Nearly 6,000 years separate the two ends of this list. Céide Fields, above the cliffs at Ballycastle on the north coast, preserves a stone field system laid out long before the blanket bog grew over it. At the other end, the Michael Davitt Bridge at Achill Sound is the third crossing on the spot since 1887, and it is still swung open by hand.
The densest cluster runs south from Westport. Ballintubber Abbey, founded in 1216 and used for mass without a break since, is the starting point of the Tóchar Phádraig, the old pilgrim road to Croagh Patrick; Aughagower, with its leaning round tower and medieval graveyard, marks the halfway point. The Boheh Stone sits a few kilometres southwest of Westport, carrying some 250 Neolithic carvings. Burriscarra Abbey and the roofless shell of Moore Hall stand further east again, on the shore of Lough Carra.
Cong is over on the Galway border, on the neck of land between Lough Mask and Lough Corrib, where the abbey ruins and the Monk’s Fishing House are free to wander. Knock, in east Mayo, is a wholly different visit, a 100-acre shrine grown from an 1879 apparition. Several of the smaller sites are open fields and working graveyards with no shelter, so they reward a dry day and decent boots.
The oldest known stone-walled field system in the world, nearly 6,000 years old, with a clifftop visitor centre and guided walks that probe the buried walls.
Free 12th-century abbey ruins where the last High King of Ireland died, in a village that doubles as the open-air set of The Quiet Man.
Ireland's Marian shrine, grown from an 1879 apparition into a 100-acre site with a huge basilica, the Apparition Chapel and a free museum.
Built on the foundations of Grace O'Malley's castle, with furnished Georgian rooms and a 400-acre demesne looking out to Clew Bay and Croagh Patrick.
The halfway point on the Tóchar Phádraig, a free open-air monastic site with a leaning round tower, medieval graveyard and St Patrick's baptismal vat.
32 of 32 shown — tap a pin for the place.
Ballycastle, mayo
The oldest known stone-walled field system in the world, nearly 6,000 years old and buried under blanket bog on the north Mayo coast. The award-winning pyramid visitor centre sits on 110-metre Atlantic cliffs, and guided bog walks let you probe the ancient walls with metal rods, the way the site was first mapped.
Cong, mayo
Cong sits on the narrow neck of land between Lough Mask and Lough Corrib, on the Mayo–Galway border. The free ruins of its 12th-century Augustinian abbey are where Rory O'Connor, the last High King of Ireland, died in 1198, and the village doubles as the open-air set of John Ford's The Quiet Man.
Knock, mayo
Knock is a quiet Mayo village with a 100-acre shrine that draws over a million visitors a year. It grew from an 1879 apparition on the gable of the parish church, witnessed by fifteen locals in the rain, and now holds a huge modern basilica, the glass-fronted Apparition Chapel and a free museum.
Westport, mayo
Westport House stands on the foundations of Grace O'Malley's castle, and the Browne family lived here for nearly 300 years. Today you can tour its furnished Georgian rooms, let children loose in Ireland's largest net park, and walk a 400-acre demesne looking out to Clew Bay and Croagh Patrick.
Aughagower, mayo
Aughagower is the halfway point on the Tóchar Phádraig, the old pilgrim road from Ballintubber Abbey to Croagh Patrick, and its centre is an open-air monastic site. A leaning round tower built between 973 and 1013 AD stands over a medieval graveyard, beside St Patrick's baptismal vat with a Sheela na Gig set into its east wall since 2017. Free, unguided, and walkable in under an hour.
Ballintubber, mayo
Founded in 1216 by King Cathal Crovdearg O’Conor, Ballintubber Abbey has celebrated mass without a break for over 800 years, through the Dissolution and a Cromwellian burning in 1653. Set near Lough Carra below the Partry Mountains, it's the starting point of the Tóchar Phádraig pilgrim path to Croagh Patrick, and mixes medieval stone with modern sacred art.
6.4 km SSW of Westport, mayo
The Boheh Stone, or St Patrick's Chair, is a low rock outcrop near Westport carrying Ireland's densest concentration of Neolithic rock art – some 250 carvings cut between 3800 and 2000 BC. Twice a year, on 18 April and 24 August, the setting sun appears to roll down the northern shoulder of Croagh Patrick as seen from the stone.
Carnacon, mayo
Burriscarra Abbey is one of the most extensive Augustinian friary ruins in Ireland, yet it sits all but unvisited in a working graveyard on the shore of Lough Carra. Founded as a Carmelite priory in 1298 by the Anglo-Norman Adam de Staunton and rebuilt after a fire in 1430, it is now a free, open ruin in the care of the OPW. Pair it with Ballintubber Abbey, 4 km south.
Northwest of Killala village, mayo
Built around 4000–3500 BC, Carbad More is a rare double court cairn in a field northwest of Killala – two burial galleries set back-to-back with a court at each end. It is severely ruined, overgrown, and crossed by farm tracks, a site for the committed rather than the casual visitor.
Carnacon, mayo
Carnacon sits on Lough Carra, a 4,000-acre limestone lake known for its May mayfly hatch and wild brown trout. Above it stands the roofless shell of Moore Hall, home of novelist George Moore and of George Henry Moore, whose 1846 Chester Cup winnings on the horse Coranna paid for famine relief. The village is small – a shop, two pubs – and best known today for footballer Cora Staunton.
Cong, mayo
The last High King of Ireland retired to Cong Abbey in 1198 and was buried on its grounds before his remains were moved to Clonmacnoise. The Augustinian ruins are free to wander, but the standout is the Monk's Fishing House – a stone hut built out over the River Cong with a trapdoor for hauling up the catch.
Claremorris, mayo
A quiet crossroads village on the Mayo side of the Galway border, Irishtown (Baile Gaelach) hosted the 1879 tenant-right meeting that lit the fuse for the National Land League. There is little to see beyond a roadside plaque and the surrounding farmland, but the history that started here reshaped who owned Ireland.
Killala, mayo
In August 1798, General Humbert landed nearby with 1,109 French troops and held Killala for 32 days before the British retook it. The village is older still: its round tower and 17th-century St Patrick's Cathedral trace a line back to Saint Patrick, who is said to have founded the bishopric here in the 5th century.
Achill Island, mayo
The Michael Davitt Bridge is the only road link between the mainland and Achill Island. The current 390-tonne swing bridge, opened in 2008, is the third to cross Achill Sound on this spot since 1887, and it's still swung open by hand – though that's a rare sight now, as it stays shut for traffic and opens only for sailing events.
Cong, mayo
A roofless stone hut built out over the River Cong, 90 metres from Cong Abbey, where the monks fished without leaving the fireside. A trap-door in the floor dropped their nets into the current, and a rope rang a bell in the abbey kitchen when the catch came in. Free, unstaffed, and a five-minute walk from the abbey ruins.
Muckloon, mayo
Moore Hall is the roofless shell of a Georgian mansion above Lough Carra, burned in the Civil War in 1923 and never rebuilt. Gravel forest paths loop from the car park past the ruin and down to the lake, easy enough for a buggy, with a playground and picnic tables at the start. The house itself is locked, but the portico still stands and its Latin motto is still legible over the door.
Killala, mayo
Moyne Abbey is a roofless 15th-century Franciscan friary above the mouth of the River Moy, free to walk and rarely busy. Its six-storey tower, cloister walk, mill race and 16th-century ship etchings survive largely intact. Getting there means a field walk across private farmland with cattle, so wear boots and mind the bull sign.
Murrisk, mayo
Murrisk Abbey is a roofless 15th-century friary at the foot of Croagh Patrick, founded in 1457 by Hugh O'Malley, a friar who secured a papal licence for it. Its best feature is the five-light east window, set to face Jerusalem over Clew Bay. Free, unguided, a 15-minute stop, with the National Famine Memorial a short walk away.
7 km north of Ballina, mayo
Rosserk Friary stands on the bank of the River Moy 7 km north of Ballina, founded around 1440 for the Franciscan Third Order and burned in 1590 on Sir Richard Bingham's orders. The walls came through intact, including a carved west doorway and a rare double piscina. Entry is free.
Ballina, mayo
St Muiredach’s Cathedral rises over the River Moy in Ballina, a limestone Gothic Revival church begun in 1827 with a spire added in 1855. Inside, coloured light pours through historic stained glass; just outside stand the ruins of an Augustinian abbey and a replica of St Muiredach’s High Cross.
Ardnaree, mayo
Castlebar, mayo
Cross, mayo
Aughness, mayo
Newport, mayo
Achill Island, mayo
Kilgeever, mayo
Rathfran, mayo
Killala, mayo
Lacken, mayo
Achill Island, mayo
Killerduff, mayo
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