Things to Do in County Meath

More about County Meath

Where to base yourself

Meath is close enough to Dublin that a lot of people see it as a day trip — Newgrange is under an hour from the city — but the county rewards a night or two, and it is cheaper to sleep here than in Dublin. Trim is the best base if you want a town you can walk in the evening: the castle is in the middle of it, the Boyne runs past, and it is twenty-five minutes from Tara and forty from the Boyne Valley tombs. Navan has the most rooms and sits centrally on the river, though it is a working county town rather than a tourist one. Slane is tiny, handsome and right beside the valley, but beds are few and the village empties of them completely on concert weekends at Slane Castle, when prices across the whole county rise. Kells suits the north-west and Loughcrew, and Oldcastle is closer still. For a family trip built around Emerald Park, stay near Ashbourne or Ratoath on the Dublin side. The coast at Bettystown and Laytown is a different holiday again — self-catering, a long strand, and the M1 for everything else.

The Boyne Valley

The Boyne Valley is the reason most people come, and it needs planning. There is no driving to Newgrange or Knowth: everything goes from the visitor centre near Donore by shuttle bus, tours are timed, and summer slots sell out days ahead, so book online before you travel. Knowth runs on a shorter season than Newgrange, roughly spring to autumn. Dowth, the third of the great mounds, is a free open site on the north bank with no centre and no tour — the chambers are not accessible, but you can walk around the mound, and it is usually empty. A few kilometres downstream, Oldbridge is where William crossed in 1690; the house has an exhibition and the grounds take an easy hour. Bective upstream is best seen from the riverbank path, and the Hill of Slane above the village is a free, open ruin of a friary and college on the hill where Patrick is supposed to have lit his fire in defiance of Tara.

Tombs older than the valley’s fame

Meath has passage tombs beyond the famous three, and they are quieter. Fourknocks, between Ardcath and the Dublin border, is a small chambered tomb with carved lintels that you enter alone — the key is held at a house nearby, left with a deposit, and the arrangement is exactly as informal as it sounds. Loughcrew, on the hills above Oldcastle, is a scatter of cairns across two summits; the walk up to the eastern hill is short and steep and the view runs into three provinces, but chamber access has been restricted in recent years, so treat the interior as a bonus rather than the plan. Carnbane West across the saddle sees almost nobody and crosses farmland. Nearer Athboy, the Hill of Ward is the earthwork the Irish still call Tlachtga, where the Samhain fires were lit — a free hilltop with a car park at the bottom and no interpretation at all.

Kells, the Blackwater and the west of the county

Kells is a market town with more early Christian carving standing in it than anywhere else in Leinster: a round tower, high crosses in the churchyard, the Market Cross, and St Columba’s House, a stone-roofed oratory. Downstream at Castlekeeran there are three more crosses in a field by the Blackwater, one of the best wild brown-trout rivers in the east and fished on a day-ticket basis. West of Athboy, Ráth Chairn is a Gaeltacht that only exists because Connemara families were resettled here on divided land in the 1930s; Irish is still the community language and there is a summer college. Dunsany has ancient oaks and a well-known rewilding project on the estate, and Athlumney Castle is a ruined tower house on the Boyne within walking distance of Navan.

Canal, coast and days out

The Royal Canal Greenway crosses south Meath on its way from Maynooth to the Shannon — flat, surfaced and traffic-free, with the Blackwater Aqueduct near Enfield and canal harbours at Longwood and Hill of Down. It forms part of the longer Dublin–Galway route and is the easiest cycling in the county. On the coast, Laytown holds the only official beach horse races in Europe, run on the strand for one day in early autumn with the card timed around the tide. Mornington has the Maiden Tower at the Boyne mouth, and Gormanston has a long, quiet strand. For a fixed date to plan around, Fairyhouse runs the Irish Grand National every Easter Monday, and the roads around Ratoath are busy that day.

When to go

The tomb sites and the greenway work year-round, but the shoulder months are better than July: Newgrange tours are easier to get in May or September, and the hills are less muddy than in winter. Slane concert dates and Fairyhouse’s Easter meeting are the two things that reliably fill every bed in the county, so check both before booking.