-size Boeing 314 replica, follow the town's wartime story, and drink the original Irish coffee, invented here in 1943 to thaw out cold passengers. It closes for the winter, so check before travelling.
Carnegie Building, limerick
Limerick City Gallery of Art holds 831 works tracing Irish art from the 18th to the 21st century, from Paul Henry and Jack B. Yeats to John Shinnors, in the Romanesque-revival Carnegie Building of 1906. Entry is free, it is a main venue for EVA International, and the ground-floor Zest Café looks out over People's Park.
Adare, limerick
The Adare Heritage Centre on Main Street holds a free exhibition with a model of the village in 1500, craft shops and a restaurant, and runs the shuttle tours of 13th-century Desmond Castle. Across the road stands the white Trinitarian Abbey, founded around 1230 and still a working parish church.
Foynes, limerick
Foynes was one of Europe's biggest airports in the flying-boat years, and the terminal restaurant is where Irish coffee was invented in 1943. That terminal is now a museum on the Shannon Estuary, with a full-size Boeing 314 replica you can walk through.
Bruree, limerick
Limerick, limerick
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